The Hunter And The Hunted

by Kelley Armstrong

  Even as I cursed her, I knew I was really angry with myself. I should have warned her about the mutt. If I’d honestly believed I could keep her in my sights twenty-four hours a day, then I was deluded. Elena would see no reason why she shouldn’t run out for water, even at this late hour. She was a werewolf; she didn’t need to worry about muggers and rapists. But a pissed-off mutt twice her size?

  I broke into a jog.

  ***

  The moment I stepped into the alley, I smelled him. He must have been waiting outside the hotel, formulating a plan. Then his quarry had sailed out the front doors… and waltzed straight into the nearest dark alley.

  By the time he had gotten over the shock at his good fortune, he’d lost his chance to catch her in the alley. She’d exited, walked a block, then… cut through another alley.

  Goddamn it!

  I raced to that alley, then pulled up short. Cain stood at the far end, his back to me, gaze fixed on something across the road. Elena.

  I could drive him toward her… if she’d known he was coming. I circled to the next side road, hoping to cut him off. As I approached the end, I moved into the shadows.

  Elena was still there. I could sense her, that gut-level calm that says she’s near.

  The streets and sidewalks were empty. Our hotel was in a business section of town. That had looked good when I’d picked it online-surrounded by restaurants and other conveniences. But we arrived to discover those conveniences weren’t nearly so convenient when they closed at five, as the offices emptied.

  Around the corner, I saw yet another quiet street, vacant except for a lone shopper gazing at the display of a closed clothing store. I had to do a double-take to make sure it was Elena. It certainly looked like her-a tall, slender woman in jeans and sneakers, her pale blond hair hanging loose down the back of her denim jacket. But window-shopping? At a display of women’s business suits? This honeymoon must have been boring her even more than I thought.

  As she studied the display, her gaze kept sliding to the right. I squinted to see what was drawing her attention, but the streetlights turned the glass into a mirror, reflecting…

  Reflecting Cain across the road behind her.

  She knew he was there. I exhaled in relief. The sound couldn’t have been loud enough for Elena to hear, but she went still before pivoting just enough to see me.

  She grinned and started to turn. Then her smile vanished as she jerked her attention back to the window and motioned, palm out, for me to stay put.

  A quick sequence of charade moves as she kept her gaze on the display. Nose lifting to inhale, fingers gesturing to the alley to her right, the stop signal again-warning me there was a mutt in that alley.

  Another flurry of gestures to say she’d handle it and I could settle into backup mode. Then, mid-motion, she stopped. A slow smile, teeth glinting in the darkness. Seeing that smile, I knew what she was thinking before she glanced over, lips forming the word.

  “Play?”

  My grin answered.

  ***

  No game is fair-or much fun-when one of the parties doesn’t realize he’s playing. So Elena took care of that first. She started by drumming her fingers against her leg, her head twisting his way, a subtle hint that she knew Cain was there and was growing impatient waiting for his next move.

  While I couldn’t see the mutt, I could picture him, poised at the end of the alley, rocking on the balls of his feet, seeing Elena’s signals but afraid to misinterpret.

  She glanced over her right shoulder, hair sweeping back as her face tilted his way, and I didn’t need to see her expression to imagine that, too. I’d seen it often enough. Lips parted, eyes glittering beneath arched brows, a look that translated, in human or wolf, into, “Well, are you going to come get me, or not?”

  Cain slingshot from the alley so fast he stumbled. Elena laughed, a husky growl that made me lock my knees to keep from answering it myself. As Cain recovered, she turned my way with a grin. Then she took off, breaking into a sprint, hair flashing behind her.

  Cain teetered on the curb and stared after her in confusion and disappointment, the human telling him that a woman running in the other direction wasn’t a good sign. She stopped at the next corner and turned to face him.

  He stepped off the curb. She took a slow stride back. Another forward, another back, and it wasn’t until the dance had gone on for ten paces that the wolf instinct finally clicked on and he realized that to her, running away didn’t mean “I’m trying to escape” but “Catch me if you can.”

