“I want to make sure that no one sees us.” She put the car into park and sat there quietly, trying to figure out her next move. If Jimmy saw her there, she wasn’t sure how he was going to react. However, he was not her only concern. She was sure that he wouldn’t mind, but as for his friends, well that made her worried. How would they react to her being there? Everything about it, made her afraid, and that fear began to show.
“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of finding him?” He looked out through his window and could see nothing but trees. He hated the outdoors. He hated nature. He wasn’t that type of guy either. That’s why he hated living in Redford Forge. He hated the peace and quiet. He began to like New York City, and began to think that the city was starting to like him too.
Rachel puffed some. She didn’t know what else to say, so she didn’t.
He saw her hesitation. “Can we at least get out of the car?” He grabbed his door handle and readied to open it, with or without her answer.
She nodded. What did it hurt? “Yeah.” She reached for her handle and opened the door to the cool night air.
Brandon did the same thing and they stood out of the car in unison. “This is great.” He looked around and felt the cool air bite at his bare arms all at once. And, here he was without a jacket in the car with him. “Now what do we do? Slink around the area and hope to run into him.” This all began to look like a very bad idea. He felt like he was wasting time. He began to think that this wasn’t worth it. He didn’t know what they were doing, and now that he was bitterly cold, he felt sure of it.
“Quiet.” He sounded too loud. Someone would hear him; she knew it.
He scoffed at that one. “Again?” He braced himself with the palms of his hands and wrapped them around his own arms. The coolness felt biting. The air turned into a subtle breeze, and it made him start to shiver some. “What’s the purpose of coming all this way if we’re not going to let him know that we’re even here?”
Rachel bowed her head, hearing what sounded like someone coming towards them, coming along the trees. She could hear the sounds of twigs cracking. She could hear the sounds of dirt rustling under shoes. Two sets of shoes were coming, she was almost sure of it.
She turned, just in time to see Jimmy and Sasha come out from around the side of the barn and towards her car.
“Rachel?” Jimmy said first, seeing her again so soon hurt his chest. Why she never listened to him was the only thing now on his mind. “I thought that you were going back to Redford Forge?”
“Hey.” Brandon stepped around his side of the car, around the trunk, and to the three of them. “Nice to see you too.” He smiled. Seeing Sasha with him made him have to un-cup his arms and bring his hands back down to his sides quickly. He had to be a man. He didn’t want Sasha to think that he was a wimp for being so cold. He knew of no other way to act around such a beautiful creature such as her.
Jimmy tensed up. “You brought him with you?” He couldn’t believe it. How in the hell am I going to explain him being here? It’s bad enough that I have to explain Rachel. He shook his head. He didn’t want to think about it.
“Thanks,” Brandon winced. “I love you too.” He bowed his head. He felt too tired to question anything any further.
Sasha laughed at everything that she saw and heard. They sounded so human to her all of a sudden. They also seemed refreshing. She was about to say something, but a new scent came to her from beyond the trees.
She could smell a deep, strong mustiness on the breeze. It smelled so strong. It smelled more than just powerful, it smelled almost pure. And worse yet, she could tell that it was moving. One of them had to be close by. Maybe they had already completed the hunt and were already returning from it. She didn’t know. She just smelled it and that was it.
Jimmy smelled it as well. He could easily tell that a wolf was nearby, moving towards the barn. He couldn’t believe how strong it smelled. Great! He looked at Brandon. How in the hell am I going to explain them to him? He swallowed and shook his head again.
Rachel noticed the two of them smelling the air. “What is it?”
Brandon laughed at them. “What the fuck are you two doing?” They both looked like they were sniffing the air.
“They must be coming back.” Sasha turned to Jimmy, walked to the back of the car, and tried to get a bearing as to where the smell was coming from. She could tell that it was close, but with the breeze, she had trouble getting the direction right. She did notice that the smell seemed to be coming from the opposite direction that the others went.
