King's Den

Chapter Twenty One: White

There was no pain. No teeth sinking into me. No terrible screams and rapid thrashing. There was just soft grass tickling my belly.

One eye cracked open, then the other. I was on the other side of the fence. The boy beside me groaned before climbing back up from the ground.

His face bore an alertness that I had never seen before. He trained his gaze to the other side of the fence, squinting and peering into the void of darkness.

I stretched my legs out before rising on all fours. My ears were trained towards the other side of the fence, but my eyes were on him.

The boy had dark brown hair, just like his eyes. He desperately needed a hair cut. The way he let it grow made him look rough around the edges. The ends of his bangs almost reached his eyes; he looked like a 1990s skater boy mixed with an early 2000s emo kid. 

His face was contorted into an expression that said it all. His brows were scrunched together in concentration, but they didn't come down closer to his eyes. He looked scared and untrusting. His lips drawn were in a thin, grim line with the corners pulling down ever so slightly.

"I think he's gone," he whispered in a hoarse voice.

I didn't budge when he brought his eyes down to me. He was tall even for a human, so him having so much height, so much dominance over me was unnerving. A growl rumbled deep in my chest.

I saw him shake like a frail little leaf. His eyes grew wide and he clenched his fists. I didn't unfix my predatory gaze. The boy gulped and took a challenged step forward.

"I know you don't trust me. I don't trust you, either. But I tried to get them to stop. I warned you about him coming. You picked me up when I slowed down. That means something, right?"

If I was human I would've crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows as if to say "really?". Instead I just kept staring.

He licked his lips in agitation and started fidgeting with his hands. He drew in a quick breath and tried again.

"Look, it's not all black and white, alright? Not everything is good and evil. It wasn't their fault, okay? Didn't you see how dark their eyes were? There was something else going on."

I blinked, maybe he had a point.

"I haven't been here in years. Hopefully Russ remembers me." he more or less mumbled to himself.

As if remembering I was still standing there, he shot his eyes back to mine, "You need to turn back into a person."

I bared my teeth at him. Why would I make myself vulnerable again?

He narrowed his eyes, "My old friend Russ wouldn't really understand me coming to his back door with a wolf. Could you please just do your creepy ass morphing shit and turn back to a fucking person? Please?"

I wanted to hurt him. I really did. My teeth gnashed together and I prepared to lunge myself at him.

Something must have clicked in his mind. Suddenly, his spit out, "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise on my life. Russ won't hurt you, either. You can turn into a wolf and rip my head off if I break the promise, okay?"

He looked back over his shoulder beyond the fence. 

Everything in his being seemed pathetic. His voice wavered when he added, "It's just not safe here, right now. We need to go somewhere safe."

I didn't want to get stabbed in the back by him, but I also didn't want to be killed by some unknown evil. I huffed before electing to transform into my disguised self.