A Waterfall

Sophmore year flew by in a blur as she studied, ran, and fake partied. Kelly and Blake came for Christmas and then left once more. Then at the start of the second semester, she had started taking free online biology classes. It was incredible and sometimes she would go out in wolf form and locate some of the things she was studying. Dawn had quickly become her best friend. There were times she wondered if she was insane, but a part of her didn't care because all that mattered was that she was happy.

The local wolves welcomed her whenever she stopped by and Nova had even hunted with them a few times. They had to teach her, but with Dawn's help, she was able to catch on fairly quickly. Today was the first day of summer and it was officially a little over a year since she got taken. She literally couldn't forget the date, because the kids at her school threw her a party about it, kind of strange but whatever. She had made a brief appearance at it before running to the woods.

Nova had hidden a number of waterproof bags around the woods just in case she accidentally shifted. It had only happened once or twice, both times she had gotten incredibly angry. Ever since Nova had started practicing meditation so she could calm herself before she lost control and shifted.

Her parents were both away on a business trip and Carter hadn't gotten back from the end of year party he had gone to. So here she was, going for a morning run. The shift took only a few seconds now. It had gotten much faster the more she had shifted, which has pretty much been every day and sometimes twice a day.

Between her dancing, cheering, and running Nova had gotten in even better shape and officially had a visible six-pack. She was still very femininely slim but had nicely toned muscles. Dawn and Nova had been figuring out everything they could about being a werewolf. Not surprisingly, the internet was no help but they had still discovered somethings.

In wolf form, she was not only much bigger than normal wolves, but she was much stronger and faster. In human form, she also had heightened senses and was much stronger and faster than a human should be. The things she had been able to do was incredible, although she had to be very careful to control and hold back in both cheer and dance. Luckily, she hadn't accidentally thrown anyone across a room.

She had also ran in the woods so much she knew them like the back of her hand. Although today, she wanted to go to a new part of the forest. Her strong limbs propelled her through the forest the smell of the woods could never get old to her. It had become her home and she felt safe here. Safe to be herself.

She heard water coming from ahead of her and started to slow down. When she emerged from the trees, her mouth dropped open as she looked out over a massive forest. Nova stopped at the edge of the cliff and looked down. Below her was a beautiful crystal blue lake. A waterfall tumbled off the cliff not far to her right, it sent a mist across the area. The lake had a small beach area on the opposite side from her and it was surrounded by green grass for a few feet before the trees started up.

To her left, the ground sloped down from the cliff and lead down to the lake. She could go that way, but Nova's eyes were drawn back down to the water. It wasn't too far, 'You wanna go for a swim Dawn?'

'You know it!' Nova needed no more persuasion before she leaped off the cliff and dove. The water was cool when she entered, not freezing but still refreshing. Her powerful paws kicked and swiftly brought her back up to the surface. Both she and Dawn were laughing and she had a massive smile on her wolf face.

'That was amazing! This place is so beautiful, I am glad I found it,' Nova exclaimed as she swam toward the beach to get out of the water.

'That was so much fun! And I agree, I think this is the prettiest place I have seen.' Dawn's gleeful voice commented.

Nova walked out of the water and moved swiftly to the grass where she shook out her fur a laid down. Her golden eyes closed as she listened to the tumbling waterfall and the tweeting birds. There was a babbling brook somewhere to her left and she could hear little creatures moving around.

This spot felt right. But at the same time, something was missing. A sense of loneliness filled her heart and she sighed. Wolves were social animals and yet she was alone. There was no human who knew who she truly was, not even before she became a supernatural creature did anyone understand her. In her 15, almost 16 years, no one had even tried. Nova ran with the wolves, but there was no way she could ever truly connect with them.

Her life had become something amazing when she shifted, but she didn't have anyone to share it with other than Dawn. Nova wished that one day she would have somebody to share this with. Maybe multiple somebodies to call a family. She wished that she could find a place to be herself where people wanted to know her.