Jimmy noticed the exact same thing. “Didn’t they go in the other direction?”
Sasha nodded. “They are quick. They might have gone another way?”
“What the fuck are the two of you talking about?” Brandon turned to the trees. He couldn’t believe what he heard and had to see it for himself. Looking into the heavy shadows, he saw nothing but the darkness. He saw nothing but trees. He didn’t see anything. Everything looked the same, but when a deep gurgling growl came from the darkness, it changed his mind instantly. It sounded almost like a large cat, or maybe even a bear and it seemed to be close. Hearing it, he didn’t know what to think. He didn’t need to see such things to feel his heart clench his chest and his mind to start flying into a jumbled, overwhelming mass of confusion because of it.
“That’s not them.” Sasha took a step back, walking into the back of Rachel’s car with a thud. She knew their scents. The each smelled different. Their smell was easy to tell them apart, but this one smelled different. It smelled stronger. It didn’t feel right.
Jimmy heard her clearly, but wasn’t sure what else to think. “How do you know?” He could feel her heart begin to race inside her chest.
“Trust me.” She left the car and looked to the barn. “It’s coming. We have to get them out of here.” She turned to Rachel and Brandon. They were in danger. She and Jimmy could protect themselves, but as for the two humans, they were another story entirely. They would have trouble protecting them. When a wolf was intent on hunting, as this one smelled like it was, they wouldn’t be able to prevent it from taking at least one of them before they could stop it. Knowing that, she had to move fast. They had to move to safety before it was too late.
Jimmy turned to both of them. He agreed. “Go. Get in the car and go.” He had to trust Sasha. If she was right, and he knew that she was, they had to get away before it attacked. They were in danger. A wolf was coming, and it felt as if it was coming for them.
Rachel shook her head. “What’s going on?” She wasn’t going to leave him. If it was Gary they smelled, she would fight him with them, side by side.
“It’s coming fast Jimmy. It‘s large. It‘s moving to us too fast.” Sasha raced to the side of the barn. She headed towards the only door at the side of the road.
The building was typical for a normal barn. There were only two ways inside it. At the front, there were the two large doors that you could drive through, and at the side was a smaller personnel door. It wasn’t the best place to go but at least they had a better chance to protect them inside it. If they worked together, they could do it, she knew they could.
Jimmy agreed with her, smelling the mustiness getting closer and stronger. Whoever it was, it was moving too fast.
“Who’s coming fast?” Brandon could feel his heart almost pounding straight out of his chest. He didn’t really like the dark. He hated surprises. He hated feeling scared by someone. He had all three of this happening now, and it started to terrify him that everything was all happening together.
“Get in the car.” Jimmy turned to Rachel and took her left arm into his right hand. He pulled her as he left the back of the car and brought her to the driver’s door.
“I’m not leaving.” She tried to fight his strength but couldn’t. He almost dragged her there, with her shoes kicking up the dirt beneath her shoes as he did it.
“It’s too late. They’ll never make it out of here. It will get them in
the car.” For Sasha, that’s what she would do if she were the one hunting them. When they hunted alone, it was better to hunt with fear. It was better to get your prey to a place to where you could to take them together. Knowing that, they didn’t have the choice. “In here.” She opened the side door of the barn at the road.
Jimmy took a deep breath. He could smell the wolf getting closer. In fact, he could hear it now too. He could hear its paws smacking the earth. He could hear the trees scrape as it clawed by them. He could hear its powerful muscles move under its fur. He tried to see it, but still couldn’t. Everything remained dark. I should be able to see it. I should be able to see the halo. There was nothing around it. That’s not right. Something’s very different about this one. Something’s very wrong. “Why can’t I see it coming?” He looked to Sasha.
She now felt more than rushed, she felt downright terrified. “Jimmy, we have to go now!”
He heard her stress. He felt her terror. He agreed. “Come on.” He pulled Rachel to the door.
She went willingly and stepped into the barn.
