Janna's Werewolf

by Fawn Lowery

  “You can’t escape me, bitch!”

  She landed on her back, and he was on top of her in an instant, pinning her with his weight. She scrambled beneath him, her butt and shoulders shuffling around in the underbrush at the base of a tall pine tree. She felt the piercing sting of pine needles as they dug into her back and buttocks. She wrenched her body from side to side, her heart pounding in her chest, as Austin grasped her arms and pinned them above her head.

  She opened her mouth to scream and felt the sting of his hand as it landed across her face. She tasted her own blood on her tongue and realized too late it had come from her nose and mouth. She tried to gather her senses; tried to reason her predicament but the fright manifested within her body was too overpowering. She was pinned beneath the werewolf and at his mercy.

  The odor of him was overpowering. Anger, lust, the stench of male musk, all rolled into the heated rage that filtered down from his large body as he bore down on her.

  He’ll rape me first!

  The thought pierced her brain, spun round in her head.

  Maybe it will buy me some time.

  The hand across her face almost shut off her breathing. She struggled to gasp a breath, wrenching her head from side to side and fighting the urge to give up. His weight was enormous—so heavy on her ribs and abdomen that she felt crushed to some extent. She struggled to stay conscious.

  He laughed at her, a low, menacing growl deep in his throat. The sound seemed to penetrate her very being, perhaps a warning of her final moments of life. She tried to jerk her arms free, realized she had lost the gun she intended to use on him. She blinked her eyes up at him, tried to make out his form through the murky darkness. He hovered just above her body, his very presence terrifying to behold.

  Suddenly he pulled the hand covering her mouth away, slowly, as though silently threatening her. She gasped in great gulps of needed air; filling her lungs and feeling her body revive from its near starvation of oxygen. Her chest heaved and her lungs ached. Her body quivered with fright, shaking so violently that she expected Austin to comment on it as she lay there in her pinned state, her werewolf eyes trying to discern his male features through the shadowed moonlight.

  His hand moved off her mouth and nose so that she could gulp in air, but he didn’t entirely pull it from her body. He pressed against her throat with his hand, curling his fingers just beneath her chin and forcing her head back, pressing her scalp into the ground. He held her hands with one of his, stretched above her head, while he applied pressure to her throat with the other.

  “You bastard!” Her voice was a raspy croak.

  He increased the pressure on her throat.

  “So you intend to choke me—is that it?”

  She felt his hand move off her throat and travel down her body, groping her left breast.

  “I intend to do all sorts of things to you.” His tone was low, husky, threatening. “I’m going to rip off your clothes and fuck you in every orifice you have, then I’m going to throw parts of you into every treetop around here.”

  “You’re a fucking murderer, Lee Collins! You give the rest of us werewolves a bad name!”

  The sudden mention of his real name halted his hand on her breast. He grabbed her by the throat, clenching his fingers and digging his nails into her flesh.

  “What else do you know—not that it really matters at this stage of the game.”

  I can buy some time!

  She tried to think—what could she say that would give her time to try and escape?

  “I know the three people you killed were werewolves.”

  His weight shifted atop her body, giving her a brief respite. She stole the opportunity to shift her hips and bend her knees slightly. If she could manage to distract him, maybe she could surprise him and slip loose.

  “What happened to you that made you leave the police force?”

  “You’ve written your last newspaper column, Janna Connor.”

  The fact that he knew her real name only slightly surprised her and besides, it was well past the time for surprises. She was in real danger and needed to clear her head if she stood any chance of surviving his attack.

  “Since you intend to kill me anyway, why don’t you just level with me? Why don’t you tell me what’s behind your murdering rampage?”

  He grasped her blouse in a clenched fist and ripped it from her body.

  Janna screamed as loud as she could before he hit her across the face with the back of his hand. The stinging blow brought tears to her eyes.

  “I set out to kill every fucking werewolf I could catch. You know, it’s pretty easy when you become one of them. You have that intense ability to hear things others can’t and you have uncanny senses that pick up on peoples’ feelings, their fears and emotions.”

  She sensed he was growing angrier by the second. He closed one hand around her right breast, pinching her nipple between his thumb and forefinger until she whimpered in pain.

  “You’re the murdering rogue that went on a rampage in Dover Run.”

  “No. I killed that motherfucker!”

  She strained her eyes to see his face; he grew angrier at every sentence he spoke.

