A Justified Kill (Heart of a Wolf - Amber's Tale)

by MaryLynn Bast

  “Have you ever met him before? Was he a friend of yours?” Amber pressed for information. She was already formulating a plan in her mind.

  “Ewe, no. I was outside the store in this shit town when he grabbed me from behind. I couldn’t see him because he kept me blindfolded.” At first her words were barely above a whisper. “When I bit him for touching me, the fucker put a nasty sock in my mouth and tied something around the back of my head so I couldn’t spit it out.” Her face scrunched up in disgust then anger darkened her features. “The first time I saw his face was when you got me out and I could kick his ass. But I have no idea where he took me, or even where I am right now.” Hanna spoke the brave words, but shuddered in disgust, swiping at the wetness that once again streaked the dirt on her cheeks, smearing it even more.

  Amber’s head bobbed in understanding. Maybe it was a good thing Hanna didn’t know him. She hated the thought of Gerald running around free. She could not allow him to take another victim. In fact, she would not allow him too, because she was going to be watching his every move. The nudging at her mind and the urges she was feeling told her that the wolf would soon be emerging. She now understood what her mother had been talking about. How the emotions would be uncontrollable in the beginning. The rage, hatred, frustration, anger; they all swam through the jumbled thoughts and images in her head. In the middle of it all, in her mind, she promised Hanna she would be safe from that sick son of a bitch. He would never hurt her or anyone else again. When the full moon phase came, her wolf would see to it!

  CHAPTER THREE

  Amber knew she couldn’t allow her name to be in any type of official report. So when she pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, she stopped short of driving up to the emergency entrance and turned sideways in her seat to look at Hanna. “I can’t go in there with you,” She informed her quietly.

  “I don’t want to go in then.” Hanna crossed her arms over her chest and stared adamantly at her bare feet pushing at the floorboard.

  Amber could see she was terrified and didn’t want to be alone. She could tell by the way her eyes darted frighteningly towards the entrance of the emergency room. Leaning her head against the seats headrest, Amber closed her eyes with a sigh. After a long moment of listening to Hanna sniffling, feeling eyes staring at her and against her better judgment, she relented. With her eyes still closed, she nodded her head in agreement.

  Holding her altered appearance while she was awake wouldn’t be an issue. Amber was worried she might fall asleep while waiting for the doctors to attend to Hanna. Hospitals were not known for getting anything done in a timely manner. She was tired. It had been a long day, her body felt worn out, and she was hungry. After all, the one meal she had eaten had been wasted when she got sick earlier that evening. Hunger pains coupled with the wolf gnawing at her insides made her feel a wee bit on the cranky side. Hopefully no one in the hospital would be stupid and really piss her off.

  Pulling the jeep into a parking space, Amber got out and walked around to the passenger side where she opened the half door. Hanna sat staring at the windshield. Her mouth was set in a grim line while fighting the tears that threatened to spill again. Her hands were still clenched in her lap. With the look on her face, Amber knew better than to try to reach for her. Instead, she called her name.

  Hanna whipped her head in her direction. A wild deer in the headlight look was in her eyes. Amber knew the feeling all too well and stood with her hand held out to the girl. Hanna looked at her hand, then back up to her face, and then timidly placed her dirty hand into Amber’s and stepped out of the jeep. She stepped lightly, her tender feet aching with the steps she took across the cold concrete.

  Sensing her pain, without thought, Amber turned and quickly swept her up into her arms. Gasping, Hanna wrapped her arms tightly around her neck and was carried through the sliding glass doors which took them into the well-lit emergency room.

  Amber never allowed herself to get emotionally attached or close enough to anyone to care, reminding herself of this fact over and over again with each step. Although she didn’t want to care, she wasn’t surprised to find her instinct was to protect this girl. It seemed natural for her to want to care for her. The one thing she was certain of, the bastard would pay for hurting her. Tightening her hold on Hanna, she held her in a secure grip.

  An orderly took one look at the two girls entering the nearly empty emergency room, grabbed a wheelchair that was lined up along the wall and rushed towards them.

  Before the nursing assistant had turned back towards them, Amber remembered she still looked like a younger girl. She needed to look old enough to get Hanna admitted to the hospital, but not look like herself. In her own true form, even in her late twenties, she barely looked older than Hanna. So, she eased Hanna to her feet and steadied her before her fingers reached for the stone she always wore around her neck. Turning away her eyes scanned the emergency room for cameras and found none. Amber muttered the words which would once again alter her appearance, hoping no one would notice the instant change. Once done she turned back around.

  “She needs a doctor now,” Amber insisted loudly, helping Hanna into the chair and wrapping the blanket around her another older aid had thought to bring over.

  The younger orderly escorted them, pulling aside one of the curtained partitions, motioning for Amber to wheel the patient over to the bed.

  Shaking her head, Amber leaned towards the young woman. “Isn’t there anything more private than this?” Amber leaned closer to the orderly’s ear. “She was raped.”

  The young woman pulled back and stared in concern, a look of apology swam across her features when she looked down at Hanna. “I’m so sorry, but we don’t really have anything more private.” A thoughtful look crossed her furrowed brow and she turned to Amber with a sudden grin. “Wait, I can put her in one of the cardiac rooms. I tend to forget we just did some reconstruction, right this way.”

