Werewolf Compilations novel Chapter 75

The midnight air steals away the heat from my face, sharp against my cheeks as I feel the tip of my nose growing numb. I should have grabbed a coat, but I don't expect to be out here for long. It's just a simple question. Has there been an influx of rogues? Could you tell me?

I join the trees and once I get close, I call out to warn them of my presence. "Excuse me? Is anyone over here?" I walk farther and watch my feet, making sure I don't fall. "Hello? Are there any guards?"

Then I hear the wonderful, familiar calling, "You're too close to the borders. Go back."

I follow the voice blindly. "Actually, I'm looking for a guard to help me. I've been wondering about the rogues in the area lately and—"

A man suddenly appears. "I'm sorry, but you have to go back. The borders are not safe."

"Not safe? Because of the rogues? Or just because you want me to leave?"

His eyes look off into the distance, into the deep forest as if he is watching for someone. "Go back. Now. This is an order."

I nod. "Okay. I'm going."

This was rushed, I feel it. I can't just panic for a moment and come running to the borders like I have everything all figured out. It's the kiss—I can't stop thinking about it, about the way it felt, about how he grabbed me and made me feel so good in just a flash. He's dangerous. A man who hurts me then pleases me so easily is dangerous.

A guard calling in the distance makes me glance back over my shoulder, but I cannot decipher what he said. I completely turn around and contemplate going back, but a sudden, deep growling sound from behind me causes my entire being to stop.

My eyes stare down at a protruding tree root as I attempt to grasp what could be behind me. Then there's another throaty, beast-like noise and my body squeezes into itself. I feel the need to scream, but my throat swells closed. Like a rabbit hunted by a wolf, I slowly turn back around, hardly feeling the beating of my heart anymore. I see a dark thing. I smell blood, the iron stench that everyone knows. My eyes focus as the dark thing becomes a large wolf standing only meters in front of me. Immediately, my mind goes to the frightening void that is death.

The beast lurks forward and with each step it takes, I stumble back. My eyes switch rapidly from the wolf to the body-like thing behind him to the dimming trees, begging internally that someone appears.

The wolf is too large. It's too strong. Shifted or not, it will kill me. I have never planned on fighting for my life, and now I wish that I would have at least thought of what I would do in such a scenario from time to time. "Please," I whisper, "don't." Adrenaline pulsates through me and I think about running.

Before I can make a decision, a brown thing pounces at the dark thing, and I hurry back as they blend together, tumbling and snapping. I begin to run towards the house until my eye catches another dark coated thing lingering in the brush. Running in a different direction, feeling surrounded, I stumble upon a dead thing and feel my stomach bubbling up. Without time to process that there is a dead wolf lying at my feet, another nearby growling jumps at me.