Home -- Wolv book 3

Five - The long road ahead

"Nnnnnnffff!"

I jolted awake, clutching my arms to my chest as pain shot through both of them. For a moment, I could feel the teeth in my bones, burning my body from the inside out. I let out a pained cry, and sat up with a start--

Whack!

"Ow! Stupid--ah! Frick!" I pressed a painful hand to my skull, feeling where I'd thrashed it into the ceiling. Ow. That did NOT feel good! I shook my head clear, taking in my surroundings and blinking the sleep from my eyes.

Slowly, I held both of my hands up to my face, still flinching from the pain that flowed through them. Each and every one of my knuckles burned inside, feeling like they'd all been royally mashed with a hammer.

Huh.

I raised a tired eyebrow at my fingernails--they weren't pale and pink like they had been just last night; they'd taken on a darker color, now looking grey and out of place against the rest of my hands.

"Looks like you've got your claws coming in there, huh?"

I jumped in my seat, bonking my head again. Mingan sat on the hood of the truck, just in front of the windshield, looking inside at me.

"Whaaaaat are you doing?" I asked. He let out a huff of air, fogging up a tiny patch of glass on the windshield.

"I was sleeping, until you started makin' all that racket in there. You okay?" He pointed his muzzle down at my hands. "Your palms are looking a little dark, too."

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." No. Not by a long shot.

"Yeah right you are!" Mingan's grey ears perked, and he sat up, speaking to me through the glass with a smile. "You're getting your paws already!!" His tail thumped against the vehicle happily. "Are your nails sharp yet?"

"N-no, I don't think so..." I rubbed my hands together, willing the pain inside to dissipate. It took much longer for things to start changing color the first time around. What's going on? I looked up at the wolv in front of me, who was still grinning dopily. "What are you doing up there, I meant. I thought you were in the back with...Daanis..."

All at once, I remembered eavesdropping on the little argument he and Daanis had had in the middle of the night. I cracked a dry smile--it was kind of funny; I'd heard him storming off into the night, yet clearly at some point, he'd returned to the vehicle, unable or unwilling to spend the night alone.

I looked out of the rear window into the bed of the truck--Daanis was still curled up inside, her golden-brown fur glistening with a thin sheen of dew. I eyed Mingan with faux suspicion, and he looked away. I knew darn well why he'd slept on the hood--he hadn't wanted to be next to Daanis after the words they'd exchanged.

Just like that, I almost wanted to cry. The two of them were so obviously mates...and now, they were pissed at each other, because of me. They'd been fighting about me.

But is that something that Mingan will admit? "What's going on?" I asked casually. "You two okay? What happened?"

Mingan held up a paw and waved me off. "Nothing. She was just snoring, that's all." He leapt down from the hood, and jumped inside cabin through the open door, plopping himself down in the seat next to me. "Are we gonna keep going, or what?"

I stared at him blankly, feeling my heart sink in my chest. He lied to me. Why would he lie to me? Did he not trust me enough to tell me what was going on?

"He's a killer, Mingan!"

Daanis's words echoed through my mind.

"We need to keep our distance!"