No Remorse (5 page)

Instead, she found that the motel’s laundry room door was standing open and darted in. Once a wolf has a scent, they don’t forget it. Unfortunately, that day in the diner, Tommy and his group had gotten her human scent. She hoped like hell the werewolf outside hadn’t caught any lingering fragrance. If he had, he was sure to recognize her, since he was one of the men who had helped drag her mother from the restaurant that night.

Amber prayed that the smell of bleach and fabric softener would hide her still human smell. She stood with her back to the door, eyes closed. Suddenly, feeling the sensation of being watched, a smell that didn’t quite fit into the odors of a laundry room hit her senses. Amber opened her eyes cautiously. To her surprise she looked into a pair of bright blue eyes staring up at her. The smell that hit her was that of a young cub.

The little boy was on the floor, playing with the rocks he had organized in a circle. To her amazement, sitting in the middle of the pile was an oval black granite rock with topaz blue and white veins running through it. Amber’s stone!

The pack member outside the door completely forgotten, Amber started towards the boy. “Where did you get that?” she asked him softly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood
on end
and she felt like she was stalking her prey with each step she took.

“I found it on the table by the bed,” the boy mumbled, looking back down at the rocks he was playing with on the floor.

“That is my stone, can I have it back?” Amber forced herself to remain calm and asked nicely, although she felt like attacking and ripping it from the floor, just to get it away from the child.

“But I found it,” he argued, snatching the stone from the pile as if he could read her mind.

The door behind her opened and a blond headed woman with the same bright blue eyes stared up at her. “What are you doing?” The woman demanded, rushing in. She pulled her son from the floor, moving him behind her back as if to protect him.

Looking down at the petite woman standing in front of her, Amber realized she was face to face with a female werewolf. Amber’s skin was crawling; she had to force herself to calm down. The woman could not shift since the phase was not until the next night. Amber hadn’t shifted at this point, but knew it was close to her time. She didn’t know when it was going to happen, but she did
not
want to lose control and kill the woman and child.

Clenching her fist at her side, Amber forced her rising anger down and her voice to remain quiet at the woman's demanding tone. “Your son has a stone that belongs to me and I want it back.”

“What are you talking about? A stone?” she questioned, turning to her son with an exasperated sigh.

“Yes, he took a stone from my room,” Amber replied gesturing towards the boy.

The woman looked at Amber and rolled her eyes, leaned towards her son, and asked him gently. “Honey, do you have the woman’s rock?”

The woman’s condescending tone made Amber want to shake her. Instead, she stayed rooted to the spot, watching in surprise as the boy shook his head no. The little brat actually lied! Amber had to take a deep breath to keep from slinging the woman out of the way and snatching the boy, wanting to shake him now instead of the mother.

Amber’s skin was crawling more and more, her stomach began hurting like it was being twisted in knots. Her eyes became slightly out of focus, but quickly refocused, sharpening. Amber forced herself to suck in a deep breath and release it slowly. Her throat felt tight, her vocal cords taunt when she spoke. Even to her own ears her voice was scary as she continued in a deadly calm voice.

“It is not a rock. It’s a special stone that my grandfather gave me; the one and only time I ever got to meet him. I would like to have it back.” For good measure she added huskily “Now, please.”

The mother gasped slightly as she saw Amber’s eyes swirl with color.

“You’re a wolf!” The woman exclaimed sniffing the air. “Why can’t I smell you?”

Amber continued to fight for control. “Doesn’t matter, I just want my stone and I’ll leave you alone.”

The woman could tell that that Amber was fighting an internal battle. She herself was struggling with her own raw emotions.

“I don’t
want to go back to the pack.”

The woman’s voice went from
demanding to pleading with her and
Amber frowned, “What are you talking about? I just want my stone.” Amber could sense the woman’s extreme fear.

“I saw them outside. You are here to help them take me and my son back!”

Amber shook her head, still frowning. “I’m not here to help anyone take you back, anywhere. What’s your name?” She was actually becoming concerned for the woman. Amber knew exactly how it was to be on the run. She felt sorry for her, especially since she had a little boy she had to protect as well.

“Why does that matter?” The woman frowned back at her.

“It doesn’t really. I’m Amber. I don’t care where you’re from or why you are running. All I want is my stone and I’ll be outta here.”

The woman thought for a moment, her tension easing slightly after realizing that Amber had not sounded an alarm to the werewolf she had avoided outside. If she had, he would have already come crashing through the door. The woman nodded slightly “I’m Trina, this is Toby, and we’re from the Malheur Pack in Oregon.”

Amber nodded. “Trina, it appears that we’re both trying to avoid people we don’t want to run into. The man outside is from my mother’s pack down south. He’s not here for you and Toby. So you should be safe. Just stay out of his way. Now I really do need that stone, so I can be on my way. This is partially my fault, I left my door unlocked.”

Trina nodded, turned to her son again, and forced Toby to open the hand he kept hidden behind his back. When she saw what Toby held in his hand, she groaned out loud. “How did you get this?” she demanded.

“I found it beside the bed.” he mumbled defiantly, refusing to meet his mother’s eyes.

“You went into her room and took this?” Trina was flabbergasted at her son’s actions. She snatched the stone from his hand and turned apologetically towards Amber, who quickly took the stone from Trina’s tentatively outstretched hand. “I am so sorry!” Trina told Amber with an apologetic half smile.

When Amber accepted her apology with a nod, Trina turned back to Toby, sternly grabbed him by the chin, and forced him to look at her, demanding to know why he would steal from somebody when she gives him everything he wanted or needed.

