Promise Me Anthology by Tara Fox Hall Page B

starving.
    He had initially tried to change form and
found he couldn’t. Even at night, with the full moon high above
him, he couldn’t will a transformation. Fury filled him. Fury at
the unfairness of the world, the sheer meanness of it, to have
given him everything and taken it away all in the space of a few
weeks. In his anger, he began screaming, the human wail of
suffering becoming a loud roar that echoed down the mountain. Claws
grew in an instant, fur sprouting from his skin, his mouth suddenly
full of fangs. Chest heaving, Theo padded down to the amphitheater,
turning his round yellow eyes up at the moon above. He sat down
with a sigh. Anger fueled the change. Once it started, he couldn’t
stop it. What hope was there for him and Casey?
    He would have to make sure she was safe from
him before he went to her. He would have to tame the lion
within.
    * * * *
    As a human, Theo was a decent shot with a
scatter-gun. But it was hard to skin the animals with his pocket
knife. The ammunition for the gun soon ran out. Starving, Theo
forced himself to change to cougar, then used his new body to hunt.
At first, he was awful, over leaping the prey every time. He caught
a mouse, only to have it bite him. Shocked at the sharp pain, he
shook his paw, flinging the creature into the lake. By the time he
got there, it had swum to shore and gotten away.
    With practice and time, he got better. It
wasn’t long before he could stalk his food easily, and keep himself
fed, even if he was never truly full.
    The first week of September, Theo decided he
had mastered his beast, at least enough to risk a visit to
Casey
    * * * *
    Theo got up early the next morning, before
dawn. Then he walked down to his hidden SUV, determined to seek out
Casey and tell her everything.
    Instead, Casey was there, asleep inside the
SUV.
    As Theo made to back up, a branch snapped
under his heel. Casey opened her eyes, startled awake, then her jaw
dropped as she beheld him. At first, she just stared at him as if
he were a ghost. Then Casey threw open the car door and ran to
Theo, wrapping her arms around him.
    “I thought you were dead! What happened? They
found your parents murdered, and this decapitated guy—”
    Tell her right now, or you never will.
    “— they said it was a mountain lion or
wild dogs—”
    “It was me,” Theo said softly. “I killed that
man and cut his head off.”
    Casey recoiled from him, stepping away.
“What?” she asked in disbelief.
    “He attacked my parents and me. He did
something to me. Now I can change into a cougar. I know it sounds
crazy—”
    Casey looked scared for a second, then
resolute. “I knew it had to be something like that. They’d been
looking for that man for years, Theo. His fingerprints were at a
ton of murder scenes in that area. They called him the Tupper Lake
Killer.” She put her hand on his, like she had done years ago on
the day they’d first met. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You
defended yourself.” She squeezed his hand. “He had just killed
another person that same morning—”
    “No,” Theo whispered tortured. “I killed that
kid, too.”
    “Then you had a reason,” Casey said fast. “I
didn’t want to say it, but he’d been linked to some break ins at
the lake houses near the ones your family rented—”
    “I needed his phone,” Theo said wearily. “I
told him to call 911. He wouldn’t. I ripped him to shreds.”
    “No,” Casey comforted. “You couldn’t
have—”
    Theo’s desperation turned to panic, then
rage. “I did it!” he screamed. “It was me! It wasn’t an animal. It
was me!”
    Casey’s eyes went wide, and she backed away.
“Your eyes,” she choked out. “They’re yellow.”
    Theo shut his eyes, collapsing to the ground,
trying to fight the change. “Please,” he said aloud. “Please,
please stop. Please don’t. Please!”
    Theo fought his anger, the seconds ticking by
into minutes. He breathed deep breaths, the air scents so