No Remorse

by MaryLynn Bast

  “It doesn’t really. I’m Amber. I don’t care where you’re from or why you are running. All I want is my stone and I’ll be outta here.”

  The woman thought for a moment, her tension easing slightly after realizing that Amber had not sounded an alarm to the werewolf she had avoided outside. If she had, he would have already come crashing through the door. The woman nodded slightly “I’m Trina, this is Toby, and we’re from the Malheur Pack in Oregon.”

  Amber nodded. “Trina, it appears that we’re both trying to avoid people we don’t want to run into. The man outside is from my mother’s pack down south. He’s not here for you and Toby. So you should be safe. Just stay out of his way. Now I really do need that stone, so I can be on my way. This is partially my fault, I left my door unlocked.”

  Trina nodded, turned to her son again, and forced Toby to open the hand he kept hidden behind his back. When she saw what Toby held in his hand, she groaned out loud. “How did you get this?” she demanded.

  “I found it beside the bed.” he mumbled defiantly, refusing to meet his mother’s eyes.

  “You went into her room and took this?” Trina was flabbergasted at her son’s actions. She snatched the stone from his hand and turned apologetically towards Amber, who quickly took the stone from Trina’s tentatively outstretched hand. “I am so sorry!” Trina told Amber with an apologetic half smile.

  When Amber accepted her apology with a nod, Trina turned back to Toby, sternly grabbed him by the chin, and forced him to look at her, demanding to know why he would steal from somebody when she gives him everything he wanted or needed.

  Once securing the stone, Amber took that as her cue to leave while Trina continued to scold Toby. Amber mumble, “Good luck to you and your son. Please stay safe.” Amber slipped out the door of the laundry room. Her body was still in turmoil, but had calmed down the moment the stone was back in her pocket.

  Lucky for her, the pack member had walked on past and was nowhere to be seen, but his scent lingered in the air. Amber cautiously slipped back into her room and grabbed the backpack she always kept ready. She would have to leave the room she had just paid for and find somewhere else to stay for the night. But she would rather be safe than sorry, and didn’t want to bring attention to Trina and Toby if someone did happen to find her.

  With that ordeal behind her, Amber never lost the stone again. It was her constant companion and she had not run into any of the pack members since.

  It had never crossed her mind before; the encounter with Trina made her realize that there were other women, female wolves out there, who were running just like she was. That thought was somewhat of a comfort to her and she didn’t quite feel so alone anymore.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The following night, when the moon was full, she anticipated the change, waiting anxiously for it. To her disappointment it didn’t happen, but the following month, with her wolf constantly pushing at her, Amber finally made her first agonizingly painful transformation to werewolf. Knowing the change was upon her, Amber had purposefully spent the night deep in the forest where she dealt with her first victim and an abundant amount of only animals to prey upon. Her wolf spent the week running wild through the forest.

  Once she was comfortable that her wolf was sated, Amber left California behind and began wandering through the states. The stone was now around her neck where it would remain. She didn’t want to risk losing it again; after all, it was the only thing she had left of her family.

  Amber thought of the night she met her grandfather. It had been brief, but left a lasting impression. Placing her in the back of that black car, he had sent her many miles away. Amber had not received any form of contact from him or her mother ever since and often wondered if they were still alive. The man in the car had dropped Amber off at what she thought of as an orphanage. The driver had passed on a warning to the overseers that she should stay hidden for a while.

  The place was actually a safe house for werewolves who had no place to go. A homeless shelter for young wolves with no family, no one to take care of them, or some like her, who’s family just didn’t want them around. Amber quickly found out she was the only older female who was not capable of turning yet. The other members didn’t consider her as a part of their mismatched pack and she never formed friendships with any of the girls. She was a pariah among outcasts. Constantly the butt of their jokes, the group of girls hassled Amber at every turn.

  Amber heard them openly gossiping about her inability to change. They considered her a freak and devised a plan to harass her every day. If they made her angry enough, it would force her to lose control and shift.

  The girls had been relentless and attacked Amber in both human and, during the phases of the full moon, in their werewolf forms. Knowing her inability to shift meant she would never beat them with their werewolf strength. She was tired of being hurt and learned quickly how to use whatever was in her reach as a weapon for defense.

  Stacy was the biggest and the meanest of the group. Because of her height and size, she was the leader of the smaller girls and was continuously encouraging the assaults against Amber. Ordering the girls to surround Amber on the playground, Stacy would punch and kick her, pulling her around by the hair, bragging about how easy it was to change. Stacy continually taunted Amber, accusing her of not being a true werewolf. Stacy would change and stand over Amber, snarling and threatening to bite her until one of the adults came out to break up the group.

  One day, it all changed. Overhearing Stacy’s plan to attack and bite her, Amber decided it was time she fought back. She had always avoided Stacy when possible and didn’t understand why the girl hated her so much. Slipping into the kitchen unnoticed, the small knife was easy to steal and was easily hidden throughout the day in the front pocket of Amber’s jeans.

