Hide Little Wolf: The Aurora Marelup Series Read online

  I start stripping off my clothes as I head out my sliding glass door. As my feet hit the grass the shift takes me quickly. My bones break and grow and shift alignment. My muscles stretch and gain in mass, my arms and legs elongate and my knees break and bend backwards. Thick white fur covers my body as the final changes take place. Last to change are my fingernails that grow to look like talons. Tiny white scale like growths surround my talons. It seems with each shift as I get older it seems like more and more scales appear. My wolven head has an elongated snout much longer and wider than the other lycans I’ve seen. My skull is broad and thick with long pointed ears. All 7' of Lycan stretches out before I start moving towards the woods. Unlike other wolves, I’m bipedal like the werewolves of horror movies, but bigger and scarier. I’m a freak and I know it. I kind of like being unique, it makes me feel special. I would almost say I was an albino but I tan every summer so that thought is out of the question.

  I haven’t ever seen another Lycan like me, then again, I’ve only ever seen one other. Our friend Elena is also Lycan, but her fur is black as pitch. She says that’s the normal color for our fur. It makes me wonder if the Alpha, my mother’s first mate, was my father or if one of the other males are my sire. The shit you think about to distract you from heartache. Logically, the Alpha couldn’t be, I mean his fur was black like my mothers. I take a running start and leapt up into the air to sink my claws into the cliff face and start climbing. The cliff face is a vertical climb and so worth the strain to get to the top. I’ve been climbing this cliff for the last few years. To be honest, it’s gotten quite easy.

  The area I want to hunt in is on the other side of this divide. Reaching the top, I haul myself over and creep on all fours to look down into the valley below. My liquid mercury eyes lock on a herd of deer moving towards the lake. It’s a good-sized herd for this time of year. There’s a decent blend of old and young deer, that usually means the herd is healthy. This will prove to be an easy hunt; I leap off the cliff into a large oak tree.

  Clinging to the trunk of the tree, I plan the next several jumps that are needed to be within striking distance. One more jump and I’m at a fork in the trail where the deer should cross. The wind is blowing from behind them, into my face, they have no clue I’m here. A roar sounds in the distance, scaring the herd and sending them running. OKAY now I’m truly pissed off. There went my motherfucking hunt. Something is going to die so help me.

  I remain in the tree, claws dug into the bark, as I wait to see what just ruined my fun. Then it hits me. It’s Dimitri or should I say it’s his bear, the big guy is upset with its human counterpart. Personally, I can’t blame the furball I’m not overjoyed with his human side, at the moment either. Ever so slowly, the bear lumbers its way towards my hiding spot. The bear has sensed me and starts looking around for me. Silly bear never looks up.. When he’s close enough, I release my grip and fall to the ground about ten feet in front of his nose.

  Landing in a crouched position I look up at the bear, who is standing on his hind legs. Quickly, I launch myself at him tackling him and rolling him onto his back. My canines lightly press into the bears throat and I let off a soft non threatening growl. The bear releases its control of its body and before I realize it, I have Dimitri's soft human throat in my large maw. I could easily kill him in this moment, crush his throat like a grape. His fingertips begin to run though my course fur. He’s calm, too calm; he trusts me, but right now I don’t trust me. I’m too hurt and angry. Quickly, I release my grip on him and scoot back to see what he does next.

  "Aurora, please shift back so we can talk." I grumble and shake my head no, my tail thrashes wildly against the ground. "Okay, but please listen to me. I didn’t know you felt what I was doing, you never hinted that anything was bothering you." His eyes stare at the ground, his guilt and anxiety are coming off him in waves.

  I almost feel sorry for him, I growl a little bit more and grumble. Deep down I’m still debating on hunting the whore down, it’s not like there’s many towns close to here. Should be easy. My wolf is calling for her blood, she believes that Dimitri and Andre are hers alone and no other should touch them. She’s being too smug, too demanding.

  I’m mildly concerned she may try something at some point. I snapped back to the present. I’m feeling Dimitri’s pain now; his heart almost feels like it's breaking. Sensing his emotions my damn wolf betrays me, and forces me back to my human form. Of course, because it wasn’t planned, I fell flat on my ass.

