Page 3 of The Wolf's Secret Baby

The woman trembled, her face as pale as the moon. She wasn’t going to join this man. I turned my attention away from her and joined Kull. Derren seemed more agitated now. He jabbed the wood towards us, as though it was a spear. The fire hissed. I glanced towards Kull. We shared a moment of silent understanding. Smoke billowed in the air, the ashy taste bitter at the back of my throat. Derren’s face was illuminated in an amber glow, the whites of his eyes visible, fear slowly taking hold of his heart. With every passing moment he began to realize that fire was not going to be a decisive factor in this battle and that we were not going to be as meek as the prey he had thought he was going to abuse.

“Stay back,” Derren said. This time his voice hitched with fear. It was a sign of weakness, a sign that he was going to buckle under the pressure of our intimidation. Kull and I snarled in tandem. Our bestial bodies bristled with vicious strength. How many foes had we defeated together? I had lost count. The blood flowed into a river, trailing behind us, a legacy of death. Witheach kill we grew closer to earning the respect of Vance and the pack, until eventually we would be seen as true wolves rather than the shadows we currently were. I nodded towards Kull.

He went low. I went high. Kull darted towards Derren’s feet, while I unsheathed my claws and directed them at Derren. They looked sharp in the fire. Derren cried out in anguish and swung the wood towards me. I could see it arriving, and was prepared to take the hit. Heat singed my fur. The pain flared against my flesh and seeped beneath, darkening my soul. As this happened, Kull crashed into Derren and sent him flying. He lost grip of his weapon, and it rolled away, the flame dying out as it hit the grass, smoldering to a faint glow with a plume of smoke drifting into the air. Derren scrambled back, moving as quickly as he could to escape us. Kull took a moment to check on me, but I gestured towards the human. I winced in pain, embracing it, making it a part of myself, for it would make me stronger. Pain always made us stronger.

Derren kicked out and threw whatever came to hand towards Kull. The stones and sticks rained down upon Kull but bounced off him harmlessly. He prowled before Derren, the hints of silver in his fur illuminated by the fire. Derren was shaking his head in shock. Every aspect of him was in motion as he sprinted away to a car. He slammed the door and revved the engine.

“What are you doing? Get back here! Don’t leave me!” the woman cried. She had managed to get to her feet now and she was stumbling towards the car, reaching out for it forlornly. Kull bellowed and propelled himself forward at top speed, becoming a stormy blur that rushed towards the car. Shafts of light emanated from the headlights as the car was brought into motion. Tires spun as the car trundled back, turning away from the cabin. The woman screamed again, her arms stretched as far as they could go but it wasn’t far enough. A sickly scent wasspewed out from the car as it screeched away, Derren slamming his foot down. It jerked from side to side as it headed to safety. Kull chased after it, his legs pumping, all of his strength and vigor focused on this metal behemoth. The car continued to accelerate, roaring with desperation. I could picture the anxious sweat that trickled down Derren’s temples. Kull was so impressive when he moved like this. He chased the car down and then lunged forward, swiping towards the rear bumper. For a moment I thought he had succeeded in taking hold of it and halting Derren’s escape, only for the bumper to come loose and clatter away. Kull was taken with it, and Derren was able to speed into the darkness and accelerate away. I snarled as this failure was hard to swallow, but then my head swiveled and I stared at the woman he had left behind.

At least we still had her.

I stalked towards her, turning my back to the fire. My fur was sizzling with heat, and the scent of burnt flesh was rising from the wound. The woman looked defeated and betrayed. Fear lined her features. She fell to her knees and clasped her hands together. I studied her carefully. Her flaming hair was lustrous, a few strands matted to her head by sweat. She had strong features and an intense gaze in her emerald eyes. Her lips were full and vibrant with color, while her body flowed in sensual curves. Her arms were slender, while her chest pressed against tight clothes. She wore a dress, and it looked as though she had been poured into it. It almost seemed as though her body was about to burst out of the fabric. Her thick thighs were visible beneath the seam of the dress, which rose up as she knelt down. One strap fell away from her shoulder, revealing a constellation of freckles against her pale, milky skin. The valley of her cleavage was deep, and the swell of her breasts rose dramatically with each panting breath. Sweat dusted her skin, and I inhaled all of her. She made me want to devour her.