  Amber waited all day with dread, when they surrounded her in the courtyard, Stacy approached, immediately beginning the shift into the wiry mixed colored form of her wolf. Before the transformation was complete, Amber attacked. She quickly swung the blade and sliced across the half girl half wolf’s face. As practiced in her room, spinning quickly, Amber stabbed the bigger girl in the side when Stacy lunged towards her.

  The girls in the circle surrounding them were stunned and stood with mouths gapping. They stared in dumbfounded silence as Stacy fell to her knees, clutching her bleeding face and side.

  Amber’s eyes were a wild swirl of color, her breathing shallow and fast. Skin crawling, her head was pounding. With rage clouding her eyes, Amber whirled around to face the group, snarling menacingly, taking a step, daring them to block her exit. Without their leader to goad them, the girls immediately parted, allowing Amber to pass.

  Escaping their circle, Amber ran as fast as her legs would carry her towards the woods. Gasping for breath, she reached the tree line. Suddenly a male wolf stepped out from behind the large tree and grabbed her, stopping her progress into the forest.

  “I know you’re only trying to protect yourself, but they’ll kill you for that,” he told her, concern crossing his face.

  “Blake! What are you doing here?” Amber exclaimed. “Maybe I’ll just let them kill me so I won’t have to worry about this shit anymore!” Amber responded in frustration, while she fought to catch her breath.

  “I can help you get out of here, instead,” he advised.

  Amber stared at him for a long moment before she nodded in agreement. Blake turned and rushed her deeper into the woods.

  Amber had spent the last year and a half at the shelter for misfits; it had been the most miserable time of her short life. She would not miss that place or its people. Except one, she corrected herself silently, glancing at Blake beside her.

  “OK, what’s the plan?” Amber asked, turning with her hands on her hips facing him. Blake’s soft brown eyes stared back at her. Since arriving at the school a couple weeks after she had, Blake had been a true friend and she trusted him.

  ∞∞∞

  Hiking thr
ough the trees, they headed for the cave they had found a couple months earlier. Blake and Amber had explored and talked for hours before realizing how late it had become. Laughing, they rushed back to the school before anyone missed them. The cave was their secret hiding place where they could go and get away from the world.

  Blake agreed to return at midnight and rushed back to the school. Amber spent the evening pacing, watching the entrance, waiting anxiously for Blake to arrive, and then jumped in startled surprise when he silently and suddenly appeared.

  A smile lit Blake’s face when Amber ran happily towards him. Getting into her room had been the easy part, packing her stuff was another story. Once inside the room, Blake quickly realized that her small pack wasn’t big enough. So he had taken his backpack and filled it instead.

  “I know you don't have much and thought you might want it all and since mine is bigger…” he explained with a shrug as he held the pack out for her to inspect.

  When Amber stretched her arm out to take his pack, Blake dropped it. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It was a long deep kiss that had their blood running hot. Lifting his head, they stared into each other’s glazed eyes, speechless. This was the first kiss they had shared, Ambers’ first kiss ever.

  Blake pulled her back into his arms, holding her close against his warm chest. His ragged breathing matched hers. They held onto one another tightly.

  Amber was nearly eighteen years old and it was the first time she had really felt the presence of her wolf when it slammed against her insides wanting out, responding to his wolf’s closeness. Amber wanted to keep his arms wrapped around her, wanted him inside her body.

  Blake didn’t want to let her go, but was forced to release her when Amber reluctantly stepped back, breaking his hold on her. With a shimmer of tears in her eyes, she picked up the green backpack and turned away. Blake caught up to her and pulled her hand into his.

  Walking out of the cave hand in hand, they trekked through the trees to where the highway crossed into the forest. As Blake had told her, he had a car there, its engines running quietly, waiting patiently for Amber.

  They stopped, staring at the car until Blake pulled Amber into his arms, kissing her again. This time, the kiss was so tender she couldn’t stop the tear from slipping down her cheeks. He held her close to his pounding heart, drawing a deep breath, breathing her scent into his lungs, while she did the same.

  “I can come with you,” Blake suggested, voice husky with emotion. When Amber quietly shook her head no, he reluctantly released her. Without looking back or saying another word to him, Amber climbed into the back seat of the car.

  The sedan eased out onto the road. Amber knew if she had looked at Blake before getting in, she would’ve relented and allowed him to come. Wanting one last look, she turned in the seat to peer out the rear window. The last thing she saw was Blake standing with his hands in the pockets of his jeans staring sadly at the back of the car that took her away.

  ∞∞∞

  Shortly after leaving the school, Amber still hadn’t shifted yet, but her senses were becoming stronger; she could see better at night and farther than ever before. Things were sharper and more colorful. Amber could hear people whispering from across the street and hear their heartbeats when she got closer to them. It amazed and scared her at the same time.

  Staying on the run Amber found that being a werewolf came in handy, but was also somewhat of a hindrance. Graced with a full-blooded werewolf’s genetics, not aging and not looking old enough to work became a problem at first. Then the surprising handy ability to alter her appearance emerged. Amber was not aware that this was a werewolf’s ability, but was happy that she had figured it out. Even though she was still unable to change, this ability came in handy; she could get jobs working in the roadside bars during her travels.

