Part 6
When the merger was complete, Christy slowly stood up on her new legs. She felt a slight trembling in them, which faded after a moment. Initially, she could only take small steps. As time passed and she grew accustomed to the new shape of her body and the altered center of gravity, she was able to take larger steps. The new digitigrade shape of her legs no longer seemed strange to Christy; after a while, she could run and jump on them as if she had been born with them.

Christy stopped in the middle of the room, her breath surprisingly calm, though her heart beat in a new, stronger rhythm. She looked at her hands – they were no longer gloves now, but her own skin, smooth, shiny, and firm to the touch like the highest quality latex, yet sensitive to every draft of air in the room.

When she tried to move her tail, it wasn't just a mechanical movement. She felt it as an extension of her spine. It was heavy but controllable, helping her maintain balance during every sharp turn. A quiet, almost imperceptible murmur echoed in her head – an echo of that androgynous voice that had now retreated deep into her subconscious. "See, Christy? I told you it would be you who would rule."

She stepped to the mirror again. She was no longer looking at the stressed high school student whose life revolved around textbooks and an unpaid part-time job. In the reflection, she saw a being that was a perfect fusion of her name and evolutionary potential. Brawolf – a brown predator with those strange, asymmetrical markings that now seemed downright beautiful to her. The grey patches on her leg and face no longer seemed like a mistake, but a sign of her uniqueness. She felt a new, predatory energy within her. She was no longer afraid of what would happen at the party tomorrow. In fact, the whole idea of a party with ordinary people suddenly seemed... trivial.

Right at this moment of absolute self-confidence, her gaze fell on the table, and she saw something there that hadn't been there before. She approached it and saw it was a small rectangular object the size of a business card. "I don't remember being there before when I came in," she thought.

Christy picked up the card with her paw (hand) and saw it was made of cream-colored paper. On the back, in neat, old-fashioned cursive script, it was written:

Come today at 8:30 PM to the back door of the store.
Dethreian.

Christy frowned and looked at the clock on the microwave, realizing she only had a few minutes left. That trivial party with friends who didn't like her anyway (most only hung out with her because she was in the top five students of the year) was forgotten in that second.