“Please don’t hurt me, please. I’ll do anything. Just spare me. I don’t know what this is. I don’t know who you are. I just…I don’t want to die. Please, just let me go,” her voice was deep and soulful, even when it was trembling with fear. Desire flickered in my eyes. What a prize she would be. Kull returned to me, sour for having allowed the other human to flee, but she was far more than a consolation prize. I turned towards him and as our eyes met I knew that the same thought passed through our minds. That was no surprise, however. We were brothers, after all.

Chapter Three

Ambrosia

I closed my eyes for a moment, wishing that the ground would swallow me whole. I was trying to convince myself that something I’d eaten had been laced with drugs, but I knew that wasn’t the case. This was real.

Somehow, this was fucking real.

These men had turned into wolves and Derren had gone and abandoned me, leaving me here. All I had wanted was one weekend where I could leave everything behind and embrace the wild part of me and then this had to go and happen. I was going to die. There was nothing else that could happen. They had tried to attack Derren, and I had been too terrified to take advantage when their attention had been on him. Now Derren was speeding along the road, and I had no way to escape. Fear ran down my spine and I waited for them to sink their teeth into me and tear me apart.

Fuck, how many people had I pitied for suffering from crazed delusions of monsters? I told them time and time again that these things weren’t real, they were just products of our fearful mind. Every time I had denied them, even when they had been insistent. Well, I wasn’t so smug anymore, was I? I was about to become a victim of things that shouldn’t have existed, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

But I hadn’t yet felt either their claws or their teeth. I cracked my eyes open. Breath rushed out of me in one swift exhalation. They had shifted again, this time from wolves back to men. Instead of standing before me on four legs, with sly eyes gazing at me and their lips pulled back into a sharp smile, they were staring at me intently. They wore simple clothes, looseon their bodies. They wore vests over their torsos, but their biceps were revealing. They swelled with strength. Short pieces of fabric covered their groins. Long legs like thick tree trunks reached down to the ground, covered in hair. They bristled with strength. Their power was raw, incarnate, unable to be denied. These were more than men and I could hardly wrap my mind around their innate strangeness. I had always been a woman of science but here were two creatures that my mind was telling me should not exist and yet how could I deny them?

The one on the right had thick curls of hair cascading to his shoulders, reminding me of Samson but I couldn’t imagine his strength would be drained from him should his locks be shorn. Strength seemed to be an essential part of them, a quality that could never be stolen. The other had shorter hair, although it was the same shade. They had similar features: strong jaws, intense dark eyes, knotted foreheads, and a sturdy posture that suggested they were ready for any challenge, any at all. I had studied many different types of men during my career, and these were alpha males through and through. As I gazed up at them it was difficult not to be in awe of their sheer power.

I could do nothing but beg them for mercy because my fate was in their hands.

“What is your name?” one of them asked.

“Ambrosia. Dr. Ambrosia Hart,” I said, using my full title. It had brought me such pride, yet now it didn’t seem to matter at all. My skin tingled with heat at the thought of them ripping away my clothes. If they wanted to, they could do anything. They were stronger than Derren. They were animals… and aside from feeling quite stunned, my mind was filled with questions. Did they think differently? What type of lives did they lead? What were their beliefs? Even when my life was hanging in the balance, I could not turn off the inquisitive psychiatrist within.

“Do you know where you are?”

“The cabin… this… this has been in my family for a long time,” I replied.

“This is not your cabin. This territory belongs to Vance.”

“Is that you?” I asked.

They glanced at each other. A strange look came over their faces. It wasn’t quite a smirk, but it seemed close to it.

“No, I am Typhon and this is Kull.” Typhon was the one with longer hair. I gulped and nodded. At least now that I knew their names I might be able to begin a dialogue with them.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said, swallowing the fear as best I could. My heart raced as I stared at their twitching fingers. Their hands were massive.

“Have you ever seen creatures like us before?” Kull asked.

“No. I’ve heard stories,” I said, and was interrupted before I could continue.

“Stories,” Typhon spat, “the stories mean nothing.”

“Of course,” I stammered. “I’m sure they don’t. I’d love to know more about you. There’s no point in hurting me. I’m not important. It won’t do any good.”

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