  His broad face split into a grin. He winced, slapping a hand to his broken jaw. When he looked up, Elena was gone. One panicked glance around, then he broke into a run.

  ***

  Had Elena been a wolf playing this mating ritual for real, she’d have ditched Cain after five minutes, deciding he either wasn’t interested enough or competent enough to track her and, either way, wasn’t worthy of her attention.

  He kept losing her trail and backtracking. Or he’d glimpse a pedestrian down another road and take off that way before his nose finally told him it wasn’t Elena. Without a Pack, a werewolf grows up immersed in human society, feeling the instincts of a wolf but not trusting them or knowing what to do with them. Cain seemed to be running on pure lust and enthusiasm, which, while amusing, wasn’t much of a challenge… or much fun.

  After he backtracked over my trail twice-thankfully not noticing-Elena decided it was time to end this segment of the game before Cain realized there was a third player. She’d intended to take it to the next level anyway. Hunting in human form was like playing tag with this mutt-not much of a challenge… or much fun.

  She led him to a park down by the river, then darted into a cluster of shrubs to Change. Cain caught up quickly-Elena had made sure he’d been right behind her. This time, once he realized what she was doing, there’d been no indecision. After a few seconds of trying unsuccessfully to see her naked through the bushes, he tore off to find a Changing spot of his own.

  I guarded Elena until I heard Cain’s first grunt, assuring me he wasn’t about to change his mind. Then I ducked into a hiding place and undressed.

  ***

  When I came out, she was already stretched out in the shadows, tail flicking against the ground, eager to be off. Seeing me, she let out a soft chuff, her blue eyes rolling, saying, Settle in-this could take a while.

  I was looking around when Cain’s bushes erupted in a flurry of rustling, punctuated by very human grunts. He’d barely begun.

  Elena’s head slumped forward, muzzle resting on her forelegs as a sigh rippled through her flanks. I growled a laugh and loped off to set up the playing field.

  ***

  I lay on a flat rock overlooking the path, nose twitching as the river scents wafted past, making me salivate at the smell of fish. I hooked my forepaws over the rock and stretched, back arching, foot pads scraping against the rough, broken edge. I’d been waiting a while, and I could feel the ache in my muscles, urging me to get up, get moving, get running.

  I stretched again and peered over the edge. The perfect launch pad. Elena would lead Cain along the path, and, with one leap, I’d have my workout. The chase, the hunt, the takedown-all more satisfying than the actual fight.

  A low whine cut through the still night. I lifted my head, ears swiveling as they tracked the sound to a brown wolf a hundred feet away. Cain, whining for Elena, probably worried she’d given up and taken off.

  After a moment, she appeared, a pale wraith sliding silently from the shadows. Cain let out a sharper whine and danced in place like a domestic dog seeing his master come home.

  Elena continued toward him, taking her time, tail down, head high. She stopped about six feet away, making him come to her, gaze straight ahead, a queen granting her subject permission to approach.

  Cain paced, keeping his distance. Her body language was perfectly clear-she was establishing hierarchy-but he didn’t know what to make of it and kept pacing.

/>   When he didn’t accept the invitation to approach and sniff her, Elena started turning away. Again, clear wolf behavior, not snubbing him, just coquettishly saying, Well, if you aren’t interested…

  Cain went still. As she presented him with her flank, his head lowered, hackles rising. I leapt to my feet, nails scrabbling against the rock, a warning bark in my throat. But before it could escape, he sprang.

  Cain grabbed Elena’s shoulder, teeth sinking in, whipping her off her feet. I raced down the slope as he threw her in the air. She hit the ground, spun, and dove at him, snarls slicing through the night. Cain let out a yelp of surprise and pain as she ripped into him.

  I skidded to a stop fifty feet away, still unseen. Ears forward, eyes straining, sight now the most critical sense as I watched and evaluated.

