Chapter 90

[ 1,440 words ]

Animals

90: 90.

Animals Liam

The second I wake, I know exactly how bad this is.

I’m naked and tossed underneath an oak tree.

The forest around me is dense.

Thick leaves, high grasses, and foliage that doesn’t grow together naturally let me know I’m dealing with something constructed, something handpicked, manmade.

I can hear the Hunter’s voice in my ear.

They wanted me to know they were planning to run me and Felix down as if we were no better than beasts.

They expected to scare us with those pieces of information before they put us here.

Well, I don’t.

And I doubt Felix will be either.

I glare at the shackles on my wrist, holding my wolf down with their magical barrier.

No.

I’m not afraid of men who need me at my weakest just to stand toe to toe with me.

I shove down my mounting anger and call up the calm that shrouds me during battle.

I push out my senses, which are significantly duller with my wolf restrained.

Still, beggars can’t be choosers.

If I were a sack of shit hunter looking to get my rocks off, taking down debilitated wolves, where would I put them?

I laugh to myself, a mirthless, dry sound.

I’d put them as far apart as I could.

So the other side of this, then.

Taking a moment to solidify a plan, I start to stalk between the trees with soundless steps.

They may have weapons, but my enforcer training and natural abilities will be more than enough.

Once I get to Felix, we can figure out a way to get these damn things off us.

The forest around is eerily quiet.

If the trees didn’t give away the manufactured terrain, then the lack of animals would have.

The crunch of leaves sounds to me left.

I move before the first bullet even reaches me.

Four more follow behind it, and I take cover behind the trunk of a tree.

“I thought you said the cuffs made them weaker,” one hunter says.

“Weaker, not slower, idiot. He just can’t change into an animal when those things are on,” another says.

“Aww,” the first one grumbles like a child, “What’s the fun in that?”

There is movement in the trees, and I take a chance and dart from my hiding spot, trying to put as much distance between us as possible.

“He’s on the move,” someone yells.

A hunter lunges from the left with silver blades aimed for my throat.

I sidestep, catch his wrist, and slam his face into the nearest tree with all the strength I can manage, not breaking my stride.

My wolf snarls viciously inside me.

His voice was like an echo through ice, muted and sluggish.

Another hunter rushes behind me, launching a blade at my back.

I tear the weapon out of the air and twist it back for its owner.

I keep moving, using the natural swiftness and superior speed to sprint through the woods until I see thick steel fencing glinting through a twisted Ivy wall.

A border.

I look around, deciding where to move next, when a small red flashing light captures my attention.

The twisted fucks are recording this.

My wolf pushes against the chemical haze suppressing him.

I have to find Felix.

He’s strong, but if they gang up on him in this state, they could work him over real good.

I let out a breath, trying to control the darkness rioting inside of me.

The serum still burns through my veins, muting the shift beneath my skin.

I can feel my wolf there, furious and clawing at the cage wrapped around him.

I look at the cuffs with disdain.

I have to get these fucking things off.

Later though.

Right now, I have to get to Felix before these hunters catch up to me.

I take off westward.

The scents of the forest brush against my nose.

Dirt, pine, fern, sap, and then…human.Their scents thread through the forest from multiple directions, some fresh, some hours old.

They’re tracking.

Prey pretending they are predators.

I come to a stop, scenting their direction.

A group moving together at a speed too quickly to be searching.

They found him.

I start to run in the direction of the group, sure they will lead me to Felix when branches crack somewhere in the distance.

I immediately flatten to the trunk of a tree and crouch low against the ground.

Holding myself too still for any human to replicate, I blend into the background and wait.

Voices drift through the fog moments later.

“…trail went cold here,” one hunter says.

“Maybe he doubled back,” says another.

“No way. We would have noticed him running in a circle. Jaz said he went straight,” says another.

Three hunters.

All Male.

The hunters pass within twenty feet of my hiding spot.

The oldest one carries silver-tipped arrows.

Another has thermal goggles strapped over his eyes.

