Cry of the Wolf

Chapter One

I huddled in the dark corner of the alley, pulling my jacket closer to myself as the chilly wind whipped past me. It was in the evening hours, so the cold was more cutting than during the day. A shiver ran down my spine as I scanned the thinning crowds, most stumbled around drunk, stumbling into casinos; wasting their money away hoping for the next big break. I wrinkled my nose, holding in a sneeze as a particularly rank man stumbled by me, pausing only to puke next to the trashcan I was standing behind. He glanced up at me but it was clear from his dazed expression that he didn't see me through the drunken haze. He spit, wiped his mouth, then stumbled on in an interesting weaving pattern. I turned my attention from him, obviously, he wasn't a threat to me and put it back on the streets in front of me. Carefully sniffing the air in an attempt to both not overwhelm myself with the smells of trash, body odor, decay, and human despair, but at the same time trying to pick through the mess of scents to find a single one that I needed.

We had been tracking this particular target for a few weeks, learning her patterns and what she did everyday. I already seemed to know more about this girl than she did about herself. That's the reason I was now in this alley. In LA. Which I hated. But she had valuable information on a gang of rogues that I had been tracking for the past eight months to no avail. I hoped with everything in me that she would be the one to finally shed some light... Any light, on who I needed to hunt next.

I glanced down the street, the bright lights from the casinos blindingly bright in the dark of the night, I shifted my weight and looked up at the sky, I couldn't see any of the stars... My eyes trailed back down, scanning the alleyways and curbs in my vision to find the one thing that I actually cared about. It took only a couple minutes to spot Ty, he was slightly tucked away in an alley, casually leaning against the wall. He was dressed casually in jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. Waiting. The perfect bait for our prey.

My wolf growled slightly, she hadn't been totally on board with making him be the bait but I had finally argued her into at least semi-agreeing with me on it. Our target was a prostitute and every single Thursday she would work this street corner. So we both waited; Ty as the bait, me as the backup. Her shifts were semi-random and because of that, we had no clue when she would show. I checked my watch, we had been waiting for an hour now and my wolf was growing restless with each passing second.

Patience. I muttered to her

No, this is taking too long. We should have just cornered her last time we saw her. She bit out each word, anger rising. I shifted, changed my breathing to counteract her rage, and counted to ten before responding.

We've discussed this twelve times now, we couldn't do that because she would have seen us coming and she would have run and it was in a public place! Despite the counting I still snapped my response back at her. She growled but finally settled down, although her agitation was clear to me. I shrugged it off and went back to scanning the streets. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen. Thirty. I sighed while I once again moved a bit to keep my limbs from freezing up. Stamping my feet and stretching my arms. I flexed each one of my fingers, impatiently rubbing the knuckles and picking at my nails. I looked again at my watch, another hour had passed. I sighed again and lightly banged my head against the wall behind me.

If we had been in the woods I would have been happily chilling in a tree or something for hours with no problem. I'd done it hundreds of times before. But the city, the smell, the crowds, lights... They were all getting to me, slowly chafing at my nerves until they were ready to snap. I swore to myself that after this mission was over I was taking a long vacation in the mountains where no one would bother me.

I let myself linger on that thought, cool breezes and endless tracts of land that were yet to be explored by most. The chances of running into another being slim to none. I leaned back and closed my eyes, trying to imagine the crisp clean scent of the air despite my nostrils being clouded by the smog of the cursed place I was in. One by one my muscles released their tension and let me relax, only when each one had given up did I open my eyes and find Ty again. He was staring at me with one brow slightly raised, his pinky placed on his temple. I shrugged off the last of my fantasies and opened up my mind to him.