Reign of Wolves

Chapter VI

Daryan can feel a strong, sharp bite on his back, piercing his flesh as he is knocked over and tumbles with the attacker. The attacker loses his grip during the tumble and Daryan snaps out at him, missing as he dodges to the side. Quickly regaining his footing he sees his attacker standing a dozen paces from him. Recognizing the scent of the werewolf in front him with tan fur, it is the man he encountered earlier near the FoodMart. Electrical pain shoots up Daryan's flank from his damaged ribs as he and this other werewolf circle each other snarling and growling. The tan werewolf makes the first move lunging at Daryan who is quick enough to meet him in the air. Their bodies slam together, claws slashing, and teeth gnashing, they fall to the ground a blur of tan and brown fur. The tan werewolf catches Daryan off guard and slams into his already damaged ribs, knocking him to the ground. Daryan is slow to recover, sharp electrical pulses shooting throughout his side. The tan wolf pounces on him, pinning him to the ground, standing on his injured flank. The pain is so great Daryan is nearly paralyzed as another rib breaks, and pushes further into his chest.

His vision starts fading, the pain wracking his body, he can feel the tan wolf's breath on his face. Suddenly the pressure on his side is gone, the hot acrid breath no longer on his face, and the snarling replaced with more menacing growling. As the world around Daryan disappears, the last thing he hears is a violent cacophony of snarls and growls.

A sharp pain in his side shooting through to his chest wakes him from a troubled sleep. His body is aching throughout all his muscles, his head throbbing with pain, and a foul taste fills his mouth. He tries to roll over onto all fours, but his side explodes with pain in protest.

His memories of the werewolf come flooding back causing his adrenaline to start pumping. With a natural pain killer flowing through his veins he is able to stand on all fours, his body's protest temporarily suppressed.

His surroundings confuse him. He was attacked by a tan wolf out front of a house, but now he stands in a bedroom. In front of him is a door possibly leading to the hallway, and next to him a bed. He had been taken inside and placed on the floor of a bedroom. Before he has the chance to look any further he hears a commotion coming from somewhere outside the room.

"You saw it just the same as I did!" a male's voice angrily states.

"Yes. He has a wound from a bite on his shoulder," a more civilized sounding man says, "but his scent is still him. He doesn't smell like one of  them."

"We can't take the chance he is turning into one of those things! It's too dangerous! We just can't chance it!"

Daryan listens as this exchange goes back and forth, neither man caving in to the other. It was obvious they were speaking about him. He can smell the scents of both men, both werewolves, but neither make him feel alarmed. He feels a slight emptiness in his chest, one you get when someone close to you has been away.

"Calm down and think. It takes time for a wound like that to fully heal, and before it does we would be able to smell the infection. Before he went missing, Sierra said he was fighting off some of those things, and that was almost two months ago." The calm man explains.

At the mention of her name, Daryan instantly remembers the dream he had with Sierra and Alex in it, and how it turned into a nightmare with a boy and man handcuffed together. A glimmer of hope enters his heart as he looks around the room which remarkably resembles what he saw in his dream.

"We shouldn't take the chance!" A now exasperated man retorts.

With his adrenaline rush wearing off, pain starts to overtake his body, unimaginable exhaustion starts to settle in. Try as he might, Daryan is unable to stay awake as his body succumbs to the rest it needs to heal.