  "Son of a bitch!" I stand up and rub my ass. Real fucking graceful. "Listen Dimitri...." I never call him by his full first name, the visible wince is evidence enough that I’ve got his attention. "You've done as nature intends. Your instincts and drive can’t be silenced ‘cause you've been sentenced as my eternal babysitter. I’m sure being forced to be bound to a baby for life really wasn't high on your list of shit to do." I begin to pace running my hands aggressively through my hair. "I’m doing my best over here.”

  “My wolf still wants to hunt that female, she’s jealous and has a sick idea that you and your bear belong to us." I scoff and scrunch my nose as I turn and swipe at a tree, just before impact my talons extend and cut through the tree like a hot knife through butter. I get ready to swipe at another tree, but a strong hand wraps around my wrist and stops me.

  "I’m sorry I hurt you, my bear is furious at me. He forced the shift and dragged me out here knowing that this is your favorite hunting ground." He releases my wrist and starts wringing his hands together. "I’m not trapped as your babysitter. It was, and is, a great honor to protect you. Now, you quite honestly don’t need my protection. I've half been waiting for you to tell me to move on, that you’ve outgrown wanting me around." His eyes are sincere and yet there’s fear behind them. He’s honestly afraid I’ll do away with him.

  "I haven’t outgrown wanting you around D. It’s my damn wolf, she's got it in her thick skull that you and your bear are hers." I look down and away after admitting that. "I don’t know what to think or do anymore. I should be ascending soon. I feel the change coming. My wolf is anxious and becoming more aggressive. We may need to sedate me like Elena suggested." I didn’t like that idea at all, but what was I to do? Risk hurting others? It wasn’t worth it. I didn’t give him a chance to speak his mind on the matter. Honestly, I didn’t want the answer. I begin walking back the way I came. "Come on D, up the cliff face we go. Time to head home."

  My shift comes quicker than usual, bones pop and realign to take on the form of my lycan. She turns her head to look at Dimitri then motions for him to climb on. Dimitri isn’t all that heavy to me in this form. His thick arms wrap around my neck and his legs wrap around my waistline and his ankles cross to hold on. When I was absolutely sure he was secure I lept up and sunk my talons into the rock and clay of the clifface and start my climb. Naturally the bear is afraid of heights so part of me revels in the fact he’s afraid. The climb that would normally be over swiftly, I stretch out to enjoy his suffering. When we reached the top, I gave him a few moments to relax before I launch us off the top of the cliff. His screams filled my ears as we headed towards a tree. I used my talons to grip the small tree and slide down almost like a fireman’s pole. Bark and tree flesh littered the ground when we landed. Dimitri quickly slid off my back and started walking.

  I didn’t bother shifting back to human, and he returned to his bear. It was going to be a very long night. My wolf was still tearing me apart mentally. She was going over the logistics of plotting out which possible towns Dimitri could have gone to. Everytime he left it was long after I had fallen asleep, which gives the woman an advantage at the moment. I know my wolf she’ll figure it out, I just hope I’m aware enough to stop her.

  Aurora’s Wolf

  I’m going to find that whore. I’m going to kill her and rip her head from her body and leave it on the bears bed. I silently stalk through the fifth town scenting the air from my hidden position in the shadows. To be perfectly honest, it's been very eas
y to overpower Aurora lately. With her body changing, preparing for the ascension, her mind has been distracted because of the surges in hormones and the increased drive to hunt.

  Five hundred feet ahead of me I scent the whore and yes, she’s turning tricks in an alleyway, not a shocker. This will be an easy kill; the only question is how long do I want to make her suffer? Once her John walks away I strike. I stick to the shadows as I move silently towards her. My monstrous form looms over her from behind as I prepare to strike. With deft precision I sever her vocal cords, but not the arteries. I just silenced the lamb and it's totally worth it. I throw her over my shoulder and run off into the night. Her blood is turning my white fur vermillion, its warmth running in rivulets down my back. The iron tang in the air almost driving me to the point of frenzy. I must keep my wits about me. I must do this the smart way, so that the inhabitants around me are none the wiser to my mission. We make it to the woods about a thousand yards from the main house. I pause and close my eyes sensing where Dimitri and Andre are. Both are none the wiser to my escape and the abduction. I drop the whore to the ground I can see her sad attempts at begging for her life. Sliced vocal cords makes it so much easier to ignore her pleas.

