Page 20 of A Wolf's Wound
April looks skeptical, but Lori jumps on the excuse.
“I bet that’s it, exactly.”She nods sagely.“You know, my neighbors had a Lab growing up.They’re usually the sweetest animals, but this one wasn’t socialized right.Went after all the cats and small dogs it could.”
“Could be,” April allows.“It does make some sense.A lot of these attacks seem almost playful.Whatever’s out there isn’t attacking to kill, at least not all the time.But why would the attacks happen near the woods?If it’s someone’s pet, wouldn’t they attack in the neighborhood?”
“Maybe they left the dog in the woods because it was getting aggressive and they didn’t want to put the animal down.”
It sounds like a good enough excuse, and it might even be true, but something tells me it’s not the case at all.Lori might not know what’s going on, but what ifsomeof the wolves in town know perfectly well what’s happening?
What if they’re behind it?
The bells jingle again.No warm brown eyes or dimples—just a man in tears, holding his cat to his chest.April and I sprint into action immediately, and Lori abandons her lunch in the break room.Thirty stitches and one on-the-mend tabby cat later, all thought of lunch and iced coffee is out the window.The waiting room is packed yet again.
As I stabilize a young Dalmatian puppy, I wish Ryder would stop by so I could find out what he knows about all this.Hunting without pack sanction, especially hunting the pets of fellow pack members, isn’t something that would fly back home, and I don’t think it’s within the rules of this pack either.Local media has been buzzing about the recent spate of attacks, and keeping the pack under the radar is always the primary concern.
No, if this is a shifter, they’re acting against the pack.But that’s almost as difficult to believe as the mountain lion bullshit Gavin’s trying to peddle to the public.I think back to what Lori was talking about earlier—an unsocialized dog.That doesn’t sound like any members of the Stonehaven pack I’ve met so far.No, they’re all annoyingly chummy with one another.
Who in their right mind would go against their own pack?
Andwhy?
Chapter 11
Ryder
Istepawayfromthe pool of blood.Logically I know it doesn’t matter, that all of the animals around me are dead, but I still move softly out of respect for their bodies.
What could have caused this?What is harming the animals?
The forest is quiet.The leaves on the trees hang down, shrouding the ground in shadows.It’s as if the entire area is in mourning.I sniff the air but only smell the blood on the ground.Is it so overpowering that all other odors are masked?Or is this really the only scent around?
I don’t know, and that makes me uneasy.Hell, this whole forest is making me uneasy.It’s too quiet, too empty.Too dead.
I begin walking back toward town.I’ll find Gavin and tell him what I’ve found.Then we’ll make a plan about what to do next.
And Hannah—I should check on her.She’s the vet, after all, and a healer.If any forest animals have survived whatever is slaughtering them, she’ll be patching them up.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a patch of white near a tree trunk.I go over to investigate.
The sight of the torn rabbits makes bile rise in my throat.These poor creatures have been gutted.I turn away and see more torn animals mixed in among fallen leaves.Squirrels, raccoons, birds, all ripped to shreds.I blink back the tears that push against my eyes at the sight of their mangled bodies.This carnage is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.The smell of blood is so strong I can almost taste it.But another scent hangs in the air too.
It’s something sweet and rotten—a spoiled flower, an overripe piece of fruit.
I don’t know what the source of this odor is, but I don’t like it.
The smell is strongest when I face south, so I walk in that direction.I keep my eyes straight ahead but can sense more dead animals around me.
The scent grows stronger as I walk, until I come to a clearing.And then I see its source.
Another dead body.This one is human.
Or is it a shifter?
I walk over to the corpse and squat down.The smell surrounds me.It seeps into my pores, invades my lungs, like mist.Like breath.
I look closely at the body in front of me.It’s definitely a human, not a shifter.But I don’t recognize this person.Just like the councilman’s, this body has been violently ripped up.
Whoever did this was angry.More than angry—furious.The same thought flashes through my mind as when I found the councilman.Whatever could someone have done to inspire such rage in another being?But maybe the better question is: What kind of being is capable of such fury?
