The Boy and His Wolf by Sean Thomas Page B

Hot, rank breath met me before I swung the blade up and through his torso. He dropped to the ground and I kicked the son of a bitch in the gut.
    “ Kill you.” I turned to see Frat Boy shifting back into wolf form. His face elongated, nose widening as it darkened with fur. I could see his fingers melting together as paws took shape. It normally was an amazing thing to witness, but on him it was grotesque. There was no art to his shift, only liquid flesh rolling into a new figure.
    “ Ugghh.” He let out a gnarled gasp, which cracked at the end. His shifting stopped and then reversed. His eyes widened and narrowed, a roller coaster of confusion.
    “ Having trouble?” I asked, staring down at his pitiful trembling.
    His face was mostly human now, though his ears were those of his wolf.
    “ I…won’t let you live.” He clawed across the grass towards me, wheezing his words at me.
    That’s when the fury died within me as suddenly as it rose. He was as pathetic as he was defeated. I regarded him as I did any injured insect nearing death, and wanting to just end his misery.
    “ You should have stayed wherever you came from,” I said, dropping to one knee but staying my distance.
    “ He’ll still…finish you...” It must have taken enormous effort to speak the words. He spit out a mouthful of blood.
    I bowed my head towards him. “What? Who?”
    Frat boy laughed until he coughed and struggled for air.
    With a low exhale he spoke his final words, a breathless whisper and promise. “You’ll see.”
    He was gone. The black wolf, Dash’s murderer, was dead. Now, he was nothing more than a husk of a twisted dream, staring endlessly into emptiness.
    “ Rot in hell.” I left him with that wish and made my way across the red stained grass towards the rest of the fighting.
    One of the rogue wolves sniffed at the air, his nose twitching in my direction.
    “ Yeah, your Alpha is dead,” I said, holding my bloodstained hand up.
    All around me the fighting stopped and I could make sense of it now. A cinnamon wolf, with one paw clenched to its chest, stood over a brown wolf. Carson. A chocolate wolf with a crème undercoat, Grady, lowered his lips back over fangs. Marco, a black and tan wolf of incredible speed, spit out what looked like a chunk of bloody meat.
    “ It’s over,” I spoke slowly and let the words hit each of them. “You lost. If the rest of you want to live than get out of Amber Pines and never return. Stay, and I will mount your heads on my wall.”
    Nobody moved for a moment and the remaining rogue wolves eyed their Alpha’s still body. They looked frantically between one another and then at once, fled through the trees. I stood for a moment with nothing but the sound of my breath. It was over.
    On autopilot, my legs spun me around and led me to the now human body. Dash was covered in gashes and a coat of blood blanketed most of his torso. I cupped his head with one hand and pulled him into my lap. I was shaking uncontrollably as I wiped the blood from his face. His long eyelashes rested over peaceful cheekbones, his lips parted slightly. He looked the same as he did every morning I woke up next to him.
    “ I’m so sorry.” The words bubbled through my quivering jaw. “I’m so sorry.”
    How could I lose him after all this time? It didn’t matter that he was with other people. I realized that now. I just wanted him back. I wanted him to wake up and tell me I was stupid for being captured. To scold me for not leaving with Jacey. I would give anything to feel his arms around me again. That’s all I wanted. California and hunting meant nothing. Dash was what I wanted. He was the only thing I wanted.
    Bodies were around me now, filling the air with warmth and the thick scent of sorrow. Hands rubbed my shoulders and pulled me into an embrace. Marco held me and I fell against him.
    Grady leaned closer to Dash, head cocked to one side. “His heartbeat is faint. He’s still alive.”
    “ What?” I