by elda lore
Ares thought they were done with that rivalry, but apparently not. The smaller werewolf pack just didn’t know how to back off. The fact that they flat out attacked one of his wolves was grounds alone to go to war, but that bloodshed would spread into the human world. He wasn’t willing to go that far. Yet.
He clenched his taped hands and tried to think of how to approach the situation. He could let the attack go and just write it off as an accident or a one-time incident, or he could go talk to the alpha of the other pack.
Julia spoke before he could finish the thought. “There’s something else, Eli attacked a human after he was injured.”
Shit. “Where’s the human now?”
“No idea. Eli just came out of the madness an hour ago and told us about the human.”
The madness. Blinding rage, that if not controlled, would allow the mind of the wolf to take over, giving the human mind no control. The ultimate struggle of a werewolf. Even as an alpha and a god, Ares struggled with it. “If Eli changed her, she belongs with our pack. We keep an ear out for any signs of a new wolf.”
“And if Muddy Creek has her?” Julia asked.
Ares smirked. “Then we prepare for war with them. They attacked us and took one of our wolves.”
“Always the stubborn God of War,” Julia muttered under her breath.
She was the only one in the pack that knew who Ares was, and only because he’d saved her from her own madness when she was a mere child. “If we hunt for the person they changed, there’s no promise that we’ll find them. We don’t even know where to start.”
“I don’t want a raging pup running around in the human world.”
Though werewolves were known to the humans, society didn’t really welcome them. Some people still shot wolves on sight for that reason. If the newly changed person were killed, the blood would be on his hands because he didn’t try to find them. Julia was right.
“Talk to Eli, see if he can remember anything about the human other than the taste of flesh. Send some wolves to the clubs where the Muddy Creek Pack hang out. If there’s a new wolf and they have them, or they know of the attack, one of them is bound to be bragging about it.”
Julia bowed her head. “As you wish.”
Ares looked back at his opponent. He needed to finish this fight so that he could get some of his own rage out. “Keep me updated.” He put his guard back up and nodded to the man in front of him. He knew after the fight he could focus on finding the pup, and that was assuming the lycan virus infected them. If not, then they were lucky. Really lucky.
“Mother fucker,” Casey grumbled, putting a hand to her head. Every day since the wolf attack, she’d woken with a splitting headache. She remembered the wounds being worse than they were when Anthony, her boyfriend, found her laying in the woods. But when she’d woken up, there was a simple bite mark on her shoulder. It hurt like hell, the doctor promised it wasn’t infected, but had expressed concern about her hitting her head. She didn’t remember slamming her head into anything, all she remembered was approaching the injured wolf like an idiot. Huge amber eyes and sharp teeth were all that came before the darkness.
Her head pulsed again, making it feel like something was trying to knock its way out of her skull. She reached for the migraine pills on her desk. Her phone rang and she sighed. The ringtone was Anthony’s. She’d promised him that she’d go out with him tonight, despite the ongoing pain in her head. She answered it. “What’s up?”
“I’m on my way to pick you up, just thought I’d see if you were ready.”
She glanced in the mirror and looked at the dark circles under her eyes. “Just need to put some makeup on and I’ll be ready to go.” If she was honest with herself, some part of her was restless and wanted to go out. The distraction would be nice.
“You doing okay? You sound…off.”
She noticed how he hesitated. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just stupid and let my migraine meds wear off. I’m taking some now; I’ll be fine by the time you pick me up.” At least the pain would be tolerable by that point.
“Still getting a headache every day? Did you ask the doctor about it?”
“Side effects of hitting my head was their thought, but I don’t have a concussion.” Casey shook her head and regretted it. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s just stress or something that’s making it stay around. After all, I just got that promotion right before we went camping. I’m a bit worried I screwed myself over by taking a longer vacation than planned.”
“Ah yeah, I’d forgotten about that. I’m proud of you babe.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you in a bit.” She disconnected the call and looked back in the mirror. “Okay, let’s see if I can make myself more human-like and less zombie.”
A few minutes later, she’d managed to cover up the dark circles and looked better than she felt. She’d put a bandage over the bite on her shoulder and hoped it didn’t stick out too much. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. The pain had dulled a little, but she had no idea how long it’d stay away. She snagged her pain meds off her desk and tossed them in her purse before sitting down to put on her shoes.
