Marked by the Wolf (A New Adult Urban Fantasy) Page 6

  “Crap. Mack’s already locked it for the night. Bastard.” Lori slammed her hand against the door. “Fine. We’ll just go, heads down, and get out of the alley. There’s nothing here that can hurt us, right? No killer hangs around waiting in an alley two nights in a row. That would just be stupid.”

  Taryn took a step forward, peering into the darkness. “Lori, wait. There’s something moving by that dumpster.”

  A shadow had detached itself, moving across the alley toward them. Taryn grabbed Lori’s arm, clutching her tightly. Lori pulled them back against the door.

  “What the hell?”

  And then Taryn laughed, her grip on Lori’s arm loosening.

  “It’s just a dog, Lori. A big one, but just a dog.”

  In the next second, all hell broke loose.

  13

  Sam heard Taryn’s voice on the other side of the door, the one that Taryn had come out of last night. He melted back into the shadows between two dumpsters, watching and waiting. There was another woman’s voice, indistinct, of no consequence to Sam. His entire being was focused on Taryn, every sense attuned to her.

  There was movement at his side and Bec was there. Sam growled low and Bec sank down on his haunches, whining softly. Whatever had spooked him still bothered him, but he’d mastered enough of his fear to stand by Sam. At least Sam hoped he had.

  After what seemed like an interminable wait, the door from the club opened and Taryn emerged, a tall blonde woman close behind her. He watched as they hesitated and then tried to go back into the club. But the door closed and was apparently locked and they were left standing in the dark alley.

  Sam could smell the fear rolling off of Taryn in waves. She must have known about the murders and combined with what happened the night before, Sam knew she was terrified. He whined softly, aching to go to her, helpless in this form to do anything but watch.

  Something else caught his attention. The scent from last night, the strange scent that had been on Taryn. The tiniest whiff reached his nose and then it was gone.

  He crouched, waiting for them to move, willing them to leave the alley, but they stayed by the door, talking in low voices, now tinged with fear.

  And then, from his right, a shape broke from between two dumpsters, something larger than him or Bec, but still low to the ground, wolf-like in shape. And with its movement came a rush of its scent, the same scent that blanketed the alley, but stronger, more pungent. Whatever it was had camouflaged itself with the overwhelming confusion of smells, scents from the murders, from the crush of people who had been in the alley. And with its own scent. Sam realized whatever it was must have been there the night before, after he and Taryn had left.

  The creature finally came into view beneath the feeble light from the single bulb above the club door and Sam got his first good look.

  The fur was gray, long and matted, blood-soaked around the neck and shoulders. As it advanced toward the women, Sam saw the low, long body of a wolf, tail held low. Its lips were pulled back, yellowing teeth visible. But there was something wrong about the proportions, something misaligned about the whole creature.

  As he watched, the creature crouched, its hindquarters tensing, preparing to lunge. The hackles went up across Sam’s shoulders, a low growl rippling from his throat. He took a stiff-legged step into the alley, Bec shifting around to his left, moving to close off the entrance to the alley.

  The creature lunged at the women, jaws snapping and Sam was immediately in motion, aiming low, going for the belly. He saw a blur of tawny fur as Bec leapt in front of the creature, his body between the women and the snarling mouth full of teeth.

  Sam heard Bec’s snarl and then a yelp of pain as the two connected, Bec falling with a thud to the ground, but the creature’s momentum was deflected away from Taryn. Sam hit it hard then, knocking it to the ground. He immediately dove for the soft underside, teeth tearing at the thick fur. The stench filled his nostrils and now the taste of the animal was in his mouth, rank and fetid.

  But the thing was incredibly powerful, twisting beneath Sam, kicking at him with its back legs. Sam lost his grip and sprang back as the creature quickly gained its feet.

  It turned, snarling, yellow eyes darting between Sam and Bec, who now stood in front of the women. Bec stood with his front feet spread wide, white teeth bared, but Sam could see blood welling from a gash on Bec’s shoulder, a spreading stain darkening the blonde fur.

