Shifters

Chapter 46

She ran to the farmhouse in such hysteria that she didn't even try for the door. She jumped straight through the kitchen window, the glass crashed all around her and, for a moment, it helped her forget the needles that pierced every centimeter of her body. She shifted into her human form, the fur dropping all around her, and her skin molding into a new shape. But with the ants holding on tight, it was agonizing and she screamed pitifully before scrambling up the stairs, swiping at them with her hands, and tripping over herself. She rolled into a shower and somehow got the faucet turned on, the water washed them off and soothed her. She shook with ferocity, the pungent taste of rotted flesh, the hundreds of stings over her body, and the ants she'd swallowed welled up within her. She doubled over the shower drain retched her guts out.

When she was done, she could think clearly again. She'd made a lot of noise, surely Kevin had heard her, and surely he was on his way to find her naked and vulnerable in the bath tub. If he's not already there, waiting to pounce.

She silently crawled out of the tub, covered in a layer of red itchy bumps, some were topped with white, like fiery pimples. They were mostly concentrated on her hands and arms, but she had a great number on her back, stomach, inner and outer thighs, her neck, a few on her ears and a couple on her cheekbones. Each bump was burning, she felt like she was on fire and she couldn't stop shaking. She wondered if the ants had bitten her enough to make their poison cause damage.

A floorboard creaked. Someone was approaching the restroom, and that someone possessed no scent. She knew he'd be there. She summoned her most threatening snarl, and grew out her claws. True, she was naked and shaking helplessly on the floor of a bathroom, but she was not going to be an easy kill.

A pile of clothes landed in front of her. She stopped.

"These might be a little big, but they're better than nothing."

"Damian?" She asked incredulously.

He kept his face turned away respectfully. He knew she wouldn't want him to see her like this, and he knew that if he did look at her, he wouldn't be able to leave her side.

"I'm sure these people kept aloe vera somewhere, it'll help with those bites."

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "And why can't I smell you?"

He ignored her interrogation. "Don't leave this house when you've dressed, you're safe here."

"To hell with safe!" She snapped.

He frowned, and nearly twisted around to sit in front of her and kiss every single sting on her to make it stop burning. Despite everything that had happened, part of him was delighted to be near her again. Though he had, for the most part, come back to face Kevin, he couldn't deny the small fact that he had also very much come back for her too.

He hated that small fact.

An injured squeal that rose from Travis somewhere in the forest snapped Damian out of trance. He and his cousin had been playing ping pong with Kevin. They would leave an obvious track, or make some kind of sound, and Kevin would barrel towards them. Damian had slid under a truck to hide while Travis knocked over a metal bucket and sprinted into the forest. Kevin took the bait. Damian was supposed to trail behind, and they were going to corner him, but then he heard the window break, and a scream he couldn't ignore.

But he also couldn't ignore his pack, and now, his cousin was crying out. Knowing Kayla was safe, he confidently left her behind without another word.

"Damian!" She shouted.

He wanted to go back to her, he felt it in every fiber to go back to her, but he refused to. Travis was injured, and he would not lose another member of his pack. Not when he had already lost so many. He burst into the forest and found Travis clutching his stomach and trying to crawl into a bush to hide, but he was too weak and he slumped in place instead. Damian rushed to his side.