  Amber moved out of the way when the woman reached for the blue handgrips.

  Backing the wheel chair, she effortlessly pushed it down the eerily quiet hall. The only noise was the rubber soles of the orderly’s shoes making an annoying squishing, squeaking sound on the heavily polished and buffed vinyl floor tiles. At the end of the hallway, she stopped at one of the doors of a room that had recently been enclosed with walls.

  Although it was faint, Amber could smell the scent of fresh cut lumber and paint. She nodded her approval at the woman’s questioning look. The good thing about being in smaller towns such as this one, there were usually not large crowds in the waiting room and they were not stuck on following the rules and could be a little more lenient. But they were still usually slow as hell.

  Stopping just inside the door Amber helped Hanna to stand. She could tell the adrenaline of escaping was wearing off and the abuse her body had suffered was hitting her full force. Hanna’s wobbling legs would barely move, with her arm wrapped around her back, without thought, Amber lifted her once more and carried her to the bed. Placing her against the white sheets and smoothing her hair away from her face Amber gave her an upside down grin.

  “I’ll be back with the paperwork to get you checked in. We’ll need some ID as well.” The orderly disappeared and pulled the door closed behind her.

  Well shit.

  ****

  It turned into a major fiasco trying to check Hanna into the hospital for emergency treatment since she was a minor with no paperwork proving Amber as her legal guardian. With her life on the run, Amber had become skilled at convincing people she was someone other than who she really was. Apparently Hanna had some skills too and together, after nearly an hour of going back and forth with the nurses, the doctor finally came in. He eyed Amber suspiciously, but saw that the girl really needed help. He listened to the story they wove, the look on his face telling Amber he was not believing for a minute Hanna was her cousin from Los Angeles. But they stuck with the story that they were just passing through town on their way to
Portland when Hanna was attacked.

  Amber hated doing it, but flirting with the doctor the nurses giggled over obviously helped a little, along with promising she had already called her aunt and uncle. She convinced him they were already on their way. The doctor moved towards the bed while Hanna stared at him a little apprehensively until Amber took one of her hands. Seeing her frightened look, he asked her a few question without moving any closer, then stepped out of the room. He sent the nurse back in with the gown. While Amber assisted the nurse in helping Hanna slip out of her clothing and put the thin hospital gown on, she listed to the conversation in the hallway.

  Outside the closed door, Amber heard another nurse tell the doctor the sheriff was on the way, she nearly panicked. The instinct to run beat at her but she forced herself to remain still. Although she continued to listen for the slightest indication that someone other than the nurses and doctors were coming in to the room.

  As far as she knew Amber had no issues with the law, but she couldn’t allow them to take a report from her. This would mean she had to produce some identification and at the moment, that was just not possible. Flirting with the doctor had gotten her out of producing any ID. If she talked to the police they would insist. If they decided to detain her for questioning, took her fingerprints or anything she would go into their system. If her real last name went into any kind of database, the pack would find her. She knew the Council was still looking for her. They had their own set of laws and their contacts were far reaching. When her grandfather had helped her to escape, he had warned her to stay out of the reach of the Council, it meant life or death for her. She had been on the run far too long to have them find her now, just because she was helping someone else.

  Finally, the nurse left and as soon as they were alone Amber quickly turned to Hanna. “I know you don’t want to do this alone, but unless you want to see me in jail, I can’t be here when the sheriff comes.”

  Hanna lay on the bed staring at her, wide eyed. With her jaw clenched she pressed her lips together to keep from crying again. She nodded in reluctant understanding and leaned her head back on the pillow. Closing her eyes, she turned her still dirty face away from Amber.

  Amber felt bad for leaving Hanna to deal with everything on her own, but she had no choice. When the hallway was clear, she slipped from the room and out through the sliding glass doors. Quickly leaving the hospital, she hopped in the jeep and got out of the parking lot just as the patrol car was pulling in. She quickly glanced into the rearview mirror and over her shoulder. The officer hadn’t paid her any attention and release the breath she had been holding.

  Now on a mission, she headed back toward the campgrounds. She was familiar with the roads in the area, so she pulled her jeep off the road and out of view. Jogging through the woods, her hiking boots crunched only lightly on the branches and she slowed her pace once she got closer to the campsite.

  One thing her mother had taught her was how to stay well hidden. Blending into her surroundings, Gerald never knew he was being watched. Actually he was being stalked since he was now her prey. It would have been so easy to walk straight into the campsite and stab him in his sleep, but doing so would be a merciful kill, plus, she was not a murderer, not in her human form anyway. In her wolf form, she knew it could be a different story. Werewolves loved the taste of human blood. Gerald would wish it had been the human who killed him instead of her beast. Though the thought was somewhat troubling, she wanted Gerald to know what was happening to him. She wanted him to know the pain. He should feel the same kind of humiliation and suffering he had inflicted on Hanna and probably countless other girls. She hoped her wolf made him suffer. Not allow him a quick and painless death. She wanted him to feel terror.

