The Best Cliché Yet

Chapter 9

I stalked closer to the smell. I was right, it was a rogue. There were two, from what I could smell, and they were not alone. I could here whimpering from two separate bodies. 

When I finally got to the sound, I saw two rusty, black wolves cornering a woman and two children in front of a wide oak tree. That explained the whimpering. One of the wolves had a distinct black muzzle, different from his coat on the rest of his body, while the other was all rust.

I got lower, noticing I haven't been spotted yet, and wondered why they had to make it so hard for me. What were these people even doing in the middle of a forest? The wolves growled, teeth bared, saliva forming at the corners of their mouths, while taking hesitant steps toward the woman, the kids protectively behind her back. 

As I was about to take a step toward them, the woman did something that surprised both me and the rogues. As the black muzzle rogue took a more daring step toward the trio, the woman let out a deep warning growl. The wolves were stunned for a second, taking a hesitant step back, but growled back at her with more force. Then the air changed.

I groaned as my worry grew for the woman. It was a lot harder to fight off rogues when they lusted after their prey. It explains why male werewolves fought so much more to protect their mates. But the woman further surprised me, because she didn't look scared. I would commend her on her confidence if two male, rogue wolves weren't in front of her, ready to kill - or at least hump her to death. A normal she-wolf couldn't handle two, full grown wolves, especially when she had two children to worry about as well.

I stalked closer to them, keeping quiet while simultaneously avoiding twigs. My sister told me that when I did this, I looked like a border collie stalking a heard of sheep.

The woman looked expectant, looking behind the wolves that were in front of her. I was at their side, so she wasn't looking for me, right? I knew for a fact she couldn't smell me. 

The whimpering little girl behind - I'm assuming - her mother's legs looked right up at me. I'm not saying she thought she heard something and looked in my direction, she looked right at me. Soon followed by the little boy's fearful gaze, who I'm assuming was her brother. 'Were' kids had a natural sense of awareness much like lycans, so I wasn't surprised. The little girls face grew more panicked and she held on tighter to her brother, not taking her eyes off me.

I didn't know if it would work but I made a small gesture with my head for them to move towards me. Very timidly, the little girl, still whimpering, pulled on her mothers legs in my direction. The woman didn't take her eyes off the wolves or whatever was behind them, but took little steps as well. I quickly thought of what I was going to do when they got closer to me but my thoughts were switched to the new smells that were coming from around me. 

More werewolves.

With that thought, I figured I might as well get rid of these two before anymore came jumping out at me, and I stepped out where I could be seen. The woman noticed me before the rogues and her confident smirk turned into panic identical to the little girls'.

I could tell what she was thinking. Maybe she thought that she could handle these two rogues, but me, being bigger than the two males, was an impossible challenge. I wasn't there to hurt her.

I focused on the dirty-looking werewolves and growled a warning. I laughed at myself, knowing it was an empty warning; I couldn't let them leave alive. They could easily find another target - one more out in the open and harder for me to keep secret. But it got their attention. They turned towards me now, the black muzzle taking a hesitant step back. I smirked at that, and turned toward the little girl. I don't know if she could hear my thoughts, but she took her brothers hand and ran behind me.