PRIMAL

CHAPTER TWO

One wolf was gray. The other had a slight limp.

With caution, Ebony raised from the ground. Her eyes were glued to the gray wolf, but her ears heard every step that the limp wolf made. She steadied her breathing to theirs, trying to equal herself to them. The injured wolf whimpered, struggling to get up, but Ebony gently hushed him.

"Is this wolf your friend?" she said. The blood that stained her clothes were slipping through the fabric of her shirt. The limping wolf nodded. "He was attacked by these hunters. I killed them." The gray wolf began to snarl violently. Spit dripping from his snatching jaws. She couldn't understand him while he was in wolf form. The limping wolf soon joined in. They began to circle closer to her. Locking her in, she scowled, "I do not like to be cornered. Step back from me. I do not wish to fight you."

They were mocking her. She kept her eyes focused, despite the urge to roll them. Grass curled under her shoes as she readied her stance. She snuck glances down at the crippling wolf. He could barely groan. He was slipping faster than she thought. Soon, he would return to human form, too weak to be in his human form, and she needed to treat him as soon as he did. 

"Back up!" she shouted as the limping wolf itched closer to her. 

Werewolves were supposed to be solitary creatures. Even though, these wolves were so close together, defending the other. 

"Don't mess with me!" The gray wolf clawed at her. More growls spilled from their mouths. She couldn't kill these wolves in her human form, but she could incapacitate them, as long as she played her cards just right. 

With jaws fully open, the limping wolf lunged for her. She slightly moved to the left, letting his wolf fur brush past before she grabbed onto it. She tossed herself onto its back, tugging at his coat. He bucked his hind legs before slamming back on his front paws as he struggled to shake her off. Gradually, she lifted herself onto his back, wobbling ever so slightly.

The gray wolf spirit towards them. She balanced herself on the limping wolf. She focused all her energy into her body to press down on the center of his back. When she jumped, the beast slammed into the ground with a yelp.

"Fuck!" she fumbled on the ground as she lost her footing. The gray wolf took the opening. Its jaws launched onto her shoulder blade.

She screamed in shock and pain.  She knocked her head back against his, but the beast continued to tear into her flesh. It wasn't until she shoved her thumbs into the eye sockets of the beast did she feel release. As it howled in pain, she took a swing to its neck. The beast's voice cracked. While struggling to breathe, it stumbled to the ground.

The other one had recovered, yet its limp was more definite now. She stared straight into its brown eyes. Dark and enraged, they were as the giant charged. With a deep breath, she stormed with a look of danger sparkling in her hardened eyes. At the right moment, with a robust grunt and a swift swing, her foot concluded with the right hind leg. The injured leg. 

She became accustomed to his sobs again. Taking a moment to rest, her back bent until her hands rested on her knees. Again and again, she forced the air into her lungs. The back of her mouth was dry; her lips, newly moistened with her saliva, were chapped. Her limbs ached almost as much as the wolves that she had overpowered, but she urged to cry out in pain just like them. Oh, how she wanted to take a nap right in the middle of the dry grass and crusty dirt, but adrenaline would not have her.

Standing up tall, she threw her head back, groaning to the darkness of the forest that had mocked her. She glanced down at the first wolf. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing, slowly shifting into his original form. She mumbled to herself, "Help me, Jesus."