Cry Wolf

by Aurelia T. Evans

  She kissed his cheek lightly, a small claim but a claim nonetheless if the pack decided to make a fuss.

  Everyone knew the wolves were close when the dogs in the barn began to bark.

  The first werewolf—the alpha, by his confidence—emerged from behind the trees in his human skin. He could have sent scouts out to the flanks for an ambush attack, but instead all of his forces were behind him, spread out a little more than the shapeshifter pack but still held together. Atypical for werewolf attack behaviour. Kelly sighed in relief.

  The alpha was a dark man, skin almost dusky, and like the rest of the werewolves emerging behind him, he was naked as the day he was born. He was a little shorter than his swagger suggested, with the same hidden strength in the cords of his muscles as most werewolves. Following him were three men and five women. Right behind him, a man and a woman took the places of greatest importance, best able to protect the alpha.

  The woman was obviously head bitch, although head bitch didn’t always take first guard with the alpha. It was easy to tell, though, because of the way she orientated herself towards the alpha at the same time that she protected the pack behind her.

  Kelly had been alpha’s bitch and had taken role of head bitch by default, but she’d never quite done things the way they were supposed to be done. David hadn’t minded. She’d had other means at her disposal to watch his back.

  The head bitch crouched slightly, fingernails turned to claws, but her teeth were still human. Her light brown skin was warm and slightly flushed in the cheeks from the run.

  The beta male on alpha’s left wasn’t even remotely orientated towards his alpha. His pale face was like stone, his black hair gleaming blue in the winter light. He wore scars all over, which meant that he was proud of them. Werewolf healing usually rid the body of scars, but some werewolves were able to stop the healing process by sheer will.

  Kelly recognised the head bitch as well as some of the rest of the pack, but she knew the alpha only by reputation.

  She stepped past Jake and the alpha stopped advancing, meeting her in the middle with an easy grin.

  “What are you doing out of your territory, Damien?” Kelly asked politely.

  “Everything’s all right. We’re just dropping in,” Damien replied, signalling his pack to stay behind. “We’ve come to invite you back. And the newbie in the back there. Yeah, we see you. We smell you, even over the smell of the shifters.”

  “I thought I was banished. All the packs agreed,” Kelly said.

  “The packs were leaderless,” Damien said. “You left us divided, and all we knew was that you were the one who did it. Then we had to battle for alpha to re-establish our ranks and clean up the mess you made. But you won’t be doing that again, will you, sweetie?”

  “Yeah, I really learned my lesson.”

  “Then let me rephrase. Do you see yourself needing to do that again?” Damien asked.

  “I lived fine with David for four years. I knew I’d eventually have to kill him, deep where the magic dwells, although I didn’t know when and why and I didn’t want to. But I’d do it again. If you wanted me to force someone into becoming the beast, especially when I knew it would end badly, I’d kill you, too. So no, I can’t promise that if you let me in, I’ll spare you,” Kelly said. She prepared herself in case Damien decided to fight.

  “Well, do you know you have to kill me?” Damien asked.

  His posture was entirely casual, but his eyes, the darkest she had ever seen, held a glimmer of red from the wolf. Jada, the head bitch behind him, shifted again, mirroring Malcolm’s agitation. Her eyes glowed maroon in anger at Kelly. Kelly fought to keep the sharp parts of her werewolf from coming out in retaliation. She didn’t want the shapeshifters to get hurt as collateral damage to werewolf vengeance.

  “No,” Kelly said. “At least not yet.”

  “God, you have always been like this,” Jada said. “Always making out like you’re the hottest shit ever to grow fur. We get it, you’ve got woo on your side. Can we move on with it? I don’t know why Damien’s even bothering, knowing you might just turn around and stab him in the back in defence of some human.”

  Renee cocked her gun.

  “I smell you, too,” Jada said, licking her lips. “Bring that gun a little closer.”

  “Jada,” Damien said, holding up his hand. His nonchalant expression morphed into the authoritative demeanour of alpha. He had obviously earned his leadership position in the fighting ring, but now he looked the part as well. “We’re not here to eat.”

