Wolf-Annie: The Adventures of a Lycanthropic Librarian
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... All she wanted to do was lie still and see what would happen next. If she were being stalked as prey, well then, maybe that was the solution to all her problems. Annie had been determined never to stoop to suicide, but if a bear or mountain lion were to make her his dinner, that was hardly her moral responsibility. She hoped it wouldn't hurt too much, and she nearly laughed. How could a minute or two in the jaws of a predator hurt worse than the year she had just lived through? If she were to be prey, Annie wanted to go graciously, without yelling or struggling. 'Gracious dining, Rocky Mountain style,' she thought, and smiled. There was a rightness and naturalness to this that filled her with a delicious sense of relaxation. The sound of movement stopped, and Annie felt the gentle pressure of being watched. She turned her head in the direction of the sensation and saw a wolf. He was looking straight at her, and the moonlight reflected back ruby red from his eyes. He was only a little bigger than a good sized Siberian Husky, but there was a sense of majesty and power about him that filled Annie with awe. He was incredibly beautiful. Moonlight sparkled in tiny sparks across the hairs of his silver gray fur, tapering black bands came down his forehead and across his cheeks giving character to his noble, intelligent face, and thick, silver-white fur formed a gentlemanly, ruffled shirtfront down his broad, powerful chest. He was so perfect, so confidant, so regal, and so completely free! Finally Annie's long dammed tears broke free and flowed with all the pain of blood coursing from a fresh wound. It was a good pain, the first good pain she'd felt in a very long time, and she let it go. That glorious wolf was everything she wanted to be: free, natural, beautiful and unashamed. As she wept, the wolf watched her, and she loved him just for being what he was. It was the first time in years she had felt herself loving anything. A second wolf, smaller and a little more timid, came into Annie's tear clouded vision. This one also, after a quick glance to the big wolf for direction, watched Annie with an unwavering, red reflecting stare. One by one, eight more timber wolves slipped quietly out of the brush to form a circle around Annie. They seemed as fascinated with her as she was in awe of them. When they had silently watched her for some time, the first, biggest wolf raised his silver muzzle toward the moon, barked three sharp yaps and lifted his voice in a high, pure, glorious howl. The sound crashed over Annie like an ocean wave, engulfing her and filling her. It was the loudest and most beautiful sound she had ever heard, and she drank it in with every cell of her being. Singly, the other wolves joined the song, lifting a strange, haunting harmony of which Annie was the center. She could feel her world changing around her, and the change felt good. The earth upon which she lay was no longer just rocks and dirt, it was a great living creature to which she belonged and of which she was an organ. The air she breathed was alive too, a creature that shone with all the light of the moon and of which she was also a living part. Annie felt herself changing. Everything soft, weak, sick and ungainly about her was being bathed by a warm power from the living earth, and that warm power was rearranging her into a new, more vital form. She knew she could break out of the process, if she wished, but she welcomed the change. She felt powerful, joyful and free. She could hear one void in the wolves' harmony, one spot where another voice was needed, and she crawled from her sleeping bag, a beautiful, silver-gray timber wolf bitch. She lifted her strong muzzle, and let the pure, cleansing power of the earth burst from her silver furred throat in ecstatic, instinctive song. Her voice made the song complete and perfect.
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About the Book
When Annie McMurphy finds she has the ability to transform herself into a free, wild wolf, she breaks out of her circumscribed life and oppressive marriage to establish a new life -- a double one. By day, she's an independent woman, and by night, she's a timber wolf, hunting with the pack. Both of these new lives have their pleasures, but to enjoy those pleasures, she must face challenges and dangers she never could have anticipated before her transformation. When Annie's hard-drinking, womanizing ex-husband sets out to make a name and fortune for himself by capturing a real, live werewolf, the action really peaks.
This is a rich, lyrical, exciting tale worth reading again and again. Come along as Annie learns what it means to be a wolf and what it means to be human. This book is bound to become one of your favorites.