The Lost Wolf

CHAPTER TWENTY

Instinctively, she took on a defensive stance, glancing at her friends' sleeping forms.

The wolf — a female — snapped its jaws, licking at her lips hungrily. It looked like she hadn't eaten in days, eyes glowing a brilliant blue; much like Mark and Davids'.

With a quick warning through the link, Val jumped forward, the shift taking a few seconds to complete fully. She was happy it even worked.

The female was tall, very close to her towering height; but she looked brittle, like a single breath could topple her over.

Focus... she thought, moving closer. The rogue circled her, sizing her up. But it didn't make a move to attack.

Val thought she might have been afraid in her current situation, instincts warning her to be careful, but when she lunged the impact wasn't weak. She took her down with enough force to keep them from rolling and pinned her down, legs pushing with everything they had.

She tried to go straight for the throat for an easy kill, but Val yanked her head backward and used the momentum to roll her body away, getting up with new fervor. Her wolf growled in her mind, and control slowly faded away—

No! she growled, pushing her back. The female took advantage of the short loss of the ground under her feet and tried to claw at her unprotected side. She barely managed to step back fast enough. Her wolf gave a loud rumble but didn't make a move to take over again, more cautious of the threat in front of them.

Had the others not heard them by now? There was no way they were still sleeping, right?

Val brought her claws down on the female's face, harsh parallel lines now leaking blood into her eyes; it only seemed to have made her angrier. She tried to remember how she felt the last time she fought with one of them; the last time she killed one. A strange calm came over her; her senses settled, sharp as ever, and her eyes bore into the rogues'.

The wolf still had some strength in it, but its thinking had lost all logic; and without food, she doubted she'd last very long. It must have taken its toll on the body, and as she tried — and failed — to lunge at her each time, Val realized that she'd started toying with her somewhere along their fight. Jumping away from claws and swatting her head away when she tried to take a bite out of her.

She didn't know if that was her wolf affecting her actions, or if it was just her, but it scared the hell out of her. When the wolf tried to lunge again, mouth open and desperate for a kill, Val knocked her over with her body and used her weight to pin her down.

She saw the fear in the female's eyes when she neared her neck; slightly widening, thrashing pointlessly with its crooked claws. She locked her jaws around her throat and clamped down, watching as the thrashing stopped and the light slowly left her blue eyes, dimming them down to a light brown.

There was pleasure. Adrenaline still coursed through her body; and delight — for their win. The kill.

She felt sick.

That was the second time she'd killed someone, both in the span of a day. She wasn't stupid enough to assume the female would have just trotted away if she'd given her the chance to, but it still felt... wrong. It was self-defense and yet... and yet—

Motion caught her attention from her left. David was looking at her in a proud manner, the others lurking just behind him. She didn't want to feel anything but disgust at that moment, but it withered so quickly from her mind that she had to take a step back to catch herself.

She had just killed another wolf — another person! — and she was feeling proud?

Her wolf rumbled in her mind, licking her lips with feral satisfaction and eager for more.