  Sam glanced at Taryn and the other woman. They were huddled together in the doorway, apparently unhurt, but clearly terrified. He met Taryn’s eyes and wished for all the world he could tell her who he was, that he was here for her. That he’d kill for her.

  Sam looked back at the animal, watching it carefully as it started slowly circling, moving away from Bec and the women, toward the dumpsters to Sam’s right, and a possible escape down the alley to the street. Sam advanced, intending to cut off it off, take it to ground and tear out its throat.

  But in a flash of gray fur and yellow teeth, the wolf-thing sprang to the top of the nearest dumpster and from there to the low roof of the building across from the club entrance. Sam’s head snapped up and he watched in amazement as the creature turned, yellow eyes glowing briefly in the moon light. It gave Sam a murderous look and then turned, silently disappearing into the night.

  Bec was whining softly and Sam turned back toward the group. Taryn was sitting on the ground, shaking, Lori crouched next to her, arms around Taryn’s shoulders. For a moment, Sam was struck by the protective stance of the blonde woman, the feral grimace on her face as she watched them.

  Bec had moved to the side, sitting on the pavement, panting, glancing nervously back down the alley and then up to the top of the dumpsters as if anticipating another attack.

  But Sam’s only focus was Taryn. She was staring at him, her eyes wide. He took a tentative step toward her, never breaking eye contact. She shrank back, the blonde woman almost growling at him. He made the conscious effort to lower his hackles, to relax his body, raise his tail. He took one step and then another, moving toward Taryn.

  “Taryn, I’ve got mace in my purse. I’m gonna spray this thing if it doesn’t back off…” Sam saw the woman’s hand slid into her purse and he stopped, whining softly.

  Taryn sat up, pulling away from the woman. “No, wait. Don’t…” She leaned forward, setting her hands in front of her on the pavement. Sam wagged his tail, just the barest movement.

  “Taryn! Stop. Are you crazy? That’s a wolf, for God’s sake.”

  “It’s okay, Lori. Really…somehow it’s okay.”

  Taryn crawled forward, her eyes locked with Sam’s. He cursed his inability to speak, longed to tell her…something, anything. But all he could do was whine softly. Slowly he extended his muzzle and Taryn reached for him, her fingers brushing the fur beneath his chin.

  “For fuck’s sake, Taryn, do you want to lose an arm?” The woman had her head down, frantically searching in her purse, panic coating her voice. Sam saw movement from the corner of his eye. Bec was standing now, moving silently toward the woman. With one quick tug, he grabbed her purse in his teeth, breaking the strap and backing away with it in his mouth, its contents falling onto the pavement.

  “Oh, shit. Taryn…”

  There was a noise behind them, at the club door, voices and someone rattling the knob. Sam stepped back and Bec dropped the purse, both turning in tandem, disappearing down the alley. When they reached the street, Sam stopped, looking back. Taryn was still on her hands and knees, watching him. Then the door to the club swung open and there were people spilling into the alley. Sam turned, melting into the shadows, heading for home.

  14

  “What the hell were you thinking? Are you fucking crazy?”

  Lori was pacing across the living room of her cramped apartment, puffing nervously on a cigarette. Taryn had taken refuge on the couch, a deteriorating afghan wrapped around her shoulders.

  “I’m not crazy, Lori.”

&nbs
p; “Then you’re drunk.” She stopped in front of Taryn. “You can’t pet something that just tried to kill you.”

  “It was a wolf, I think. And it didn’t try to kill us. It saved us.” Her voice was low, her mind still spinning, trying to make some kind of sense out of what just happened.

  “You wouldn’t know a wolf if it bit you. You grew up in the middle of Philly. There are no wolves in Philly.” Lori finally stopped pacing, sitting down on the other end of the couch.

  “Whatever…that one, the black one…it wasn’t going to hurt us.” Taryn looked down at her hand, the one that she’d touched the wolf with. She held it up to Lori.

  “See? No teeth marks. I’m fine.”

  “Well, my purse is ruined. That damn dog tore it out of my hands. You can’t tell me that’s not an attack.”