  “I was living a peaceful life—and I know you can’t believe it now, but I was content with being a cop and keeping the peace. Then, one night as I drove home, I happened to see an accident and pulled over to investigate. Just as I was getting out of the car, something jumped me from behind. I was knocked to the ground and savagely attacked. I managed to get my gun out of my shoulder holster and by sheer luck, managed to kill the attacker.”

  Janna sucked in a quick breath as his hand moved to the waistband of her jeans. He clutched a fistful and gave a yank, levering her body off the ground and wrenching her back before the fabric gave way in his hand. She let out a painful yelp and tried to free her hands from his grasp above her head. She struggled while he held her down until her strength flagged.

  “The first time the moon Changed, I went through hell. My body Changed into a werewolf and my life has been hell ever since. I figured the thing that attacked me was the rogue werewolf who had come from out west and had been killing at random. I made up my mind that I would hunt down every werewolf I could find and destroy it.”

  “Even the innocent ones that never meant you any harm?”

  “Even the little reporter that fled Dover Run because I was getting too close!”

  He snarled suddenly and Janna knew he was enraged—and going to transform before too long. She was living on borrowed time.

  Change, you wimp! Change and fight the son-of-a-bitch!

  She tried to summon the Magic, tried to concentrate while he tore at her clothes with a viciousness that she had never known. She pulled in deep breaths of air, filled her lungs and ordered the transformation to come upon her body.

  He snarled and rose upward, his body transforming above her.

  Suddenly she felt the pull on her muscles—knew the familiar tug on her body and for the first time in her entire life, welcomed the transformation as it came upon her. She felt new energy, felt her fears lessen and her strength gather. She lunged upward suddenly, springing up on her hind legs and flailing her newly transformed hands with their sharp claws. She charged at the big shadowy form looming out of the darkness with her powerful jaws gaping open, her razor sharp teeth bare.

  He morphed out, slamming a clawed paw against Janna’s chest and pressing her down, pinning her against the ground. A muffled growl rent the silence surrounding them and for an instant Janna knew someone or some thing had joined them in the darkness. An inkling of hope sprang renewed.

  The sound of rustling underbrush came to her ears just as she glimpsed a dark form off to her left. A vicious snarl and the dark form sprang atop Austin’s transformed body, knocking him from his leveraged position atop Janna.

  Now freed, she sprang up on all fours, her teeth gnashing as the shadowy form fought with Nick Austin in his transformed state. They snarled and
thrashed about in the underbrush, slamming their wolf bodies into tree trunks and rolling beneath the low hanging boughs of tall pine trees. Janna stood nearby, her eyes trying to see through the darkness to discern the two shapes.

  I really hope that’s Rick fighting with Austin!

  The thought that perhaps Austin had other werewolf allies she didn’t know about assailed her brain. The notion made her remember the gun she had brought from the house. She began a frantic search amid the underbrush for signs of it. She pressed her nose to the ground, sniffing frantically while the pair of werewolves tried to kill each other.

  Chapter Twenty

  The shot rang out just as Janna located the gun amid the dense underbrush. She jerked around, spying a tall form standing upright at the edge of the woods. A new surge of fright gathered in her chest as she realized the foray between Austin and the other werewolf was at an end.

  Oh God! Please don’t let Rick be dead!

  She felt the pit of her stomach drop to her wolf knees. Her mouth went suddenly dry. She fought the urge to rush forward and see who had been shot afraid that she too might take a bullet from the tall form starting to move toward the tree line.

  She saw one of the hulking forms moving in the darkness, heard the underbrush rustle; saw the glare of a flashlight beam shining across the forest floor. She hurried to transform, to Change from her werewolf state to that of human so she could make herself known. She pulled in a deep breath and waited for the Magic to come, steadying her pulse so that the form with the gun didn’t see her and take aim.

  The Magic rolled over her fur-covered body, transforming and changing, until she was once again human, her clothing tattered and hanging on her body in shreds. She crouched low, trying to discern who the moving form was beneath the tree.

  “Janna?”

  Rick’s voice came to her ears. Her heart jumped in her chest. She sprang forward, running through the underbrush with renewed energy toward the sound of his voice. She realized then that he was the survivor of the fight with Austin. She didn’t stop running until she was safely in his arms, pressing her body against his.

  Rick hugged her then pushed her forward, past the still form on the ground and into the clearing.

  “Are you all right, Marlow?”

