Page 55 of Pack to the Wall

I smiled as a righteous justice settled within me. Tank was a brute and a letch. This seemed a fitting punishment for him.

Rita hobbled over to us, wounded, but mostly well.

Colt and I reverted to our human forms.

“Jane?” he asked quickly.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I think Tyson went after her.”

“Go! Find her!” Rita shouted at us. But we weren’t going to be going anywhere as naked men and it was too light out to be trotting down the street as a lion and a bear. We quickly scrambled back inside to find some clothes.

“Hang on, Jane!” I whispered to myself. “We’re coming!”

JANE

Nothing made sense.My mind spun. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my soul screamed a part of me that used to be… something else, and that sliver of myself knew this was wrong.

Except allIknew for certain was that there had been a horrible beast. I’d gotten away from it, but I’d crashed through something that had cut deep gashes along my flanks. Yet that pain was secondary to my raging hunger. I was bombarded with powerful scents all around me, but one in particular called to me: a fresh kill, blood, somewhere in that forest.

So, I ran…

…away from that terrifying beast…

…urged by my starvation…

…toward the smell of blood.

I knew if I just followed my nose, I’d find it, and I’d sink my fangs into warm flesh and tear and bite and devour. That was what I was meant to do: hunt, kill, consume.

I just wished the pain slicing through me would go away. I could smell my own blood. I didn’t know how I knew it was my blood, but given the pain it made sense.

My right arm — no, it was a leg — had been cut when I’d fled from that strange cave where the beast had come for me. Therewas also pain along my sides, as well as one other leg. Still, I ran as fast as I could through the darkening woods toward that wonderful scent of meat.

Then it came into view. A small doe. Something else had killed it but had left it mostly intact. The scent of that warm blood filled my nostrils and sent a rumble like thunder through my gut. I reached the animal and instinctively went for the neck. That was already torn open, where the most blood was spilled. I didn’t care, I tore at it again, feeling the metallic warmth splash on my tongue.

I’d never tasted anything so delicious in my life. Admittedly, it had been a very short life, starting in that strange cave. I remembered precious little before that… only hazy memories, which didn’t seem like my own.

I moved from the neck to the soft belly, tearing that open and devouring everything that spilled out. It was a glorious feast. I couldn’t eat fast enough, couldn’t get enough into my famished body.

My ears swiveled, picking up the sounds of movement and a growl.

Danger! I knew this instinctively. My head came up, eyes scanning the dark beneath the trees. There! A blond wolf, fangs bared, snarling, slowly pacing through the forest, making a wide circle around me.

I snarled back.

This wasmykill… well I hadn’t made the kill, but it was mine now and I’d defend it. I hadn’t sated my cavernous hunger yet. If this other wolf got in the way, I’d devour them too.

Though, as much as I knew how to run and eat, I didn’t really know how to fight. My short life had consisted of running in fear, then running toward food.

My teeth could score and rend. I’d use them… somehow. I should go for the neck. That seemed to make sense. Butsomething told me this other wolf had lived a life much longer than mine and knew what it was doing… what…shewas doing. I could smell her now that she was upwind of me. I wasn’t sure what part of her scent identified her as female, I justknew.

Her bark was a warning, a threat. I understood it implicitly even though I’d never heard a bark before. It meantyou’re deadorI’ll kill you, something along those lines, the meaning clear enough to my mind.

I barked back,Mine! Go away!

The she-wolf gave a whuffing sound of amusement. She wasn’t afraid of me. Yet she waited, pacing back and forth, wary. I kept my eyes on her. She wasn’t smart. As long as she was upwind of me, not only would I see her coming, but I’d smell her too.

It was my ears that saved me. I heard the crunch of rushing paws behind me, close. Only then did I realize that the bitch had been a distraction, keeping my focus upwind so I wouldn’t smell her partner.

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