Once securing the stone, Amber took that as her cue to leave while Trina continued to scold Toby. Amber mumble, “Good luck to you and your son. Please stay safe.” Amber slipped out the door of the laundry room. Her body was still in turmoil, but had calmed down the moment the stone was back in her pocket.

Lucky for her, the pack member had walked on past and was nowhere to be seen, but his scent lingered in the air. Amber cautiously slipped back into her room and grabbed the backpack she always kept ready. She would have to leave the room she had just paid for and find somewhere else to stay for the night. But she would rather be safe than sorry, and didn’t want to bring attention to Trina and Toby if someone did happen to find her.

With that ordeal behind her, Amber never lost the stone again. It was her constant companion and she had not run into any of the pack members since.

It had never crossed her mind before; the encounter with Trina made her realize that there were other women, female wolves out there, who were running just like she was. That thought was somewhat of a comfort to her
and
she didn’t quite feel so alone anymore
.

CHAPTER SIX

T
he following night, when the moon was full,
she anticipated the change, waiting anxiously for it. To her disappointment it didn’t happen, but the following month, with her wolf constantly pushing at her,
Amber finally made her first agonizingly painful transformation to werewolf. Knowing the change was
upon her,
Amber had purposefully spent the night deep in the forest where
she dealt with her first victim and an abundant amount of
only animals to prey upon. Her wolf spent the week running wild through the forest.

Once she was comfortable that her wolf was sated, Amber left California behind and began wandering through the states. The stone was now around her neck where it would remain. She didn’t want to risk losing it again; after all, it was the only thing she had left of her family.

Amber thought of the night she met her grandfather. It had been brief, but left a lasting impression. Placing her in the back of that black car, he had sent her many miles away. Amber had not received any form of contact from him or her mother ever since and often wondered if they were still alive. The man in the car had dropped Amber off at what she thought of as an orphanage. The driver had passed on a warning to the overseers that she should stay hidden for a while.

The place was actually a safe house for werewolves who had no place to go. A homeless shelter for young wolves with no family, no one to take care of them, or some like her, who’s family just didn’t want them around. Amber quickly found out she was the only older female who was not capable of turning yet. The other members didn’t consider her as a part of their mismatched pack and she never formed friendships with any of the girls. She was a pariah among outcasts. Constantly the butt of their jokes, the group of girls hassled Amber at every turn.

 
Amber heard them openly gossiping about her inability to change. They considered her a freak and devised a plan to harass her every day. If they made her angry enough, it would force her to lose control and shift.

The girls had been relentless and attacked Amber in both human and, during the phases of the full moon, in their werewolf forms. Knowing her inability to shift meant she would never beat them with their werewolf strength. She was tired of being hurt and learned quickly how to use whatever was in her reach as a weapon for defense.

Stacy was the biggest and the meanest of the group. Because of her height and size, she was the leader of the smaller girls and was continuously encouraging the assaults against Amber. Ordering the girls to surround Amber on the playground, Stacy would punch and kick her, pulling her around by the hair, bragging about how easy it was to change. Stacy continually taunted Amber, accusing her of not being a true werewolf. Stacy would change and stand over Amber, snarling and threatening to bite her until one of the adults came out to break up the group.

One day, it all changed. Overhearing Stacy’s plan to attack and bite her, Amber decided it was time she fought back. She had always avoided Stacy when possible and didn’t understand why the girl hated her so much. Slipping into the kitchen unnoticed, the small knife was easy to steal and was easily hidden throughout the day in the front pocket of Amber’s jeans.

Amber waited all day with dread, when they surrounded her in the courtyard, Stacy approached, immediately beginning the shift into the wiry mixed colored form of her wolf. Before the transformation was complete, Amber attacked. She quickly swung the blade and sliced across the half girl half wolf’s face. As practiced in her room, spinning quickly, Amber stabbed the bigger girl in the side when Stacy lunged towards her.

The girls in the circle surrounding them were stunned and stood with mouths gapping. They stared in dumbfounded silence as Stacy fell to her knees, clutching her bleeding face and side.

Amber’s eyes were a wild swirl of color, her breathing shallow and fast. Skin crawling, her head was pounding. With rage clouding her eyes, Amber whirled around to face the group, snarling menacingly, taking a step, daring them to block her exit. Without their leader to goad them, the girls immediately parted, allowing Amber to pass.

Escaping their circle, Amber ran as fast as her legs would carry her towards the woods. Gasping for breath, she reached the tree line. Suddenly a male wolf stepped out from behind the large tree and grabbed her, stopping her progress into the forest.

“I know you’re only trying to protect yourself, but they’ll kill you for that,” he told her, concern crossing his face.

“Blake! What are you doing here?” Amber exclaimed. “Maybe I’ll just let them kill me so I won’t have to worry about this shit anymore!” Amber responded in frustration, while she fought to catch her breath.

“I can help you get out of here, instead,” he advised.

Amber stared at him for a long moment before she nodded in agreement. Blake turned and rushed her deeper into the woods.

 
Amber had spent the last year and a half at the shelter for misfits; it had been the most miserable time of her short life. She would
not
miss that place or its people. Except one, she corrected herself silently, glancing at Blake beside her.

“OK, what’s the plan?” Amber asked, turning with her hands on her hips facing him. Blake’s soft brown eyes stared back at her. Since arriving at the school a couple weeks after she had, Blake had been a
true friend and she trusted him.

∞∞∞