The Wolf Forsaken

Chapter 2

2

WYATT

I followed the demon into the darkness.

The demon, shapeshifted as a male human in his early thirties, hadn’t realized I knew its secret. It thought it was tricking me, as it did with all of its victims. Usually, I didn’t get involved with messes like this, but when I saw the demon going for an innocent girl just outside a pub, a girl with hair so blond it was almost white, something snapped in me. I couldn’t let this f*****g demon kill her.

So I pretended to be a regular human, drunk and ready for a brawl, and pushed the girl away. I noticed the disappointment in the demon’s dark eyes when it got me instead of the girl, but it was short lived. At least, it had a victim.

Or so it thought.

The moment I stepped into the dark alley behind it, snow crunching under my feet, I began stripping off my clothes. When the demon turned around, I was stark n***d—what? I didn’t want to ruin yet another pair of pants.

“I know what you are,” I said, before shifting.

My limbs stretched, my muscles grew harder, and fur covered my skin. In wolf form, I bared my fangs at the demon.

It too shapeshifted. The human skin peeled away like a carcass, revealing a long body with thin limbs, translucent skin that hugged big bones, and a face that reminded me of a skull.

Suddenly, I had only one instinct: to kill. Adrenaline filled my veins. With no patience for playing its game, I lunged at the demon, going directly for its throat. A second later, the demon was on the cold ground, his throat ripped open, blood seeping in a wide pool around it.

Slowly, I backed away from its body, but I didn’t avert my eyes.

This was the only high of my life, the only thing I did well in the past two, three years.

It should disgust me. It did in the beginning. But now I was so far gone, I couldn’t remember how I was before.

Unless I remembered her.

So I didn’t. Every time thoughts of the past, memories of her, snaked into my mind, I pushed them away. I shut my f*****g brain down, not willing to go that rabbit hole again.

I was about to shift back into my human form when a yelp reached my wolf ears. A woman was pushed into the dark alley by two strong men. One had a hand over her mouth, while the other held her waist, guiding her to him. She jerked, trying to get rid of them, but the men only laughed and groped her more.

They pushed her against the wall.

My naturally hot temper spiked and I saw only red in front of me. With the adrenaline of the previous murder still running high in my veins, I turned to the new threat.

Stepping out of the shadows, I snarled at the men.

They froze, staring at me with wide eyes.

“Is that … is that a wolf?” one of the men asked, his voice trembling.

“A wolf in town? That’s crazy,” the other one said. Though his voice was steady, I could smell the fear in him from a mile away.

I snarled again, showing even more of my fangs.

The men, now concerned with me, forgot about the woman. After slipping on the snow, she ran from the alley.

Good, now I could do what I wanted.

“Nice wolfie,” one of the men said, his hand out as if to ward me off.

What a motherfucker.

Without warning, I leaped on them.

And I killed them.

The wind blew even colder outside of town. As I walked into the woods, I zipped up my jacket until the collar covered my mouth, but that wasn’t enough against this f*****g cold. I fished the wool beanie from my pocket and put it over my messy hair, then shoved my hands into gloves.

I could have stayed in town, rented a loft, like I used to do, but that had been a lifetime ago, it seemed. I had changed a lot since three years ago, and I had changed a lot more in the last two.

Sometimes, I looked at my hands, usually covered in someone else’s blood, and I didn’t recognize myself.

What the f**k was I doing?

I had lost myself along the way and now I didn’t know what was left or right anymore. All I cared about was killing scumbags who didn’t deserve to take a next breath, and hiding in the woods, where I could be a werewolf without shame.

A lone wolf.

Despite myself, unwelcomed thoughts filled my mind. My pack, Dark Vale, had been destroyed a handful of years ago, and Luana became the alpha of the Starlight pack, a group of magical werewolves. She had invited me to stay with her and Keeran, a warlock and her mate, but how could I when I was so different from anyone else there?

But sometimes I wondered, what would have happened to me if I had stayed? Would I have a place? Would I be with Farrah? Would I have become the f*****g murderer I was now?

I didn’t know, and I didn’t care.

Because if I cared, I would go crazy.

I marched deeper into the woods and made my way into the small cave I called home. Here, I knew the risk of bumping into someone was minimal, since no one would brave the snow and cold, at least during the winter months.

I took off my coat and my gloves and sat before the unlit fire in the center of the dark cave. I quickly lighted it and placed the leftover hare I had caught the other day over it. It was already cooked, but warm meat would be better than cold.

Like an animal, I devoured the rest of the hare. The cave echoed as I got up and washed my hands with the water from a bottle. There was a stream nearby, but it was frozen at this time of the year, so I bought bottled water and kept it under several hides to keep it warm so it wouldn’t freeze too.

Silence fell once again when I lay down on one of the hides—my bed. I stared at the ceiling, the shadows from the small fire dancing against the rock. It was the middle of the day, but I didn’t care. I didn’t have anything better to do and I was f*****g tired.

I closed my eyes.

And all I saw was blood.

Ripped throats, open guts, terrified faces. The screams filled my head.

Breathing hard, I sat up.

Nightmares assaulted me every f*****g night, why wasn’t I used to them by now?

I looked around the cave. The fire had died out and only a few embers braved the cold. Groaning, I stood and went to the fire. I better start it again before I froze in my sleep.

My ears prickled and I halted mid-step.

Voices filtered in the distance, too far for human ears, but not for werewolves.

Then a scream.

I shook my head. Whatever was happening, whoever was in danger, was at least two miles out. It didn’t affect me.

A new scream chilled my bones.

What the f**k? Knowing I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, I grabbed my thick coat and marched into the snow.