  Taryn sighed. Her head ached and she was exhausted. Lori had given her a shot of whiskey when they’d gotten here, to calm her down, stop her shaking. But all it had done was make her tired. She slid down on the couch, pulling the afghan up over her shoulders.

  “Lori, whatever it was…it wasn’t the thing that wanted to kill us. The gray wolf…animal. That was the one that attacked us. The others, the black and yellow one, I think they were trying to protect us.”

  Lori snorted. “You really are drunk, if you think that. Did you hit your head maybe?” She leaned over, reaching for Taryn’s head. Taryn slapped her hand away.

  “Knock it off. I’m too tired for this.” She closed her eyes, wishing for sleep, almost wishing she’d gone back to her own apartment. Lori was wound up tight, from adrenaline or nerves or whatever got Lori wound up.

  “You wanna crash in my bed? The sheets are clean, more or less. At least, I’m the only one that’s slept on them recently.”

  Taryn opened one eye. “That means you’re too wired to sleep?”

  Lori nodded, lighting up another cigarette. “Yeah. I usually am when I get home. This just made things worse. It’s not so bad if I have a date. You know, I have someone to work off all this energy with.” She looked over at Taryn.

  “But I get the feeling you’re not up for that right now, are you?”

  Taryn threw off the afghan, shaking her head. “No, sorry.” She leaned over, planting a kiss on Lori’s forehead. “I just want to sleep and try and forget whatever the hell just happened.”

  In Lori’s room, Taryn stripped, climbing into the bed. She really didn’t care if the sheets were clean or not. She was tired and she wasn’t alone. Somehow knowing Lori was prowling around in the next room calmed her down.

  Taryn turned off the bedside light, leaving the room bathed in the light of the full moon, shining through the open blinds. She rolled over in bed, looking out the window. The moon was visible, hanging low in the sky.

  Funny, she’d never paid any attention to it before. It was just there, or not. It struck her that she didn’t know why it did what it did or when. She supposed if she’d paid more attention in school, or actually finished school, she’d probably know.

  But she did know that things had gotten very strange lately. She yawned, pulling the blanket over her shoulder. She was on the verge of sleep when the thought came to her that things had gotten very strange just about the time Sam had appeared in her life.

  Sunrise wasn’t far off before Taryn finally fell asleep. And just on the edge of sleep, she had the briefest vision of silver eyes, glowing in the moonlight, watching her as she slept.

  15

  The sun had been up for a couple of hours and Bec was the kitchen of Sam’s house, sitting at the table while Sam cleaned the wound on his arm. The gash was bloody and ragged, but luckily not very deep. Several pack members from both packs were there, standing back, watching silently.

  “Shit, Sam. Take it easy, okay? Whatever the hell you’re doing, it hurts.” Bec was trying to pull away from Sam.

  “Stop whining.” Sam wiped the wound again. “The bleeding’s stopped now,” Sam tossed the cloth into the sink, “you should have stitches, but I’m pretty sure you’ll live.”

  “Yeah, no to the stitches. Just wrap it up. It should heal pretty quickly anyway.”

  Sam grabbed some gauze and bandages from a nearby cabinet. “Finn, here. Help me with this.”

  A short stocky man stepped forward, holding the gauze in place over the gash while Sam wrapped the bandage around Bec’s muscular arm.

  “What the hell happened, Sam?” Bec, Finn and the others had been at the house when Sam returned, just before sunrise, and once they’d all returned to human form, the packs had drifted down to the kitchen.

  “I’m not sure. We were attacked, but I’m not really sure by what.” Sam stood back, looking at the bandage.

  “Bec, do you have any idea what that thing was?”

  Bec flexed his arm, scowling at the bandage. “No idea.”

  “Another pack maybe? Someone new that’s moved into our territory?” Finn was standing, his arms crossed, at the end of the table. There were murmurs from the other pack members.

  Sam shook his head, pulling out a chair, sitting down beside Bec. “It’s not from around here. No other pack has said anything about this, and I’m pretty sure even our rivals would have said something.”

