Queen of the Wolves? Sounds like a scam

Do you ever just want to go feral?

Well, I did.

I had always thought it would be a more... metaphorical experience for me. That I would go feral over someone’s inane complaints, the years of working-in-retail rage spilling out from my soul, as I finally let myself scream back, but no; I had gone quite literally feral.

I had turned into a wolf.

But the worst part? I had been betrayed.

“No, no, no, please, no,” I chanted in my thoughts. “Anyone but you. Don’t do this to me. We are a family.”

I had to scuttle back to avoid another attack, the claws of one of my cats barely missing my nose.

Mr. Fluffy hissed as Pumpkin, Caramel, and Snuffles gathered at his back, slowly surrounding me. What was a group of cats called again? A clowder? At the moment, it felt like the name for a group of crows would be more appropriate. Yeah, this was definitely a murder of cats.

My paws slid against the wooden floor, and I realized I was being backed into a corner. The fact I was the prime predator in the room was irrelevant. It wasn’t like I would ever use the sharp teeth and claws against my precious kitties! And they made it very clear that, as an unexpected intruder, I couldn’t be tolerated. It left me with only one option; I had to run.

If only I could make my wolfy legs work properly.

Somehow, I have managed to scramble out of the open window and pushed it closed with a paw after I landed in the garden. Sure, I had just cut my only way of returning to my cozy home, but I figured I would have more pressing concerns if I still didn’t have human hands in a few hours.

Determined to not be noticed, I crawled behind bushes in the communal garden, hiding the best I could. After all, if I was a typical werewolf, I only had to wait until the moon was gone from the sky.

The problem is; the moon doesn’t really disappear. It’s still there during the day, even if you can’t see it. Whatever magic happened to me apparently cared about those laws of nature while at the same ignoring the impossibility of turning a human into a wolf.

This god-level trolling resulted in me still being in the animal form when the day came and suddenly waking up to a shrill voice in my ear and someone yanking at my tail.

The indignity of being chased by a group of kids who wanted to play with the new dog was staggering.

I ended up curled in a ball in a neighbor’s thankfully closed garden, my sensitive hearing sending spikes of pain through my brain every time high-pitched shrieks of the kids made their way to me. I was too distracted to pay attention to my surroundings and the elderly lady who owned the garden, Mrs. Simmons, sneaked up on me.

“Oh, what a big dog! Wait here, I will get you a treat and we will go find your owner later,” the woman cooed at me.

I should have run, but my ears perked up at the word treat. I was feeling pretty hungry. Soon, Mrs. Simmons came back and threw her treat at me. I jumped up on instinct and snapped the little brown square with my teeth. With a wolf’s tastebuds differing from a human’s, I couldn’t really tell what I ate until I saw Mrs. Simmons preparing another piece.

It was chocolate.

Chocolate, that was poisonous to dogs. I was going to die in the most pathetic way possible. Was my stomach already doing flips, or was it just my nerves and imagination?

When the old lady tried to feed me another piece, I decided it was time to be on my way.

As I was searching for another place to hide, I ran past a couple holding hands.

“AH! That’s a wolf!” a redheaded girl screamed.

“Really? Don’t be stupid, Kate, there are no wolves here, it’s just a dog.”

The condescending way the guy spoke to his girlfriend rubbed me wrong. I stopped running and turned to look back at them, my form on display.

“But look, its head is too big, its legs are too long, and the jaw differs from what the dogs have,” Kate insisted.

I stalked closer so that she could prove her point easier. Her boyfriend still scoffed in disbelief.

“Always acting like you know everything. It’s just a tame dog. I will prove it to you.”

He reached out his hand to me, and I bit it.

The taste and scent of blood filled my senses. There was a frenzy boiling inside of me, an urge to not only protect myself but to attack the man in front of me properly. He was clutching at his bleeding hand and I registered somewhere at the edge of my mind that he was blaming his girlfriend for ending up like this. Surely it wouldn’t be a loss for society if I killed him.

My muzzle scrunched up in a snarl, but I shook my head, trying to clear it.

I couldn’t care less about the guy, but I didn’t want to lose a part of myself by committing such an irrevocable act.

