Page 2 of The Wolf's Secret Baby

“Was he abusive towards you?”

Derren tensed and his demeanor shifted. There was a coldness to his eyes as he stared at me. Then, realization dawned upon his face. He shook his head and then lifted his finger, wagging it in the air in front of my face.

“Oh no, we’re not doing this. You’re not going to read my mind or any of that crap.”

I refrained from correcting him to the point that I do not read minds but he had a point, I hadn’t come out here to work.

“I’m sorry, it’s hard to switch it off,” I said. Derren shook the sourness from his face and then rose, approaching me. He pulled me up and held me close. His strong arms wrapped around my body.

“I’ll switch it off by turning you on,” he grunted. “I’ve wanted this for a long time. You have no idea how long I’ve thought about it.” Naked desire simmered in his eyes and mylips parted. We had almost reached the point of no return, and I thought I was ready for it, but at the last moment I pulled away. There was something missing. I wasn’t entirely sure what, but I couldn’t be the wild person I wanted to be, at least not yet. Maybe I just needed some alcohol.

I pulled away from him but when I did, I felt his hand grab my arm like a vice. I gasped, wincing. Did he know his own strength?

“Where are you going?” he asked, an edge to his voice.

“Just to get a drink. I want to loosen up.”

“I can get you plenty loose. You don’t need anything apart from me,” he yanked me back towards him. Breath left my throat as I crashed against his chest. Both his hands were pressed into my flesh and there was a dark desire in his eyes. He tucked a few strands of my red hair behind my ear.

“Derren, what are you doing?” I spoke in a frail whisper. His fingers traced a line around my neck.

“I’m doing what you want me to do. It’s why you brought me out here, isn’t it? This place… we’re meant to be wild. I know what women like you want. You’re all so professional. It must be exhausting. You just want to let loose, strip away everything and go wild. You want a man, a real man. Someone who isn’t afraid of the world. Maybe you even want to be punished a little,” his voice dropped an octave, and he tapped my ass, following up with a grab, as though I was there purely for his enjoyment and nothing more.

“Derren!” I slapped his shoulder, trying to push him away. He was so strong I doubt he even felt it. Either way, he seemed to enjoy it.

“That’s it, I like it rough, but are you willing to let me slap you around as well, or are you one of these feminists?” he spat the word like a curse and it was as though a mask had been lifted. How had I gotten things so wrong? How had I misjudged him?I had been so focused on what his body could offer that I never gave enough thought to his personality. I had always brushed him off as being uncouth and raw, a man made for another time. I didn’t realize there was something more sinister lurking beneath the surface. I hadn’t gone on a date with him because I wanted to keep it a secret. I didn’t want people to know that this highly-renowned psychiatrist was actually a sex-starved nymph, and my cravings had been my undoing. Fear trembled in my heart.

“Let go!” I tried to wrench myself away, hoping that this was some misguided joke. I glanced around. We were in the middle of nowhere. There were no cops within reach of a phone (the cell service out here was non-existent), no strangers with their phones at the ready, prepared to intervene. There was only him and me.

“I’m not here to play games, Ambrosia. We both know why you brought me out here, so why are we delaying the inevitable? Let’s just get down to it. I don’t even mind if you’re a little afraid, it makes it all the sweeter and you’ll start to like it soon enough,” he cupped my face in his hand. I gasped and scrambled out of his arms, pushing myself back as I pushed him away. As I did so, I stumbled and fell to my knees. The world rose to meet me. He towered over me, filling my vision, looming as tall as a mountain. There was a perverse, malicious smile on his face, and I couldn’t believe that I had been stupid enough to make myself a victim. He hadn’t wasted any time in showing his true colors.

“That’s where you belong,” he growled.He fumbled with his belt. I looked away, and that’s when I saw them for the first time, two men emerging from the shadows of the forest. They were hulking and raw, bristling with strength. At first, I feared they were going to join in. In my tear-stained vision they looked identical. Derren loosened his grip as he turned to face them.

“Help me, please…” my weak voice trailed away. I was forced to trust these two strangers for help, but were they honestly there to help me, or were they going to join in?

