Claimed by the Pack

I watched as the two animals tumbled sideways in a grey-yellow ball, snarling and snapping ferociously. Their attacks were so quick I couldn’t even follow. Couldn’t even tell who was on top and who was on the bottom, that’s how fast things kept changing between them.

Damien — the white wolf, rather — was locked in a similar battle with his much bigger counterpart. I left Broderick to sprint in that direction… and that’s when I heard an even louder growl from beside me.

Shit…

A new wolf stomped into the clearing, sleek and black and deadly-looking. This one didn’t bother bearing its fangs or telegraphing its attack. Instead, it dug four big paws hard into the cobbles and ran… straight for Damien.

I planted my feet and extended one arm. I’d only get one shot, one chance to do something, if I could do anything at all.

I’d have to make it count…

I closed my eyes and pushed. A split second later I was looking again, and the wolf was still running. I felt my throat constrict with despair. My outstretched arm shook with adrenaline, but that’s all it did. Nothing else happened.

Shit! It’s too fast!

Try as I could, there was nothing I could do. The target was just too fast; I could barely focus on the creature and track it at the same time. The wolf was rushing Damien from the side, now. It would hit him. Hurt him. Maybe even—

“DAMIEN!”

His wolf-head whipped up, first looking at me, then at his new attacker. Pulling away from his fight with the bigger enemy, he turned tail and ran. Literally.

This is crazy!

It was, though. I was watching five grown men shifted into wolves, fighting and scrambling beneath the moon’s bluish light, across the broken cobbles of some ancient, forgotten stronghold.

But I had to get control of myself. I was here for a reason.

Broderick!

I whirled, and there he was. Broderick had the other grey wolf pinned against the ground. He was snapping and biting at him, looking for an opening. There was already blood on his flank. Blood on the other wolf’s snout, too.

I raised my arms again, and peripherally I saw movement. The big wolf — the one that had been fighting Damien — was rushing thi

s way. Apparently it was too big and slow to join the chase. It reminded me of my first attacker; the heavyset man in the alleyway, who’d grabbed my wrist…

Lionel, Damien’s voice rang in my head. No big feat outrunning Lionel.

The wolf was slow enough that I could probably hit it. Probably wasn’t good enough.

Luckily I saw another option.

Near the center of the courtyard, a few pillars of stacked stone still jutted up from the ground. I waited until the big animal — or man, or werewolf, or whatever it was — passed by the crumbling stone tower.

Then I flicked my wrist.

I channeled everything into it this time, all my energy, all my focus. The counter-force knocked me back so hard both my feet left the ground. I ended up a good fifteen feet away from where I’d been standing, covered in gravel, my arm completely numb up to the elbow.

‘Lionel’ got the worst of it though.

The decaying column exploded outward, showering the big wolf in a storm of jagged stone and mortar. It went down immediately, yelping like a dog as it skidded sideways and rolled into a quivering, bloody pile. It got up, fell over, then got up again, it’s fur all matted with dust. I could see bright red blood in places, too. Fresh wounds from the shrapnel, all over its body.

The wolf stared back at me coldly, its all-too human eyes regarding me with a begrudging, newfound respect. It was crazy how much it seemed like a person. A person trapped in an animal’s body, but with all the intelligence and understanding of a human being.

I raised my arm again, bluffing this time, and it limped away. I wasn’t sure if I’d injured it badly or if its wounds were superficial. Either way it slipped back into the brush, howling twice before it left.

My eyes shifted back to Broderick’s struggle. The wolf he was still fighting had heard the cry, and immediately twisted away. For a second I thought he’d run after it, the way the black wolf had run after Damien. But then it too backed away, disappearing after one last wary glance into the thickness of the forest.

We were left heaving, standing there, Broderick and I. Both of us out of breath. Both of us covered in dirt and debris.