Cry Wolf
an excerpt

The dark hound crouched low, his fangs white in the shadows and Taiyak stilled, her heartbeat skidding out of control, her throat dry. Siasian. He moved closer, his claws scraping over the ground and Taiyak shuddered, her panic in her throat. She couldn't move. She couldn't run. His dog like face morphed, satisfaction in his eyes. Finally, he said, his voice hissing around her, more growl than words. He rose in front of her, the slick black skin falling away until he stood, arms outstretched and reached for her – his red, red eyes the only part of him still beast. His fingers closed over her skin—

Taiyak jerked. Sweat stained her body and she gripped the filthy sheets, her heartbeat a roar in her head. She groaned and rolled over. Each movement was sluggish and pained. It felt like someone had taken a brick to her. It had been days since she'd slept on anything but the rough concrete of whatever street she'd stopped on, but as a spring dug into her hip Taiyak couldn't decide which was worse.

Irritably she rolled her shoulders and froze. There was something there. She could feel it now, the pain rushing through her body stemmed from the cold pin pricks in her left arm. Taiyak barely swallowed a scream. Slowly, as if it hurt to move, she turned her head and her eyes widened. A thin wisp of a creature lay coiled over her left bicep, it's needle sharp teeth and claws embedded in her skin, blood streaked down to her wrist and she shuddered.

The little beast hissed at her, it's dead black eyes nothing but slits and it shook his head, razor sharp teeth shredding through her arm. Taiyak cried out, her right hand fashioned over the creature in a second and she jerked. Its skin was slick, moist and the feel of it burned at her palm. She jerked again and felt it tear through the muscle, drilling straight for bone. Taiyak cried out. Panicked she stumbled from the bed, rolling until she felt it's satisfying yowl when she rolled over it. She rolled again and again, rising only an inch or two before she slammed back into the ground. A man from the floor below gave a disgruntled shout but Taiyak didn't care, she rammed herself into the floor once more and finally the little teeth loosened.

It hurt like hell, but she rolled and yanked the beast away and sent it flying into the far wall. It hissed and skittered over the floor, almost dizzy. Taiyak lunged. Her hand and arm burned from where it'd touched her, but she didn't care. Her grip fastened over it again and she slammed it into the wall. Blood streaked over her fingers and down it's grease blacked hide, her skin scorched with the touch as it wriggled and writhed in her hands. It fastened teeth over her thumb, digging deep right before she slammed its head into the floor and dug. She leaned her weight into it until it stopped squirming.

Terrified Taiyak jerked away and scrambled back across the room. She shook. The scream of her pulse was dizzying, the whole room swayed and Taiyak pushed her head against her bare knees, waiting for the room to stop swirling. Vomit curled in the back of her throat. The room smelled like burnt skin and fear and pain. Her pain. Taiyak flexed her hands nervously; the skin drawn tight with burns scorched over her skin. Her fingers were seared from the heat, thick, bloody red skin gleaming through and Taiyak whined.

It'd been a long time since she'd run into one of those nasty little Otherlings. Nightshades. A shudder ran through her and she eyed the dead black shape on her floor, unmoving and smoke still sizzling from its skin. She waited, breath held, for the fire to take it. If it were truly dead it'd burn. But its death wouldn’t heal the wounds it'd left behind.

A flame sparked over its side and in a flash of fire the nightshade was gone. Taiyak slumped back against the wall in relief, her head still whirling with the fresh taint of fear. She couldn't stop shaking and pain bit over her skin, her flesh still hot with the oils seeping beneath her skin. Physically Taiyak was exhausted. Her mind was sluggish and even the blur of pain didn't keep her eyes open… but every time they closed she saw him. The nightmare still fresh in her mind. Siasian. His red eyes haunted her days just as much as they did her nights.

She'd never outrun him. Somewhere deep in her, she knew there was only so far she could go… but staying wasn't an option. It wasn't safe. Taiyak snorted softly to herself, her disbelief rising. She still doubted the wolf would come back. Kaeger. She'd clung to his name, it was all she had, but Taiyak was realistic. She had to be. He'd left her behind when he ran off for his alpha, chances were he wasn't coming back. And if she stayed, Siasian would only find her faster.

Her breath shuddered in her lungs and Taiyak leaned back against the wall, chilled by sweat and the fast dropping temperature outside. She could hear the thunder of the wind against her window and the scrape of a nearby tree against the brick. Frost was already beginning to come under the cover of darkness… it wouldn't be long before snow littered the ground, burying the bodies and debris under a guise of lies. It'd paint the world better than it was, just like it did every year.

But with it would also come the truth – food was too hard to find. There was no way the pack here would let her stay on, especially not if she preyed on their food. Taiyak closed her eyes against the tears. She wanted this. She needed the touch of a pack more than she needed anything else… without it; she had no will to live. Her mind was slowly slipping and Taiyak knew that alone, she didn't have much longer. But Siasian…

Taiyak groaned. There was no right answer, and despite the desperation building in her, the sheer joy that had overwhelmed her when she'd saw Kaeger… part of her wanted to go, just to avoid having to see him again. The risk was probably too great.