  “There’s something off about it. The scent, for one thing.” Sam grimaced at the memory. There was something tugging at the edge of his mind, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on what it was.

  “Sam, was the scent familiar to you?”

  Bec’s brow furrowed. “No. It smelled bad, terrible.” He ducked his head and Sam let it pass. No use letting Bec’s pack know he had turned tail and ran.

  “There was something there, something familiar. But I don’t know what it was.” Sam shook his head. “Maybe I’m just crazy, but I have the feeling I know what that thing is.”

  “If you knew what it is, would you know how to kill it?”

  Sam looked up. Finn was looking at him intently, as were the rest of the pack members.

  “Yeah, probably. Everything has a weakness. It’s just knowing what it is.” He ran his hands through his hair.

  “It’s just trying to figure out what the damned thing is…and what it wants. Those murders happened the night before the full moon, and I’m convinced whatever that thing was killed those people.”

  16

  “Hey, wake up.”

  Someone was shaking her and Taryn wanted them to stop. Her head ached abysmally and her body hurt. She swatted at the hand on her shoulder and the hand swatted back. Groggily she opened one eye.

  Lori was sitting on the edge of the bed, still dressed in her street clothes, holding the ever-present cigarette and a glass of juice.

  “Here.” She held out the juice toward Taryn.

  Taryn smiled, sipping the juice. “Thanks. What time is it?”

  “After three. You’ve been out like a champ for hours.”

  “Have you even slept?”

  “Yeah, I think so. Maybe. But you were mumbling and whining in your sleep, so, you know, that kept me awake.”

  “Liar. I never talk in my sleep.” She set the glass on the bedside table, sitting up against the headboard, pulling the sheet over her chest.

  “So what the hell really did happen last night?”

  “Honey, I have no idea. You thought you’d made a new best friend out of a wolf and I thought we were going to be torn to shreds.”

  The words hung in the air, both girls staring wide-eyed at the other.

  “Oh, shit. China…and her boyfriend. You don’t think…could it have been that thing?” Lori spoke first.

  “I don’t want to think about it.” Taryn solemnly shook her head. “No way. Not going there. Too many bad things live in my head already. I’m not putting a wolf in the mix.”

  Taryn sat up. “I need to go home. Move.” She poked at Lori with her foot.

  Lori stood up. “You calling a cab or walking?”

  “Cab. There’s no way I’m walking home feeling like thi
s.”

  “I’ll call one for you while you get dressed.” Lori left the room and Taryn pulled on her clothes. They smelled funny, like rotting food. It made her stomach turn and she decided it must have been from the alley. She’d be home soon and take a long hot shower. Maybe even get in a nap before work.

  “Cab’ll be here in about fifteen minutes or so. You want something to eat…” Lori stopped, laughing. “I take it by the shade of green you’ve turned, that’s a no?”

  “Yeah, no. And never let Sam make you a drink on the house. I think that thing was straight up, no mixer. Strong.” Taryn shivered.

  “You’re such a light-weight, Taryn. Here…” She extended her hand. In the palm were two white pills.

  Taryn looked at them suspiciously. “And they are?”

  “Aspirin. What’d you think I’m giving you? You said you have a headache.” Lori shook her head as Taryn took the pills.

  “Listen, my only vices now are cigarettes and men, sometimes a drink, nothing worse. Well, those are bad enough, but that’s it.” She held up three fingers.

  “Scout’s honor, Taryn. Not for a long, long time. I’ve been good.”

  Taryn went to the tiny kitchen and filled a glass at the sink, downing the pills. Lori followed her, leaning against the doorframe.

  “You believe me, right?”

  Taryn looked at her friend. Finally, she nodded.

  “Sorry, Lori. Yeah, I do. It’s been a long fucking night. Come here.” Taryn held out her arms and Lori walked into her embrace.

  The sound of a blaring horn made both of them jump. They stepped apart, laughing.

  “You working tonight?” Taryn was searching under the couch for her shoes.

  “No, I have the night off. Plan to catch up on my sleep, now that there’s no mumbling, snoring body in my bed.”