Bloodlust

The New Ranger

— VENICE —

A gust of wind rushed up the front of the house to where I stood on the porch. My hair snapped up in all different directions, whipping wildly around me.

I patted it out of my face with an exasperated huff until I could still see again. The wind twirled about me, seeming to linger a moment, before soaring off to the side of the house.

"Run?" Brita asked as she briskly trotted passed me.

I hardly had time to acknowledge her subtle eye roll before she was descending the brick steps.

"You're so funny," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

The smallest hint of a smile touched her mouth while she turned to stretch her legs on the bottom step.

"What?" she said with a mocking tone and elevated brow to match. "Don't want to get your shoes dirty?"

"No, I don't want to get left out in the middle of the woods again."

A shiver coursed down my spine at the most recent memory. She decided I wasn't running fast enough so she just took off, leaving me in the middle of the forest.

I'd wandered around on the verge of tears until Macay found me about an hour later. He discovered a cougar perched in the tree over me, poised to pounce. He determined the big feral cat had likely been stalking me to evaluate me as prey.

Brita was punished to a week of doing my laundry as punishment and I'd sworn off ever running with that bitch again.

Aside from those occasional instances, however, my relationship with Brita had improved. We didn't get a long like besties, but more like reluctant sisters. She had a generally bitter outlook on people, but she had a soft heart behind all her sky-high walls.

"I can't help it that you run like a one-legged kangaroo," she scoffed. The curl at her lips crept higher up her tan cheek.

"You almost let me get eaten by a cougar!" I fired back, setting my face in a scowl.

Brita shrugged. "Starting to wish I hadn't come back to get you."

"Me, too. At least then I'd be away from your hideous ogre face."

She flicked me off and I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Why are you dressed like that anyway?" she asked. "Are you wearing makeup? Where did you even get that?"

"Sandy gave me some extra things she never opened," I said, frowning. "Why? Does it look bad?"

"I mean, no worse than usual . . ."

I mouthed 'asshole' at her and earned a snicker.

Since I had been forbidden from cursing by the big bad Alpha himself, including muttering under my breath, I had taken to mouthing all the bad words I wanted to say. As a human living among ultra-strong werewolves with heightened senses, bad words were a part of my daily vocabulary.

"Well, for your information," I told her, "I'm meeting with the new ranger today. Macay thought it would be least conspicuous, given that I am the only human in this house."