  She’s crying, and has pissed herself from fear. My night just keeps getting better and better. I wonder now if my human counterpart will be proud of what I’ve accomplished for her? I mean revenge is a great gift to give right? I know what I’ll do, I’ll leave the head for Aurora; she’ll appreciate all the trouble I’ve gone to for her.

  My talons shoot out and sink into the human’s flesh, blood slowly coats their length as my grip tightens on her. I strike quickly, wrapping my maw around her throat and slowly increasing the pressure on her soft flesh. Warmth begins to flood my mouth; the coppery tang of her blood brings joy to my soul. Soft sniffles fill my ears. I’m not completely heartless, so I twist my head violently severing her head from her shoulders, ending her life quickly. I proceed to rip her body limb from limb, before heading back home with her head in my hands. Wait until tomorrow morning, Aurora will be so proud of me.

  Aurora

  It’s been several days since the fight with Dimitri. Several days where I keep losing chunks of the evening and most of the night. I woke up this morning covered in blood. It’s definitely not animal blood it has a different texture and scent. That means only one thing it has to be human blood. I scream as loud as I can, looking around my room, which quite frankly looks like a crime scene. Two sets of feet come thundering down the hall and my door blasts open, almost coming off its hinges. Andre shoots past Dimitri, then stops short and turns pale.

  "Aurora what have you done?? This looks worse than most of the horror flicks you and I watch." Andre studies me, then looks at Dimitri. He’s pale, really fucking pale. Then it dawns on me, my wolf must have made good on her promise. I feel horrible thinking about what my wolf may have done. "Aurora? Talk to me baby girl. You and Dimitri are scaring me." He’s now positioned himself by the open window. His fight or flight instinct is kicking in big time... damn bird.

  I raise my hands staring at the sticky half-dried blood. "I’ve been losing hours the last few days... like I can’t remember most of yesterday. After dinner too, now is blank. I don’t remember going to bed or anything." I start sniffing at my hand that’s coated with sticky half-dried blood, then I move my blankets. A severed head rolls off the bed and stops right in front of Andre. Andre screams like one of the old school scream queens, it honestly had that blood chilling quality to it.

  Dimitri looks like he’s going to throw up. I slowly slide out of bed and look around the room. Bloody paw prints cover the wood floor, from the doors leading to the balcony straight to my bed. My wolf kept her promise to hunt the human. She’s all smug in the back of my head, sitting there proud of herself. Dimitri is beside himself. His horrified eyes slowly drift to lock with mine.

  Part of me is sorry we did it. The other part, the part that is all wolf is sorry too, just not that the woman is dead. She’s sorry it took so long to find the fucker. "I’m sorry D... I’m a monster... She’s stronger... She’s never been able to completely take over before. I need to go find the rest of the remains." I release a slow breath and take my pillow out of its pillowcase.

  "Watch out Andre. I need to take the head with me." Reaching down I scoop up the head. Blood drips from the exposed arteries as well as what is left of the neck. Tendons and part of the spinal cord dangle beneath the ribbons of blood covered flesh. After examining what was left of the neck, I determined my wolf had bitten her head off. What a way to go. I sniffed at the scalp and recognized the scent. It’s the same one that set me off the other day. My wolf had hunted down the woman that Dimitri had slept with.

  Andre lost it, shifted into his golden eagle and then shot out the window. Honestly, I couldn’t blame him. He’s more of a pacifist than Dimitri and I. I don’t expect the boys to help me clean up my mess. I’m just wondering what else I have done in the last 48 hours where I’m missing time.

  "Aurora?" Dimitri snaps me out of my inner monologue. "I'll help you search. I... I know you didn’t do this.” He seemed to reconsider his statement, “I mean I know you wouldn’t have done it if you were aware of what was going on." His strong thick arms encircle me as he squeezes me to his chest, just holding me. I wonder which one of us he is trying to comfort, me or him? Slowly he released me from the hug and we both looked at the double doors leading to the patio.