Brandon was locked in place. He couldn’t bring himself to move, so he stayed at the car. This was all too much to take in at once. He didn’t understand any of it. He felt scared beyond words.
Jimmy saw this, and rushed to him and took him by the back of the arms. He lifted him off his feet and carried him to the door of the barn.
Brandon gasped at his strength. He couldn’t believe it. “What the fuck?” He stepped into the barn. “What’s going on? What the fuck is happening?” He had too much to ask. He couldn’t bring his mind together long enough to say everything that was on his ragged thoughts.
Jimmy took a deep breath as he and Sasha stepped inside the barn with her closing the door behind them. “You shouldn’t have come here.” He looked at Brandon and then to Rachel. He took another deep breath trying to bring his lungs back together again.
Brandon shrugged with what he heard. None of it even remotely began to answer his jumble of questions.
“Whoever it is, it’s male.” Sasha kept by the door. She kept her nose trained at searching for the scent. It smelled so close to them now that she could almost taste him.
Jimmy now couldn’t smell it at all. He could still hear it though. It must have moved down wind. “Who is it?”
Sasha turned to him. The barn looked deadly dark. “Turn the light on over you,” she asked the room, but only Jimmy answered her by turning on the light above him. It was nothing but a single bulb hanging from a socket, but it did bring them some light.
The barn looked large, but at the same time, it looked empty. Along the wall, opposite from the door, a long table like bench stretched out along the wall. To his left, there were the two double doors. Behind him and to his right, was another wall. There wasn’t any place to hide. There wasn’t anywhere for them to go, if they had to.
“It has to be Samuel.” Sasha turned back to the door. She could now hear the sounds of paw prints walking on dirt and they were coming closer to her side of the barn. It sounded like the wolf was now just on the other side of the wall.
“Why would Samuel come here? Why would he do this?” Jimmy stepped closer to Brandon and Rachel. He had to stay close to them. He had to protect them.
Sasha shook her head. “He knew of this place. Why he would do this, I don’t know.”
Brandon looked to Jimmy standing on the other side of Rachel. “Who’s fucking Samuel?” he whispered.
Jimmy scoffed. “Not now Brandon.” He looked behind him, and could smell the mustiness again. It came from the back wall. “He’s there.” He left Rachel and Brandon and went to the scent.
Sasha saw his actions. She smelled it too, but she knew better. She heard the sounds of walking on her side. The wind must be carrying its scent. “Jimmy?” she whispered.
He didn’t hear her. He just stayed at the back wall.
“Jimmy?” she called louder the second time.
This time he heard her, so he turned back to her, and what he saw next blew his mind away.
A crash moaned throughout the barn. A hole blew through the wooden door just behind Sasha, as a black clawed human looking hand came through the hole and grabbed at her right arm.
Its nails raked across her skin. She screamed from the pain that shot through her arm and went up into her shoulder. She raced her left hand to her torn arm and wrapped her fingers around her forearm and around the wound. Blood was everywhere under her touch.
The hand vanished back through the hole just as fast as it came.
Jimmy heard her scream and raced back to Rachel and Brandon.
Rachel and Brandon both jumped from the sound. They both screamed from the suddenness of all of it.
“What the hell was that?” Brandon shouted after his scream. It all happened so fast, he saw nothing of the hand.
Rachel stayed quiet. She stayed with Brandon, holding him tightly to her right side. He was shaking so badly that she felt that she needed to help him from falling over.
Jimmy rushed to Sasha, as a growl came out from somewhere around the barn. A howl, as the largest wolf would ever make, echoed around the outside walls. It sounded so loud that it almost trembled the very ground beneath their feet.
“You okay?” Jimmy took her by her left elbow and squeezed.
“It has to be Samuel.” She winced some, but the pain had already started to subside. “It has to be him.” She couldn’t believe what she said. Why would he do this? Why would he hurt her? Everything raged around inside her mind, and with it, nothing made sense.
