He is Ghost

Bloodright

Neira slammed through the front door of her cabin. A sense of urgency gripped her every bone, every fiber. The 'what ifs' knawed at her mind, causing a staccato of questions to bloom and no answers to fall back on.

"Hey, I was just looking for you."

It was Sada. She was standing in the kitchen, her face turned up in a smile. She had been waiting for Neira and was utterly oblivious to the storm that had just crashed through the front door. Neira ignored her and grabbed the shirt off the couch. She pulled it over her head in a rush before slamming the front door back closed.

"Get out," Neira said quietly. She didn't look in Sada's direction as she grabbed the small backpack tucked under the bench by the door. It wasn't hers, and she wasn't going to worry about stealing from Judd right now.

"What-"

"I said get out," Neira snapped, not looking at her.

"N-"

"Now, Sada!" She snarled the words, tears threatening to make chase down her cheeks.

Neira almost didn't hear the door click closed as she pushed things into the bag. A shirt, jerky, water - anything she might need. And then she waited impatiently for Sada to disappear into the trees.

Then she was out the door, clenching the backpack in her teeth as she fell into her auburn fur. She took off down the steps and into the forest. Neira couldn't stay here anymore. She couldn't stay with Judd or Sada or any of them. The farther she got away from here, the faster the mark on her neck would disappear.

Neira jolted left around a tree, heading further away from the center of the territory. Getting out of this place would take a good day or so of straight running.

Her shadow was running beside her, its shape unclear, but it seemed to leap over fallen logs and zig-zag just as she was. It matched her pace, stride for stride. She tried to pay it as little attention as possible, now and then growling when it came too close. She could tell when it growled back...

She ran for four hours at most when it finally disappeared. Maybe it was tied to these trees? Perhaps it was attached to something somehow, and now she was out of its range?

Good riddance.

And then, a hard male body slammed into her side, knocking her off her feet and sending her sprawling.

The backpack fell from her mouth, and she stood, teeth bared to face the grey and copper wolf. Judd snarled back at her, raising his head above hers. His height should be enough to send any female rolling over, but not Neira. She snapped at him, lunging, teeth nearly closing on his front leg. He sidestepped her, bowing his head low with his jaws open wide. Neira twisted, her teeth snapping up towards his face, and he quickly banked out of the way. She advanced, and he took a step back. Then he advanced, and Neira took up the offensive. He went for her scruff. Expecting it, Neira ducked and shifted her weight back as his teeth closed on open air. Her rump hit a tree, and she pressed her legs into its trunk. Neira lunged forward, using the tree as a backboard as she charged for his now exposed throat.

But he saw that coming - saw it from a mile away, and as she dove, he closed his teeth around her neck. Neira felt her body jerk at a horrible angle, and her ribs screamed in protest at the unnatural way her torso collided with the ground. The wind rushed from her lungs. Neira choked on it, and he held her there, body pressed into the dirt. A whimper forced its way out from behind her clenched teeth, a whimper she tried and failed to keep down. Even when it rushed out through her nose a second time, he didn't relent, not until he felt her body go slack.

He pulled away, fresh puncture wounds in her throat bleeding as he shifted. His human form stood tall and naked, glaring down at her. The marks of the heat clung to his skin. Claws and teeth and bruises - all caused by her. All caused by the fucking heat.