  We open the door to the patio and walk out onto the deck. More dried bloody paw prints. We follow my tracks into the woods and about a thousand yards from the house we find the woman's remains. She was absolutely shredded. Bone fragments littered the ground, as well as chunks of muscle and sinew haphazardly thrown about. It was as if my wolf had a hunk of meat in her mouth, and thrashed her head violently around sending pieces flying. Slivers of flesh and blood clots hung like tinsel off the pine tree bark. The one small Douglas fir had her large and small intestines draped upon its boughs like a garland. What was left of the woman’s clothing was ripped to shreds and hung like tinsel.

  Further away on a small balsam fir tree, hands and feet hung off the boughs by their tendons. I’m guessing my wolf was feeling rather festive towards the end of her destruction. I stood there admiring her handy work, maybe admiring is the wrong word for it. While I’m deep in thought staring at the gut garland, Dimitri moves to stand next to me. I turn to look at him and he’s three shades of green, and appears to be on the verge of puking. Gently I rub his shoulder and he jumped back startled by the contact. I let out a slow sad sigh as look around, taking in the full magnitude of what my wolf had done.

  Scavengers were up in the trees some with chunks in their talon’s others just with bloody beaks. I shift and start digging a deep hole. My solution to the problem is to dig deep and bury everything. Dimitri realizes what I’m doing and shifts to help out. His bear was shoveling the dirt into a pile off to the side, after I shot it out of the hole I had made. Once the hole was deep enough, I shifted back to my human form and began throwing chunks into the hole. This is a forensics nightmare. It has become a fucked up scavenger hunt for all the missing pieces. I start singing “Dem Bones” to make sure I’m not missing any body parts.

  “Really Aurora? You think this is fucking funny?” Dimitri was pissed. He honestly thought I was making a mockery of what we were doing. To be frank I was so busy I didn’t notice when he had shifted back to his human form.

  “No D, I don't think this is funny. It’s the only fucking song I know to remember all the fucking body parts.” I was pulling the gut garland off the tree while I was speaking to him. Dimitri was so angry he shifted back to his bear and returned to what he had been doing. His reaction was rather upsetting to me, as much as he says it’s not my fault, I know deep down he blames me. I remove the last of the hanging body ornaments then shift back to my wolf to continue cleaning. I clawed up chunks of bloody moss and scraps of bark. If it had blood on it, it was going i
n the hole. After about two hours, and several searches in circles as far out as eighty yards from ground zero, we began to fill the hole in. Thankfully it was a ton easier to fill the hole in, than it was to dig the fucking thing.

  I suddenly felt a surge of energy run through my body and it brought me to my knees.The surge was so powerful, it forced my shift back to my human form. What was happening to me? I felt like my blood was on fire. It felt like my wolf was ripping my body apart from the inside. I use a young ash tree to stand, only to fall back to the ground. I screamed out in agony, my voice a mix of my human and wolf.

  Dimitri rushes over and shifts back to human. His large hands rest on my narrow ribcage gently rubbing the muscle. The entire length of my body was going in and out of spasm, each time the wave of power passed over me. My wolf’s fur would ripple across my skin as each power surge hit me. Skin to skin contact seems to take some of the pain away but not all of it. I can tell he was in pain too but was trying to hide it.

  "It’s time Aurora... You're ascending, which means your heat is about to start. We need to get you home." All I could really do is nod my head and close my eyes tightly, I feel like I’m going to die. As the pain increases, I notice it’s starting to affect Dimitri. He can’t stand either, he’s in my hell with me. I scooted so my back leaned against his body seeking any kind of comfort. My eyes opened when I heard a branch break. It’s Andre, he is back in human form and he’s notably concerned. Dimitri quickly explains to Andre what’s happening to the both of us.

  Andre approaches me and scoops me up in his arms. "Come on Baby Girl, let’s get you some of that special tea and get you settled into bed for a very long nap" I snuggled against Andre’s bare chest and planted my forehead against his neck. Andre’s arms banded tightly around me as we walked. He was able to feel just how strongly the spasms were. Everytime a spasm hit he would stop and tighten his grip on me. The poor man didn’t know what to do for a few reasons. Firstly, I know for a fact he's not used to holding a naked woman, secondly I’m not sure if he's ever witnessed an ascension before.