Page 81 of Dark Cravings

Before I could say anything, I felt a familiar sense of electricity crackling through the air. I wasn't even sure why it was familiar, or where I had felt it before. It was just the kind of unmistakable sense I had learned not to ignore.

"What is it?" Arrow asked, stopping to look down at me.

I hesitated, because I wasn't sure how to answer that question. Before I had the chance, I heard it—a low, rumbling growl. The sound, too, made every hair on my body stand on end, and I felt a strange thrill run down my spine. It was terror, yes, but something else as well. Excitement?

No, that didn't explain it, either. It was just familiar in a terrible way, like déjà vu from a nightmare I would rather forget entirely.

For some reason, I actually took a step forward when every bit of my common sense was screaming for me to run. The part of me that was telling me to walk forward was just louder.

"Hey!" Arrow scolded, grabbing me by the arm and snatching me back behind him like I was a stubborn child.

An alpha wolf stepped out of the woods ahead of us, and one look in its terrible golden eyes was all it took for me to realize where I knew this feeling from. It was a scent. I could now recognize it for what it was, even though it had seemed too all-encompassing to be limited to a single sense. I could feel it, taste it, and hear it, like a song humming through the forest, playing just for me.

Calling to me.

Father Marius’s training sessions came back to me, and that was the only reason I could recognize the psychic manipulation for what it was. It was different from his, though. Stronger, yet subtler at the same time.

Seeing it for what it was made it a little easier to resist, but not much.

"That's him," I said through my teeth, hatred warring with a strange new traitorous impulse. "That's the wolf that turned me."

Arrow's eyes widened as he kept them fixed on the beast ahead of us. "Seriously?" The second he came to the realization, the first hint of fear I’d ever seen on his face set in. "Go," he growled as the beast approached, slowly creeping toward us through the trees.

It was even bigger than I remembered, and until that moment, I had assumed it was just my human memory playing tricks on me. That was far from the case.

"I said go!" Arrow hissed, brandishing the twin blades at his sides as he made a run for the beast and shoved me back at the same time.

My back hit the nearest tree, but it was enough to break me out of the trance, at least momentarily.

I wasn't sure why Arrow was telling me to run until I remembered something Castor had said, about the sire bond. The hunters all already thought I was going to turn on them in a sudden burst of loyalty to my own kind, and that was without our prey being my sire.

Until this very moment, I had thought their fears were completely unfounded. I hated this beast more than any other, except possibly myself. I hated him, and yet, there was something that drew me to him all the same. Some deep, unyielding instinct all my disdain could do nothing to displace.

For a moment, all I could do was watch as Arrow charged the werewolf, drawing both blades across its chest in the shape of an X. Blood sprayed the air, and the familiar scent filled me with panic and rage. Maybe he was right to be concerned, after all. As much as I hated to admit it, I was frozen not out of fear or trepidation, but rather because I didn't trust myself to attack the correct person.

When the beast snarled and swiped out at Arrow with its claws, sending him flying into the nearest tree, I shook myself out of it.

This was Arrow. My personal feelings aside, he was a hunter, and I had sworn an oath to the Church and to him as my brother in arms.

I shifted instantly this time, and I was so intent on my mission that the pain of the shift barely registered.

Arrow had already recovered, and when he caught sight of me, his eyes narrowed in rage that I had disobeyed an order, but I turned to the alpha and went for its throat. Another snarl escaped me as the beast struck out with its giant clawed hand and batted me aside as easily as if I were a fly buzzing around. To the alpha, I might as well have been.

Arrow caught me out of the air before I could collide with the nearest tree, his eyes wild with fury. "I thought I told you to stay away, you dumb mutt," he hissed.

The alpha lunged again before I could respond—not that I could do much more than growl in this form—and I had barely gotten back on my feet before the alpha landed on the spot where I had been a second earlier.

The beast turned around, its sharp eyes locked on me, and Arrow took another swing at him, this one coming an inch away from missing the wolf’s throat as he put himself between us.

I knew the moment my sire recognized me as well from the way those awful eyes sharpened, like they were made of steel covered in gold. I was never sure what my response would be when I finally encountered it again, and I hadn't given any thought to whatitsresponse would be. I just hadn't expected relief. Certainly not longing, which disgusted me enough that I was actually able to overcome the strange, inexplicable fondness that plagued me like some fucked-up disease.

The alpha turned toward me, reaching out its clawed hand, and I just stood there, frozen, too horrified to run and too confused by the strange flurry of emotions and instincts at war within me to attack like I should have.

Arrow came out of nowhere, taking the beast down as he drove both blades into its chest and dragged down until blood sprayed the forest. A pained snarl tore from the monster’s throat, and it moved suddenly, wrapping its hand around Arrow’s throat.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I watched in horror as the wolf slammed Arrow into the earth hard enough to leave a pit in the dirt and grass. His body went limp, and I cried out in desperation as I lunged for him.

My entire body was trembling, a familiar heat burning beneath my skin. Was that really what had drawn the beast to us? The thought was as repulsive as it was a sufficient explanation for what was happening.