The October New Moon hung over the desert mesa, turning the sky an otherworldly hue of pale blue, shrouding the land with a pallid, spookish light where shadows lurked to hide their secrets from the eyes of the common folk.

Long, freakish contours stretched, dark and foreboding, painting shaded vignettes across wooden buildings with even darker alleys casting patterns of void upon the well worn road through the town of BitterRidge Canyon.

A black cat darted across the dirt street where Triela stood alone at the Town Square.

She placed her hands lightly over the pistols in the double gun belt that hung at her waist. Something didn't feel right.

Glowing yellow flames in gas lamps that lined the street danced, casting eerie shadows that played along the deserted street and flickered on the whitewashed walls of simple wooden buildings along the street.

The streets were empty tonight. The shops were empty. Even the New Penny Saloon, which was usually roaring with life, sat silent.

BitterRidge had become a ghost town.

Triela hadn't been gone for more than a month. What could have happened?

Fear began to curl up her spine and she swallowed a hard lump in her throat as a tall figure dressed in black emerged from a shadowy alcove and began slowly walking toward her. His spurs clinked ominously with every step, his face hidden under a wide brimmed black cowboy hat.

Her fingers, shaking ever so slightly, wrapped defensively around the cold comfort of the pearl-handled Colt 45's on her hip.

Just when she was ready to draw down on the dark, threatening spectre stalking her way, a bone-chilling voice cautioned her not to be hasty with her trigger finger.

Triela flung around to find her lover behind her. Lasko. Relief flooded her.

"What the hell is going on here Lasko?" Triela whispered, her voice husky with tension.

Lasko smiled eerily. "They've come to claim a soul Triela."

Triela looked back nervously to see several more shadowy figures had joined the first one and they stood deathly still in the middle of the road as those flames in the gas lamps illuminated their pale, ghastly faces.

"What do you mean Lasko," she stuttered, still gripping her pistols.

"Scratch-Seekers, Triela. They come for the ones who are marked with the scratch of the TurnSkin. The legend tells the story that they came from the moon."

"Who?"

"Men who change in the light of a New Moon, becoming beast-like creatures-- seeking out the children who were taken from them at birth. They find them by following the scratch."

"The scratch?"

She gave him an apprehensive glance, looking back to make sure those dark interlopers hadn't come closer.

Still they crept closer.

"Yes, the scratch. A scratch that never goes away. A scratch given to them at birth to mark them. Like the scratch on your arm."

"Nooo-" she argued weakly. "Not now," she sighed with a hollow cry.

Lasko stepped closer. "In the earlier days, when it was discovered a female TurnSkin had birthed, the townspeople would form hunting parties to go out and find these children. They thought, if they raised them in their own homes they would never know who they really were but it soon became clear these TurnSkins formed their own hunting packs and years later they would come for their own. They always find them," Lasko said quietly.

He reached out for Triela, taking her by the arm and pulling her close. "There is nothing to fear, my love." He bent toward her and placed a warm kiss on her lips.

Triela tried to push away but he held her by the arms and pulled her close to his face. His eyes shimmered iridescent and Triela gasped watching in horror as they seemed to change color.

He smiled. "We always-, find our own," Lasko breathed against her neck.

Triela opened her mouth to scream but he held a finger to her lips. "Everyone has seen the scratch on your arm."

"You don't know what you're saying Lasko!"

"But I do and BitterRidge knows who you are. Your time has come," he grunted as he suddenly ripped the arm of her shirt sleeve away revealing the long jagged scratches of the TurnSkin.

A desperate moan escaped Triela as she fought to get away from Lasko.

In her struggle she watched as the darkly dressed, ghostly specters now surrounded them and Lasko brought her body against his, resting his lips against hers and he whispered against her mouth.

"Don't fight it little one. You were scratched at birth. I saw it when we met. I fell in love with you then, and you loved me Triela."

Triela screamed as the TurnSkins dressed in black pressed in and she felt her body betray the only reality she had ever known.

A powerful urge claimed her lithe frame and she bent backwards as Lasko held her at the waist watching with eager anticipation in his gleaming nocturnal eyes.

Her skin cracked and stretched and she screamed in pain, a ghostly scream that was lonesome, howling, rising on the wind to the heavens, stirring ancient memories within her. A sound raced through every blood vessel, a luring, coaxing pressure filled with hot pleasure.

Lasko pulled her upright, grasping her mane of chestnut hair and his lips crashed down upon hers.

She returned his passion, groaning against his mouth, panting, grasping, pressing herself against him with malevolent fury, she held onto him using his energy to ground herself, to fight the erupting chaos coursing through her veins, a chaos that expected primal release.

A growl rolled up from her core and she felt a primitive calling explode, bursting forth as her powerful wolf emerged thrusting her forward to the ground.

The TurnSkins helped her find her balance.

Lasko felt his own shift coming and he threw his head back, raging with a howl of ecstasy. He had waited so long for this moment. Her eyes shone luminescent blue, like the moon. He gazed upon her hungrily and grit his teeth against his shift.

He knew her shift would pass soon and she would return to her human body. Against her will her wolf had emerged triumphant, but every wolf did that at first. Triela would have to learn to master her new ability.

Lasko smiled. She turned and bolted off into the night.

The TurnSkins nodded and together they and Lasko followed her, shifting easily at the edge of BitterRidge Mesa.

They found her waiting for them on a rise overlooking the plains.

Triela had found the strength to back shift and she watched as they approached her. She was naked but stood fearless before them as one who knew the power she now possessed.

She watched as they dissolved in mid stride and reappeared upright from a mist of shimmering opaque sparkles that lingered in the air around them. As Lasko strode up to her she moved forward to meet him and they melded together. He ravished her mouth, taking full ownership of the woman he loved with his whole being.

When he pulled back to look into her azure blue eyes he found them wide and full of wonder. "I have so many things I need to know but first I need to find some clothing. She looked him up and down.

"How is it that you seem to be able to do this changeling thing and yet keep your clothing?"

He smiled at her 'straight from the shoulder,' audacity.

"That ability comes with developed finesse," he teased, then on a serious note he took off his long-gun jacket and wrapped her in it before he asked her a question of his own.

"You don't seem surprised to find out who you are. A little rebellious, but not surprised. Tell me, did you already know?"

"I would be lying if I said I never knew, so I learned to use a gun and became a bounty hunter. I expected it would catch up to me someday, I just never imagined it would be you, Lasko. That was the reason I kept my distance. I couldn't bear to break your heart when the day came," she admitted quietly, hanging her head down.

She pushed her chestnut waves of hair behind her ear.

He pulled her face back to his with a finger beneath her chin. Leaning over her he placed his lips against hers. "I'm going to make you mine tonight," he whispered against her lips. "Right here beneath the moon and the stars. No more running, gunslinger." He said the words tenderly, nipping her lips until she was breathless.

She glanced all around him to look for the others but they were now gone, having disappeared into the soft night, leaving Lasko to claim his place as her Alpha.

"Damn the moon and stars, I just hope the hills don't have eyes."

He laughed heartily and made good of his words.