Instincts - c.h.

Chapter 13

I closed my eyes in fear, blindly trying to recover my ring from the shallow water. Brody tossed the flask aside and pulled out his knife again, the blade reflecting against the moonlight. The wolf ran out of the shadows and lunged at me. Brody jumped in front of me, knife aimed at the beast. He got so close that I fell back into the water, splashing the back of his pants. I screamed again when the wolf’s teeth came extremely close to my neck. He had pushed Brody to the side somehow.

“Selena!”

            Backing more into the water, I felt helpless without my ring or even a decent weapon. The wolf was tackled by Brody, knife in hand, with the intent to kill in his eyes. I watched powerlessly as my brother wrestled and fought off the wolf, grunts and dirt flying up caused by both of them. I didn’t understand. My mind was racing with the intent to help, but my body didn’t move, like it had been frozen in place.

            I watched as Brody was pinned by the wolf, holding him back by the neck as the sharp teeth tried to snap at his neck. I felt like he was calling me, but I was simply so overcome with fear that I couldn’t will myself to move.

“Selena!” he called.

            From the shadows bounded four more wolves, all as big and as powerful as the wild one trying to kill my brother. I instantly knew it was Calum and the boys by the way the black one looked at me, with eyes so familiar. Two of them, a golden brown one and a grey one pushed the wolf off of Brody, causing a yelp to escape the wild one’s throat.

“Took you long enough” Brody grunted to the two of them.

They just growled in response.

            The way their energies glowed told me it was Ashton and Luke. Michael, who had a reddish brown coat had jumped on the rogue wolf, both of them rolling to the side in an attempt to get leverage.

“Get him in the water!” Brody yelled.

            The four of them seemed to work together through instincts, forming a circle around the rogue wolf who realized he was outnumbered greatly at this point. I felt Brody grab my arm and yank me up, instantly pulling me behind him. We watched as the boys snapped and growled threateningly at the murderous wolf. He didn’t go down without a fight though, clawing at Luke and biting Ashton pretty hard.

            Everything seemed to move in a blur in those next moments. A sharp cry echoed across the lake, a painful howl piercing my ears. Luke was now lying on the ground, blood staining his fur, breathing heavily through his nostrils. This seemed to drive something out of the Alpha because suddenly Calum pounced on the enemy wolf, jaw stretched wide open, clamping down on its throat. I gasped at the graphicness of the scene, the sound of bones cracking and a loud whine, followed by the gurgling of blood. The sight of such a savage act made my stomach churn. The other two went to check on Luke while Calum literally ripped the other wolf’s throat out, blood dripping from his muzzle.

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            The scene in front of me looked like something out of a horror movie. The dead wolf’s body lay limp at the edge of the lake, his blood starting to spill into the clear water. The four boys remained in their wolf form, seeming to speak to each other in the way only a wolf pack can. Brody remained in front of me, his hand tight on my wrist as I just watched in utter shock.

            Luke managed to shift back into his human form, bare and shaking on the ground. The other three disappeared into the forest, only to reappear in human form wearing sweatpants and shorts. Ashton and Michael lifted Luke off the ground, steadying him in their grasps. I saw that he had four deep gashes across his chest that were still bleeding. He groaned loudly in pain as they started to move back through the trees.

            Calum remained behind, staring at the dead body of the wolf. The thing about werewolves is that if they die a wolf, they remain in that form. His dark eyes suddenly turned on us as he began moving closer. Brody tensed slightly. After witnessing what we just did, I didn’t blame him.

“Luke’s injured pretty badly, Ashton and Mike took him back home” he explained.

“I…can take care of the body” Brody nodded, retracting his knife and releasing his grip on me.

He cast a long look back at me before walking over to the dead wolf.

            Calum’s eyes fell on me. His chest and neck had specks of dried blood as well as his left hand. There were even splotches around his mouth and in his hair. He reached out towards me and without thinking I stepped back. The simple movement caused his aura to change to the darkest grey I had ever seen, the color of sadness. I saw how much it hurt him for me to move away.

            His eyes fell to the ground, focusing in on something. I couldn’t will myself to move. He bent down, his fingers dipping into the water of the lake. When he stood back up again, he had something in his palm – my ring. Silently offering it to me, he watched intensely as I reached out a shaking hand. The cool band fell into my palm. Calum’s energy made me want to cry because of how intense it was. I never thought he was actually capable of ripping out someone’s throat, even if it were an enemy. The true power of his wolf form never struck me as dangerous because of all the time I’d seen him as Calum the boy next door with the warm eyes.

“I…” he began softly.

I slid my ring back on my finger.

“I’m sorry…you had to see that…you have to understand-” he started, stepping forward abruptly.

Again I stepped back without thinking. My chest ached at the sight of how much pain I was causing him without meaning to. Part of me wanted to cry out and hug him, telling him everything would be okay and that all I wanted was him, but another part held me back with fear and anxiety, wanting nothing more than to curl up with myself and just process the entire night.

“…you have to understand I would never hurt you.”

All I could do was nod, my breath shaky and uneven.

He sighed heavily, glancing back at Brody who was currently busy with the body. With one last longing look, Calum turned around and began to jog into the forest, not looking back, but still holding the energy of a defeated and broken man.