The Dark World

Chapter 30: Feed the wolf

Cairn

I laughed when Ezekiel drew his blade and pressed it against my neck. “I swear Cairn, if you do not shut the hell up I will find a way to kill you permanently,” he growled.

“Oh come on Mr hero, I only called pointed out how pretty you are for a man.”

His blade cut into my skin and mystic Zerena pushed the blade aside, “enough, both of you, Ezekiel, do not take Cairn’s words so seriously, besides, he is just as pretty as you are.”

“What? F.uck off, I’m handsome.”

She looked me up and down and rose an eyebrow, “hmm, handsome is very meh, when it comes to you two, you are very beautiful and pretty.” When she saw my face she quickly added, “in a very masculine way,” with a teasing smile she walked away.

Ezekiel sheathed his sword.

“What? No fight now?” I asked sarcastically.

“No need, the look on your face when she called you beautiful is enough to satisfy me,” he laughed.

“Ah yes, you turn into a love sick-puppy whenever she’s around, she so much as clicks her fingers, and you drop your sword,” I sneered.

“Shut up, Cairn, I love Marisoll.”

“Do you? Because I’ve lost count of the number of times I see you staring at mystic Zerena’s big giant t.its.”

He bit his lip to control himself and taking a breath he said, “I do not do that anymore.”

“Yeah you do, you literally did it just now when she came over to us.”

“F.uck you, I know what you are trying to do, and it is not like you do not do the same thing.”

I shrugged, “not as much as you do, but sure I notice her b.reasts, it’s hard not to when she wears those sexy low cut dresses, showing off her milky white t.its, so big and juicy they look like they need a good sucking.”

He punched me in the face and I spat blood on the floor laughing, I knew those words would p.iss him off, he was too much a gentleman.

“Aw, you want to protect her honour?” I teased.

“Not just hers! You foul beast you are with Marisoll now you should not talk so vulgar about another woman!” He went for me again, but I danced out of the way.

“I am what I am, at least I can admit it, besides, I never had feelings for mystic Zerena like you did, or still do?” I smirked.

He grabbed for his sword again, and mystic Zerena came over and stopped him, glaring at the both of us. “Enough!” Turning to me, she scolded, “stop winding him up, what is wrong with you? First Marisoll and now Ezekiel, you want to fight everyone since coming back to life, why?”

I frowned at her like her question was stupid, but when she kept her level stare I rolled my eyes and thought about it, realised there was a reason and I should have sorted it the moment I had arisen. “After death the wolf is always irritable, I need raw meat to calm it.”

“You mean calm you, you are the wolf,” Ezekiel said, as if it were an insult.

“Yeah, I am the wolf, remember that when you are sleeping tonight pretty boy,” I threatened and shoved past him.

He must have tried to punch me again because Marisoll caught his fist in her hand and glared at both of us, or more accurately she was just glaring at me. “Cut it out, Cairn! Go hunt and feed the wolf before Ezekiel decides to hunt you!”

I laughed at the thought of Ezekiel trying to hunt me but swallowed the rest of my laughter at her p.issed off face. “alright, fine, carry on without me, I will find you when I am done.”

“How?” She asked.

I rose an eyebrow and tapped the side of my nose.

“Right, of course,” she replied more bashfully.

I walked off and left them to it, if I stuck around any longer, I would start feeling more violent and aggressive.

I shifted to my wolf form, the pain was always the same as bones broke and reshaped themselves, skin stretched and moved unnaturally, and after I lay panting heavily as the last waves of pain left my body. Standing up I stretched long and slow, it felt so good being in this form, I suppose that made sense if it was our original form before we had evolved into werewolves.

When I was done with the stretching, I went in search of food, it took almost an hour and a half to find a stag, even that was a miracle in itself. It had been turned by the darkness, it was three times its natural size, all black but with a white underbelly, its blazing red eyes looked at me, and it started stomping its hooves aggressively, great, a healthy stag could be dangerous enough for a wolf to hunt, the antlers as well as its hooves, could kill a wolf.

I had to fight it, over time I noticed I had become more aggressive and irritable, more violent, and while I had always been pretty violent and bad-tempered I had always been in control of it, these days I struggled much more to rein it in, the wolf only enjoyed the meats of deer, stags, woodland and forest animals, healthy ones that had not been tainted by the darkness, but they were becoming more and more scarce to the point it was rare to find one.

