A Justified Kill (13 page)

Earlier in the
morning
while
she prepared for the change,
she wondered if she could live with herself
after
all
owing her wolf to kill a human.
I
n the mirror she studied her face
,
looked deep into her
own
eyes
, into her soul
. It didn’t take long to come to the conclusion and she nodded,
yes, she could deal with
this one.
She had a choice and this
is what she liked about being by herself. She was not forced to abide by pack rules
. From
what she had seen an
d heard
,
there were
some packs
whose
ultimate
thrill was
in hunting
human prey
.
Werewolves liked the taste
of human flesh and blood. Like
her mother had shown and taught her, they
could survive on animal for
their
prey
and could avoid
killing humans all together.
So, with this
knowledge
she promised herself
she would not make
this a habit
. Knowing that she
would be
ridding the world of a child m
olester, not an innocent being, gave her conscious some relief.
It was her choice and she made it willingly.

She was ready for the change, had ant
icipated the change for
ten
years, yet she was a little apprehensive. Slowing her jog to a walk, she didn’t want to reach
the campsite before the moon reached its
peak. If she kept her current pace, she would be there
before the sun had barely set, which meant giving Gerald a better chance to spot her.

Al
though she had not talked to her mother since she
was fifteen, Amber remembered
everything
she
had taught her
,
most of all
how to be prepared for the change
.
She had practiced
ov
er and over for years and was more than ready for the preparation part of it
. Perfectly in tune with her body, she knew it was almost time for the wolf to emerge and be set free. Amber lifted her t-shirt up and
over her head, removed her boots
, socks and looking around to ensure no one was around, she removed her pants and
undergarments
. Rolling them all up, she placed them neatly in the small back pack, stashing them in the large tree. Marking the area with a broken branch here and there
, making it look as natural as possible so
no one would think twice
about it
. When she shifted back to her human form, she should remember the loc
ation of where her clothing was
stored
.
She would know the area but took the precaution anyway, in case she was out of sorts when she shifted back. Another oddity she had not quite figured out yet, she
couldn’t rely on her sense of smell to track her clothing because for some reason, she didn’t have a scent
, even in her human form
.

Her wolf was on edge and pushed hard inside her to be released. Amber knew the change was going to be painful and
that part she dreaded
. The part she looked forward to was bei
ng able to run free
through the woods in her wolf form. Her human senses were enhanced and she wondered just how much more they would be once she finally
shifted.
She had never thought of it before, since she was so close to changing, she wondered what color her wolf
was going to be. Amber knew her hair was the same nearly black coloring like her mothers. Since her mother’s wolf was a light grey, hair color didn’t matter.
So she was anxious to find out what hers was going to be.

Moving from the depths of the forest,
Amber climbed the tree that allowed her to look directly into the
secluded
c
ampsite.
A lopsided grin on her face,
there
she sat,
buck
naked in a tree, in the
middle of the woods
.
If someone were to happen
by and glance up they would think she was crazy
. They probably wouldn’t be too far off, she thought to herself.
Suddenly, her senses went
on high alert and
the smile
disappeared when her lip snarled at the site of
Gerald
stepping
out of the tent
where he
stretch
ed with a loud whining sound
. If he had been smart, after
Hanna
had been freed, he w
ould have packed up and mov
ed on. Apparently he wasn’t very
smart.

Amber sat
perfectly
still
. Her attention was completely focused on the man below. Nothing bothered her, not even the
persistent insects
flying around
. The other animals
of the forest avoided the area
but
didn’t sound any type of alarm that she was among them on
her perch high up in the boughs
.

Gerald turned and went back into the tent and closed the flap.

From her vantage point
,
she watched the sun crawl b
ehind the horizon and dusk turned into night
. The shadows
grew longer,
the forest
became deep
dark outlines
and
she w
ould soon become a
part of the
darkness.
Her heartbeat quickened when the
first
evening star twinkled brightly
overhead
.
She waited patiently for the warm b
right
radiance and it
began to peak
out from
behind the mountain top
. The trees became a shimmering silken blue silver
glow
when the moonlight stretched
out
as if giving
a lover
’
s touch and
caressed
the tips of their branches.

A
n excited
shiver
ran the length of her
spine and she had the urge to throw her head back and howl.
Quick, but quiet, Amber descended the tree
, running hard
and fast
into the darker area of the
woods
.
She had found a small crevice in some rocks that faced the opposite direction of the campsite
. Exploring the area, the crack opened into some deeper caver
ns
that wound their way through the mountainside. She chose one of the smaller caves where she could hide
to make her shift. Hopefully, its location would shield her cries of pain.

Reaching the small cave just in time, the muscles in her legs began
bunching, stretching and
popping
. T
he
first pa
in
s
of the change struck her
to her
knees.
Clawing at the ground, s
he pulled herself deeper into the cave, c
lenching her t
eeth to keep from
crying out in anguish
.
Amber’
s forehead landed on
the scattering of leaves
she had
covered the floor with.
On hands and knees, she threw her head back, no longer able to contain the scream
, it filled her throat, slipping out, echoing through
the night
.
In the
back
of her mind she hoped
she was deep enough in the woods that no one heard her painful
cries
and come to investigate
. She
especially
didn’t want Gerald on the alert when she met him in his camp.
At the pain, tears
filled her eyes, blurring her vision
. Blinking
for
ced them to trail down her face while she stared at her forearms. Every nerve in her body was pierced with pain, she felt
and
saw her skin
tearing,
splitting apart and
dark
fur emerging.
The bones in her body
throbbed
and began the
agonizing
fracturing
and popping
which
allow
ed
them to move into their new position
s
.

Amber’s
skull shifted, her jaw crack
ed while
it
elongated, her
canine
teeth
began
growing
longer and they
sharp
ened
into razor like
points.
Her
finger
nails were now claws and her p
aws were raking at the ground while
she continued to
whimper
and cry out. The
excruciating
pain
was
nearly
overwhelming, the scream that formed in her throat turned into a howl.
With one final surge of
agony
, f
inally
,
her
trans
formation was complete.