moss that hung loosely on the trees, and time seemed like it had
frozenover along with it. I lowered my eyes to a dullsquint, hanging
my shoulders in the process as I focused on the unmarked path in front
of me. My eyes never looking, never seeing, where I was going, just
wandering aimlessly. Focusing on putting one leg in front of the
other. Walking back to the estate took more effort from me than I
would have liked--my feet felt like I had to drag them along with me,
as if I hada chain and ball attached to my ankles. I still smelt like
Trench, and I had to remind myself to have a long bath and a good
scrub to take away the stench, though I would do anything to scrub the
memory away. My stomach clenched at the thought of the deal Satchel
had made with him. Even still, at the raging voice screaming inside of
me that couldn'tlet go of that final look on Satchel's face. I'd be
okay if he said he'd fight for his honor, his family, his home. But
for me? I knew I should have been grateful, for his chivalry. But it
all just seemed too tragic, because what's the point of fighting for
something, when you weren't sure you were going be alive to live for
it?
I sighed, hugging my jacket tightly around me burrowing my head in my
scarf. Maybe letting me go was his idea of getting out so easy? Maybe
he felt the need toend it to punish me for leaving him once, and this
was his way of paying me back. Whatever it was, my heart felt like it
was peeling away layer by layer, leaving a black hole in its wake.
Just forget about it. He'll come back…
But I didn't know who I was trying to convince. I kept looking back,
to see if I could see an outline, an image of some sort that lead me
to believe that he'd dropped the deal, and decided to come home. And
every time I did, it never came. He never came.
I trudged through the snow, silently sulking. My tears mixed with the
coldrain, and I didn't even have the energy to wipe it away. If Grams
would have seen me now, she'd be outraged at my weakness. Crying out
in the open. I'd never cried so much in my whole entire existence.
Maybe I'd been silently crying for too long, that maybe my emotions
had sputtered out like an angry volcano, searing everything it
touched. I sniffed, scrunching up mywind-burned nose and frowned.
I stopped short, as I inhaled in another exaggerated breath. Something
wasn't right. The air smelt off, and my nerves prickled at the foul
smell of…blood? My eyes flicked in the direction of the metallic
scent, and as soon as my mind registered that it was coming from my
estate—where Derryn was supposedly waiting--my legs found its speed as
if the thought of losing Derryn had cut the invisible chains off my
ankles and urged me to run.
Barging into the back door of the house, I raced toward the open
kitchen. Everything turned upside down, along with the furniture. I
didn't want to think about what could have happened to her, all I knew
was finding her was my first priority. I couldn't let Satchel down,
nor could I let Mrs.Heins last dying breath ofsaving her daughter
leave my mind.
"Derryn!" I peered my head in every room, but to no avail. My heart
spedup to a frantic panic. Where the hell could she be?
"Please God!" I whispered to myself, storming up to my bedroom. She
wasn't there either.
After surveying the whole house, I had a feeling I was going to start
tearing down the walls with my bare nails to try to find her. It was
empty. I checked the family room once again, but still no sign of
Derryn.I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing my fingers against them until
I couldsee black stars. Why are you punishing me? I asked no one in
particular. I wasn't sure how long I'd been searching for her, but I
was growing weary. Too much had happened in this short amount of time,
and I couldn't bear the thought to have lost Derryn. Not when I'd
already lost so much.
I jumped in relief when asaw a small figure sitting on the porch
swing. Curlyred ringlets blowing in the freezing air, with not so much
as a shiver coming from her tiny little body.
"Derryn?" I whispered, careful not to startle her. I pushed open the
summer screen door, andpaused at the threshold. She was dressed in
nothing more than an oversized Tee Shirt that she'd probably fished
outfrom one of my bags, as she propped herself up on the swing.
"You smell different," sheaccused, with neither themeans to turn
around. Her voice sounded raspy, eerie, and in the overhang of the
wraparound porch, it seemed darker than it was.
"I smell different?" I reiterated. Slowly she turned around, and I
almost gasped when I saw the sight of her. Her face was drenched with
sweat, and her eyes werered rimmed as if she'd spent the night with
them taped wide open. I rushed to her side, and felt her forehead.
"Oh God! You're on fire." My other hand cupped over my mouth, trying
swallow down my shock. She whacked my hands away.
"I'm fine," she whined, staring back out into the forest. Her
attention plainly on the pine needles, as if she were waiting for
something…or someone.
"Let's get you inside. It's freezing out here," I said,shrugging off
my jacket to wrap her with, but sheonly shoved it away with an angry
glare. I could almost see red flaring inside of them.
"You're a traitor!" She bitout abruptly, and I almostfell back from
the piercing cries. Her hands flailing about, attacking me with tiny
fist as she chanted those three words.
