Razor by Ronin Winters

places, but nothing ever changes.” Jess shrugged, then paused and turned her attention to Beth. Her eyes were sad, her brows furrowed, and unhappiness clung to her like an oversized cloak. “When I met Mike, I thought he was the one. I dreamed I’d be telling my grandchildren one day how I never loved anyone but their granddad, and how I was lucky to find my soul mate from the jump.”
    A car rumbled up the street, and both women turned to the sound, verifying this wasn’t their ride before Beth prompted, “What do you think now?”
    “Now? Now I think I’m scared of letting go of that dream. I’m scared of starting over. I’m comfortable and have a routine and I don’t want to lose it.”
    Beth nudged Jess’s arm with her elbow. “You’re twenty-five. You’re not supposed to have a routine.”
    Jess gave a small laugh. “Maybe not.”
    The long, low growl had every muscle in Beth’s body freezing in elemental dread. Noooo…..
    Jess looked around, alert and edgy but not near as scared as she should be. “Did you hear that?”
    Her sister protected her and she never had to go out on a hunt, but the sound of a werewolf on the prowl was familiar in a way that had her heart speeding in her chest, muscles spiking adrenaline to prepare to run.
    Beth grabbed Jess’s arm. “We have to go. That’s a wild animal. We need to get back inside the library and lock the doors.” Dammit! She knew better than to let her cell battery die, but she’d been careless.
    Jess looked at her wearily. “It’s probably just a dog roaming. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
    Beth had no time to try to persuade her as three large wolves jumped from the woods and sped towards them, growls loud and long and teeth snapping at the two women.
    Jess screamed, and Beth grabbed her arm and held tight as she turned and ran back towards the buildings. She needed to get behind them, to the network of streets that made the alleyways. Back there might be something she could use for a trap. She had a Taser, but that wouldn’t hold against three wolves, and she had to get Jess away from the fight. Jess might be able to hide somewhere in the alleyways. If they ran straight down the sidewalk, the wolves would overtake them too easily.
    They ducked behind the first building, the stench of garbage activating Beth’s gag reflex, but good. With the wolves it would be magnified, and they’d have an easier time getting away.
    Here. There was a pile of crates, several garbage dumps, and most importantly, discarded building materials where the nails and wood with sharp pointed edges were visible even in the pale light.
    Beth turned and took Jess by the shoulders. Jess was wide-eyed, a fine tremor running through her body, but she was keeping her head and not making a sound. “Jess, get back to the library. Lock yourself in and don’t come out unless I come and get you or until tomorrow morning.”
    The words shook Jess out of her haze. “I can’t leave you.”
    “They’re after me, no,” and Beth looked back when the sound of nails on wood hit came across the alleyway. “Just go.” And Beth pushed her.
    Jess turned and ran.
    Quickly, Beth tossed the wood with the embedded nails in the path right in front of her, covering it with leaves and any other debris she could find. Then, Taser in hand and a length of pipe laying at her side, she waited.
    Jess had never run faster in her life, not even when she was running a track meet. There was a gun in the library office, and since her daddy was a deer hunter and had begun teaching her to shoot when she was nine, she had no fear of guns. She needed to grab it and get back to Beth.
    This was…she didn’t know what this was. All she knew was whatever was going down, Beth had reacted like she had been prepared for something to come after her, like she’d been expecting something bad.
    She hadn’t wanted to leave Beth, but there hadn’t been time to talk, and without knowing what was going on and nothing