The werewolf jumped through the opening in the store, stood on its hind legs again and howled so loudly the car shook. It knew I was here. “Shit, shit, shit…why didn’t I learn to hotwire a car?” My hands were roaming all over the seats for the keys. Fuck, I’d take finding a pointy object if I could use it to get this thing started.
The entire car shook and I looked over at the passenger seat and screamed. The werewolf’s yellow eyes and matted fur was looking directly through the window and at me. It’s like it knew me. Then it threw itself against the car one more time, and the vehicle nearly toppled over. I kept screaming in hopes that someone would come and put a stop to this, but after a while, I figured I was screaming to no one.
Its fist broke through the glass and reached for me. The claws were long and white with yellow tips, and the arms were covered in all this long lightish brown hair. It scratched my shoulder in one quick swoop, and I yelped. It didn’t get me deep, but it was stinging like a motherfucker already.
And then there was a dark flash of something, and it charged the werewolf so hard that its arm was yanked out of the car and its entire body was thrown. I peeked over the dashboard to see what was going on and, holy shit, it was another werewolf. They were rolling around on the pavement fighting, and after a few seconds, they took off behind the gas station.
I sunk into the driver’s seat and tried to catch my breath. “Fuck my life.”
Chapter Twelve
MAX
“Dana! Dana!”
I’d circled the area ten times, each time my yelling for her louder than the previous. She was nowhere to be found. Footprints scattered throughout the snow, but it looked like there had been several people standing here. I couldn’t figure out which belonged to Dana.
And that’s when I saw it.
In the snow was a pile of clothes and a winter coat. The clothes were torn to shreds and thankfully blood-free, and the coat was in one piece. The coat was pink with fur around the edges of the hood, and I recognized it as Dana’s. Fuck, this wasn’t good at all.
“Dana! Dana!”
Still, no answer.
I could attempt to rationalize why she had turned when there was no full moon, but I didn’t even know where to begin with that. She had no control over it and this was the absolute worst time to experiment. All I knew was we needed to regroup and figure out what the hell was going on.
I scooped up her belongings in my arms and felt a small object slide out of my hands and to the ground.
Oh, Christ.
It’s the necklace I gave Cora the night before she disappeared. It’s right here, but Cora isn’t. Shit.
“Where’s your girlfriend gone to?” a female voice suddenly whispered.
I turned around quickly, but couldn’t find where the voice was coming from. I was sure I had imagined it until a giggle accompanied it, followed by footsteps that seemed to be dashing away through the woods. Like it wanted me to follow them. I was tempted to, until I heard howls and screams from a few miles away. It was coming from the gas station.
I pocketed the necklace, threw down the destroyed clothes, and went running.
Chapter Thirteen
DAGGETT
I must have momentarily passed out after shifting, because I woke up in a field fifty feet from the gas station with no recollection of how I got there. I hated having to do it, because it hurts like hell, but I wasn’t going to be able to protect Priscilla and myself in a human form. You can’t go up against a werewolf and expect to walk away unless you are, in fact, a werewolf. So, I ripped off my clothes and forced my body to turn as quickly as I could, knowing Priscilla’s life was on the line as she ran to the car.
I thought it strange, at first, that the wolf didn’t chase after her right away, until I was in my form. That’s when it became clear. When we take our werewolf shape, we have a telepathic connection, and as soon as I was on all fours, all I could hear was crying in my mind. These were Dana’s tears. She was trapped inside that form and was screaming to get out and make it all stop. I had been prepared to fight this werewolf to the death, if I had to, but all that changed as soon as our minds were linked. I just needed to incapacitate her.
We ended up in a brutal fight, with me doing my best to lure her away from the car with Priscilla in it. We bit, we clawed, and we rolled around in the snow. Every second of it I was pleading for Dana to try to come to her senses, to find the strength to control her body and her mind. But she wouldn’t stop, nor could she. All I ever heard from her were whimpers.
Eventually, I was able to take her down. I didn’t want to do it, but I bit as hard as I could on her forearm until blood was spraying through the air and coloring the snow. She shrieked and, for whatever reason, it managed to knock her out of her trance and she went limping away behind the building.
I think that was around the time I collapsed from exhaustion and passed out.
When I woke up, my flesh was on fire.
