Shadows Surround Us

Chapter 8

"Who are you?" I ask, trying to keep my voice steady and forceful. The slight catch of my breath gave away my nerves which I cursed.

The guy raised an eyebrow and held his hands to the side. "I could ask you the same thing," he replied coolly, like I wasn't pointing a gun at him. He took a step forward. I steadied my feet and clutched my gun tighter.

"Stay where you are," I exclaimed. His smirk gave away his amusement by the situation.

"If you were going to shoot me, I'd think you'd do it by now," he responded, not stopping his advance until he was at the edge of the stream directly across from me. Pretty bold, I thought to myself, both slightly impressed but also irritated by the smugness. He was right though. If I wasn't going to shoot him, maybe I could get some information from him.

"That's big talk shifter," I said, hoping my inclination that he was the black wolf was correct and not that I just called some human a mythical creature.

His chuckle signaled that my assumption was correct. "What gave it away?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow slightly. Out of the treeline now, the sun shone down full on the boy in front of me. His eyes seemed to gleam.

"Your eyes. They are the same as the black wolf I've seen," I responded matter-of-factly. I'm sure this would be a weird scene for anyone to walk up on. Us two seemingly mortal enemies standing across on opposite banks of a river. One with a gun pointed at them. The other's weapon is hidden from plain view. I would appear to be the aggressor to anyone who didn't know better. But I wasn't going to be caught off guard or killed because of lack of preparedness if something were to go down.

The boy tilted his head ever so slightly, as if studying me. The force of his gaze made me squirm. There was an uncomfortable tension between the two of us. One of caution and untrust. But there was also something else. Intrigue. I doubt either of us had been this close to the other without it being a fight. But here we stood, the wind shifting and water lapping up on the banks. The only sound that signaled time was in fact still moving while we stood here.

"Are you alone?" he asked, breaking me from my thoughts. The static on my radio seemed overly loud in this setting. How do I play this? Telling him that I didn't have any backup nearby would not be the smartest play. But everything I know about shifters is that their sense of smell is powerful and could easily sniff out the fact that there were no other shifters within hundreds of yards from here.

"My team is patrolling the woods as we speak," I manage to say, not directly answering his question but at least letting him know that the woods were not so safe for him either. "Aren't you afraid shifter?" I ask repositioning my gun to sit against the lower part of my shoulder. I know that if it were me standing with a gun pointed at me with no defense, I would be at least unnerved but he seemed anything but.

"The name is Myles," he said, "And no, I'm not afraid." His words held truth. I lowered the barrel of my gun just a little.

"And why not?" I asked, perturbed by his lack of fear. Was he not afraid of hunters in general or just not afraid of me?

"You seem....different than the other hunters," Myles said, shifting his weight to kneel down closer to the water. His hand skimmed the water just as mine had previously. "Most hunters that we've encountered shoot without thinking. There is an untamed rage behind their eyes. Mixed with fear of what they can't or won't understand," he continued, shaking off the remaining water droplets from his fingertips before turning his eyes back to look at me. "But you don't. We've come across each other several times in the past few weeks and you have yet to shoot."

I feel the heat rushing to my cheeks, my face becoming hot against the cool air. This shifter, Myles, had exposed the weakness that I had been fighting against since that first meeting. Why I didn't shoot. That I was different from the rest of those around me. It made me feel small with the rest of the hunters but he didn't say it in a judging way. Or one that would make me feel less than.

Before I can respond, the crackle of my radio breaks the silence. "Kena, come in," Cyrus's voice rang over the radio. I unclipped the radio from my belt loop and brought the radio to my mouth.

"Go ahead," I say quickly, calming my voice. Cyrus knows me very well. Any inclination that something was up and he'd sound the alarm. I wasn't sure I was ready for that to happen. You should, the nagging voice in the back of my head said. It was right. This is exactly why I was suspended for two weeks and why I had to regain trust with my dad and the others. I was not performing my duties. Part of me was angry at myself. I was a disappointment and if my dad ever found out about this, I'd be permanently off patrol. The other part of me wanted to keep talking to Myles. To learn more about this supposed enemy of mine.

"Anything over where you're at?" Cyrus asked. My eyes flitted toward Myles who was standing back over near the treeline, leaning his side against the nearest trunk. I hesitate for just a second before responding.

"No, all clear."

Clipping the radio back on my belt loop, I sling the gun strap over my shoulder. "I may not shoot first and ask questions later, but just know if it comes to it, I would kill your kind," I state, trying to sound more grounded in what I was saying then I felt.

"As I would with the hunters," Myles replied with a smirk. His confidence was somewhat attractive but also highly irritating.

"I'm going to go this way," I say looking in the direction that I had come. "Better get out of here before you run into someone not so nice," I continued, turning my attention back to the shifter only to find the spot he occupied was empty. I swiveled my head in all directions but he was nowhere to be found. I was by myself in the woods once again.