Page 67 of The Boy With The Sharp Teeth
Nodding,he raised his determined eyes to hers.
"Thatday, when you didn't show up to our meeting spot," he paused, waiting forher to give a tentative nod as she recalled that fateful day. "I went toyour house looking for you. I found Kamal outside playing, and he told me youhad already left earlier that morning. I didn't know what to think, but I wasworried. I sent a few of my cousins out to look for you as I marched up anddown every inch of town looking for you. It wasn't until late nearly night whena cousin saw you while he was in his wolf form. He said you were walking in thewoods with some boy. I ran to the area where you two were seen, with everyintention of beating the shit out of the guy you were with and maybe shakingyou for betraying me."
Sanaopened her mouth to argue, but Zach placed a finger on her lips to hush her ashe continued his face grave. "By the time I got there, I heard the voicesof those other guys. I heard you and the other boy trying to run away. Iunderstood what was happening, and I got angry. Angrier than I've ever gottenbefore. A level of anger my parents and my uncle always warned me about. My dadused to call me a throwback. He said every so many years each family had one.He believed it was a failsafe nature, and the Creator devised for each clan toself-regulate any power struggles within each clan, one that could quell anyuprising, any deviation, any treachery. I was taught never to lose control overmy anger, but that night I lost it. To know what those bastards wanted to do toyou,” his voice shook in a deep growl as his hands that cupped her shouldersbegan to tighten. “To know they had you running scared and blind through theforest as they gave chase. It burned through me, Sana. It burned right throughthe wolf within me to the other part I always knew was there. And I gave them afucking chase,” he said in an almost snarl.
Sanacould barely breathe as she watched Zach's eyes glow brighter as he recalledhis anger. Listening to his words, she began to place together the facts fromhis point of view, comparing them to hers from that night.
"Thosesounds," her voice barely had any sound as she recalled those savage,beastly noises that night. "That was you?"
Zachdidn't say anything, but she could see the confirmation in his eyes as helooked down at her.
Hereyes widened in fear. "You weren't human when you killed them?"
"No."he shook his head solemnly.
"Youwere the wolf?" She dared to hope, but deep down, she knew his answerbefore he even said it.
Zachwinced and shook his head. "Not quite."
Fora long silent moment that seemed to swell within the space of the dark roomaround them, her mind pieced together his words and paired themselves alongwith her memories of that night. No—along with her nightmares. Sana jerkedback, but Zach's hold on her arms tightened.
"Ohno," she whispered as a dawning realization washed over her.
"Sana,please," he begged. " I'm not always like that. Just that timeand…" his words stopped as he looked away, his sharp teeth biting his lipas he tried to think of a way to explain.
Imagesof that night as she lay pressed against the forest floor crying and scaredrushed back to her. A clawed human-like foot stood beside her. But it wasanything but human. Covered in coarse dark hair and tipped in black claws, thefoot stood arched on the balls of its feet, its talon-like claws digging intothe dirt as it moved away from her. She could hear the snuffling of breathagainst her neck and see a matching fur-covered hand with even longer clawsthump against the dirt next to her, its grip tightening as the thing—the beastlowered itself closer to her prone body.
Closingher eyes, Sana tried to stop those few terrifying moments from replaying in herhead. "Y-you were not a wolf…you were a monster," she whispered.
Painbloomed in Zach's eyes and tightened his features as the word fell from herlips. His hands dropped from her arms, and she watched him look down at hislap.
"Iknow," he said gravely.
Herheart throbbed at the agony in his face burning through the cold feeling of traumathat had settled over her. Scooting closer to him, Sana wrapped her arms aroundhis chest and buried her face into the hard rise of his pectoral muscles."No, Zach, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I…"
"It'sok. You’re right. I am a monster like that."
Tearsstung and welled into her eyes, and she tightened her arms around him. No, shedidn't want him to think that about himself. "I love you, Zach. No matterwhat you can turn into, no matter what you've done. I love you. I know you'renot a monster. I know that," she cried, trying to reassure him. "Ilove you," she repeated with a sigh as his arms finally returned aroundher holding her close to him. "I know you saved me and Todd that night. Ifit hadn't been for you, I would have been-"
"No!"Zach's voice snapped harshly above her before he pulled her back down onto thebed. Running a hand through her hair, he pressed her into the crook of his necklike one would a child. "It would have never happened, so don't speak ofit."
Nodding,she closed her eyes and smiled against him, content to be held in hisprotective embrace. For a while, neither one of them said anything, theirbreaths falling into unison after a while.
"Yousaid you were in a specialized branch of the military," she began."Does it have anything to do with…the wolfish part of you?"
“Youhave no idea."
Chapter 14
Sittingon one of the three fold-out canvas chairs Jax had put down earlier, Sanastared at him and his wife, Alessia, measuring the spot where Gaulding's windturbines and small solar farm would be placed. Alessia was a beautiful girl,younger than her, or at least Sana assumed she was by her sweet babyish face.Unseeingly, Sana stared at them as they talked and laughed, their voicescarrying back to Sana on the nearby ocean’s breeze despite their distance fromher. She was thinking of Zach as she had done all last night and every wakingminute this morning. When she had left early that morning, hardly getting anysleep between Zach's fervent lovemaking throughout the night and her ownspeeding thoughts, she left Zach hugging his pillow soundly asleep. She thoughtof all the questions she had gotten out of him before sleep claimed him lastnight.
Didthe shift from one form to another hurt?
"Always,"he had told her. The change rearranged everything about him, down to his bonesand organs.
Whendid you first change? Were you a child? Does that mean you were a puppy whenyou changed?
Hehad given her a tired chuckle at that. "No, you don't first change intoyour gift until you hit puberty. From then, everything about you changes, fromyour human side to the wolf within you."
