Page 20 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 1
After a few minutes, I wasn’t sure if I was shivering from the cold or from fear.
Josh stalked over to me and grinned. “You will watch, and then you will understand.”
“Understand what? That you guys are all psychos?”
Josh laughed darkly and then took a step back from me until he stood in line with the rest of them. Then they all stripped nude.
Shit. Shit. Shit. I am in real fucking trouble. This is some freaky satanic ritual, and I’m the sacrifice.
He said nothing, but he bent his gaze upward toward the night sky. He shut his eyes, and a tremor ran down the length of his torso. I watched, transfixed, praying he was having a fucking seizure and would just drop dead, but what happened next made me curse and try even harder to get away.
Josh fell to all fours as his body became covered in black fur, while loud snaps and popping filled my ears. His head transformed into that of a wolf, and he snarled at me, flashing sharp canines. He was tall at the shoulders with enormous paws, and for a second, I thought I was daydreaming.
Josh threw his wolf’s head back and howled. It sent chills racing down my spine, and I finally realized why I’d always felt the need to run away when I was near him.
He was a fucking werewolf. This crap rated a 9.5 on my shit-o-meter.
I stared at him, amazed, despite the fear threatening to make me black out. The rest of them changed as well, shifting into massive killer beasts. Price was a black wolf, Boyle a black wolf with a long, jagged scar running along his face, Ian a silver wolf, Owen a brown-and-black wolf, Brian’s fur was sand, Maggie’s white with black variations, and Brenda had blond fur.
They stalked toward me, growling and nipping at one another, until the wolf that was Josh howled again. He darted off, down to the valley floor, and the rest of them followed. From where I was, I could see them until they disappeared for just a moment before they popped back up near a herd of elk.
I was still in shock at what was taking place before my eyes.
It wasn’t possible.
It couldn’t be.
Yet there they were.
Seven humans had just turned into wolves—big, furry, probably-going-to-eat-me-later wolves.
How the hell did I get trapped in this bloody nightmare?
The satellite phone was broken, but the radios were still in the tent. All I had to do was get back there and contact someone, anyone, to come rescue me. Maybe, while they were busy, I’d be able to sneak off… But when I looked back toward the valley floor, I found I couldn’t look away. Their bodies moved as one through the tall grass, downwind from the elk. The poor creatures did not know what was coming toward them.
Part of me wanted to scream out, but that would probably just piss off Josh. And dealing with him in this wolf form wasn’t something I could handle. For all I knew, he’d just rip me apart with his claws.
Frankly, I wasn’t sure why I was still alive.
Why did they reveal themselves to me?
In fact, why the hell did they bring me out here at all?
None of it made sense. I wasn’t anyone special. There was nothing unique about me that should draw the attention of something supernatural.
The wolves moved in closer, and the moment the elk raised their heads and ran, the pack lunged forward to attack. They moved in from two different angles and singled out a large elk.
Josh leaped forward, landing on the elk’s back with a growl I heard from the top of the ridge. The elk screamed as Josh took it down. Then the other wolves moved in for the killing blow. They ripped the elk’s throat out with one of their sharp canines, and blood spurted into the air. The scene before me was revolting, but I still couldn’t look away.
As the rest of the herd raced off, they left me with the sounds of the dying elk, followed by the howls of the wolf pack. They tilted their heads back as one and let their voices carry through the wild.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I whispered.
Then I waited as they worked their way back upward to me, dragging the bleeding, broken elk body behind them.
Chapter 16
Fergus
