Red (In midst of editing)

Chap 7

A/N: Dedicated to sarah_b for making me a cover

Red walks faster now, trying to  make up for lost time. She shoves all thoughts of Kieran and his group to the back of her mind but they trickle back and she finds herself thinking about them.

"Stop it, Red! You don't know if he was lying." She chastised herself under her breath. She repositions her backpack and walks a little faster. She hears a branch snap and turns around just in time to see a shifter jump out of the bushes. She spins at the last minute and his claws tear through her pack, letting all the contents loose.

He barks out a laugh and turns around and stands on his hind feet. Even after all the times she has killed them, fear blooms in her chest at the wolf in front of her.

"Im sorry about your things." He rumbles, his voice husky.

"Me too." Red says, stronger than she feels. He... grins at her and lunges for her again. She tried to fake left, but he knew she would. He hit her and dragged her down with him. Her back hit the ground with a thud and her breath stops for a moment. The wolfe above her slowly shifted to a man. This was the first time she had ever seen a shifting before. The shift started at his head and the unruly hair slowly changed into soft black waves and the snout melted into a defind mouth and nose. She could hear bones cracking and she could feel his body slowly changing to a man. When it was complete he grinned at her.

"Ah, thats better." He flexed his right arm, pinning her down with only the left one. "Now, Red. You are much prettier than boss man gives you credit for."

"Boss man? Just call him Wolfe." He looked at her curiously.

"Oh, yea. Him. No, boss man is definately not Wolfe. Though, he does work for him."

"What?"

"Oh, yea. I don't answer to Wolfe. The boss started out like me, down in the ranks but he fought and killed his way up to being Wolfes head shifter. Now, he does what Wolfe asks him to do, but he also has an agenda. Between you and me, darlin', he's waiting to kill Wolfe."

"Why does he want me then?"

"I'm not sure he wants you, just wants to keep you from Wolfe."

"Then why are you pinning me to the ground?"

"All he said was to bring you alive..." He leaned down to her neck and licked her throat. She struggled against him to no avail and he laughed at her efforts.

"Keep struggling Red, I like it." She immediatly stopped and looked away from him, trying to look helpless. She quickly inventoried all her weapons and surroundings. There was a stick within her reach if only the shifter would let her arms up.

"You know, you are pretty cute."

"What?" He looked at her with shock and disbelief.

"Well, before I go and meet my death, you're a great way to spend my last few minutes." She tries to say coyly. He grins and starts kissing her neck. He releases her hands and holds her head.

She caarefully reaches the stick and aims it at his face and stabs him in the temple. He howls in pain and rolls off of her. She quickly grabs her knife out of her boot and throws it at him. It hits its mark with a thud and he screams as he looks at his chest.

She walks over to him and holds his face so that he looks into her eyes. She has a little bit more time than she would with a normal person before he dies.

"Now, you will tell me who your boss is."

"Never you little wench." Sighing,  she twists the knife and he puts his head back and howls.