The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 34: Kyle

-Kyle’s P.O.V-

I had him under my will, finally sick of playing tug of war with this stupid little inbreed. I could feel his wavering pulse as I locked my jaws around his jugular. Any moment now and I could end his life; make him regret that he had ever challenged me. The animal part of me was ruling strongly at the moment, and my instincts were convincing me to show him the order of the food chain, among werewolves anyway. He cowered in front of me, whining and not making any move to run. He knew that if he did, then he would be signing his death sentence in an instant. He was not completely unintelligent, as it turns out.

I heard a scrabbling of commotion behind me, but shut it out. Seconds later however; I froze in surprise. The human girl that I had been strangely protecting all this time – something deep in my mind had begged me to – had laid a hand on my shoulder. The physical contact alarmed me, the primal side of me was nervous because of the unseen threat, but also confused because it was an entirely new feeling. In my wolf form,  had never been in the presence of a human so close that they could touch my fur until now, it was a general rule for me to stay away from mundanes.

What surprised me was that it wasn’t a bad feeling. Her hand was so small compared to my massive shoulders, but it tickled my fur and created a feeling of reassurance. After a moment of silence, she seemed to grow more confident and the hand gently trailed down my back in the way that you would pat a pet dog. I found myself reflexively calming down, all the rage inside of me seeping out through invisible pores.

The wolf still clamped firmly in my jaws was shivering in fright, but looked unsure of why I had prolonged its demise. I had no idea why the human was choosing physical contact at a time like this, but I released my hold on the wolf’s neck and took a step back. I stood tall and ready for any spur of the moments attacks, a steady growl radiating from my being. The smaller wolf recognized my act of mercy, and bent his head low, revealing his neck to me in submission. It was a way for our kind to let the more dominant wolf know that he meant no harm, and that he was not looking for a fight.

At his actions, I sniffed his neck momentarily, but then let out a victorious bark. He took the moment to slowly slink away, with careful scared movements in case I took back my decision. Once he was out of sight, I turned to the human girl and watched her. I had calmed down tremendously, and the raging animalistic wolf part of me was no longer holding the reins. I had a clear head, and with that I pulled my thoughts back to reality. The human girl’s name was Florence, and she was a recently turned werewolf.

My memories flooded back to me as if someone had opened the floodgate to a dam, and I butted my heavy head into her stomach lightly to let her know that I meant no harm. Both her hands were hesitantly placed on my head, and they ran through the coarse fur there and lightly caressed my ears. It was a good feeling, but I felt time slipping away. We still had a long way to go home, and if we weren’t there by daylight, it would be a tricky situation...

I turned away from her and started to walk in the direction back to the clearing, making sure that she was following. She seemed to stand still for a moment, but then she jogged to catch up and we set a brisk pace towards downtown. Since Florence seemed to have such a problem with going home, she could spend the night at my place if she was really dying to.

The silence between us was thick and heavy, like a winter’s fog, except the temperature remained slightly warm. We ambled by the underbrush of the forest, and various animal tracks crisscrossed our path, but for once I held no desire to chase them down. The trees around us were gradually thinning, until we were fully bathed in the little moonlight that was provided, and we entered the clearing.

The first sight that hit us was the motionless bodies of the previous attackers. I didn’t even bat an eyelid at the sight; I was used to the consequences of living life as a fugitive – at least from the other dominant packs in the area. It was inevitable that I encountered enemies along the way, but Florence however became a little more emotional.