  She recognized the gruff voice of Lieutenant Barton. He had shot Austin. He had saved Rick and probably, her as well. She tightened her arm around Rick’s waist, uncertain whether to divulge the truth to Barton or not.

  “You’re one hell of a shot, Tony.”

  Janna glanced at Rick.

  “It helped to have a flashlight. What in hell was that thing?”

  Janna felt uneasy suddenly. The Lieutenant was about to ask all the wrong questions. She gathered the remnants of her torn blouse across her breasts, suddenly conscious of her naked state, and took off toward the house. Austin was dead, Rick was safe and she could stop looking over her shoulder. That was all that mattered.

  At least for the moment.

  The thought jarred her. Yes. There would probably be others—werewolves that couldn’t control their urges to kill. Tears came to her eyes. If Lieutenant Barton believed his eyes when he fired that shot, he would forever be suspicious of her and Rick. She hated the notion of living her life under that veil of suspicion—that veil that was impossible to lift under any circumstance.

  She shivered with the knowledge that she could do nothing about who she was—what she was. She was forever a werewolf, until a bullet brought her down, or some other werewolf—perhaps twice her size—tore her to bits in a savage rage.

  Her thoughts were interrupted with the sound of the men’s voices coming from the front of the house. She walked to the window and saw Rick coming to the door and Lieutenant Barton walking down the street. The sudden wail of a siren broke the silence and momentarily an ambulance pulled to the side of the avenue.

  She turned to the front door as Rick pushed it open. In a second she was in his arms, tears flowing like a river from her eyes. She buried her face in his shoulder and let it all come pouring out.

  He rubbed her back with his hands, soothing her with soft words at her ear.

  She couldn’t seem to stop crying, couldn’t get control of her emotions. Finally, Rick pushed her to arms length and gave her a little shake, quelling her sobs.

  “Austin is dead. It’s all over. You can relax.”

  “Easy for you to say.” She sniffed back tears. “I should have listened to you. I never should have tried to trap him on my own. I’m sorry.”

  He pulled her back into his arms and hugged her tightly. “I wasn’t far away.”

  She pushed out of his arms. “Weren’t you sleeping?”

  “With these wolf ears? I heard you get up, I heard you come back to the bedroom for clothes—I knew what you were up to. And I also knew that Lieutenant Barton had Lee Collins and the house under surveillance—which was no easy matter since Collins was an ex-cop and could spot a stake out a mile away.”

  She grinned sheepishly.

  “And in the event another werewolf comes to town hell-bent on killing innocent people—I think you should let the police handle the matter.” He smiled down at her. “Lieutenant Barton isn’t a complete believer in werewolves, but he’s well on the way.”

  “You told him?”

  He shook his head. “Luckily, I had time to Change before he came into the woods. But he saw Austin’s big furry body Change back to human form right before his eyes.”

  “Oh God!”

  “Don’t worry. He has no idea about you or I. He’s still trying to believe his eyes. By tomorrow he’ll think he was imagining things.”

  He sounded so confident that she relaxed a little. She snuggled against his chest, willing her body to let go of the remnants of fright she harbored. She closed her eyes and breathed in Rick’s scent, filling her lungs with the familiar fragrance.

  “I love you.” She whispered the words hugging him close.

  “And I love you, babe.”

  She felt relief travel through her insides. It was good to finally admit her feelings for him out loud. She smiled at the serenity that suddenly flooded her senses.

  And the barrage of sexual arousal that suddenly overtook her body.

  She tipped her head for his kiss.

  “I know you’re not ready to marry me, but will you move in with me when the house is finished?”

  “Yes.”

  He squeezed her in his arms.

  “And when you get ready to be my wife, will you let me know?”

  She thought about all the self-doubts she harbored and vowed to find solutions for each and every one of them, to rid her mind of thoughts that being a werewolf was the equivalent of having no life at all. And with Rick’s help, she knew she would be successful.

  “You’ll be the first to know.”

  Her heart swelled with love as she snuggled deeper into the safety of his capable arms.

  The End

  About the Author

  I began writing freelance almost twenty years ago and eventually my short stories became longer. The characters seemed to take over and draw their stories out. I first submitted a novella length story to Extasy Books in 2003 and it was accepted. That was Captive Heart, the historical romance now on the site. I have eight titles with Extasy Books. New ideas come to mind every day and some of them find their way on the computer screen. When I’m not writing, I enjoy traveling with my husband Dave.