Page 36 of Wolf Bane
Me
Don’t freak out.don’t say anything.There’s someone watching your house.Stay with Mariska.
Mal
WHAT THE FUCK?
The man moved, keeping low.He wasn’t going fast, just sort of… sniffing?What the fuck?He was too close to the backdoor for me to go out without him noticing, so I hesitated a moment longer,watching.
Okay, more likesilently freaking out,but it came out to the same thing in the end.
When the man started to move with more direction, in a diagonal towards Mal’s backyard, the whispers that usually told me to stay still, to go unnoticed, the same part Ethan and Tyler and even Waltrip had been helping me get in touch with, pushed forward and I was moving too.
I didn’t shift; I still didn’t have much of a handle on that, though I’d improved since the beginning of summer.It was a hit or miss thing, really; I could manage a partial change which was… well, horrifying, to be honest.In the moment it feltrightand freeing, but afterwards, the knowledge that I’d been not one thing or the other, that I was some—to me—monstrous mix of wolf and human with clawed hands but human legs, wolf-like face but human shape, was a mindfuck I didn’t want to repeat more than I had to.
And right now, at least, I didn’t have to.I threw open the back door, already at a run.“Hey!”I shouted.“What the hell are you doing?”
The man pivoted in his crouch, teeth bared as he lunged towards me.Despite my best efforts at fancy footwork, he managed to catch me in a flying tackle that my one season of pee-wee football had done nothing to prepare me for.We hit the ground with a solid thump, limbs tangling as I tried to push him off me while he tried to make sure I didn’t.He snarled against my ear, “Found you.”
“Gross,” I panted.“Your breath stinks, asshole.”I twisted, wiggling up against the grass as I tried to get purchase enough to push back.He grinned, a flash of nicotine-yellowed teeth in the shadows and let loose a rumbling growl from low in his chest.
Of course he was a were.Because that was life now.
My knee made contact with something soft and fleshy.Heoofed, his grasp slackening just enough for me to get my arm free.The back fist I managed wasn’t a strong one, but it made him flinch.Seizing the new opportunity, I bared my teeth and snapped at him.
It felt right, and I didn’t know how to parse that.Never in my life had I thought about biting someone in a fight.The man grinned again, feral, and snarled back.
“Hey!”
Shit.Mal.
“Hey!Get off him!”
“Get inside,” I shouted, thrashing in the man’s strong grasp.“Get back!”
“Don’t worry.”The man laughed, breathless.“I don’t want him.”
Mal shouted something else, but I couldn’t make it out.Between the rush of blood in my ears and, well, the wholethis guy is trying to kill mething, I was a little distracted.Despite being stronger than a fully human man my age and activity level, I was still getting my ass kicked because this were attacking me apparently never missed arm and lats day.Or leg day.Or, well, any day from the feel of things.Anywhere I tried to strike, kick, or bite was rock-solid.My one solace was that he was breathing a bit hard, so at least I felt like I was actually doing something other than flopping like a landed fish while he just held me in place.
More voices were shouting out, someone screamed—too old to be Mariska, too shrill to be Mal—and the were atop me glanced up, relaxing his hold on my arms just enough for me to work free and bring my partially clawed fingers up to scrape across his face.
His teeth sank into my forearm without warning—or maybe that snarl was the warning.Pain shot through me, whiting my vision around the edges as he shook his head, clamping down harder than I thought possible.My breath left my lungs in a whoosh, taking all hope of sound with it.Everything narrowed down to the gush of my blood and the sharp pressure of his teeth as he tore away, bloody mouth open in a silent howl.
Pain was lightning, searing across my nerves, seizing my muscles into rigor.Mal’s shouting, the shrill screaming, it was lost in the blue-white haze of shock.Awareness slammed back in a sickening lurch, the ground no longer beneath me.I was moving, or being moved rather, jolting against a hard back, my arm dripping blood as my attacker moved fast.Bile rose in my throat, choking me, as we moved towards the creek along the back of the property.Who all could see us, I wondered, did anyone realize what was happening or did they think this was some game, some prank, something gone wrong they could ignore.Blood pulsed hot and slick, leaving a trail I knew the were could smell.Heknewit would lead others to us.
Unless he planned on leaving me somewhere at the end of it, somewhere it didn’t matter if he was followed because I would be all that was left, and he’d be long gone.
He splashed into the creek, water too cool on my skin.The distant thought of infection, bacteria,oh God, parasites, moved sluggishly through my thoughts before everything became too fuzzy, too cold, too dark for me to think of anything at all.
ChapterNine
“If he’s dead, he’s useless.”
The voice was unfamiliar.Loud, rough like old carpet.
“He’s not dead.Shut up.”The floor moved beneath me for a moment—oh God, I’m in a car?Am I in a kidnap van?Is it one of those with no windows or one with bad seventies sci-fi art on the side?—before I realized it wasn’t the floor moving but my sense of balance.
Blood loss, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, drugs… I started ticking off all the things that would make me dizzy in this situation, a noncomprehensive list that gave me something to focus on for a few moments while I decided if I was going to choke to death on my own vomit or if I’d be able to turn on my side enough to survive the ignominy.
