Page 16 of The Wolf Moon

I struggled to take in air momentarily, reaching for my neck briefly.

“You bit me,” I merely responded, obviously behind on times. And then I promptly fell into unconsciousness.

Eight

Chapter 7

The room was slightly wrecked. I stood at the end of the empty bed, my raven hair a wild mass around me and my clothes torn and bloodstained in places from the struggle. There was damage to the sheets from where my blade must have nicked it without me knowing. The bedside table was overturned and everything on top was shattered or otherwise broken. And the floor below was stained with blood. It looked like wild animals had broken into the Alpha’s room and tried to kill each other.

Close enough.

I wanted to be pleased that a majority of the blood was from the King Alpha’s head and chest wounds, but when I lifted my hand to briefly touch my neck I had my doubts. He had bitten me and hard. It hurt to swallow. In fact, it hurt to move at all. I wasn’t sure why he had done it if he hadn’t meant to just tear my throat out, though it sure felt like it. But still I woke alive and somewhat well, alone and in the very room I had tried to assassinate him.

Besides that, I felt completely strange. When I moved, I could feel something in me moving with me and it was unnerving. I felt high-wired as if every smell and movement was enhanced. I didn’t know what to make of it, so I decided to pointedly ignore it.

I lifted my arms above my head, wincing as I stretched nimbly. And then I stepped around to the scene of the crime, dropping to my hands and knees swiftly. I ignored the feel of the dried liquid against my fingers which were already painted in blood from the brawl. I looked along the floor, inspecting the area around the damaged bedside table and slowly looking under the bed itself. And then I made a noise of happiness.

My blade was forgotten behind the depths of the bed skirt. I flattened myself to the floor and reached for it, grasping air until my fingertips brushed the hilt of the blade. Once I pulled it from under the bed, I twisted it in front of me and made a face. It was covered entirely in that demon’s blood.

I stared at it a moment, remembering him driving it into his own heart and surviving without missing a breath. An immortal werewolf… I tightened my grip on the blade and used my already soiled shirt to clean it before putting it back in its sheath.

I immediately began to stealthily escape from the building. I had asked to stay, despite my intense desire to return home, and I hadn’t been killed for it so I was going to take it as a confirmation. But I wasn’t going to chance another encounter with the demon Alpha until I had an idea on exactly how to kill him.

I decided to crawl out of the same window I broke in through and began to creep along the back of the buildings nearby. I moved easily and it took me only a moment to realize that I could sense when a shapeshifter was near. Without knowing it, I was anticipating their presence and avoiding them just as easily. I lifted my hand to my neck, touching the torn meat left from the King Alpha’s bite, and winced further.

I moved through a garden, careful not to damage any of the vegetation as I slid beyond the gaze of multiple lycans. When I came across what looked like a school, I hesitated to move further. Schools meant children and children were loud and bad with secrets. If I was spotted by one, I’d be outed immediately.

But when I looked at the school, I didn’t sense anyone in or around it. I stared at it a moment longer before quickly moving forward, going around the corner where no one passing by would see me. After a moment, I turned and peered through a window of the school.

It was definitely a classroom, but it was entirely empty. And it looked far more abandoned than the temple had from the inside. Chairs were left knocked over and the floors uncared for. Perhaps werewolves didn’t care for education much.

I shrugged it off and continued on my secret observation of the large village. My primary mission was to find that mess hall and to force someone to give me food, even if it meant threatening them with a weapon. I felt like staying here was perhaps making me more primal than usual. Or maybe I’m always a bit violent when I’m hungry…

I heard an extremely familiar sound in the near distance; the sound of string releasing, a whistle of an arrow careening through the air, and the thunk of it colliding with wood. I began to follow it out of curiosity.

I found a line of railing designating a type of balcony with steps on either side. And when I stepped to the railing, my sight was greeted with a small archery range. It seemed so out of the way, as if it was meant to be hidden from the village.

A woman close to my age stood with a bow and arrow in hand, poised and aiming at her target. I leaned forward, crossing my arms over the railing to watch her with interest. As she held her pose, I could see a tattoo of a crescent moon on her upper arm. She looked familiar, no doubt one of the hundred faces I saw on the night of the hunt. But I couldn’t pinpoint those curls.

She released the arrow and it planted into the target directly in the center. Then she hesitated before looking over her shoulder at me. I recognized her face finally. She was the woman who was in the clinic when I woke up. For someone so small, I wouldn’t expect her to handle a weapon half her size as well as she did.

I straightened myself out of habit, nervous at being caught.

“Why is it every time I see you, you’re covered in blood?” The woman asked me quite abruptly. She lifted her chin briefly, scenting the air for a moment before adding, “It’s never just your own, either.”

I leaned forward against the railing once again, relieved that she didn’t appear to want to immediately report my presence to the King Alpha.

“I had a disagreement with your Alpha,” I admitted bitterly.

“Oh, I see,” She walked towards a storage area and set the bow within it. There were several other sizes and types of bows within the wardrobe and I was greatly intrigued. The petite woman turned to me and smiled gently. “And who won the argument?”

“I’m not sure,” I answered uncertainly. She laughed lightly and began to approach me. I stepped back just slightly, stiffening. She paused, watching me for a moment.

“You smell like wolf, you know,” She said to me suddenly, tilting her head curiously. “Before, you did, but it faded. Now you smell entirely wolf. Did you shift?”

“I’m not a wolf, so no I didn’t,” I replied firmly, suspicion taking over my previous carelessness. “Stop pretending you’re all… innocent and sweet. You werewolves are anything but. You… you bandage up someone one second and practice shooting them down the next. You dress in uniform like a healer to hide your tattoos. I’m not falling for it.”

I admitted to myself that I was grasping at straws by the end of my rant, but the feeling remained. I didn’t trust her. I didn’t trust anyone at this point.

---