Finding the Wolf Within

Chapter 17

Another chapter for you. As always, thanks for reading!

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Crap. I should have gotten Eddie to teach me how to fight. I had a slight advantage, since I could hear what Amber and her two friends, Jamie and Lana, were thinking now that we were all finally in wolf form, but still. I didn’t know the first thing about actually fighting as a human, let alone as a wolf. And it’s not like I could just go on the defensive, since it was three against one. I would have to use my mouth and teeth, maybe even hurt them.

I hated violence. I wasn’t a violent person, ever. I didn’t even know Jamie and Lana, so how could I possibly attack them? This was all so unnecessary. I had tried to reason with them while we were still humans, but Amber was spiteful and her friends just took their cues from her. I don’t know what Amber’s problem was. I had told her when she first grabbed me that Eddie and I were mates and she just scoffed at the idea. It was almost like she was possessed, deranged even, she was so possessive about Eddie.

I stared at Amber, watching her every move while trying to keep an eye out for her two friends, who were circling around on either side of me. Maybe they were just trying to intimidate me. It didn’t have to come down to an actual fight, right? But then I felt the slight ache on the left side of my face, where Amber had punched me. Shit. This was so not good.

Eddie. I wonder if he would be able to find me. I’m not normally a helpless girl who needs a guy to rescue her, but this situation was a bit beyond my capabilities. Hopefully he would know that something was wrong when I didn’t show up to gym. Lindy would tell him that I got called away. Then he could track my scent.

Oh right – Lindy! Why didn’t I think of her before? I reached out to her in my mind, hoping that she could hear me even though I was pretty deep in the woods. We had never thought to test how far our extra hearing worked. Stupid, stupid.

“Oh my god. Ceci!?! Where are you?! Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I should have known something was up. Eddie’s already gone looking for you. Tell me where you are. I can grab Matt and Ryan and we’ll come get you.”

Lindy’s mental voice was frantic. She couldn’t even effectively communicate with me because she was so worried. I could hear every thought running through her head, when normally she would have been to control what she sent to me. And right now, I wish she were blocking those thoughts because she was going through all of the worst case scenarios she could think of – me injured and unconscious, me in a hospital bed, me lying in a coffin. I shuddered at the thought. Thanks, Lindy.

“Lind, calm down.” I myself was feeling anything but calm, but I needed her to be able to concentrate.

“I don’t know where I am exactly, so you’re going to have to follow my scent, okay? We entered the woods on the other side of the tennis courts and walked for about ten minutes. I won’t be able to keep my mental connection with you because I need to focus on Amber.”

Crap. I dodged to my right, but felt a slight burn down my left side. Lana had lunged at me. I had been able to hear her planning the move, but I had moved too slowly. I knew there was no way I could connect with Lindy again. It was hard enough trying to untangle the separate thoughts of the three wolves here with me.

This time Jamie attacked, but I was able to duck out of the way. I had been right earlier – I couldn’t just go on the defensive. I needed to strike back.

They were taking their time with me, and they were smug. They didn’t think I could or would fight, and even if I did, they were confident that they would be able to overpower me. I would just have to outsmart them then.