The doorbell rang as soon as she was done putting them on, and Anthony let himself into the apartment. “You ready to go?”
She stood and grabbed her purse. “Yeah.” She looked up at his tall, lean frame, meeting his hazel gaze, obscured slightly by his mop of mouse-brown hair. There was always a feral look in his eyes. Normally it excited her, but tonight it made something inside her recoil. He smirked and put a hand on her back to guide her out of the apartment. She hesitated before stepping out of the door.
“What’s wrong?” He turned to look at her.
She tried to figure out how to put her thoughts into words. “I’m just a bit anxious tonight is all.”
“You’ve been anxious since we’ve gotten back from camping. You need to relax. Whatever you think happened…it didn’t.”
Because people hallucinate about being torn into by a wolf all the time. She resisted rolling her eyes. “Look, despite the amount of damage, I was attacked by a wild animal.”
“You were attacked by a dog. There aren’t any wild wolves in Colorado,” he corrected her. “I go hunting in those woods all the time, and there’s never been a wolf or a wolf track.”
She shrugged his touch off and locked her door. “You weren’t there. I know it was a wolf.”
“Probably a husky mix.” He muttered and she shook her head.
“I’m not going to have this argument tonight. Let’s just go have a good time.” She walked past him, debating on going back in the apartment and slamming the door in his face, but that wasn’t going to help her anxiety. Staying in made her feel claustrophobic, and Anthony shouldn’t have to deal with her mood swings.
“Okay. I figured we’d go to the bar downtown, have a couple drinks, dance a little bit.” He wrapped his hand around hers. “See where the night takes us.” He kissed her cheek. “Maybe get you to relax a bit.”
She followed him to his black sports car, staying silent. She just wanted the night to be a relaxing and enjoyable evening and nothing more.
Casey walked through the club, holding tight to Anthony’s hand as the crowd beat against them. This wasn’t exactly what she was expecting. Their normal place was a smaller bar with a small dance section, not a person against person packed building with the smell of sweat hanging in the hot air. They finally reached the bar, and Anthony convinced two frat boys to get up and leave their stools. He motioned to the now empty seat, “My lady.”
She rolled her eyes and sat down. “I thought we were going to a small bar.”
“Oh come on, have a couple drinks and relax.” He leaned against her and held his hand out to the bartender, holding up two fingers. “Whiskey please.”
She shook her head. “You know I don’t drink whiskey.”
He gave her a look that said ‘since when’ “You’ve always drunk whiskey.”
/> Clearly, he hadn’t been paying attention the last few years. She hadn’t been a big drinker since she graduated college, and even then, she rarely did shots. “Must have me mixed up with an old ex,” she shot back, trying to sound playful, but failed.
He handed her the shot glass. “I think you’re the one who is mistaken. You must have hit your head pretty damn hard.” He held up his glass. “Down the hatch.”
She took a deep breath and downed the whole shot, cringing as she did. The alcohol burned as it went down her throat. Had she been mistaken? She always thought whiskey was gross, or maybe he was right and there was more going on in her head than she thought. Anthony clamped her on the shoulder. “See, not so bad!” And he held up his fingers for two more.
She shrugged. “Maybe my tastes have just changed over the years.”
He chuckled. “Whiskey was what you drank the first time we got drunk together.”
When she’d wandered off into the city completely drunk. “I haven’t drunk it since. Just because that was an…interesting night.” Interesting was an understatement. Some man had come to her rescue that night when other college students were trying to persuade her to do things she didn’t want to. It had been a downright terrifying night. The stranger walked her to her dorm, and it took Anthony an hour to come to find her, half-sober from panic.
“I swear you’ve had whiskey since then.”
And she was starting to think he was cheating on her. His attitude had flipped completely recently. “Whatever.” She downed the other shot. The warm alcohol shot through her, and she sighed. She needed to push everything out of her mind and just focus on having fun tonight. She’d deal with Anthony’s oddities tomorrow. Anthony smiled at her, “Another?”
“How about some tequila?” She suggested. “A few shots of liquid courage and maybe you can get me out on the dance floor.”
He nodded. “As my love wishes.” He tapped the bar. “You heard the lady.”
