Silent Shadows

You’d think being part of a race that turns into wolves, I’d love nature. Not quite. Hiking had never really been one of my favorite activities. Today’s hike was a particularly bad one. I’d been walking for three days, after a two day drive from California to Washington. I was tired, my arm kept bleeding every time I tried to rewrap it, and I still hadn’t really let myself think about why I’d landed myself in this situation.

It had been the sound of shattering glass that woke me up. I was still lying in bed, trying to figure out what was going on when the screaming started. I jumped out of bed, calling for my mom as I ran to the door. The snarling and sound of nails on a chalkboard made me clap both hands over my ears as I surveyed what was going on in the hallway.

A figure and the wolf I recognized as my father circled each other, lashing out every few paces, trying to catch the other off guard. More snarls echoed behind me, and for the first time I smelled smoke. I hadn’t really thought about why the wood under my bare feet felt warm. The house was on fire.

Out of nowhere, something slammed into me, driving me back into my room. I landed hard on the floor, managing to scrabble backwards from whatever had hit me. My mom, still halfway in human form, pushed me to my feet and towards the window.

“Ronnie, run!” Her voice was distorted by the long canines growing in her mouth. For a moment, I just stood there, unable to make my body move. She seemed to grow frustrated and threw me out the window. By the grace of God, I didn’t land on my head.

As I lay on the lawn trying to catch my breath, I was able to see the flames engulfing the house. An inhuman cry tore out of my throat when the roof caved in. I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to get myself up and away from the house. I dimly remembered breaking into a car and managing to get it to turn on. I’d driven from Los Angeles to Washington almost robotically. I hadn’t slept or showered or eaten a real meal in days.

Thanks to the money that had been stashed in the glovebox of the car I’d stolen, I had a small rucksack with water, a compass, a few protein bars, and a blanket. I tossed it in the shade of the tree and sank down.

I’d never make it to the pack at this rate, not if I kept bleeding like this. I’d dug out a long shard of glass from my upper arm. I was sure I had dozens of tiny pieces embedded all over my body, on top of the damaged muscles from when I landed on my back. I leaned my head against the tree trunk and closed my eyes, willing myself to just sleep and never wake up.

If I hadn’t been a werewolf, I wouldn’t have heard them coming. Their footsteps were so soft and precise they didn’t even snap a twig as they moved through the underbrush. I opened my eyes to see eight men surrounding me.

Based on the smell, they were werewolves. Rather than give in to my inner wolf and snarl, I kept my face as neutral as I possibly could. Females weren’t able to shift until the first full moon after their twenty-first birthday, which was probably the biggest crock of shit I’d ever heard. At this point in my life, I couldn’t do much, but my senses were heightened far beyond that of a normal human. It was a small perk, but fairly useless in a fight.
“You’re trespassing.” The biggest one bared his teeth at me. He had short dark hair and hazel eyes, their pupils beginning to change into a wolf’s. He must have been their alpha. It was easy to pick out, based on his sheer size and the way they had formed themselves in a half circle around him.

“I’m looking for the pack.” As long as I remained calm and respectful, there was no reason for them to turn me away.

“What do you want?” The one speaking this time had piercing green eyes and black hair that fell in his face. He had two silver rings in his lip and one through his septum. It seemed to be a status symbol around young male wolves to prove their strength by actively allowing silver into the body. I was surprised his face hadn’t started to rot off.

“Suckers killed my parents five days ago. They told me to come here if I ever needed help.” I stood up slowly, if only to even the playing field a little. I’d never felt smaller and less powerful than I did sitting on the ground cowering before them.

All eyes went to the big man who’d spoken first. “Arin.” He tilted his head at a guy with shoulder length hair that, if circumstances were different, I’d just want to put a fan in front of him and blow his hair all over the place. He was pretty skinny and he didn’t look much older than me.

I wasn’t expecting his fist to come flying at my face. I moved my head just in time that it only clipped my temple, but it made my head ring. I dodged the next punch and dove at his legs, taking us both down to the ground.

Skinny or not, the kid could put some force behind his punches. One hit me in the stomach and knocked me back against the tree. I lay there dazed for a moment and just barely managed to duck his next blow. Splinters flew up from the tree as he struck it. While he was distracted with the pain of the wood embedding itself into his hand, I managed to land one on his face. It probably hurt me more than it hurt him.

He definitely wasn’t taking it easy on me because I was a girl. I could feel a sliver of warm wetness trickling down from my nose and my head was ringing like a church bell.

But there was no way I would give up without a fight, so I dug through my bag of tricks. My dad had always called it “dirty fightin’” but if he wasn’t going to take it easy on me, I was going to kick him in the family jewels. I was hoping it would take him down, but it only stunned him for a second. He knocked me flat on my ass with a straight armed blow to the chest, before yanking me up and throwing me past him.

Luckily I was expecting that and I hooked my fingers into claws, getting a handful of his face as I went by. The dirt and rocks skinned my arms when I hit the ground hard. My head knocked against the trunk of yet another tree and my vision started to go black around the edges. The last thing I saw before I slipped into unconsciousness was hands reaching for me.