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I resisted howling as I lumbered out of the garage, staying low and close to the building. Two police cars swung around the corner, their lights flashing. Several people had ventured into the street, cars slowing and shifting to the curb. The last thing I needed was to be sighted by a single human. I found my way to a back alley, taking a chance I wouldn’t be cut off. At least I was able to dump the remnants of my human life into the dumpster. The adrenaline flowing through my body was significant, preventing me from returning to my human form. I would be forced to return for my Harley.
There was no freedom as incredible as shifting, being allowed to run as my wolf. Various scents were amplified, filling my nostrils as I headed out of the city.
Every stench of garbage, cigarettes, perfume, and dozens of restaurants assaulted my senses, intoxicating in every manner.
Pork. Beef. Italian.
Human.
I could feast for days, my hunger knowing no bounds.
I was so alive, tendons stretching, muscles dragged to their full extent. I ran faster, my keen hearing catching every nuance from passion to anger, laughter and joy.
My eyesight snagged every sign and scrap of foliage, neon lights nearly blinding me, the dozens of humans unsuspecting a monster was in their midst. They had no idea how easily it would be to take them, savoring the moment as I fed until I was bloated.
Yet I had control, decades of learning to live with the beast always crawling at the surface. There was no hesitation, no burning desire to go against my pack or my beliefs, although fleeting thoughts did enter my mind.
But only of killing those responsible for harming Vanessa.
I would be their worst nightmare.
Brutal.
Savage.
Violent.
There would be no rules that could stop me, no pack leader to prevent what was necessary. I’d never believed the various legends, stories about our kind made famous in books and movies, bad representations of horrors inflicted in unsuspecting humans. We only killed for a reason.
And I had a damn good one.
I made it out of the city limits minutes later, the ache in my chest intensifying. I was able to ignore the pain as I shot into the protection of the forest.
As I ran, the building pain continued, the injuries significant enough that they hindered my speed. I would recover, as all Lycans did, but it would take time. Within a few minutes, the anguish was biting, something I hadn’t anticipated.
A moment of raw hunger shifted into my system, completely different than I’d experienced before. The elders continued to believe an ancient disease was ready to explode once again, the very one that had brought us into existence. A brutal and fast sweeping disease had taken hold, pitting man against beast. Although other animal species had been protected, wolves hadn’t been immune to the terrible malady, the disease altering their DNA structure. Only this time, we would be reduced to the predators that we’d been created as, taking over as kings, destroying all those in our way.
Including unsuspecting humans.
A brief moment of actual terror shifted into my system. Had the injury pitched me into becoming nothing more than a rogue beast, incapable of maintaining a human conscience? Fuck. I was losing it, my vision suddenly clouded.
While the plague was another fabrication that I refused to believe, my behavior could spark another internal war.
The leader of the Wolfen pack couldn’t allow that to occur.
Perhaps the Wolfen alpha male would know why a rogue wolf had purposely attacked a human. Maximillian Cordero wasn’t only considered the king of our lineage of our species; he was an ATF agent, just as brutal as he was fair.
I kept my course, struggling with every step but within a few minutes, I was finally headed directly to Roselake. The safety surrounding the town was exactly what I needed in order for my beast to finish his run. I needed time in order to calm the combination of rage and hunger.
I only prayed the now brutal pain wouldn’t stop my transformation back into human form.
The scent of her remained in my system, coating my loins in a way that could never be extinguished. She was everything that I craved and nothing that I could have. Why couldn’t I simply push her out of my mind? Why did I have the innate need to keep her under my protection? That was reserved for mates only. The pain continued to increase, making movements labored. I could feel the difference in the way my blood pulsed in my veins, my heart hammering as it struggled to grab enough air.
The bullets had to be tainted; either that or something had been slipped into one of my drinks. Fuck. I’d fallen into some kind of trap.
I was forced to rest not once but twice, the carnal hunger nagging at me, drawing my beast into fulfilling its natural desires. I was tossed into darkness by the ugly realization that the Wolfen could face another crisis.
And I would be the one to blame.
