Torn Excerpt

The silvery light of a nearly-full moon should have been comforting. For most people it would’ve been peaceful even, but it pulled at my anger with surprising strength as I bounded across the arid Southern-Utah terrain.

Darkly-furred, four-legged shapes ghosted through the darkness on either side of me as we slid between the softly-glowing pillars of trees. Jasmin, arguably the closest thing I had to a best friend, dove through a latticework of light and then it was my turn to feel the undergrowth grasping at my fur in an effort to slow my progress.

The warm evening breeze carried a host of aromas too subtle for mere human noses to identify. In our four-footed forms each molecule was unconsciously sorted and cataloged, leaving us free to concentrate on the elusive scent of our prey.

The other pack, a portion at least, was less than a mile away, far enough into our territory for it to be a killable offense if they were caught. They’d become increasingly arrogant over the last few months, but coming in close enough to threaten our families was a whole new level of provocation. Even their leader, Brandon, wasn’t usually so bold.

A stray eddy of wind played across my muzzle, and I knew they’d made their first mistake. I pressed into my second in command for a moment, conveying an order through posture and motion, and then nipped at Jasmin’s heels, the two of us stretching out in a full sprint.

Free from the others, Jasmin and I streaked through the night with a speed the rest of our pack couldn’t have matched. Jasmin pressed at my flank, curious at my decision until she caught the scent, and then an answering growl made its way past her fangs.

The trap was clever, but the other wolves didn’t know the terrain well enough. I let my beast bubble up from the corner of my being where I usually kept it chained. Between one moment and the next, I went from running on four legs to two. As my transformation ended, a six-foot tower of muscle and claws sprang from the shadows. I ducked Vincent’s first blow and retaliated with a gash that opened one side of his chest nearly down to the bone.

A dark-furred form leaped at Jasmin, but the other wolf mistimed the spring. Most of the other pack didn’t appreciate just how nimble she was. Jasmin dodged to one side and then the two of them were circling, looking for an opening.

Vincent, the other hybrid, attacked with the strength and fury that’d earned him the position of second in his pack, but he hadn’t been expecting to face me in this form. As a wolf I weighed in at a solid two hundred pounds, but would’ve still given up more than a hundred pounds to him.

Now I had at least six inches and seventy-five pounds on my side of the equation, and he was the one pressed onto the defensive as the fight progressed.

I caught flashes of action from the other fight as we circled each other. Jasmin sprang at her opponent, catching her behind the shoulders as Vincent reeled away from me in a shower of blood. I’d finally managed a deeper strike on his arm.

The high-pitched scream of pain as Jasmin began trying to crush her opponent’s spine was answered by rapidly-approaching howls. Vincent attacked with renewed strength at the promise of reinforcements.

I was bleeding in a dozen places now, but the rage insulated me from pain and weakness. Both sides of my nature were united in hating Vincent. If I ever did manage to kill him, my questionable humanity wouldn’t grieve. The world would be better for his absence.

I could hear the other pack now, panting with exertion, our friends hot on their heels. Vincent overreached in his effort to claim the kill, and I sunk my teeth into the muscled flesh of his shoulder as I finally made it around behind him.

My claws sank into his arms and legs as I repositioned to snap his neck, and then a hammer blow of weight struck me across the shoulders. Knocked loose from Vincent, I spun around in time to tear Simon from the air as he leaped at me again. It was the perfect opportunity to end a life nearly as evil as Vincent’s, but one of the recent arrivals had bowled Jasmin over.

Leveraging a frame that was more than capable of picking up a small car, I threw Simon into the whirling ball of flesh and fangs. He didn’t hit hard enough to snap his neck, but he knocked the other wolf off of Jasmin, and then Vincent was back on his feet.

The rest of the rival pack, save for Brandon their leader, came streaming past, but they didn’t help their fellows swarm Jasmin and I over. None of them even slowed. Vincent took an angry swipe at the last, a small female, and then our pack burst from the trees. A second later, our enemies were in full rout.

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