  After a moment, I retreated to my perch, my gaze fixed on them, ready to fly back down if the battle turned against Elena.

  They continued to fight, a rolling ball of growls and fur and blood. I could smell that blood, his and hers, the latter making a whimper shudder up from my gut. I shook it off and locked my legs, standing my ground.

  Finally, Elena backed away, snarling, head down, hackles up. Cain scrambled to his feet, shaking his head, blood spraying. As he recovered, Elena glanced in my direction, as if wondering whether she should finish this herself or follow through on the plan.

  My muscles coiled and uncoiled as I danced in place, gaze fixed on him, twice her size, too much for her to handle if she didn’t have to, praying she made the right choice, the safe choice. Of course she did. With Elena, common sense always wins over ego. With one final lip-curling snarl, she ran for the path.

  She’d covered half the distance when her muzzle jerked up and she swerved, circling an oak tree and going back the other way. I was scrambling up when I caught the scents: dog and human. I followed the smell and saw a man walking a terrier, heading this way.

  Elena looped back, darting a weaving path around every obstacle she could find, trying to buy time. I glanced at the dog walker. An elderly man and an old dog, creeping along, oblivious and unhurried.

  As Elena circled a small outbuilding, she dipped, paw probably catching a rodent hole, not enough to make her stumble but slowing her down. Cain lunged. He only caught a mouthful of tail hair. As his snarl of frustration reverberated through the park, the old dog lifted his muzzle in a lazy sniff, then went back to dawdling along beside his master.

  Elena disappeared behind the building. A yelp followed, loud enough to make the man look up. Elena’s yelp. I sprang to my feet. She shot from behind the building, a pale streak, low to the ground, running full out now, Cain on her heels.

  A third shape shot from behind the building, larger than the first two. No, that was Cain-I could make out the odd drop of his jaw. My gaze swung to Elena and the new mutt behind her. Cain had brought backup. Shit!

  I crouched, ready to leap from the rock. The man and dog rounded the corner, bringing them right into my path below. I looked over my shoulder, at the long route, then at Elena, now tearing across the park, heading for the river, getting farther from me with each stride.

  A split second of hesitation, and I leapt, sailing over the man and dog and hitting the ground hard on the other side. The little dog started yelping, a high pitched aii-aii-aii. The old man wheezed and sputtered, his gasps echoing the pound of my paws as I raced away.

  With my first sprint, I started closing in on Cain. But he wasn’t the one I was worried about. I recognized the other mutt’s scent now. Brian McKay, the mutt Elena and I had rousted last year when he killed a hooker. He might be smaller and older than Cain, but he was a hell of a lot more dangerous, and he was right on Elena’s tail, the gap between us only getting larger.

  Come on, circle around! Bring him back to me!

  I knew she couldn’t. She finally began to veer, but east, toward the river, heading up an embankment to a set of train tracks. At the top, she started to run back down, then she sheered again, staying the course. McKay bought the fake-out, turning to race down the hill, probably hoping to cut her off in descent. When he saw her swerve back, he tried to stop himself, but he spun too sharp, losing his footing and tumbling down the embankment.

  I adjusted my course, heading straight for McKay. He saw me bearing down on him and found an extra spurt of energy, flying to his feet, bruises forgotten as he bolted after Elena.

  The clatter of nails on wood told me she was on the train tracks. As we crested the embankment, I saw her tearing along the railway bridge, Cain a half-dozen strides behind.

  I caught up with McKay at the bridge’s edge. He faltered, a leg probably complaining from his fall. I launched myself and landed on him. As he went down, his head shot back, throat exposed. I chomped down, eyes shut against the spray of hot blood as I whipped him off his feet. He went wild, all four legs kicking and scratching, body twisting.

  I bit harder and slammed him into a bridge girder. His throat ripped on impact, a huge chunk of flesh coming free, my mouth filling with blood. I dropped him, and he fell, shuddering, dying. I bit the back of his neck, swung him up again, and pitched him into the river below.

