Ice -- Wolv book II

25 - Damaged Goods

A snarling ball of fur slammed into me, bursting from the grass right in front of me. I landed hard on my back, and felt the air get knocked from my lungs. Claws scratched at my arms and stomach, and the wolv leaned in, opening his jaws around my neck--

Nope.

I blinked away my shock and slammed the butt of my rifle down on his head.

"Ow!" he howled, staggering off of me. I could hear other wolves rustling the grass around me, and I knew that my momentary respite would soon be over.

"Get off me!" I screeched, kicking at the grey wolv furiously, beating him back even further. I jumped to my feet and swung the rifle up.

"Stay back!" I snapped, flicking the barrel over to another wolv and snarling. The wolf froze, eyeing my gun. "Stay back," I said again, quietly this time.

My eyes darted from left to right and to the scene in front of me; there were wolves all around me, none of which seemed to know what to do with me. I could hear a few of their muffled whispers.

"I'm telling you, I've seen him before! Don't you remember Mingan's screw-up?" one wolv hissed to another. Oh, I'm sure at least a few of you have seen me before!

I lowered the gun. "Look, I just need to talk--oof!"

The grey wolf I'd brought down leapt at me again, jamming his claws deep into the skin of my chest, cutting clean through my clothes.

"You shouldn't have come back--outsider!" he hissed in my ear, spitting on my face in the process. My eyes widened with recognition.

"...David? Ack!"

David brought a paw down on my neck, choking my words out. The gun slipped from my hand, and I grasped at his paw, trying to fight him off. He looked down at me and laughed.

"What's the matter, outsider? Your hip bothering you?" His eyes flicked down to my waist. "I guess that healed. Pity. I almost would have liked to see you end up like that crippled runt!"

I beat at his paw with my fists, but David didn't budge. He'd been eating much better than I had, and easily weighed nearly two hundred pounds. I, on the other hand, was weak, barely reaching a hundred and ten.

I looked up at him, pleading with him silently. He stared down at me coldly through his right eye; thick, white scar tissue cut across his left eyelid. My eyes traveled down to the paw that he had me buried under--his leg was crisscrossed with scars, and had what looked like an extra joint in it, no doubt caused by a break that had never healed properly.

The surrounding wolves began stepping closer, and David clamped his mouth shut now that they were within earshot.

A yellow-brown she-wolf hobbled up next to him, staring down at me. I blinked weakly at her as my vision began to darken.

"David, this is that Omega, the one that Mingan bit!"

David shook his head at her. "No it isn't. You don't know what you're talking about."

She frowned at him. "But he looks exactly like--"

"Shut up, she-wolf! He's human, can't you see? He's not like us! Open your Omega eyes!!"

I gasped for air, partly out of surprise. Kémé still hasn't told the pack that we can shift back! He and David were still keeping that secret to themselves!

"Maybe he shifted? Look at his ears, he looks like someone just bitten! You looked the same when you changed back!"

Oh. So they did tell everyone.