“Why would you say that? Why would he attack you?”
She shook her head. “There are no other wolves in the area. We’re the only ones in or around the city.”
Brandon heard all of this and his heart came up in his throat. “A wolf did that?” He didn’t want to think about such things.
The back of the barn shook. Everyone in the room could clearly hear the sounds of something like fingernails dragging around the wood boards of the walls.
Brandon screamed again, and this time, he was alone in the action.
Jimmy stood away from Sasha and walked back to Rachel and
Brandon. He stopped just in front of them.
Sasha looked at the wound on her arm, and back up to the three of them behind her. “You have to change Jimmy. You have to fight him off.”
Rachel looked to Jimmy. She didn’t want him to do it, but she couldn’t say anything about it. It wasn’t her place. It wasn’t the time for such things.
Brandon looked confused. “What in the hell is she talking about?”
Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t know how. Why me? Why do I have to?”
“You’re the stronger of all of us. You’re the real Alpha Male. You’re the king of us all.”
“Alpha what?” Brandon winced. He felt almost like he was about to pass out.
Jimmy rolled his eyes at him and looked back to Sasha. Behind her, the smell of must was there again, as he watched a shadow cross the hole in the door. A deep blackness covered over it. He saw it and knew what it meant, as his heart flashed through his chest. “Look out!”
The door crashed down behind Sasha, knocking her in the back and it pushed her towards Jimmy.
He caught her just before the door hit both of them and spilled them backwards to the dirt floor.
Rachel grabbed Brandon’s arm and pulled him from the center of the barn and over to the far wall. She found a dark place underneath the long old table and there slid down behind it with him.
A deep black wolf stepped through the doorway with loud heavy sounding thuds as it moved. It had to bend at the knees so that it could come inside without hitting its head on the doorjamb above it. It snarled a rattling sound in the stale air of the barn.
Sasha rolled over Jimmy and came down not that far from where Brandon and Rachel were hiding.
Jimmy was still under the door. He lifted it off him, and looked to the now open doorway
, and doing so, he now saw the wolf clearly. He gasped by the sight of it alone.
The wolf was taller than what Sasha was. It looked the same, just maybe twice her size. It was covered in black fur, and had black skin under the fur. Its long snout showed in the dim light of the now swaying light bulb above him. Its ears were almost touching the rafters of the roof above it. It looked so powerful. It looked so strong. It scared his core.
“Jimmy?” Sasha called out, crawling to him on her belly and reached him on the floor. She pulled his right arm and dragged him back towards the table. Once there, she sat up to her knees. “Get them out of here.” She removed her t-shirt and exposed her naked breasts.
Jimmy saw what she was going to do and began to plead, “No, you can’t.”
“Get them out of here and try to find the others.” She undid the button on her jeans.
The large black wolf looked around the room. It looked straight at them on the floor. It looked straight to Jimmy, and the sides of its snout curled up along its nose. It showed its pointed and jagged teeth. It snarled, as drool began to course its way down from the sides of its mouth, and spilled it all to the floor.
“You can’t fight him.” Jimmy still pleaded picking himself up to his knees.
“Get the others. I’ll distract him.” Sasha unzipped her jeans and pulled them off her hips.
“No!” Jimmy took her left arm within his hand. He could already feel the muscles of her arm begin to roll beneath her skin.
She turned to him with her green eyes fading to a bright yellow shine. Her face began to stir as the bones beneath her skin began to pull out into a snout. “Go!” she snarled. Her teeth pointed jaggedly behind her lips. She stood to her feet as her nearly white skin turned instantly black. A deep black hair began to ooze out from every part of her body. Her feet bulged out, stretching out from the heel, until she was standing on her toes as they formed into paws.
Jimmy watched her turn into the wolf right in front of his eyes. He had never seen the change before, and it felt like watching magic. It looked like the most wonderful thing that he had ever seen before in his life.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 47