Accused (Hunted book 2)

Chapter 9

A/N: 

Warning: Twilight spoilers ahead. IDK if anyone minds, but Charlie watches it in this chapter.

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I ran until I couldn't run anymore. I wanted to get away from Derek; he was a murderer. I lay down on the grass by the edge of the carpark, breathing hard. I still had a while before the moon rose but I didn't get up; I lay there until it got dark. The moon rose slowly and I stayed there in wolf form for another hour at least.

Eventually, I got bored and went back into the forest. I had hoped that some of the hunters would start taking time off since my friends didn't hate me anymore, but I had no such luck. They knew there were new werewolves and now were apparently working on a bane bomb, so I wasn't catching a break this moon.

The clouds slowly covered the moon and the forest darkened. There was a far-off howl and shouting and footsteps. The hunters had found Derek. There were gunshots and screams and walkie-talkie static, then silence. Just when I had convinced myself that everyone was okay, a bomb went off. There was a loud explosion and a flash of light. A greenish haze spread across the forest.

I couldn't breath, or at least I didn't want to. The air was thick and bitter and it made my tongue go numb. I ran in a circle, trying to get away from the bane gas, but I couldn't see straight and the world was spinning. I stumbled and fell. Before I could get up, the world faded to black.

~

I woke up on my side. My vision was still clouded with the green haze. I tried to stand, but couldn't. Chains lashed my body to the ground.

"Over here! It's awake!"

I heard footsteps but could not see the approaching hunters. I struggled, but couldn't escape. The wolfsbane gas burned my eyes and my lungs. Everything hurt.

A foot struck me from behind and I whimpered. "Not so big and bad now!"

"Did we get one?" called a familiar voice. I would've been happy if it was anyone else. Ryan stood over me, looking down. "Why hello, wolfie."

I growled and he kicked me in the snout. "I need a muzzle over here!" he called.

Someone passed him a muzzle over me and he crouched to put it on. I moved as much as possible to slow him down, but it didn't do much good. I whined and Ryan smirked.

"If you didn't want to get muzzled, you should have been a good doggy." He shook his finger at me admonishingly. He patted me roughly on the side. "Somebody should have trained you better."

I growled. Wait, no I didn't. I craned my neck to look past Ryan. Derek stood directly behind him. Ryan turned slowly and backed away from Derek, promptly tripping over me.

"Get back!" he shouted. "Hey! Wolf! Wolf!"

The hunters around us turned their weapons on Derek, but he didn't back down. Kyle appeared at his should and Mason flanked his other side. Soon the whole pack had emerged from the trees. Ryan pulled himself to his feet.

He picked up something resembling a grenade launcher and pointed it at them. "Don't move."

Derek growled and leapt on him. Ryan cried out as he fell backwards but his cry was cut short when he hit the ground. Flora approached me and pawed at my muzzle. Kyle, Mason and Jared worked at the chains while the others held off the approaching hunters. The muzzle came free, quickly followed by the chains. I stood shakily.

The wolves backed off as soon as I was up. They shrank back into the trees. Flora nudged me towards the others and I followed.

Ryan was unconscious on the ground. He was lucky to be alive.