That was just foolish stupidity, nerves. Taiyak smiled at herself. After the last pack she had a right to be suspicious but Kaeger, he hadn't seemed like he'd wanted anything more of her. Or anything of that matter. Instantly her smile faded. She was getting nowhere with her problems and she sidled her way up the wall, trying to avoid using her hands, but the skin still stretched uncomfortably as she tried to balance awkwardly. She could heal most of the wounds if she changed, but Taiyak knew better. As a human she could reason her way out of this.

As a wolf? She'd go find Kaeger. It didn't matter that they were strangers, that she'd seen nothing more of him than a silvered face of a wolf, the white plush of his muzzle and the same deep amber eyes of her fellows. The human him was a mystery to her, hell, everything about him was still a mystery. But it still wouldn't matter. She'd been without a pack for too long and the feel of his fur against hers was still fresh, the careless yips and play made her tremble all over again. What did it matter what he wanted?

He had everything she wanted and needed to survive. Taiyak could find food, but the chances of finding another pack were growing slimmer. But in staying she endangered them all. Siasian had slaughtered everyone who'd meant anything to her, as well as the pack who'd tried to take her in recently – albeit for a price she hadn't been willing to pay – then, she wasn't so sure now – chances were, this pack wouldn’t fair any better.

There was also the looming problem that he might not come back. How reliable was Aben's word? The spidery man was unlike anything Taiyak had ever known, and most Otherlings had a poor track record with her. It was unlikely that anything he'd said had been the truth. She'd just wanted to believe it.

Who in their right mind wouldn't have wanted to believe it? Taiyak sighed, the broken hitch of a sob bringing fresh tears to her eyes, and frustrated she turned for the window. The steady pulse of pain made her pause, her head whirling and for a second she saw nothing but blackness. She stumbled backwards two steps before her vision cleared and Taiyak forced herself to breath, each breath suddenly coming faster than the last. She knew it was an aftermath of the nightshade, as well as the burning red eyes staring back at her from her eyelids, but it still brought fresh goose bumps to her arms.
Her hands stung as she placed them against the cool glass, her raw skin slick along the smooth surface and it took several tries before she budged the window up an inch. Wincing in pain, Taiyak slid her hands under the sill and shoved upwards, the motion drawing a pained yelp from her lips. But the icy air did the trick. It revitalized her.

Taiyak leaned closer, her hands already numb from the cold and she breathed in the night sky. The stars lost in the foggy darkness were her goal with every inhale. To breath in the world. And she did. The air was stale, each breath thick with dirt and Taiyak closed her eyes. She could taste the scents of people, their sweat, sicknesses, straight down to the brick of the building. Taiyak lost herself in the sensations. Each breath more filled than the last. Complete.

Her wolf eased back and Taiyak waited as the last of the tension inside her fled, her muscles relaxed and each heartbeat came easier. A cool blast of win ran over her naked body, drawing her nipples tight and licking with frost down her back and up her arms. She shivered but leaned into the second gust, relishing the numbness that settled over her. It was like having a blindfold tossed over her sight, but this time it was over all over her senses. She was too cold to think… to do anything, and she refused to step away. She let the frigid air take her because for several blinding seconds, it was enough to make the world drop away.

Even the physical pain had been blown from her along the icy wind and Taiyak smiled. Finally, slowly, with an almost pained shudder, Taiyak pulled away. Her hands moved numbly up the window, flailing for a second before they grasped the window and tugged it closed. Instantly the wind stopped buffeting along her skin, but the taste of the cold lingered over her, like drug seeped deep in her blood. It left her sluggish and lost. Taiyak stumbled back for her bed and collapsed.

The ice warmed from her flesh long before sleep took her, her body numb, but her mind gently rolling over the possibilities. Tasting each one. She shivered, her breath trembling on her nearly blue lips and Taiyak closed her eyes. She never reached for the blanket even as she lay there shaking, her skin pale from the cold. It felt too good. As long as she was so cold, she didn't hurt.

Her mind flashed back to the slate colored wolf, his fur mottled with white and various shades of gray, his golden eyes feigning innocence as he danced away. Kaeger. His name was so foreign to her, but she clung to it. Taiyak shuddered. He might not come back… Somewhere deep inside her she doubted he would. He'd left her once and he wasn't going to come back for a rogue. No… Taiyak whined. She'd have to leave…

Just one more day. One more, and if he didn't come, she'd leave.

Her breathing slowed and without thinking, Taiyak tugged over a dirt covered sheet and curled into it, his wolf face staring at her from the back of her eyelids, and for one night, those eyes weren't red. She smiled and drifted off into the darkness, into the feel of fur and smell of him. Just one more day.