The bartender rolled his eyes at them, but sat two shot glasses on the bar and poured the tequila. Casey took hers and downed it, slamming the glass upside down on the bar.
“One more.” She could already feel a buzz coming on, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten dinner yet and that alcohol on an empty stomach was often a bad idea.
“Slow down princess.” The bartender leaned forward and met her gaze. His eyes flashed amber for a moment. “The full moon is close, and it tends to make our kind crazy.”
She tilted her head to the side. Had his eyes simply been a trick of the lighting? “What?”
Anthony grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the floor. “Don’t worry about it.”
“What on earth was he talking about?” The room swirled a little as Anthony pulled her onto the dance floor with the bright lights.
He chuckled and pulled her close, moving his body against hers to the pounding techno beat. “Oh you know, people are crazy around the full moon.”
She shook her head and let him spin her around so that her ass was grinding against his hips. His hands slid down the front of her body as they moved together. She closed her eyes, letting the pulsing of the music drum through her. Images flashed in her mind of a wolf pinning her down, paws turning into human hands and then back again. She gasped and pulled away from Anthony.
“Casey?” He asked and reached for her hand.
But it wasn’t him. Behind his face, almost like a double exposed photo, was a wolf, yellow eyes boring into her. Howls echoed in her head over the music, and she did the only thing that made sense to her mind at that moment. She ran.
She dodged through the people on the floor, with each touch came new flashes of the wolf attack. Sharp teeth shredded her shoulder, nails punctured her skin, and the snarls and whimpers of two wolves fighting. She busted through the door of the club, the cooler air blasting her in the face. The last memory weakened her step, forcing her to lean against the wall of the club. She only remembered the first wolf, the one who had attacked her, but suddenly her mind was bringing up two.
She leaned her head against the wall of the building, the world spinning around her. She closed her eyes and slid to the ground, trying to relearn how to breathe. What the hell was going on?
“You’re blocking the sidewalk.” A deep voice pulled her head up and her eyes open. In front of her stood a tall man, his dark brown hair cut short above his ears, his hazel eyes pinned her gaze. The sleeves of his shirt were cut off, leaving a wonderful view of his biceps. She blinked up at him for a moment, swearing that she saw the overlay of a wolf on his face as well. Fainter, almost…quieter. There was something familiar about him, his voice, and his presence.
She put her head on her knees. “Step around me.”
He nudged her with his foot. “Seriously, someone’s going to trip over you.”
“Seriously, step around me.” She didn’t look up at him and wished he’d just move along and stop being an asshole.
He didn’t move after a couple seconds of silence. She swore she started to hear him speak before Anthony’s voice cut him off.
“Casey? What the hell? What were you thinking running off like that?” He squatted down by her and tried to pull her up by the arm.
She yanked her arm away. “Don’t speak to me like I’m a child. I just needed some air, something happened and—” She glanced at the stranger and then back to Anthony. “And I had a flashback to the wolf attack.” What did it matter if the stranger thought she was crazy, but to her surprise, his expression didn’t change. Anthony’s, on the other hand, went from frustrated to panicked.
“This isn’t the place to talk about that. Come on, let’s go back and enjoy our night.” This time, instead of trying to pull her up, he held his hand out to her.
She shook her head. There was no way she was going back in there and triggering another flashback. She rather liked it out here in the cooler air. The pain in her head had eased a bit when she had first come out, and going back inside would just flare that up again. “I think I'd rather just go home. I shouldn’t have come out tonight. The doctor said I needed to rest, and for once in my life, I should have listened.”
“I’m not going back after just getting here. Catch a cab back.” He waved to the line of cabs near the front of the club.
She gawked at him. “Seriously?”
“You’re just being dramatic. I tried to get you out to show you how silly you’ve been, but you’re ruining a perfectly good night.”
“Well, fuck you too,” she spat out.
Anthony stormed away, leaving her standing there with the stranger. She couldn’t decide what was more embarrassing, talking about the wolf attack, or her boyfriend abandoning her at the club.
She glanced at the man. Somewhere in her mind, she thought he looked familiar again, but his next words pushed that thought far away.
“So…about that wolf attack.”
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About the Author
A writer of mythical worlds in modern times, I'm the alter ego of contemporary romance author, L.B. Dunbar.
Learn more about me at
eldaloreauthor
lbdunbar.com
