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Harlow turned back to her car and started to climb in, but Lauren, with enraged speed and unnatural force, pulled her out onto the ground.
“‘Get over it?’” Lauren screamed, kicking Harlow in the ribs. “That’s easy for you to say! What have you ever lost? What, in your life, hasn’t been handed to you on a silver platter?”
Harlow reached up for the car door, trying to crawl back in, but Lauren slammed it on her hand, catching four of her fingers in the door frame.
Harlow managed to pry them out, a throbbing pain shooting outward from her wrist to the tips of her fingers. Her fingers had been left a graying purple, blood trickling freely onto the pavement.
Rage had contorted Lauren’s face into something almost lupine. As Harlow inspected closer, Lauren hunched to the ground, positioning herself on all fours. Lauren had turned this fight physical, and now she intended to finish it.
As her muscles reshaped themselves, growing exponentially and pulsating, and the skin on her body yielded to layers of fur, her jeans and T-shirt shredded from her form, tearing under the pressure of her expanding physique. Lauren’s blonde hair crept downward, from the mane it formed along her neck to the now golden bases of her paws. Her eyes glowed an eerie red, with specks of blue that almost resembled Colt’s.
Harlow had to escape, and failing that, she needed to move this fight. Civilians were around. Not only did transforming in the open jeopardize the secrecy of the pack, but it endangered everybody in Forest Crest. She gripped her hand tightly, trying to stop the bleeding.
Harlow took a deep breath and began to transform as she crawled away. She hated doing it, but in her human form Lauren could tear her to shreds with little effort. As her body changed, and Harlow focused on allocating energy to the transformation, Lauren tore into her ribs, leaving a gaping wound. Harlow just kept crawling, never daring to open her eyes, until movement became easier, the pain subsided slightly, and the ground extended farther away from her.
Now in wolf form, Harlow looked around, her senses heightened. She needed to know where to move this confrontation. It had been so stupid of Lauren to transform in public like this.
She looked to a row of pine trees just outside the parking lot and bolted. It wasn’t much cover, but it offered something if Lauren would just let her reach it. Suddenly, Harlow was pinned to the ground. Before her vision went black, she thought she could just make out Atlas’s black and brown fur and penetrating eyes.
* * *
Harlow awoke in the lodge, hand and torso wrapped in bandages and dressed in a loose t-shirt and sweatpants. “About time you came to,” Atlas nearly spat in rage. “We’re having a sit-down in the dining hall. It’s not negotiable.”
Lauren was nearly screaming at Colt and Atlas as Harlow entered the room. “I don’t know why you’re blaming me! She’s the one who jeopardized pack safety… transformed in broad daylight.”
Lauren’s ability to lie with no obvious tells was a little scary. Harlow knew that she needed to defend herself.
“That isn’t what happened at all!” Harlow tried to interject.
“Bullshit!” Lauren screamed. “Why would you come after me like that in the middle of town?”
“You can’t be buying this!” Harlow yelled, panicking visibly.
“Will the both of you shut the hell up?” Atlas asked, mustering a calmness dripping with subtle fury. “Or I’m expelling you both from the pack!”
Lauren’s nostrils flared, eyes wide and leaking emotion as Atlas tore into them with his words.
“Because you ducked your watcher, I don’t know what the hell happened. But it doesn’t matter.” When an alpha spoke, you didn’t interrupt. It was the ultimate trump card in resolving disputes. “You were both responsible for this,” Atlas said. “And now the safety of our pack is further jeopardized by your petty catfight.”
“I’m sorry.” Harlow laughed. “But petty catfight?” She looked spitefully at Lauren. “This woman has caused nothing but problems for me since I joined Forest Crest, and you’re, what, giving her an equal say in this?”
“I told you,” Atlas yelled. “Enough or you’re both outta here!”
“Then fucking do it!” Harlow screamed, getting up from her seat. “Ever since I joined, the two of you have fought over me like some kind of prized possession, like I’m your thing to own! And I’m so done with all of it!”
Harlow stormed out. “Harlow!” Colt called after her. “Where the hell are you going? Can we please figure this out?”
Harlow wheeled around, spinning on the heel of her foot while still gripping her wounds. Atlas, for maybe the first time since Harlow had seen him, looked panicked, uncertain of how to resolve this. Colt smelled of a distinctive desperation, leaning forward and bowing submissively. And worst of all, as Harlow stormed out, she could see a twisted smile stretching across Lauren’s face.
“Apparently I’m out of the pack now,” Harlow called back. “So, if nobody has any problem with it, I’m going to enjoy the rest of my day off, in peace.”
“Please, come back,” Colt begged.
Harlow walked out, slamming the door behind her. Determined to pry back her freedom and enjoy her day, she called an Uber. When asked for the address, she looked across the distance to a nearby residence. She might be out of the pack, but she wasn’t about to jeopardize its privacy even further.
She met the Uber at the nearby driveway. The driver tried to be friendly, but Harlow was not in any mood for conversation. She had the driver drop her off at the Golden Acorn.
As the car drove off, Harlow looked at the scene, still trying to process what had happened. Blood had trickled from her wound across the parking lot, now dry on the pavement. Lauren had slammed her car door so hard that the handle now loosely hung out of its socket, and pulling on it no longer opened the driver’s side door. Worst of all, it looked like Lauren had dented Dave’s truck, which just cemented Harlow’s anger.