  “Shame,” Jada said, shrinking back a little like a chastised dog.

  “Then why are you here?” Kelly asked.

  “I told you. To offer you a place in the pack.”

  “Why?” Kelly said. “Jada’s right. I’d stab you in the back if I had to.”

  “Because I think you’re a good wolf and the pack could use someone like you. Most of the others would never appreciate your gifts, but I do. I won’t do what David did to you,” Damien said. “I promise.”

  “And what do the others think of you inviting me back when they just finished banishing me from every pack in the tri-state area?” Kelly asked.

  “What they say doesn’t matter,” Damien replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “They were too hasty just because you were a bitch who stood up to an alpha. If you were a man, you would have taken his place. Why should you be punished for being the better wolf?”

  Kelly wrapped her arms around her stomach and looked from him to the rest of his pack. Her gaze fell on Lily and Tanya, a pair with whom she was familiar. They were pack drifters. Alphas had little interest in members of their sexual preference who had no corresponding interest in them. Relationships such as the one shared by Lily and Tanya meant they weren’t always welcome in packs. Most of the time, they latched onto the fringes, the rare pack that had a gay alpha.

  The fact that Damien had accepted them into the primary werewolf pack of this part of the country said a great deal about his character. It meant that he recognised a quality pair of werewolves with different uses than just for his own pleasure.

  He had also accepted Jeremy, Stephanie and Jada from David’s former pack. Kelly knew Jada well enough because Kelly had displaced her. Jada had never been outright aggressive with her, partially because Jada would never go against alpha. But things had certainly been testy. It hadn’t made a difference that Kelly would have gladly yielded the position back to Jada if she’d had a choice.

  It certainly didn’t help things between them now that Damien had sought her out.

  Kelly didn’t recognise the other two. She heard their names in her head just from looking at them. Damien’s beta, his second in command, was Leon, and in the back near Lily and Tanya was Landon.

  “Is there some reason why you came here, though?” Kelly asked. “I have an email address, you know. The sanctuary has a phone.”

  “I’ve never had a chance to meet you in person,” Damien replied. “I also heard Grant left behind a new wolf at the dog sanctuary. I wanted to look you in the eye when I made my offer, and I thought I’d give the new kid a place to go.”

  “I have a place,” Malcolm said.

  Damien took a few steps closer to Kelly and leaned to the side to get a full look at Malcolm, although he could see Malcolm’s face just fine over Kelly’s head. All the shapeshifters tensed more, but Kelly didn’t move. She sensed some condescension from Damien, but no hostility.

  “You mean this place?” Damien asked in overly dramatic contempt. “Really?”

  “I like it here,” Malcolm said. He clenched and unclenched his hands, an almost imperceptible creak of tendons stretched over bone.

  “But do you belong?” Damien asked. This time, one might consider his question gentle if it weren’t for the unrepentant red glow in his eyes.

  “What’s wrong with what we offer here?” Jake said through gritted teeth.

  Damien was as undaunted by Jake’s greater size as Grant ha
d been. “Nothing. It’s fine for shapeshifters and dogs, but a wolf needs more than this kind of company.”

  “They’ve been my company for eight years,” Malcolm replied. “They’re the only company I need.”

  “Correction. They’re the only company you needed,” Damien said. “You’re a bit off on the tenses there. Shapeshifters and humans and dogs are no company for a werewolf.”

  “Why?” Malcolm snarled. Kelly turned around. Malcolm’s teeth were getting sharp, and the backs of his hands sprouted fur.

  Damien locked gazes with Kelly for a fraught moment. Then she stepped to the side to let him approach Malcolm. The shapeshifters automatically backed away, moving into a loose arc around the two male werewolves. Renee raised the gun and pointed it at Damien.

  Damien hesitated, holding up a hand to her in peace. After Kelly nodded to her, Renee lowered the rifle. Slightly. Damien returned his attention to Malcolm.

  “‘Why?’ Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to play with your food?” Damien said.

  Malcolm swiped at Damien with an arm that had become as long as a leg. His claws slashed mere inches away from Damien’s face, saved only by Damien’s reflexes.