Derren cursed at them and waved them away. He turned his attention back to me. I stared at the strangers, because they were my only hope. They started towards us, swaggering with intent. They were like reflections of each other, with only slight shimmers of differences between them and then something happened that turned my mind inside out and my world upside down. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it at all. The air shimmered around them and there was a crackling sound, as though something was being ripped apart. My mouth hung open in silent shock as I stared at them. Their bodies changed, shifting from a human form to something else, to something… beastly. Thick fur grew from their pores, covering their flesh. Their eyes became beadier, their faces longer until a long snout led to sharp jaws, with fangs that dripped with potent ferocity. They fell forward from two legs to four, the powerful muscles coiled within these bestial forms. They snarled and growled. It was impossible. Had Derren terrified me so much that my mind had cracked and conjured this staggering vision?

“No… no! What is this?” Derren cried out. He could see them too. This was real. They were real. They were animals and I was certain they were here to kill us.

Chapter Two

Typhon

I smelled them both. Their scents drifted through the air, these intruders. We were tasked with dealing with intruders. Vance did not like any trespassers near the compound for fear that it would be discovered. This would please him. We would be celebrated as we returned, my brother and me.

Just as we had been about to reveal ourselves, the male attacked the female. He seemed vicious and it was a sign of weakness that he would try to intimidate someone who was so physically inferior to him. Strength should only be displayed when confronting someone who possesses greater abilities than you. Anything else was bullying. We could deal with her in a different way, but he deserved to be shown the laws by which we lived. These humans… they knew so little about justice and righteousness. Vance always spoke about how they were arrogant and hubristic, and how the world needed to be wrested from their grasp. It was ours for the taking and soon enough the wolves would be standing upon their bodies, ruling the world. Kull and I would be among them, having proved ourselves in the Great War. This was the beginning. This could be the first strike that would spark the flame, a flame that would grow into a blaze and consume history. We sought to burn it to ash and sweep it aside, creating a new history, one where the wolves were the apex predators, just as it should have been. Just as it was written so long ago.

We revealed our true forms as we approached this pitiful wretch of a man. The replica of ancient magic shimmered around us and for a moment I could pretend that I was a wolf of old, one of the true blooded ancestors that first settled in thisterritory. I tried to push away the whispers and taunts of my peers, the ones who told me and my brother that we were not true wolves. Perhaps after tonight we could prove ourselves to them and they would be forced to accept us as part of the pack. We could earn our right as warriors and lead the armies into battle, claiming blood and glory in the name of the Moon, and our valiant leader Vance.

My senses were quickly heightened, and the world became more vivid as I turned into a wolf. My paws padded against the ground. The woman’s scent drifted towards me. It was sweet and spicy. It did strange things to my mind, the aroma twisting and darting within me, as though it was a living thing. I never realized a human could smell like this. Then again, these were the first humans I had ever encountered. Vance had always told me that humans smelled rotten, and we could detect their stench from far away. He was right about this man. A fetid aroma rolled off him in waves that made my stomach churn, but the woman… no, she was different. I sniffed the air, wondering if Kull felt the same thing, but his attention was drawn to the man.

She had called him Derren. I heard her shout out his name. Her words were laced with fear. Was it this that transformed her scent and made her so attractive? He spun away from her, the aggressive intent in his eyes smoothed over by fear and surprise. But he was no coward. These humans were convinced of their place in the world. They were always taught that they were the superior beings, the ones at the top of the food chain. They believed they had pushed aside all the other predators in the world, but they were wrong. The wolves had simply waited and bided our time until we were prepared to take this world from them.

He would be the first beneficiary of this lesson, and his slaughter would be a message to the rest of humanity, showing them that their world was to be shaken to its core, and theirtame existence was about to be threatened. Derren moved back quickly, towards the fire. Kull was racing towards him. Derren reached down and picked up a thick piece of wood. A flame burned at the end. It streaked through the air, sparks flying and dancing around as he swiped it towards Kull. Kull growled and ducked, nimbly adjusting his trajectory to move to the side. Derren looked triumphant.

“I don’t know what you are, but you should get away. I’ll kill you! You hear me? I’ll fucking kill you!” he swung the wood in an arc in front of him again, warning Kull against getting too close. Kull narrowed his eyes, watching carefully for an opening. I could see his limbs tensing, primed to lunge forward. Did this fool think we were afraid of fire? We had been forged in worse. Pain was nothing to be afraid of.

Pain was our companion.

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