Page 41 of Scarred Resolve

“That does happen, no doubt.” Niko picked up a torn shirt and dropped it when he was done sniffing it closely. It wasn’t soaked in blood, only covered in dirt. It had probably been in one of the couple’s bags.

“But the reports didn’t note any signs of predation,” Davor pointed out, knocking one of his own theories off the list.

“Yeah, I was going to get to that. It said the humans sustained fatal injuries, but nothing was… chewed on.” I made a face, trying not to think about the idea of eating a human. I bit a lot of things in my time but never consciously considered swallowing any of the pieces.

“So, it was eliminating a perceived threat. That means it’s a fairly recent Last Change.”

I looked at Niko once again, frowning.

“Can you explain that?”

“Absolutely. A werecat who will eat anything and everything that is meat is generally not just in the Last Change but totally feral, with no remnants of whatever came before. All of them will kill anything, but most don’t stop to eat everything. Only the ones that have been like that for too long.”

“That’s the one Niko and Jabari went after together, so he’s seen it and would know what to look for,” Davor explained. “Back then, humans were more spread out, so werecats, and even some werewolves, could remain undetected for a long period of time. We would hear about them when they started leaving entire herds of cattle decimated in a few short weeks, orrural farming families would go missing. They have to maintain the calorie intake we normally do.”

“Or higher,” Niko commented.

“Or higher,” Davor repeated in agreement, giving a nod to Niko.

“Would it just keep killing everything it sees? Would it go into a village and just… I thought that’s what happened.” I had heard stories. That was why we were doing this now before this werecat could get to any major population, even if it was just twenty people.

“Definitely, but not every time.” Niko shrugged, a casual gesture that made me a little uncomfortable with my brother. “They’re unique creatures, just like we all are before the Last Change. If you dropped one in without it having a chance to prepare and people started screaming? That would definitely drive it into a killing spree. If it happened in the middle of nowhere and was naturally a loner to begin with? It would only go looking for trouble if it scared off all its potential food sources. A violent predator like a werecat in the Last Change scares off everything in the nearby area. Nothing to hunt causes it to move.”

“And if it only needs the sustenance of a single human-sized carcass, that won’t stop it from killing the entire family just for breathing too close to it,” Davor continued for Niko. “Which is the out-of-control part. They’re always hyper aggressive, but it varies in degrees for what might trigger that aggression. Getting near it will always trigger it to attack. Always. However, it’s not driven by getting some high score kill count like one can do in a video game or anything.”

“It wants what any animal wants. Security and a food source. It eliminates threats to its security and in doing so, probably also kills the rivals of its food source… and when it’s truly feral, turnsthem into the food source as well.” Niko kept looking through things, stepping away to sniff around more.

“Werewolves are normally the troublesome moon cursed in populated areas, like the stories we’ve all heard, since they create populated areas with their large amounts of human families. That was before they went public, so it’s even more likely now,” Davor said, crossing his arms. He didn’t seem interested in looking through anything else. “Werecats… the potential is still there and still devastating, but because we’re often very secluded and many don’t even know where a werecat may or may not live, there’s that large unknown factor. Werewolves can identify our territory, but many supernatural species either can’t or don’t recognize it when they feel it. So, they go out into the woods or up in the mountains, and the werecat recognizes the threat and destroys them before they have a chance.”

“We’re really lucky to know about this in such a rural area,” Niko said, a bit loud from across the room once again as he leaned in close to something. “Better a few hikers who could have been killed by a bear than a small fishing community or a family near a village.” He straightened up. “I’m done. I have a good idea of the scent.”

“Anything else that you find interesting?” I asked as we walked to the door.

“No, I was mostly dragging this out to piss off the humans,” Niko said, smiling mischievously. “Plus, you had questions, and it’s better to answer questions when you have them than to ask you to remember them for later.”

I looked back as we stepped out, looking at what remained of two human lives and a vacation they were on. A tragedy that I knew deep down I needed to stop from occurring a second time.

With that thought, I hit my brother in the gut with the back of my hand.

“We’re not here to waste time to be petty,” I hissed low enough for the humans to miss.

Niko said nothing, but the shift in his expression and rising anger in his scent said everything he didn’t.

18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Getting to the scene of the deaths wasn’t an easy feat, but Niko, Davor, and I already knew the park generally had people fly in instead of driving. The BSA did most of the talking for me there, making sure the park had stopped all visitors to see if the “bear” could be found and that more experts were on the way. During the flight, I had some questions, but when it came to the conversations between different government agencies, I knew I would never get answers unless I wanted to put a substantial effort into finding them.

I wasn’t willing to put in that effort, and Davor, upon thinking about it as well, didn’t care, either.

The small crew on the plane, only three humans, were often used by the BSA when they needed to fly to different parts of Alaska. They were well acquainted with the Fairbanks werewolf pack, having a contract with them for flights when their own pilots weren’t available. It didn’t surprise me that all the locals knew of each other. We were the first werecats they had ever met, but there was no avoiding that conversation. I had been on television more than once, just smiling and waving as thingshappened around me, on top of the fact that the videos of my Change were still circulating on the internet after being leaked.

I tried to be gracious and kind, keeping as much attention off my brothers as I could. When we landed, I took a picture with the crew, giving a peace sign and a smile, even if I wasn’t feeling it.

“Have a safe flight home,” I said, waving as they got back on the plane, walking backward to get to my brothers with our things.

“Thank you! Hope everything turns out well for you folks,” the pilot called out.

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