  “You stay away from them!” Malcolm’s voice dropped an octave and raked through his throat in a harsh growl.

  “I’m not going to touch a hair on their shifty little heads,” Damien said, unfazed. “You’re the one they have to fear, not me.”

  Malcolm crouched. His arms returned to their normal length, and the fur, claws and teeth sank back into his human skin.

  “You’re good,” Damien said. “But you’re new. Surely someone who has run in dog packs will understand that dogs run with dogs and wolves run with wolves. You need to come with me. You can always return if that sour shame I smell on you is your idea of a good time. But I think if you run with us for a while, you’ll feel differently.”

  Malcolm’s eyes went almost white, but werewolf bloodlust tinged the edges of his irises red. “I doubt it.”

  “You’re angry,” Damien said, slowly circling Malcolm. “That’s fine. That’s good. Many of us are angry when we’re turned. Most of us don’t have a choice.” He looked over at Renee.

  Britt growled at him. Damien growled back, his teeth sharp.

  “But you’ve only surrounded yourself with shapeshifters,” he continued. “What can they teach you about learning to live with and love the wolf?”

  “I don’t want to grow to like it!” Malcolm shouted. “I don’t want to become that kind of man.”

  “You’re more than a man, wolf,” Damien said.

  “That’s exactly what I don’t want to think,” Malcolm said. “Don’t you understand? I don’t want to be a werewolf and I never will. I know what you do, and while the running and the…” He glanced at Kelly then looked away. “The running is good. But it was just as good before, when I ran as a dog.”

  “And what exactly do you think we do, pup?” Damien asked.

  “I know what you do because deep inside the wolf makes me want it, too,” Malcolm said. “To fight and to feed, to make humans bleed into my mouth.”

  “Some werewolves abstain from that. Kelly is one of the most well-known,” Damien said. He nodded to Kelly, who waited serenely with her hands clasped in front of her.

  “I don’t want to want humans like that,” Malcolm said.

  “Yeah, well, you can’t always get what you want,” Damien snapped. “And you’re certainly not going to get it here, where you’re hungry all the time because your old friends smell so good. How close have you got to tasting?”

  “I stopped it,” Malcolm said.

  “And how many more times are you going to be able to stop it?”

  “It gets easier.”

  “Until your temper rises and your heat flares and you’re so hungry you think you’re going to die from starvation,” Damien said. “Run with me and you won’t kill your friends.”

  Malcolm lunged at Damien.

  “Malcolm, no!” Kelly shouted, but it was too late.

  They met in the air half changed, but this time the change wasn’t gradual. They erupted in the centre with snarls and growls and fur and teeth. The shapeshifters scattered backward. Renee resolutely stood her ground, as did Kelly. The rest of the werewolf pack didn’t advance either, simply watched as the rogue pitted himself against their alpha.

  “Malcolm!” Ki screamed.

  Malcolm was the bigger wolf, but he had none of the experience or control that Damien had. Malcolm had transformed out of rage, Damien out of necessity, and if fights of aggression were enough to conquer Damien, he wouldn’t have risen to the level he was now.

  It wasn’t too long before Damien had Malcolm whining and barking on his side, showing his belly as he tried to pull his ruff from Damien’s maw.

  A gunshot rang through the air.

  “That’s enough!” Renee shouted, like a teacher breaking up a schoolyard brawl.

  Jada darted forward to remove Renee and her gun from the equation. A wolf-like yelp signalled the moment that Jada ran into the invisible wall that Kelly had put up between them.

  Malcolm’s wolf eyes rolled over to look at Renee. He slowly emerged from his wolf skin. Damien joined him, always a step behind in the transformation to ensure that his grip stayed tight on Malcolm’s throat, from werewolf mouth to human hand. Malcolm coughed, struggling to breathe past his panting and Damien’s grasp.

  “Why didn’t you stop them?” Renee asked Kelly, her gun levelled at Damien’s chest.

  Kelly raised an eyebrow. “It was just a dominance fight, Renee. Malcolm’s had worse with me.”