Once again, I ran.

It felt like I ran for hours, dogging people, cars, dogs, until I found myself in the forest. There was something compelling about the rustling of leaves that finally put me at ease. Maybe I had to prepare myself for this being my life now. Maybe getting back to human wasn’t an option. I whined softly.

This had to be a curse.

I didn’t think my life could get any worse, but then a pack of wolves found me. I watched with wide eyes as the leader, the alpha wolf of the pack, turned into a human.

“You have been chosen,” he smiled down at me. “You are the Queen of the Wolves.”

Whatever it was my anger at those words or the fact I had seen him transform, I had somehow managed to come back to my human form. My body stretched, bent, cracked, and I howled, the transformation leaving me panting, my pajamas getting dirty as I kneeled on the ground.

“I’m your Queen?” I asked hoarsely.

The man nodded sagely.

“The magic picked you as the one who will lead us to greatness. We have prophesied your arrival. You will be the savior of our race and I, Lucius, will be your right hand.”

“Listen, I don’t want to be your Queen. I can barely take care of myself and my cats,” I pointed out, rising from the forest floor with a grunt.

“You are destined for great things,” Lucius intoned loftily.

“Do you provide dental?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Does this job offer come with a dental plan? That’s the only thing that could sway me.”

“But...” Lucius looked stunned. “As the Queen, you will have power! Armies of wolves at you side!”

“Why would I want an army? Who cares about power? I just want to live my life in comfort. And I bet many of your people want the same.”

I looked at each of the wolves surrounding us, seeing the intelligence behind their animal eyes. My hard expression softened a little. I made a decision. Ruling wasn’t for me, but I could at least give them a push in the right direction.

“As your Queen, I have the power to do whatever I want? And you will obey my words?”

“Yes, my Queen.” I saw relief flash on Lucius’ face before he bowed to me.

“Then I demand the wolfkind to be ruled as a democracy and not a monarchy. You need to listen to your people.”

“It cannot be! You are the Queen.”

“I, Helen Susan Johnson, herby abdicate as the Queen.” When Lucius protested once more, pale and shaken, I stopped him in his tracks. “You Prophecy can’t be wrong, right? Therefore, what I just did is what will save your people. You cannot expect a magical solution to your problems. Work for it, talk to each other, listen. This is your path to greatness you have been waiting for.”

The man in front of me looked as if he wanted to cry. His hopes shattered by me. I was used to being a disappointment, but the contempt which filled his gaze hurt a little.

“I just want to go home,” I whispered. “I want to be human once more.”

Lucius gave me a smile, his eyes cold.

“It seems you are the only one who’s going to get what they want today.”

He stretched out his hand and as he closed his fist, strands of light were yanked out of my body. I gasped as I felt the wolf leaving me, the magic spilling from between my fingers as I instinctually tried to keep it inside. The last thing I remembered before my eyes closed was more wolves changing into humans, a discussion about what to do next taking place.

I smiled. It was a good start.

When I woke up in my bed, I gave a sigh of relief. I was still in my dirty pajamas so I couldn’t pretend the weird experience didn’t happen, but my cats quickly took my mind off magic and wolves. I had to grovel, give them treats, and provide cuddles and pats, before they deigned to forgive me. Really, how could I be the Queen of Wolves when I, myself, was ruled by a group of feline bastards?

The next day, I had to get back to my boring work, sadly still with no dental plan. As always, it was a challenge. Especially when one of my customers started to complain about the product’s imagined faults, trying to swindle a discount.

But after all my adventures, even if I had given the unwelcome magical gift back, I had still found my inner wolf. I let my eyes grow sharp and my lip curled up as if I could flash a fang. The noisy woman stopped in the middle of a word, her eyes snapping to mine. She thought I was going to be an easy prey.

She thought wrong.

A smile spread across my face, my spine straightening from the subservient hunch, posture both relaxing and tensing into the confidence of a predator. I may not be the Queen of the Wolves, but this was my shop. My territory.

Seeing my expression, the woman turned and fled.

Just this once I let myself go a bit feral, as a treat.