The Fire of a Lone Wolf's Heart

Chapter One

Run
.

Perry sped through the alleys of the busy city, barely allowing himself to breathe, studiously not looking behind. His pulse thumped in his ears, heart beating a million miles a minute. A human cursed at him as he rushed by, but Perry ignored him.

Run
.

He knew he was probably going too fast for a human, but he couldn't stop himself. The city didn't allow him to use the full extent of his abilities anyway. Not to mention that he'd been running for so long he'd forgotten where he'd begun. He could barely even think anymore. His instincts had completely taken over, and he allowed them to, because if he let himself dwell on his situation, he wouldn't even be able to do this anymore.

The now-familiar squeal of tires filled him with renewed terror, and he ducked into yet another alley, trying to avoid his pursuers. He jumped over a fence and landed safely on the other side. A stray dog barked and lunged at him, but Perry was already moving again, and the beast was left clawing at thin air.

Run. Dodge. Swerve. Jump. Run.

It went on and on, Perry's flight fueled by the knowledge that if he stopped, it would be all over. The city was a maze filled with confusing scents, and more than once, he had to backtrack because of running into dead ends. The delay always made his instincts scream harder, but he never stopped, always kept going. And every moment, he was keenly aware of the squeal of tires, the quiet men in dark armor chasing after him.

They weren't faster than him, he knew. Few people-few creatures in this world-could hit his speed. Unfortunately, they had equipment, vehicles and heavy numbers on their side. It was really only a matter of time.

At the end of the day, even a shape-shifter had his limits. As he crossed a particularly busy street, a van ran straight into him. Perry rolled off the dashboard and landed on the sidewalk, but he was dazed and in pain. If the driver of the van had been one of his pursuers, they'd have caught him, but fortunately, that wasn't the case. The man was human, and he opened the car door, presumably to inquire into Perry's well-being.

Perry didn't wait to see what the human had to say. He stumbled to his feet and headed onwards. The van had hit him pretty badly, and while normally, he could have shrugged off such an injury, now that he'd actually stopped-forced by circumstances-he could feel exhaustion creeping over his muscles.

Perry still tried-but it was useless. It only took a few minutes for his pursuers to catch up with him. They cornered him in an empty, dirty alley, and he tried to back away as far as he could go, but there was no longer anywhere to run.

The men surrounded him, the dimming light of twilight glinting off their goggles. One of them actually smiled at Perry. "There you are. You've led us on quite a chase, but if you come along quietly, no one has to get hurt."

Despite his terror, Perry still found strength to shake his head. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

Blindly scanning the alley, he caught sight of an emergency ladder and made for it. He gathered what little power he had left and summoned his magic.

The pixie light rushed his pursuers-good enough for a moment's distraction. It couldn't actually hurt them, not anymore. The goggles made their eyes immune to it, and while the photons could and had burned other humans in the past, Perry was too tired now to muster that kind of energy.