Wolf Strap

by Naomi Clark

  it happens. So what?”

  “You think those guys who beat up my girlfriend had anything to do with it?”

  He released my arm and stepped back, assessing me warily in the half-light. “I’ll say it again, don’t mess with it. It’s none

  of your business.” He flipped the switch to open the door and shoved me out into the hall. “Just keep your pretty nose out of other people’s business.” He let the door slam shut.

  Scowling, I stomped back to the reception and slammed my fist down on the desk, startling the duty sergeant out of her inertia.

  “Who is Officer Kinsey’s partner?”

  She blinked at me slowly, as if assessing how crazy I was. “Why?”

  “I want to make a complaint.”

  “You should–”

  “What’s his name?” I dragged my nails along the desktop, leaving smears of blood–mine and Redhead’s–in my wake.

  She wet her lips and thought fast. “Graham Hesketh.” I stormed out. Hesketh. I was going to find him and beat Kinsey’s

  secret out of him.

  B

  ecause Kinsey was Pack, and Hesketh was his partner, it was easy to find Hesketh. A quick call to Vince gave me everything I needed to know.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, Ayla,” he warned me. “You’re not thinking straight.”

  He was right.

  Adam and Shannon were mixed up in my head, battered and hurt and I couldn’t be logical about it. I could only follow my gut and my gut told me Kinsey and Hesketh were involved. So I channeled my anger and raced across town to Hesketh’s house. He’d left the station before I made bail. I was optimistically assuming he’d be in, but the house was deserted.

  It was a small place, a million miles from the opulence of Joel’s house at Larkspur. A rusted bicycle was chained to the fence, looking like it had been there, and would be there, forever. The garden was overgrown with weeds, dandelions flourishing in the long grass. The house itself didn’t look neglected, just tired. I stood on the doorstep, shifting my weight from foot to foot as I contemplated my next move Hesketh was out. I had nothing but fury and instinct fuelling me and, standing outside his silent house, that didn’t feel like enough.

  The wind shifted, bringing that terrible smell with it. I wrinkled my nose, wishing I could persuade myself it meant nothing. But Glory had said she’d smelled it the night of Adam’s death, and it lingered everywhere like a contagion. The alley, the police station, now here.

  I cursed under my breath and charged the front door.

  The wood cracked sharply, driving splinters into my shoulder. A dog barked in the next garden, probably worried by the scent of a larger, stronger predator in its territory. Dogs and werewolves didn’t really mix. I guess we confused them, being neither human enough nor canine enough for them.

  The inside of the house was no better than the outside; worn and uncared for. I smelled whiskey hanging in the air, competing with the rotting meat stench. The carpets were soiled with mud, the walls stained with cigarette smoke. An overall atmosphere of despair pervaded the place. If I was into amateur psychology, I might have said Hesketh had some issues.

  I tracked the scent through the house, heading up the narrow staircase. Straight ahead of me was a small bathroom, to my left, a bedroom. The smell was strong enough now to make my eyes water, my heart pounding frantically. What would I find? Shannon and Adam flitted through my mind, bloodied and bruised. What had Hesketh done?

  I pushed open the door to the bathroom, rubbing my eyes on my sleeve. The off-white porcelain was spattered with flecks of rusty red, streaks of the stuff dripping down the walls into the bathtub. A small furry form lay curled in the tub; grey fur drizzled with blood. The rabbit’s neck was broken, its glassy eyes staring up at me sightlessly. I stared back, stomach churning. It wasn’t the dead animal itself that upset me. I’d killed too many myself to feel sentimental about them. It was what the rabbit represented that got to me. Some twisted version of nature was at work here, something I couldn’t fathom.

  There were no dead rabbits in the bedroom, but the smell was thickest here, almost tangible. My wolf clawed at the doors of my mind, telling me this was a situation better suited to her skills than mine. I gritted my teeth and ignored her.

  Desperate to find the source of the smell, I tore the room apart: heaved the mattress off the bed, ripped through the wardrobe, tore up the rugs. Maybe my wolf was more in control than I realized, filling me with an animal’s blind, instinctive fear and anger. I couldn’t stop until I’d found it. I didn’t even really care anymore what it was.

  I was so consumed by my search I didn’t hear the steps behind me until it was too late. I whirled with a snarl as a heavy hand clapped down on my shoulder. Hesketh stood behind me, face pale, eyes shrunken with anger.

  “What the fuck are you doing, you bitch?” he spat at me.

  He hit me before I could answer, smacking me hard across the face and sending me staggering backwards. I collided with the end of his bed and sat down hard, shocked at the strength in his blow, that it was wolf-hard, not human-hard. I sat dazed for a second while Hesketh loomed over me.

  “You Pack bastards think you own this fucking town! Think you can just walk all over us!” He slapped me again. “What the fuck are you doing in here?”