The third, and youngest, is white knuckling a handgun like it’s a life raft.

“Thought these things were supposed to be monsters,” the younger hunter mutters.

“So far, all I’ve seen is a piss poor Tarzan cosplay.”

“Don’t get cocky,” the older one snapped.

“The small one already killed three men before they shot him with a tranq.”

Felix.

Relief and indignation flicker briefly through me.

The cuffs weren’t enough.

Now they want to tranquilize us, too.

Fucking cowards.

The young hunter scoffs nervously.

“I still think this whole game is stupid. We should have just killed them.”

The older hunter stops walking.

“You want a bottle of milk to go with your bitching.”

Silence.

“That’s what I thought,” the older male grunts.

The hunters continue deeper into the trees.

I wait another thirty seconds before moving in the opposite direction.

Keeping low and using the terrain to break sight lines, I creep through.

Every sense strains outward searching for Felix’s scent.

A single raindrop hits my shoulder.

Shit.

More drops follow until there is a steady drizzle coming down.

The rain is going to complicate my tracking.

And once the ground is wet enough, I’ll have to account for footprints.

The forest grows denser the farther I travel.

Massive roots twist through the ground like skeletal fingers while thick fog curls between the trees.

The musty odor of sweat and humans has me pulling back a few paces.

He is close.

Far too close for comfort.

I circle wide.

Two hunters sit hidden in elevated brush blinds overlooking a small clearing ahead.

In their hands are two snipers, steady and aiming out ahead.

My senses narrow.

I pick up a rock silently and throw it deep into the trees opposite me.

The distraction works instantly.

Like the fucking idiots they are, they turn toward the sound.

Faster than their eyes can track, I climb the nearest tree, springing off halfway up the trunk.

The older hunter realizes too late.

“What—”

I drop onto the platform behind him and wrench the rifle from his hands.

He’s staggering to his feet when the stock comes crashing down at his throat hard enough to crush cartilage.

The younger hunter scrambles for his sidearm and fires a clumsy shot in desperation.

I hit him before he can fire another.

The gun tumbles out of his hand, and I grip the side of his head, driving it into the platform railing.

His body goes limp.

More gunfire erupts nearby, and I dart for the trees.

The noise must have alerted others.

I grab the older hunter’s knife and disappear into the trees just as voices begin shouting in the distance

“There!” someone shouts.

Movement flashes behind me.

Branches whip across my skin while mud slides beneath my feet, threatening to topple me over, but adrenaline forces me forward anyway.

A bullet tears through bark inches from my head.

Another grazes my shoulder.

Pain flares hot and sharp, but I don’t dare slow my pace.

My eyes scan the area looking for a place to hide.

The animal in me balks at that idea, but reason and logic win out.

“Nowhere to run now,” a hunter yells.

I leap over a ravine and crash through thick brush on the opposite side, forcing the hunters to split paths.

I move deeper using a burst of speed to push more space between us, then duck beneath low branches suddenly, pivot hard around a tree, and wait.

Voices drift upward suddenly.

“Tracks stop here,” the man says quietly.

“He could have gone up,” another says.

“He’s a wolf, not a monkey,” the first sneers.

They leave.

I’m about to move when a scent hits me.

Sweet, feminine, speckled with sunlight.

My wolf jerks upright against that barrier.

I’ve smelled this before.

Those strange and hunting scents that captured me so thoroughly were all coming from a golden lock of hair.

Hazel.

The human we’re trying to save.

That thought is chased away by another realization.

She’s with the hunters.

I move around the tree and grab her from behind, dragging her into the shadows with one hand over her mouth, and an iron grip hold against her throat.

I squeeze, letting her know I could crush her windpipe without any effort.

She goes still.

Smart.

Her scent invades my scent, and the rage in my blood does nothing to block out the shot of lust that floods my groin.

“Liam,” she whispers so softly I know it’s for my ears alone.

“Do exactly as I say if you want to get out of here alive.”

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