Devious Claws

Chapter Twenty-two

Training was going slow the following day. The women and children joined us in the meadow, which brought the mood up a bit, and I saw the pups jump up on their fathers and brothers, interrupting strikes to fake wrestle on the ground.

I had to admit, it felt nice seeing the happy faces. Especially as I hadn't seen much of Eros since last night's talk. His face still played in my memory, and I couldn't help but feel as if I'd made a mistake.

"Focus, female," Gore barked at me for the fiftieth time this morning, following with a brutal punch to the gut.

The breath escaped my lungs and as he drew back I promptly folded in half. Eros' blood had helped heal me a bit but it did absolutely nothing when going against Gore's hits. I wondered briefly how Luke must feel, but didn't really have to as he was very vocal about his pain.

"Don't you want to take it easier on us with the kids watching and all?" I grumbled.

Luke made a noise in my support from his spot on the ground, a puppy pulling at the bottom of his jeans with squeaky snarls. It seemed just as ferocious as Gore.

"Oh, get up!" Gore motioned to Luke. "You should be healed by now."

Luke looked a bit panicked but I quickly stepped in, raising a hand. "Hey, I don't get how I'm supposed to pull back so fast. Could you show me?"

Gore began explaining his methods but I quickly lost focus, realizing something was moving in the brush a bit away. It was right above a small puppy playing by the tree line, something big rustling the trees. I at first thought it was one of the pack members but as I squinted, looking closer, I saw the animal had a quite nefarious look. It had begun emerging from the shadowed treeline, teeth bared - it had singled in on the oblivious puppy playing with a leaf.

"Did I not tell you to listen, female?" Gore snarled.

"Yes, but--"

"You disrespectful little wolf, I should show you how to act."

"Gore, look, there's something--"

"Enough!"

The punch came as expected but my eyes were still on the horrific scene unfolding behind him. It felt as if though everything but the feral wolf was moving in slow motion. Gore's massive fist came at my face but I realized I couldn't waste any time taking the hit, recovering and then trying to alert him to the danger.

The wolf had now opened its large mouth, ready to pounce at the puppy.

With impossible timing, I jumped back and avoided Gore's fist. He stepped in front of me but I felt panic setting in and before I could think to stop myself, I delivered a hard kick to his crotch.

He fell to the side.

I took off running.

"Hey!" I screamed, darting for the treeline. "Hey, get out of there!"

The puppy jumped to action when seeing me come running. It finally saw the predator behind it and shot off with incredible speed and a small cry. Halfway to me, it transformed into a small human girl and continued to the protection of the pack.

But it wasn't enough.

The strange wolf wasn't happy. It had stepped out of the trees and was now zeroing in on me instead, being the only barrier between it and all the pups running inside, being herded by their mothers and fathers. It was foaming at the mouth, its ribs sticking out of sickly, dead fur. It didn't look well - but more than capable to hurt me.

"Fuck you," I called out, the adrenaline and anger at almost seeing a kid get killed clouding my judgement. I could visualise the blood, the cries, the grief. "Fuck you!"