Hunter's Moon

Hunting

Lincoln prowled the woods, needing to find the Lycan who had invaded his territory. His father had trusted him to keep these lands safe and predator free. That wolf was definitely a predator.

And he was hunting something too important to Lincoln.

He bent down to touch a broken twig, sniffing it to see if the wolf had snapped it. It ended up being just a deer. Lincoln could smell the wolf around the area and scanned the forest all around him.

Come out, come out wherever you are. No Lycan comes on my territory and then threatens that which belongs to me without getting away with it.

A tree snapped and he rushed toward it. A fox whirled on him, baring his teeth. Lincoln froze, keeping eye contact with the animal. He pulled up his lip in a snarl and the fox ducked his head in submission, tucking his tail between his legs and rushing off into the woods again.

That was a nice thing about being some freak that turned into a wolf every once in a while—all the animals submitted to him like he was the king of animals. Which, he guessed, he kind of was. He was half human and half wolf. The human half terrified the smaller animals while the wolf part made them realize he was an animal. It confused them, forcing them into submission out of fear. If they didn't submit, they attacked. That only happened with the larger animals such as the wolves and coyotes. It was pack rank thing and they saw Lincoln as a potential threat.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he shuffled along until he came to an area that reeked of urine. Pissed by the Lycan marking his territory, Lincoln marked it as his own again.

Let's see how you like that, pup.

When he heard the scream, he sprinted back toward civilization, cursing himself for getting so far away.

Even though it was his first time hearing her scream, he still knew he would've been able to tell it was her. No one else could calm the beast like she did. Now that she was in trouble, the beast thrashed against its cage, but Lincoln knew better than to let it out. He wasn't going to scare her off before she had even known him a day.

Arriving at her house, he followed the Lycan's scent up the stairs and through the house. Lincoln heard struggling downstairs and leaped down them, barely missing catching his heel on the bottom step.

The Lycan held Elizabeth up on the wall by her throat. Her face had turned red, her eyes bugging and wide with horror. A snarl ripped out of Lincoln's throat as he sprang toward the pup. He dropped Elizabeth and turned to face Lincoln.

Lincoln grabbed him by the hair and wrenched his head to the side with just enough force to knock him unconscious but not enough to break his neck. The limp body fell to the floor as another scream broke out.

Elizabeth's friend cowered in a corner, covering her head with her arms, shaking from the terror. Why hadn't she done anything to help Elizabeth? Lincoln felt a new rage surge, angry with her friend for not trying to fight back. He stormed up to her and froze right before he grabbed her. A single word rocked him to his very core.

"Linc..."

He whirled around and went to Elizabeth, picking her up so she was leaning on his lap. "Shh, Liza. It's all right. I'm right here." He pushed her hair away from her face and calmly consoled her, happy she was okay—for the most part. Her neck was red with the Lycan's finger marks and her face was still returning to its normal color, but she seemed fine. She would just have one killer sore throat in the morning, if not already.

"I knew...you would...come," she rasped. "I hoped..."

"Don't worry," he shushed her. "I'll always be here to protect you."

"What took you so long?" her friend demanded, now standing over them.

Lincoln bit back a snarl. "Pardon me for not running faster when I was a good mile away."

"How'd you hear us then?"

"I'm sure the entire neighborhood heard you."

She folded her arms over her middle and looked at the Lycan's body, shuddering. Goose bumps lined her arms. "Who...," she started. She swallowed. "Who is he? And why did he want Elizabeth?"

Lincoln had been asking himself that same question. He met her friend's eyes and said, "I don't know."

She nodded as another shudder ran through her. "What do we do with him?"

"You," he replied as he lay Elizabeth's down on the floor, "don't do anything with him." He walked over to the Lycan and heaved him over his shoulder. "That's my job."

"What are you gonna do?"

Lincoln knew he had to lie. He couldn't go telling humans he was going to lock this jerk up in a cage and torture him with prodding sticks to get him to talk. "My dad knows what to do with people like this. I'll handle it. And make sure you tell Elizabeth she had better get better locks."

"How do you unlock a slider door anyway?" her friend mumbled. "Wait! Shouldn't we call the police?"

Lincoln stopped halfway up the stairs. "You mean you haven't already?" he asked. She opened her mouth but he cut her off. "Never mind. No. Don't call the police. And don't tell Elizabeth's mom either, even if she notices. Say she's wearing makeup. Or, better yet, put makeup over the bruises. And have her drink cold water and eat anything cold, like ice cream."

The friend stared at him. "Boy, you sure know a lot about this stuff."

He adjusted the Lycan's weight on his shoulder and mumbled, "Yeah. Well,whatever. See you later." He hated leaving Elizabeth like that but he reallyhad to lock up this pup before he came to. He just hoped Liza's friendunderstood enough of what he had said to be able to relay it back to her whenshe woke up.