The Beast Within

chapter 1b- intro.

Frost. White glistening flakes made in unique patterns from water, frozen in time, if only for a moment. Breathe in, and the cold feels like icecicles  are piercing my lungs, my nose burns like I'm going to sneeze. Breathe out, and the breath crystalizes into a warm fog, caressing my face as the bitter wind bites at me, causing me to joyously laugh as it passes, unsatisfied with my reaction. This was it. This was winter: perfection, innocense.

Flakes of snow gently fall at a steady pace. This deer is proving most elusive as prey, but I'm gaining, much to my delight as I am starving. This winter, though gentle now, has been harsh on most animals, dwindling their numbers. Now, only the strong survive, and for a lone wolf, that's bad news.

Ah, there's the oh so elusive buck. He's scraping his antlers against the bark of the tree, he goes to switch antlers, turning his head away from me and allowing me the opportunity to pounce. I did so quickly, leaping through the air and an arrow passed.

 How could I have missed it?The flash of sun against metal? The smell of human. I bit the buck across the back of the neck, digging my teeth into soft warm fur, tickling my gums, as his heated raging blood entered my mouth as I tore at the muscle underneath.

I over shot, which was good for me as the huge male flipped to his side and I landed with him. Another arrow shot out as I made a lunge at the neck again, trying to take advantage while he was down.

This buck was mine! I growled, only to yelp as the arrow sunk into my own flesh. I sank into the cold snow as the buck got up shakily. He kicked me in the head, making me fly into some dried out old bushes, snapping their branches as I passed through. I hit a tree with a grunt.

That STUPID hunter! I thought, stuggling to stay awake and get to my feet. I couldn't. I weakly lifted my head to assess the damage. The arrow had pierced my shoulder, my life's blood pooled into the snow, staining it red. My fur was clumping and I knew I would die. The hunter obviously didn't care about the law of the land, but maybe it was a miss? Either way, as soon as I'd lept, having drew first blood, the buck was mine by right. The hunter shouldn't have interfered.

It hurt so much to move, to breathe, I was so lost I almost missed the new arrival stomping his way through the forest as though he owned it. I watched him, he obviously wasn't the human who'd shot me, not having a bow nor a quiver of arrows. He looked like royalty, his clothes to clean and new looking to let him be otherwise. It seemed to take him a few moments, but he finally noticed  me with a gasp. I growled at him, ready to defend myself- how I wasn't sure,but I would definately try. "Easy," His voice sounded like a rock slide, rough and rumbling. "Easy now." He lifted his hands, palm out to show me he had no weapon. "I'm not going to hurt you." Yeah, I'll believe that. I growled again at him in emphasis of my thoughts, and he danced back a bit. I looked back at my shoulder, "I see the arrow, Girl, don't worry. I'm going to take it out and get that shoulder treated." I saw him take a step closer out of the corner of my eye, causing my gaze to snap back to him. A wave of dizziness accompanied the movement and I saw stars and black dots waltzing across my vision. I almost threw up, but the mere thought of more movement sent my throbbing shoulder into overdrive. I couldn't help but let a whimper of pain emit from my throat as I closed my heavy eyelids, trying to think of a way out of this mess. The thoughts eluded me, as did the strength to reopen them when I heard the man move closer, smelled his scent grow stronger, felt his fingers gently brush against my white- red fur. I faded away into the everlasting darkness that clouded my mind as he whispered calming words into my ears.