"Derryn, I need you to calm down," I said in a rush of panic. Maybe I
needed to calm down, but she was making me panic.
"You did it again! You always do it!"
I held her wrists to stop her from attacking me, but her legs started
kicking. I was beside myself. I couldn't subdue her, neither could I
get her to stop screaming.
She shook her head violently, protesting under my grip. "Let go of me!
You're not my sister! You don't love, Satchel!"
I blinked, astonished at how wrong she could have been. I worked to
calm her, but she just screamed louder.
"What gave you that idea? I do love him. I do."I tried coaxing her to
try to get her inside, but by then she was way too furious.
"Then why do you smell like Trench? I hate you!"
She started sobbing, and the hitting stopped…but a whole new shaking
took place, as she convulsed on her own accord. Her fever was toohigh
to even state how, and the clammy feel of her skin against mine was
enough to make me warm. I wiped her tears away, pulling her hair out
of her face as she vomited over the side. I sat beside her, rubbing
her back and hating the pained look on her face. She'd look so much
like her mom when she was dying. I couldn't let her die on my watch.
"How about we go inside? Sit in front of the fire?"
"No! It's too hot in there. I can't go back in there." Derryn ran
toward the snow –barefoot—and then just like that, she flopped to the
ground. I chased after her, and quickly reached for her, but she
wouldn't budge. In fact, the snow looked like a miracle cure as soon
as she lay in it. She sighed in relief, as if it was a comfortable
pile offur and she started covering her body with the ice. I knelt
down to pick her off the ground, but she only pushed me away.
As her legs started writhing uncontrollably, Icaught a glimpse of a
fleshy wound, when I saw the scratches just above her knees. Someone
had scratched her, or more like bitten her in the leg. It was a small
coin sized wound, but visible; a marking of a wolf. A werewolf bite. I
clenched my teeth, angry at the thought of someone doing that
to…achild.
"Derryn, who did that to you," I asked, careful not to scare her, as I
brushed my fingers over it, but she flinched away. Her eyes glazed
over, and shewas staring up at me with a desolate gaze.
"Mama, I don't want to go inside. Please don't make me. Please." The
intensity of her begging tugged a string on my heart. She thought I
was her mom, and I knew the hallucinations had started. I was beside
myself when I saw tears streaming from her eyes, like it hurt. I knew
how that felt, when Cairo had scratched me. But this was different. I
was at mypeak of transition at the time. Derryn was nowhere near hers,
at least ten years until she had to put up with this…not at the age of
seven. Not when she was still a baby. But a wolf bite or scratch had
marked her, and Derryn being a carrier of Lycanthropy, she'd been
unfortunately forced intoher transition. I should have known from the
first signs of fever.
"Derryn, it's Willow. You remember me, right?" I brushed her curls out
of her face, and she flinchedaway from my touch. I tried to not think
anything of it, that she was hallucinating, but it still hurt to see
her like this. "We need to get youinside okay; it's too cold for you
out here." She shook her head again.
"No, Mama. I want to stayout here," she cried, nestling her face into
my stomach. I found my jacket strewn across the porch steps and I
grabbed for it, placing it over her for a makeshift blanket, but she
only kicked it away and the clammy feel of her skin against mine made
me burn. She was so hot she practically melted the snow. Getting her
to leave and go inside was like trying to take a boneout of a raging
dog. She growled when I reached for her, it was impossible.I couldn't
get her inside, and yet I couldn't let her lie out here all by
herself.Therefore, I did the next best thing: I held her in my arms,
and sat there with her head resting in my lap, promising her
everything and anything near and beyond.
"It's okay, I'm here," I murmured into her hair. Gently stroking her
face and she seemed to like it so I kept doing it.
"Mama, it hurts. It really hurts," she choked out, wriggling her legs
into the snow. My heart brokeat the thought of her pain, and knowing
that I couldn't make it better.
"I know, I know. I promise it will stop soon." I kept kissing her, and
holding her because there wasn't anything more I could do. And
thathurt me more than I could bear.
---
Hours later, my body felt numb. I couldn't feel my feet or my hands,
and I was sure my lips were turning blue. A wave of shivers sent an
alarm ringing through my headas it sent a cold knife to slice through
my lungs, making my teeth chatter. I woke up to pure darkness as the
December chill licked its icy tongue along my arms, I was sure any
minute I would die of hypothermia when my mind registered I'd
fallenasleep in the snow!
I felt beside me, but my hands were too slow to welcome the command. I
huffed a guttural moan, and tried to sit up. Failinga few times before
my body suddenly awoke when I didn't hear Derryn anymore. I'd lost her
again! To the woods! I couldn't feel her beside me, and that's what
determined my feet to move. I stumbled every time my feet hit the
snow, but as soon as I gotthe hang of it, I rushed about, not knowing
where to look. I smelt theair, and that same metallic scent was there.
