METAMORPHOSIS • DEREK HALE [COMPLETED]

Chapter Ten

It pained her to leave him, but she knew she had to warn Satomi's pack. She was the one they would trust.

She bolted into the woods near the clinic. Her lips still tingled from when his touched hers. As she smiled to herself, elated, she followed Brett's scent at full speed. She found that with her newly discovered powers and strengths, she could run for miles without ever feeling out of breath.

After following his scent further into the woods, Alex realized he came from the east. The early morning sun barely peaked over the eastern horizon, and the rest of the sky on the western front was still painted a dark shade of grey. A few more miles in, his scent became weaker. This must be where he began to mask his scent, she thought. Or he just appeared out of no where like Peter.

Doing what Derek suggested, she changed her eyes, allowing them to glow the strange color. She watched the living become alive before her eyes. She then began to notice the once hidden shapes and tiny heart beats of the small rodents and birds residing in the trees.

These new senses felt unfamiliar to her, but they were not overwhelming. They were unlike the powers she felt on the full moon. Her animal senses felt natural and right. She had control over them.

Alex began to make laps around the woods, going deeper inside with each loop as she looked for any sign of Brett's pack. The distance between her and the town increased, and she reached a point in the forest where she found an accustomed scent: fresh gunpowder.

Worried, she pressed on.

She searched more around the trace of gunpowder, and she came across another scent. One that was chemical and deathly. Fearing the worst, she sprinted to the origins of the scent.

And the worst had happened.

In the clearing of trees, Alex discovered the pack, but instead of meeting, they all lay dying. Dismayed, she crouched down next to the closest member. "What happened," she asked the dark hair man, seeing a bullet wound deep in his chest oozing black blood.

Looking around her, she saw the rest suffering from similar afflictions.

The man stared at her with uncontrolled green eyes and extended claws. Black blood began to drip from the corners of his mouth as he struggled to respond. The only word Alex could understand from his labored breaths was, "Run."

With her nerves running high, she reached for her phone, planning to call Derek. She typed in his number and told the man, "I'm staying with you and calling for help right now."

She moved on to the others around him with the phone pressed to her ear. Each laid on the forest floor either moaning in pain or staying completely still.

"Come on Derek," she muttered and redialed his number after he didn't pick up.

Seeing a woman awake and seemingly lucid, Alex lowered herself to her. "Hey, my name's Alex. I'm going to help you. I just need you to tell me what happened."

Her eyes met Alex's with the same bright amber eyes; her eyes screamed with terror and pain. "He's still here."

"Who is," she asked, her hand moving up to comfortingly touch her shoulder, but she was wary of the entrance wound just below it.

"The Chemist," she breathed. "Look out! He's behind-"

Her words were cut off by the loud firing of a gun.

Alex felt searing pain erupt through the entirety of her lower torso. Looking down, she saw the exit wound of a bullet caused by a point-blank shot. She turned around, her eyes glowing as she began to transform.