  He went for a third blow but I caught his wrist, holding him with a crushing grip. “Don’t you touch me,” I snarled, rising and pushing him back. “What have you done, Hesketh? What’s with the rabbit? You think you’re one of us? Think you can be Pack by shredding up a few pet bunnies?”

  He laughed and pulled free of my grip. “I’m better than you, bitch. You have no idea.” There was a mad light in his eyes that unnerved me despite my anger. He glanced around the room as if noticing the destruction I’d caused for the first time. The mad light faded briefly, replaced by sharp panic. “Kinsey said someone would find out. Shit. Oh shit.” He scraped his hands over his face. He spun from me, reaching for the chest of drawers against the far wall. I hadn’t got round to ripping that apart yet.

  Something in his desperate motions fired me too. As he darted for the drawers, so did I, determined to get to whatever he was reaching for before he could. The human part of my brain whispered it could be a gun. The wolf part didn’t give a damn.

  Hesketh was a fraction quicker than me. He pulled open a drawer and tugged something from it, holding it away from me with a savage grin. I stopped, sickened, when I saw what it was.

  A long strip of wolf skin, soft and plush with thick smoke-grey fur, tipped with white. Adam’s wolf colorings, doused with Adam’s scent.

  Mutilated. Skinned.

  It would give them special powers.

  “You evil bastard,” I whispered, my heart in my throat, blood boiling in my veins. “You sick fucker.”

  “He was already dead!” Hesketh shouted. “He was dead, dammit. Those Alpha Human thugs killed him! I didn’t do anything

  wrong!”

  I reached for the wolf strap, burning with rage. “You skinned my cousin, you monster, you–”

  He lashed out, kicking me hard in the stomach. I gasped and bent double, stars dancing in my eyes and blurring the sight of Hesketh dangling Adam’s skin before me. “You’re calling me a monster? You and your fucking Pack, lording it over us pathetic humans, you’re the monsters! This is justice. This is leveling the playing field, bitch. We can be just as good as you, just as strong and fast and that’s not sick, that’s fair.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and threw myself at him. We crashed into the wall in a knot of flying fists and savage snarls. I snapped and scratched at him, trying to wrestle the wolf strap from him. He fought back just as fiercely, trying to throw me off him.

  We rolled around in the chaos I’d made of his room until he got a handful of my hair and slammed my head against the wall. Blistering pain shot through my skull and I blanked out for a precious second. Hesketh used that second to shove me off him and scramble
to his feet.

  When my vision cleared, he’d torn his shirt off and was wrapping the wolf strap around his bare torso.

  “No, no, nononono.” I barely recognized my own voice. My wolf was rising up inside me, abject horror coursing through us both as Hesketh began to change. This was anathema, this was against everything I knew, everything I believed right down to my bones.

  Adam’s thick strip of fur spread across Hesketh’s body, covering him in rippling grey wolf hair. As it flowed up his chest and along his arms, he began to convulse and shake, gasping as a change his body wasn’t made for took him over. His legs buckled, his arms twisted as the wolf strap forced a new shape upon him. His face stretched as the fur covered his neck and cheeks, remaking him, pulling and tugging and dragging at his human form until he was something else.

  He wasn’t a wolf. It wasn’t a Pack wolf that stood before me when the change was done. It was a Hollywood wolfman, tottering upright on two long feet. Long arms hung at his sides, yellowed claws swiping at the air. The muzzle was too long, over crammed with fangs. The eyes were a sickly amber color, filled with rage and madness. This was a monster.

  I was frozen. That foul smell filled me, emanating from the wolf strap and now roiling in the air around Hesketh. I wanted to run. Wanted to fight. Wanted to kill him just to get rid of that smell. The change had taken seconds–did I have time to make my own before he struck?

  “See this, bitch?” he growled around all those teeth, voice rough and awkward. “We can be just the same as you.”

  I scrabbled away from him, summoning my wolf, trying to force my own change. The time it would take me was plenty time for Hesketh to eviscerate me, but I had to try.

  There was a clatter on the stairs, breaking the spell between us. Shoes! Someone was running up the stairs, calling my name. Glory and Vince burst into the room, both stopping dead when they saw Hesketh.

  “Jesus wept,” Vince breathed, eyes locked on the wolfman. “Ayla!”

  Hesketh turned on Vince. “More Pack bastards–you think I can’t take you all? You think I won’t?” He lashed out at Vince, claws slashing through his shirt and tearing at his skin. Vince growled and lunged for Hesketh in response. He knocked him to the floor, grappling with him. Barks and yaps filled the air as they wrestled, and a new wave of panic flooded me. Vince! Had to help Vince, had to stop this creature, this…abomination.

  Glory kicked off her shoes and grabbed one up, holding the sparkly stiletto like a weapon.

  “Do something!” she roared at me.

  I striped, closed my eyes and let the wolf take me. The world became a painful blur for a few long seconds, then I shook myself off and focused on Hesketh and Vince.