  Amber couldn’t help but think of Hanna, how she had tearfully and shamefully given the details of everything Gerald had done to her. From what Hanna could tell, he had held her in the small tent for two to three weeks. Amber held her while she shuddered, recalling how he assaulted her, raping her repeatedly. When she fought back, he hit her hard enough to knock her out and she would wake up screaming into the gag with him panting over her. Other times he would hit her hard enough to just to stun her so she couldn’t fight. She was awake through the entire ordeal, but couldn’t move or do anything to get away. Clenching her hands in anger, Amber had listened to Hanna telling the doctor the details of his attack.

  Sitting the heart of the woods, watching his campsite for movement, Amber closed her eyes and shook her head lightly to clear the vivid images from her mind. She knew holding Hanna was little comfort for what she had been through. It had taken all her will power to not rush out of the room and run out to the woods and kill him for what he had done. She had to keep her mind on what was happening and what she needed to do. Amber planned her attack.

  ****

  Standing in the kitchen of the bar, she wished she could go back out to the campsite and end his pitiful life right then and there. She still fought for control, forcing herself to remain calm. She was so ready to allow her wolf to make its first kill and satiate the bloodlust which would overcome her upon her first turn. Lost in thought she didn’t notice Catherine standing in front of her until she spoke.

  “Hon, you still look like crap, are you sure you feel like being here tonight?” Catherine bobbed up and down in front of Amber, trying to get her to look her in the eye.

  Amber did her best to avoid eye contact by looking over her head and out into the bar that was already filling with people. She actually felt the way she looked, like shit. She hadn’t gotten any sleep because she had stayed in the woods after leaving the hospital. Even though she went back to her room for a couple hours, sleep eluded her when she tried to nap before her shift at the bar. A dark corner would be the perfect place to crawl into and crash for a couple hours. Lack of sleep caused her to be extremely cranky, and with her wolf constantly pushing at her senses non-stop didn’t help the matter one bit. She was ready to shift and rid herself of the frustration building in her body and the out of control feelings in her mind.

  Completely ignoring Catherine who had continued talking, she left the kitchen area and entered the bar, looking around. She didn’t smell him, nor did she see Gerald in the corner where his other buddies already sat. The bar was full of people, in her frame of mind she just needed to get to work, so she brushed past the annoying little woman who had for some reason moved to stand in front of her again. Ignoring her questions, Amber began her rounds through the bar. Greeting the locals with a pasted on friendly smile, she took their drink orders while talking the small talk that was expected of her. Then there was a sudden mental nudge and the hairs on her arms raised on end, the tingling sensation ended at the base of her neck where those hairs stood straight up. He was there. She could smell his stench and felt herself turning to stare in Gerald’s direction, watching him saunter into the bar.

  Gerald’s face was a swollen mess. He looked like he had been on the losing end of a boxing match. The round house kick she had planted on his face had left an ugly black and blue bruise that ran the length of his cheek to his jaw. The broken nose he sported was the result of Hanna’s last kick. The sickening sound of shattering cartilage had resonated through the campsite. His blood had splashed across his face and dripped onto the ground before she’d pulled Hanna away. A satisfied grin slipped across her lips at knowing he had to be in pain, the hand clasping his side where Hanna had landed a few good kicks was proof of that.

  Even knowing he was in pain, it irritated her to watch Gerald try to swagger towards his friends in the corner. Listening intently to his response when she heard them asking who had jumped him.

  “You should see the other guy,” Gerald boasted falsely, he gingerly straddled the chair while they all laughed with him at his response.

  One of the men lifted his hand. For Amber, it was suddenly like everything was in slow motion. Catching her eye, he motioned, beckoning for her to come to their table. It felt like time had s
lowed down. Even the sounds of the bar had become a low murmur. She had to blink a couple times before things returned to normal. Now what the hell had just happened? She couldn’t stop the frown that spread across her brow. Unfortunately their table was in her section that night and she reluctantly headed towards the corner.

  The prodding was insistent in her mind and she wondered if this was what her mother had talked about. She’d told her that her wolf would always be with her and would guide her. Her body felt like it was moving on its own accord. Before she realized it, she stood staring down at Gerald. It took everything she had to fight the urge to bare her teeth, to keep from leaning towards him and wrapping her hands around his throat. She felt the vibrations of a low growl begin in her throat and forced herself to straighten, to move away from him. No one appeared to notice the sound because the bar was so noisy. Shifting her eyes so she was looking at the table instead of them prevented anyone from seeing that her eyes were the swirling mix of chocolate and yellow specks. Deep down, she knew without a doubt her change was definitely upon her and the next night, when the full moon was high, her wolf would finally emerge. An evil smile slid across her lips when she quickly glanced back at Gerald, who was eyeing her.

  ****

  After making it through an agonizing, extremely long night at work, Amber fell into bed, exhausted but anxious for the next evening to come, when she would finally make her first change. It still plagued her that she was in her mid-twenties and just now making the shift when normal female werewolves changed at sixteen. She knew she was not the typical werewolf. Her mother had told her that plenty of times. But it still didn’t make sense. What was so different about her that she changed ten years later, at twenty-six, rather than sixteen?