  A quick kill, but during those few minutes, the blood pounding in my ears blocked everything else, and it was only as McKay’s body splashed into the water that I finally heard Elena’s snarls. I started running. Halfway down the bridge, she’d stopped and was facing off with Cain, head down, ears back, fur on end.

  At first, the mutt seemed uncertain, prancing forward, then back, like a boxer bouncing on his heels waiting for the signal. As I rocketed down the tracks, paws pounding the railway ties, he stopped dancing and dropped into fighting position, as if hearing the sound he’d been waiting for: the arrival of his backup.

  I slowed, rolling my paws, footfalls going silent. Then, right behind him, I hunkered down and let out a low growl. He turned and, had he been in human form, he would have fallen over backward. On four legs, he did an odd little stumble, paws scrabbling against the gravel as he veered toward me.

  I snarled, teeth flashing, blood flecks spraying as I shook my head. He glanced over my shoulder, probably praying that the blood was from some bird or rabbit. Seeing no sign of McKay, he knew, and he swerved back, in flight before he’d finished his turn. He made it two strides before saw Elena in his path, snapping and snarling.

  I backed up two steps and sat. He looked from Elena to me, the challenger and the road block. Confused, he kept glancing back as if to say, You’re going to jump me, aren’t you?

  Elena gave up and rushed him. She caught him in the chest, knocking him backward. They went down fighting.

  It didn’t last long. Cain was spooked and distracted, knowing his buddy was dead and the killer sat five feet away, waiting to do the same to him. He managed to do little more than rip out tufts of fur while Elena sank her teeth into his flank, his shoulder, his belly.

  Finally, when one bite got too close to his throat, the coward in Cain took over. He threw himself from her and tried to make a run for it, but Elena flew onto his back. She grabbed his ear between her teeth, chomped down hard enough to make him yelp, then yanked, leaving tatters. He howled and bucked. She leapt off the other side, putting him between us again.

  He flipped around and took a few running strides my way. I growled. He looked from Elena to me, hesitated only a moment, then flung himself between the girders and plummeted into the river.

  As Elena leaned through the metal bars to watch him, I circled her, inventorying her injuries. A nasty gash on her side was the worst of it. A lick to wipe away the dirt, then I moved up beside her. Cain flailed in the water below.

  She glanced at me. Good enough? her eyes asked.

  I studied him for a moment, then grunted, not quite willing to commit yet. An answering chuff and she loped off across the bridge. I went the other way.

  ***

  We toyed with Cain for a while, running along the banks, lunging at him every time he tried to make it to
shore. When he finally showed signs of exhaustion, Elena gave the signal and we left him there.

  A lesson learned? Probably not. Give him a year or two and he’d be back, but in the meantime, he’d have to return to his buddies with a shredded ear and without McKay, and no matter what slant he put on the story, the meaning would be clear: situation normal. I wasn’t suffering from a debilitating injury or settling into comfortable retirement with my family. I’d bought myself a little more time.

  ***

  Elena lifted her head, peering into the bushes that surrounded us.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “No one can see.”

  “Something I really should have checked about ten minutes ago.”

  She pushed up from my chest, skin shimmering in the dark. She sampled the air for any sign of Cain.

  “All clear.” A slow stretch as she snarled a yawn. “One of these days, we’re actually going to complete an escape before we have sex.”

  “Why?”

  She laughed. “Why, indeed.”

  She started to slide off me, but I held her still, hands around her waist.

  “Not yet.”

  “Hmm.” Another stretch, her toes tickling my legs. “So when are you going to blast me?”

  “For taking off and running down alleys at midnight?”

  “Unless you slipped something past me in the wedding vows, I think I’m still entitled to go where I want, when I want. But do you really think I’d traipse down dark alleys in a strange city for a bottle of water? Why not just stick a flashing ‘mug me’ sign on my back?”

  “Well, you did seem a bit bored…”

  “Please. That mutt’s been following us since this morning. I was trying to get rid of him.”

  “What?”