  Damien kept his hold on Malcolm’s neck, but his expression softened as he faced the barrel of Renee’s gun. “I didn’t hurt the pup,” he said. “Just teaching him his place.”

  In Renee’s defence, Kelly thought, werewolf dominance fights were more alarming than dog fights.

  Renee lowered her gun again. “Let him go.”

  Damien’s smile was toothy but human. He withdrew his hand from Malcolm’s neck. Malcolm coughed into the ground and struggled to his feet, glaring at Damien and holding his throat. However, he didn’t attack again.

  “He’s angry because he knows I’m right,” Damien said.

  “Fuck you,” Malcolm snapped.

  Damien winced melodramatically. “Such a well-reasoned rebuttal. I stand corrected.”

  Renee sighed. “Kelly, can you tell if a person’s lying or not?” she asked.

  “What do you need?” Kelly asked.

  Renee carefully handed the gun to Jake, who immediately readied it, but she touched his arm and signalled for him to stand down.

  Damien seemed to understand that small and nervous though she was, he was dealing with the leader. He made his posture non-threatening for Renee, his arms loose and his hips relaxed. His cock showed slight interest, probably from the fight. She couldn’t meet Damien’s eyes, but it would be a mistake for him to think that was a sign of submission or embarrassment.

  Britt stayed just behind Renee, keeping the side of her mouth against Renee’s thigh. Damien considered the dog with amusement in his no longer glowing eyes.

  “Did word get around about what I did to the last werewolf who threatened this sanctuary?” Renee asked him.

  “Yes, ma’am, it did,” Damien said.

  “So you know what I’ll do to you if you try to hurt anyone on this property,” Renee said.

  “The way most werewolves see it, morsel, you did us a favour getting rid of Grant,” Damien said. “Damn wolf was far more trouble than he was worth.”

  “How long are you planning to stay?” Renee asked, hands on her hips. “Just passing through?”

  “Tell you the truth, I planned on hanging around until I got an answer from the lady, and I have yet to make my full case to the pup,” Damien said. “I hope to do so at a more receptive time.”

  Renee chewed on her lip a little. “All right. Technically, there’s not a
whole lot I can do to stop you if you insist on staying, so you’re welcome…as guests. I can accept a werewolf or two.” She glanced at Malcolm and Kelly. “Especially when I know that they’ll behave themselves. But a pack is beyond my means and far too dangerous to the dogs.”

  “I understand completely,” Damien replied, pressing a hand to his chest. Most of the man’s mannerisms were exaggerated, postured and somewhat mocking. His tone and expression better indicated when he was sarcastic or serious. “We weren’t planning to stay on the property. There’s no need for us to hunt on your grounds when there are acres and acres of forest on the other side of the fence.”

  Renee checked with Kelly, who nodded.

  “We do a daily roll call with the dogs,” Renee said. “If I discover that a single one of them is gone, I will hold you responsible. Similarly, the shapeshifters on this property are off limits, as are the human beings who come in for adoptions. If I hear even a whisper of a missing person whose name I recognise, I will hold you responsible.”

  “What about you, morsel?” Damien asked, grinning. “I noticed you left yourself off the off limits list.”

  “I thought it went without saying,” Renee said. “Do I need to write up a contract? Because Ki and I can whip that up for you.”

  “I was just playing,” Damien said. “I never had any intention to interfere with you or your charges. Scout’s honour.”

  “And you have control over your pack to hold them to the same agreement?” Renee asked.

  “Oh, believe me, my pack obeys me,” Damien said, countenance darkening.

  “Kelly, can I talk to you?” Renee asked, looking away from Damien.

  “He’ll be able to hear us,” Kelly replied as Renee led them out of the loosely formed circle.

  “That’s all right,” Renee said. “What do you know about this alpha? Can we trust him?”

  Kelly glanced over at Damien, who waited patiently for her answer.

  “He’s telling the truth, which could mean that he’s trustworthy or that he’s psychotic and believes what he says, even if he abruptly changes his mind later,” Kelly said. “All I know about him is from his reputation, and that’s as a fighter. That could be a good thing, because it means he never developed a bad reputation the way Grant did.”