The familiar smell of Derryn was coming from the direction of the
woods, so I bolted toward the scent shovingpine out of my line of
sight. I ignored the scratches on my face, but the stumbling and
falling I could do without, as I pushed myself through the forest. It
was impossible to see, I couldn't even see my own hand in the dark,
letalone the path I was going down. All I knew was the scent was
getting stronger, and I knew I just had to follow it.
But what I found in the nearest distance, was notthe familiar seven
year old that I'd grown to lovein this last month or so, but a set of
yellow eyes with a small pigment of green blinking behind the pine. I
squinted to see what it was—if it wasa wolf, but my human eyes limited
me to just seeing those two sets of eyes. I slowed to an abrupt halt,
and my breath hitched when my mind reeled in what I was looking at.
The eyes were familiar, and the scent I had been following was
stronger which made my mind finally put the pieces of the puzzle
together when I realized that I hadnot lost Derryn to the woods, but
to her wolf.
She was the yellow-eyed Wolf that was a good ten feet in front of me.
I watched her pace toward me, but never getting close enough for me to
touch her. Just enough for me to see hershiny red coat as the
moonlight glistened withevery stride. Her ears andparts of her face
were white, but the rest were shades of red. A rarity I'd heard
amongst wolves, and a ravishing beauty all the more. She was small,
the smallest I'd seen considering the full grown males I'd been
around. But even still, shewas a beast compared to my human stature.
"Derryn?" Her tail was up,and I knew she didn't trust me yet. Her eyes
darting from the pine, back to me. I made a point not to startle her,
or to give her any reason to waken her instinct. If I knew anything
about being a new werewolf, iswhat the strenuous amount of
unfamiliarity that took place after those fleeting moments of
transitioning. You never know who to trust,until your senses get a
hold of themselves. Right now, she was vulnerable,and I could be prey
for allshe new. She flicked her eyes toward the trees, and I panicked.
I couldn'tlet her run off.
"Derryn, it's Willow." I swallowed that lump thatformed in the back of
my throat. My fingers were numb, and I tried to make a sound with my
teeth, but I was shivering.
"I-I think your Mama would be proud of you, right now. To see you like
that. You're beautiful."
I had her attention at once, and her eyes foundmine once again. Her
tail started lowering, and I knew she was putting down her defenses.
But not completely.
"That's right. Mama…and Satchel, and even your dad. I think they'll
all be proud of you. I am." I gave her an encouragingsmile that I
meant no harm to her she drank it up as she wagged her tail.
"Although, I don't think they'll approve of you wondering through the
forest all alone. Not unless you have someoneto protect you along the
way."
She cast a glance toward the east side of Denvers Drove, and I cursed
inwardly. Maybe I wasn't luring her in as good as I hoped. I wasn't
sure if I could hold her here for too long. I had to think
ofsomething. I clenched myteeth when a twig snapped under my boots,and
I was sure she'd bolt in that very second. But she didn't, her hopeful
eyes were still pegged onme. I gulped.
"I'll tell you what? Why don't you wait until I change, and we'll both
go for a run? You think that would be okay with you?"
Slowly, her head nodded,and I found myself smiling. "Yeah? That's
good." I narrowed my eyes in a teasing manner.
"No cheating though, or else I'll have no choice but to bite you in the butt."
I heard a light rumble coming from her throat, and I knew I'd broken
the shell. She was laughing. Good sign. She sat down on her haunches,
and closed hereyes. I wanted to laugh because she'd given me alittle
privacy.
I stripped free of my clothes, and felt the nip in the air wrap me
with ice. It was enough to raise goose bumps all over me. As soon as I
had my clothes spread out over the snow, I knelt down on all fours and
welcomed my Wolf. It was easier this time, as I cleared my head and
thought about my white fur. The sharp pointy shape of my muzzle, and
the familiar discolored spot of brown on my let paw. A slow rise of my
heart beat before me, as a sheen of sweat glistened all over me. In
minutes, white fur sprouted around me, anda howl escaped my throat as
soon as the wolf form took over.
A few pants later, and I was racing in the woods along side Derryn,
lettingtrees flash by in our rearview. Of course, I would have
preferred her stay behind so I couldprotect her from what lies behind
the mysteries of the forest. But I knew that look in her eyes, andI
knew she was searchingfor someone. I had the same feeling, an alarm
ofsome sort sprigged a nerve as a shot ricocheted through the trees,
making birds flee from the rooftops, and that feeling urged us both
toward the direction when we heardSatchel's howls seconds later.
---
A/N: I've practically finished this, but it's just finding an internet
to keep posting. I'll try have the rest up in the coming days. :)
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