  Hesketh had Vince pinned to the carpet, misshapen muzzle snapping at Vince’s vulnerable throat. Vince had his hands braced against the wolfman’s bony shoulders, keeping him barely out of reach. The strain was palpable as Vince fought to shift his weight and throw off Hesketh.

  I launched myself at Hesketh, barreling into him and shoving him off Vince, into the wall. Hesketh howled and swiped at me, catching a glancing blow across my chest. I snapped at his hand, clamping my teeth down on his forearm. With a roar, he drove his free hand into my flank, winding me. I released him with a yelp and scuttled away. There was no room to maneuver, no space to fight properly.

  I was backed into a corner while Hesketh clambered to his feet, clutching his bleeding forearm to his chest. To Adam’s fur. “Fucking animals,” he growled.

  Vince was on his knees, struggling out of his jacket. I could smell the change taking him, the hot, musky scent that wrapped around him as he summoned his own wolf. Too slow, I thought desperately as Hesketh stalked towards me. Too damn slow against this creature.

  I gathered myself up, preparing to dive at his throat. One quick bite, well-aimed, that was all I needed. For Adam.

  I sprang as Hesketh prepared his own strike. We clashed with a flurry of snarls and snaps, claws digging into each other, drawing blood, slicing flesh. My world narrowed to Hesketh’s yellow eyes and too-long fangs. I could hear voices shouting around me, but they meant nothing. I’d kill him. I’d kill him before I stopped and that was all that mattered.

  And then suddenly, Hesketh wasn’t fighting me. There was a dull thump and he fell away from me. I fell to the ground with a yowl, hitting the corner of the bed and almost knocking myself out. I shook my head and looked up to see Glory standing over the fallen wolfman brandishing her stiletto.

  “You think these things are just for show?” she asked, catching my eye. Her voice shook, but her cherry red lips managed a smile.

  I whined and flattened my ears against my skull, eyes swinging back to Hesketh. He was breathing shallowly. A thick trickle of blood seeped down between his eyes, thanks to Glory’s designer shoes. He was changing back, body rapidly reverting to human form, wiping away all traces of the monster.

  Vince fully changed and late to the party, nuzzled me, checking for injuries. I snapped at him half-heartedly, then licked his face. I was on the verge of changing back when once again there was a thunder of feet on the stairs.

  Kinsey appeared, gun in hand, face red with exertion. “Graham!” he yelled. “Hesketh, what–” He stopped short when he saw the scene in Hesketh’s bedroom. Two wolves baring their teeth at him in a clear warning, one drag queen waving a shoe threateningly. One monster out cold on the floor.

  “Shit,” Kinsey said eloquently. He sagged against the door, dropping his gun. “I knew this would happen.”

  “You knew?” Glory shrieked. “You treacherous bastard! How could you help this?” She gestured to Hesketh. “How could you allow this?”

  All the fight I’d seen in Kinsey earlier, all the bluster and strength, seemed to be dying before my eyes. “He’s my friend,” he whispered helplessly. “He wanted to be one of us. I wanted him to know what it was like… The boy was already dead.”

  If I’d had human vocal chords, I would have told Kinsey there was no excuse, no justification for what they’d done, what they’d made of themselves. I would have screamed at him until my throat bled and my voice died. But I was a wolf, and my wolf had nothing to say.

  P

  ack law is harsh and swift. Kinsey and Hesketh would discover that when it all came out, as would the Alpha Human faction that had enabled them to take Adam’s skin. By the time I’d changed back to my human shape, I was too tired and depressed to want revenge anymore. I just wanted Shannon.

  They let her out of the hospital a couple of hours after Hesketh and Kinsey were arrested, and I had to be more careful than ever when I hugged her. Even restrained wolf-strength was a threat to those cracked ribs.

  “If you were a wolf, you’d be healed already,” I murmured to her, kissing her throat. For a perilous second, I almost understood Kinsey’s motives. I dismissed the thought as soon as it came.

  Shannon brushed my hair from my face, examining the cuts and bruises I’d picked up in my fight with Hesketh.

  “You’re wolf enough for both of us, I think.”

  K

  nowing what had happened didn’t help Chris and Vivian. It didn’t help me.

  I gave the wolf strap to them and they burnt it. Nothing more was said. I suppose there wasn’t anything to say.

  I took Shannon to meet my parents.

  I also took Vince, Joel, and Glory as backup. There were a few awkward silences as my parents took in Glory’s hot-pink mini-dress, then Mum asked her where she got her gorgeous gold shoes from, and suddenly it was like we’d been doing this for years.

  Tension eased out of me second by second as Shannon and Dad chatted about her work, and Glory and Mum discussed boutiques and costume jewelry over roast beef and vegetables. It was homely. Comfortable.

  Next to me, Vince patted my knee and winked at me.

  I smiled back, a warm glow settling over me. Shannon caught my eye and blew me a kiss that wafted to me on the scent of jasmine and sandalwood. For the first time since th
e plane had touched down, my wolf and I felt just fine.