Golden Bonds

RUN!

Opening the front door took some fortitude. I am a werewolf. I'm the monster in this story. Gem nodded her head sharply in agreement. We were not going to be scared of a stupid marsupial. Though I was pretty sure Raccoons weren't actually marsupials but calling them that made me feel better. They are cute little fluffy marsupials. Nothing dangerous or creepy or frightening was ever named something sweet and soft like marsupial. I was the scary beast out of horror movies.

It wasn't the desire to find something that pushed me out the door. It was the desperate need to not find anything. A terrible urgency to prove that it was all in my head, that there wasn't anything out there.

Stepping onto the deck I could smell it. The scent was spoiled, wrong. Something about it was familiar though, I couldn't place it. It was the same scent we'd picked up in the woods and I knew it was something I'd come across before. Stepping off the edge of the porch I looked along the side of the cabin, taking a few steps back so I could get a wider view.

Nothing was out of place, the swing wasn't moving, the shutters hadn't been opened. That smell though, something had circled the cabin. It was thickest around the doors and windows.

Sniffing the air again trying to identify the source I searched the trees behind the cabin. Even with my wolf surfacing I couldn't see anything. We could see perfectly but even werewolves don't have x-ray vision. The trees were so thick we could only make out about forty yards in.

A twig snapped. It wasn't far out of my sight and it was quiet enough I wasn't sure if I'd really heard anything.

Chills washed down my arms when I felt him. My stomach plummeted, every muscle in my body strung tight. I couldn't move, holding my breath praying to the Moon it was all in my head. The scent engulfed me and I knew. He was filthy and there was something wrong in his blood but it was him.

"He's dead, Parker." I mumbled to myself thinking if I said it aloud it would make it true. The flashback would dissipate. "He's dead. He's dead. He's dead."

A low terrifying snicker reached my ears. My wolf dropped low in my mind, pressing herself down as if she were cornered. Not dead. Not a flashback.

The shadows shifted as a wide towering shadow stepped into a break between the trees. Gemini surged forward at the same time that I bolted. We drew energy from the pack. Lunging away from the woods I took a flying leap and shifted mid-jump. Four paws struck the ground running.

BASH!

I screamed through the pack bonds, the mate bond, my wolf howled out a warning. The pack bonds rang more fiercely than a thousand cymbals falling from the sky. We sprinted towards the pack house, the mate bond forever telling me where he was. Charging across the quad people and wolves came flooding out from the pack house in response; people running from private cabins, others from the woods.

Bash in the lead hurdled over the porch racing to meet me. His boots dug into the grass to halt his momentum just as my wolf locked her forelegs to slow us down. We slide between his calves. Gem was just small enough not to take him down. Dodging behind him we turned, peering around his leg to look back towards Laurel's cabin.

He hadn't chased us.

"Who's chasing you, Parker?" There was a demand in Bash's voice, furious thinking someone was playing a nasty prank on me.

My eyes darted around looking, scanning the trees for any sign of him. It was real. I know it was real. Our heart was beating against our chest. Gemini standing at the ready, all four legs tense in preparation. We were pressed against Bash's leg but we didn't care. It wasn't in my head. He was there. We knew that monster was here. We sniffed the air but couldn't get anything outside of the pack.