  By working in the bars, which tended to be dark, there was less of a chance of being recognized. With her enhanced senses, Amber could smell when a werewolf entered the bar, allowing enough time to swiftly disappear out the back. Amber’s looks made it easy to find employment while traversing the countryside. It was in the werewolf’s nature to eat humans, so working the bars was the perfect way and the best place to scope out potential prey. The job was far from glamorous and Amber knew first-hand the reason for the high turnover rate of employees. The men couldn’t keep their hands off the girls, but it paid well. So Amber moved from bar to bar, earning enough money for food and shelter, eventually saving enough to buy a vehicle.

  It wasn’t much of a car, but it kept her from walking or running everywhere she wanted to go. Over the next couple of years, Amber continued the training her mother had taught her by tracking and stalking what would soon be her prey, once she finally turned.

  ∞∞∞

  Years later, by the time Amber finally turned, she had become a highly trained and skilled predator. Adept at staying hidden, she knew how to track her prey. Amber knew early on that she would not prey on an innocent human. The person would be a threat to other humans, like Andrew Small.

  Back in her motel room, Amber had dug up dirt on Andrew. His name was all over the local news. The small town’s newspaper’s website proudly showed off their small town’s gossip.

  The Internet is an amazing tool. It didn’t take much an effort to get information on Andrew’s past. He was on his third marriage and he apparently cheated, a lot! The latest report on him is what caught Amber’s attention. Andrew had been released from jail for attacking a woman. In fact, over the past ten years, he had been charged with attacking half a dozen women, but somehow the charges had always been dropped. Amber wondered how many women he had attacked who hadn’t reported him.

  Choosing Andrew as her second victim had been a good choice. Amber’s first had been the child molester who had captured young girls, then bragged about his conquests to his lowlife friends at the bar when she overheard their conversation. His camping trip had not ended too well for him.

  ∞∞∞

  With so much time on her hands, Amber couldn't stop thinking about what little her mother had taught her, wondering if she would learn to control the beast that resided inside her. Her mother had told her it would be hard and she would have regrets after a kill, but there were choices. Humans were not the only thing they could feed on. Amber continued to worry. Her mother was a typical werewolf, but Amber was not.

  Throughout the past two months, Amber had changed at least a dozen times, but kept her human victims to a minimum; only the two scumbags. Each kill had been planned.

  She rented a room where she could get in and out without being seen. The forest was a couple hundred yards away, allowing Amber to slip out of her room during her unexpected changes to run and pursue rabbits, squirrels, and other small animals that resided in the thicket. Deer were supposed to be good, but Amber didn’t know if she wanted to kill Bambi’s mother. The horns on the bucks were deadly to a pup. Amber ate whatever was available; as a werewolf, she couldn’t be too picky.

  Her wolf learned really quick how to avoid the nasty smelling skunks. Rats were her least favorite, but had worked when hunger had almost overtaken rational thought, when nothing else had been available.

  Amber often wondered what it was like to be part of a pack, to hunt and work as one cooperative group.

  Having never been around people longer than what she suffered through at work, Amber didn’t know if she could be around anyone for an extended period of time. Yes, she was lonely, but she was in control of her time. It has been years since her stay at school and being separated from her mother, and Blake.

  Since Blake, she had not allowed anyone to become close enough emotionally to become a hindrance. Because she wasn’t a typical werewolf, she couldn’t afford to let anyone get close enough to find out what she was. Amber occasionally thought of Trina and Toby and the few other females she had met along the way. When she met people, men, at work, she always kept them at arms-length, and they learned ve
ry quickly to keep their hands to themselves. So interaction with humans was doable. Her life was tolerable.

  Some days, though, Amber allowed herself to think about Blake and the kisses they had shared. That felt like it had been a lifetime ago. Now, if she felt herself becoming attracted to a man physically, she got the hell outta Dodge. She was literally a lone wolf in the world. She had nowhere to go and nowhere to stay.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Blake drove along the deserted highway, the wind blowing wildly through his thick dark brown hair. The three days growth that shadowed his jaw line was rough. Blake had been driving for days and was tired. He was on the last stretch home, with only a few more miles to go. Head resting against the support for a moment, he stared at the endless road and trees. White lines zipping by, his foot held the gas steady at seventy miles per hour.

  Blake barely registered the sound of gravel when the black truck moved off the road onto the narrow shoulder. The slight drop jerked the steering wheel sharply, startling him awake. But it was too late. The truck was already out of control. The last thing Blake saw was the ground flipping by a couple of times. The truck rolled over the steep embankment, bouncing off the large rocks and boulders on its way down towards the bottom of the ravine and the small stream that flowed swiftly through its base. Then everything went black.

  ∞∞∞

  The black wolf stood and watched the vehicle slowly drift to the side of the road, then go out of control. Tires slid in the gravel losing traction, the truck slipped off the road and tumbled down the side of the embankment. There were no tire marks on the pavement since the driver never hit the brakes. On the far side of the ravine, from her vantage point high up on the hill, just inside the trees, Amber knew the truck would be there for days, weeks, or even months, before it would be discovered. Picking her way rapidly through the sprinkling of trees and boulders towards the ravine, the smell of blood was strong, urging the wolf forward.