Chapter 89

The next four days passed by completely uneventfully, as it was mainly time that was just there to let everyone calm down a bit. Training, eating, and prepping were all that the group did, outside of relaxing. There were only a few changes that happened. Mainly, the pups had all opened their eyes, and some were even attempting to stand on their stubby little legs. All four of the new mothers seemed exhausted, but happy, and have all slowly moved their groups of young ones near to each other, so that they could still talk and converse while they were all nursing their young. As for their mates, they took turns getting their new forms unlocked. Because of how draining it was for her, Nat only did one a day. Then, they took most of the day to learn how to walk and get used to their new form. Shannon had fun being able to converse with all of the hounds after they shifted, and felt she would be more help instructing them through walking instead of cooking more meals. Especially since they had not even gotten around to trying half of the ones she had already made collectively as a group.

The first day was Sol. He was probably the most needed partner and so would go through with it when the going was easiest, but no one blamed him or Luna for that. Twelve puppies is a very demanding workload. When he came out in his transformed state, his form had carried over the warg's naturally larger size. Where Bryden had probably been about seven feet tall standing up, Sol came in much closer to ten. He could actually give those ogres a run for their money in the size department. The second day was Shadow. Apparently, he had been watching the others and their attempts to walk, as his exit from the Soulscape went the smoothest of all of them so far. He matched Bryden in size, easily sitting a foot and a half taller than Nat when they both stood up straight. While he still stumbled about a bit, he was making the most rapid progress so far of learning how to move about on only two limbs. On the third day, Nat asked the coyotes if any of them wanted to get access to that form. However, none of them really felt a need at the moment, and would grab it later. Hearing that some spots opened up, Maia and Kali swarmed onto Nat, begging to be able to shift. And so, the third and fourth days became the days for Kali and Maia, respectively. Kali had been the first to join Nat in her Soulscape after all. What did not surprise anyone, was the amount of girl talk that went on between those two and Shannon. It was as if they were trying to catch up as friends that had not seen each other in years.

Throughout this whole process, Natalie had come to learn a fair number of things about her power. Firstly, she was not able to make her energy veil inside thin enough to not provoke the change yet. It was also still lumpy and uneven, making it draw even more power from her. Secondly, it felt as though the energy was becoming faster in returning. It was behaving as a long-neglected muscle, the more she used it and limbered up, the more often she was able to use it. Her practice in moving it around internally did a fair amount in helping her mediate how much was used, but did nothing for getting her own body used to it. That brought her to the third point, as each time one of the canines went through the process, it took less and less out of her. Sure, some of it was due to her getting better at thinning the veil, but that could only account for so much. The change she was noticing was far too large to be due to just practice alone, as she had not improved like that before. Her max energy had grown, but it was still negligible in the face of the growth she felt. The only thing that could come to her mind was her body was growing used to having that strain placed upon it now, and was adapting towards making it easier to handle. Realizing where she went wrong in her training, as she was specializing on control while neglecting consumption management, the end of her days now marked with her shifting larger amounts of her body.

On the fourth day, Maia had Kali and Shannon guiding her through her new form and how to maneuver in it, leading to her having it down and running laps in less than half an hour. This led to most of the group taking the day to relax in the sun. Nat kept up a modicum of training as she did, but the warm sun felt soothing on their bodies as they lay in the grass. A calm and peaceful silence lay overtop of the group, none wanting to end their relaxation early. When the sun was finally starting to near the peaks of the mountains in the west, Natalie finally said the words everyone had been expecting. "This is going to be our last night here. It was good while it lasted, but we need to move on forward. Tomorrow is going to be a day back on the road." Nat paused for a second, considering something in her head. Coming to a decision, she added, "Of the canines joining us as we walk, I want one of them to be in a shifted state. We should get used to moving as a group when we have people who are shifted now."

Since none could argue her logic, grunts of approval were heard across the grassy knoll they lay upon. Glad that the pack had not disagreed with her idea, Nat turned on her side, only to find herself staring directly at Shannon's face. The two smiled as they stared at each other, lust clear in their eyes, pure in Natalie's but mixed with apprehension in Shannon's. However, neither moved to break this view until a chorus of growling stomachs sounded off. Both blushing, they got up and ate some meatloaf that Shannon had made a few days prior. Side by side, and without words, the two just watched the sun set behind the mountains together. After it had fully disappeared and the stars appeared overhead, did they wish each other good night and went to bed, resting for their journey to resume in the morning.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Eric, Corgi, Lachlan, Adam, John, Nicholas, Jacob, Onean, Erudual, Hades, Neal, Juuso, Sebastian, Sir Hellington, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 50 patrons, which I will then spend more time each month writing some side stories and shorts that show other perspectives throughout my stories!

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