I feared what would happen if they were to become extinct, what would I become? The uncontrolled beast that people viewed werewolves as? I did not know and I did not want to find out, I did not want to become a man eater, but I knew without the meat the wolf craved that I would, that I would lose control of myself and attack and eat anything that crossed my path.

This stag was tainted, but there was no rot or infection, it should be safe enough for me to eat, werewolves had stronger stomachs than humans, and I did not have any other choice right now.

I could shift to my lycan form, but it would take too long, leaving me vulnerable and the stag plenty of opportunity to attack.

I circled the stag slowly, looking for the best weak points, the easiest and safest area to attack first, it watched me with creepy intelligence behind its eyes. It was too aware for me to risk going straight for its throat or muzzle, so I lunged for its shoulder, it reared up on its two back legs, throwing me off and strange red electric looking veins appeared across its body, it slammed its two front hooves to the ground sending a shock wave of those lightning veins out across the ground towards me, I quickly danced out of the way, I did not know what the hell they were or what they would do, but I was not going to find out.

It shot more out towards me and then charged. F.uck, s.hit, holy f.uck! I jumped, dodged and ran as it chased me, the prey chasing the predator, pfft, no one could ever know about this, especially Ezekiel, he would never let me live it down.

I ran until I saw the edge of a cliff wall blocking the way, I looked either side, one way led to water, and I was not risking taking on any sirens, the other led to a wolgoral in the distance, f.uck that. I rushed towards the wall with the stag close behind, and then I ran up the wall, leaped in the air and threw myself over the stag and behind it.

The stag crashed face-first into the wall, while it was stunned I used the chance to run in front of it, and then I launched my own attack, biting down over its muzzle, when I had subdued it, and it was on the ground I quickly bit down on its neck, killing it quickly.

Did I care about its suffering? I was a wolf so no, nature and instinct always took over, but damn Marisoll and her gentle ways, her closeness, and respect for nature, it was rubbing off on me and I did not want to make the stag suffer if it did not have to.

When it had passed away, I started to eat, instantly the wolf began to feel calmer and more relaxed, I kept saying wolf like it wasn’t me, but f.uck it, I was the wolf and I should stop acting as I were not.

When my belly was full, and I was satisfied the urge to sleep was strong, but I had to get back to the others.

I made my way back to where I had left them, and then I followed their scent. By the time I reached them they were already with Esther and Cynthia.

Esther saw me before I had time to shift back, and she came running towards me, fear for her safety hit me and I waited to lose control, but I did not, she wrapped her little arms around my neck and hugged me tight, my wolf side did not see her as a threat nor prey, as the wolf I saw her as my pup.

So There was one silver lining to being a werewolf, our human partners were safe, they could run, they could play with us, they could be rough with us in our beastly forms, and we would never hurt them, our wolf always understood they were our mate, and we did not hurt our mates nor our children.

I was still surprised by this even as Esther began tugging on me trying to play fight. I was still too nervous to risk playfully biting her or anything, so I just allowed her to be rough with me, and she was too, climbing all over me, trying to playfully bite me and then spluttering on my fur, she tried pulling me down onto the floor but only succeeded in falling to the ground herself. Snorting my version of a wolf laugh, I used my teeth to pick her up by her shirt and carry her over to the others.

Probably not the best idea when her mother still did not know I was a werewolf. She panicked, then screamed, and that was enough to make me lose control.

It were not easy to explain to a human, the best I could describe it was that I was still me, but I lost all my humanity, all that was left was the wolf, pure primal instinct. Cynthia as harsh as it may sound was not important to me, perhaps the human side understood she was Esther’s mother, and therefore I wanted her safe and well for Esther’s sake, but as the wolf I did not think like that, she was not pack, or a mate and not a pup, she was just prey.

If she had not run I might have seen her as a threat or an outsider and given her a warning, but she tried to grab Esther from me, as the wolf I saw it as her trying to take my pup, I put Esther on the ground and stood over her protectively, growling menacingly at Cynthia, she turned and ran once she realised Esther was not the one in danger, she was.

I chased. Ezekiel tried to block my path, but I knocked him out of the way and kept running, Marisoll tried to get in my way, but I growled a warning at her to move, she ignored me, so I slipped around her and caught up to Cynthia.

She screamed when she saw how close I was and ran into the house, clever if I were a normal wolf, but I was a werewolf, I had supernatural strength and even without my humanity I still had intelligence enough to know I could crash through that door easily.