Celia Kyle by He Ain't Lion

little. And while she was at it, he should’ve told her that sex with him came with a second personality.
    Her resolve to quell her hunger firmly in place, she snatched up a few steaks. Then a few more. And a dozen pounds or so of ground beef for good measure. Fatty good stuff. Atkins was about low carbs, not low fat content.
    Maya growled at anyone that got too close. Her food. All hers!
    A familiar sound reached her ears—the padding of quick feet, the loud squeaking of shoes on shiny floors, gave her friend’s approach away. Maya swiveled her head and narrowed her eyes. Carly was her friend, but…would she try to take her food…?
    “Maya?” The woman’s face was easy to read, happy, not predatory in the least bit.
    Okay then. She took a deep breath, scented the air, and something teased her nostrils. Something wild and sweet, and it made her slightly…hungrier, believe it or not. The prowling presence within stretched and scratched inside her head, snarled yet again. Maya decided she had to be going crazy. Certifiable. Because she suddenly had the urge to eat her friend. And not in a good way. No, she wanted her friend for lunch.
    Maya licked her lips, nose flaring with each step closer that the slim woman took. Yum. “Grrr.”
    “M-Maya?” Carly stopped, and with four feet separating them, Maya could hear the rapid thumping of the woman’s heart, her forced breathing.
    Her friend was scared. Of her?
    Hm…scared made hunting the prey all the better, she thought. Yummy.
    Wait! That thought, the idea of her friend as some sort of prey, snapped Maya’s attention back to reality, and away from that freaky, homicidal part of her brain.
    “Oh, shit.” Maya slapped a hand over her mouth and ran straight for the bathroom, bile rising in her throat.
    God, she ran faster than she’d ever run before. As if she had wings Maya flew by the other customers, weaving and dodging little old ladies in panic until she burst through the bathroom, and then through a stall door, bending over a toilet as she tried to calm the sickly feeling in her stomach. Wave after wave of retching crashed her insides, over and over as she fought for breath, fought to keep her composure.
    A soft hand stroked her back, announcing to Maya that her friend was there to comfort her. Carly’s scent discerned Maya blindly reached for the paper towel her friend offered. She then wiped her face before standing to face the other woman.
    “Carly… I’m…”
    How in the world was she supposed to explain her actions? To tell her friend that she was ready to hurl because…? Because she looked good enough to eat? Like, literally.
    “Shh… It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.” She rubbed Maya’s shoulders and pulled her close, then wrapped an arm around her waist and led her toward the bathroom door. “Let’s go back and get your meat, and then we can go to my house, okay? I’ll have my brother come over to talk you through this, honey.”
    “Your brother? Why? What are you talking—?”
    “Don’t worry. You’ll understand, soon enough. I promise.”
    Maya and Carly hugged, a soft whimper sounding in her throat. God, she wasn’t sure what was happening to her, like why she suddenly had such a craving for meat, or why she even thought that her friend seemed to be a good choice for lunch. Maya wondered if she needed an antipsychotic, or something just as strong…
    Once they reentered the store various scents assaulted her senses. As the smell of raw meat tempted her, called to her, she could hear the heartbeat of every passing shopper. And they all looked so delicious, reminded that growly-prowly sensation in her mind, seemingly interested in several of the individuals perusing the produce section. Maya licked her lips and swallowed the pooling saliva in her mouth. Yeah, she supposed that interested could be one way to describing the feelings she had. Ravenous was yet another.
    “Carly, there’s something really, really wrong with