Imprint

9 - Prey

Torryn

Clouds of smoke and ash rose from the woods near south wall of Everett's territory.

This pack had been known for its marksmanship pioneering new means of enforcing security against the growing threat of the rogues. For years, the steel walls stood in a tower emerging from the woodland near the great mountain, Talumn. The side of the mountain roofed mines of overflowing minerals that fed the red blazing molds. Wolves from the renowned pack tilled its rocky depths for raw metal ores as the fortress of burning coals housed pits of fire melting slabs of iron forming weapons and armor.

The dark tower stood with scarlet burning windows for eyes against the darkness of the night. It came alive leaving soot and flickering embers from the peak of its tower. This was not an unfamiliar site for Torryn as he spent his days guarding the tower when he was still training to be alpha.

What made the fur stand on his spine, however, was the remnants of the fire Rogue wolves left. Adjacent to the entrance of the mines, the charred tree trunks fell on the rails towards the foot of the mountain. Lifeless bodies stacked in mine carts emerged from the cavity below. The smoke has trapped a great number of wolves beneath the surface suffocating the life of each on.

As the bodies, fell to a hole on the ground, Torryn felt his wolf growl, the nail on his paws firmly planted on the dry soil. His chest drummed a fast rhythm as heat shot his eyes a blood red as the hazel drowned in webs of distended veins. He felt the pulse on his neck throb through is ears until he the only sound he could hear was the steps of the Rogue wolf yards behind them.

The man was perched behind a bush of thorn berries and Torryn did not need to see him to smell the gasoline dripping from rebel's fingers. The rogue could not go far as Torryn and his men picked up the scent of reeking gasoline acres from Burnwood territory where it lay close proximity to the outskirts of Everett.

Torryn felt the rogue's heart as it pounded against flesh and bones. Being in wolf form had this effect on him. He could not help but let the juices from his mouth drip as the sides of his jaw opened to the smell of a cowering prey. He slowly inched back and faced the trembling rogue. His head lowered until his ears where below his back, bringing his body down near the ground as he stepped towards his prey.

The rogue froze at the site of Torryn, his human form a stiff statue in the darkness. The man took one step back and tripped on an uprooted trunk. Before the man could shift to wolf form, Torryn already had dug his teeth into his chest where his heart lay beating. The pulsating muscle immersed in blood slowly decreased its pace, until the heart ceased to beat.

Torryn, now drowning in the scent of blood and flesh, felt the beating heart of the others. There are five of them. As his throat echoed a low growl, his hind leg began to tread towards where he sensed them. He gritted his teeth as wisps of vapor came out his mouth. He will devour them, he thought, until none of them remain.

***

Snow

Though she was bundled in a wool knit blanket, the cold morning air nipped Snow's cheeks red as the bulb of her nose flushed against the freezing wind. The woods, a hidden solitude, she had these past few days served her senses good. Walking through the trunks of pine, her hand brushed against the woody surface stripped of bark as the sapwood dampened her fingers. The bucks were marking. It was too early. She rubbed the moist hand against the fabric of her dress as the crackle of wood and leaves beneath her boots echoes through the silence.

A soft chirp of the blue jays replied to the ruffling of her movements against the forest bed. The snow has faded and what remained where sprouting branches and frost-less nests ready for the break of spring.