Silver Kiss (28 page)

Oscar barked, then sagged to the floor,
little grumbling noises vibrating up this throat. His eyes
fluttered closed and his sides heaved as his breathing grew fast
and shallow. He rolled onto his back, thrashing back and forth.
Some of the other wolves began scraping at their cages, whining and
yelping. One or two snarled and rumbled, striking as aggressive
poses as they could manage in their confines.

I couldn’t help myself; I
joined in, contaminated by their excitement and hostility. Sly
raised his head to grin at me while Oscar ceased rolling and just
lay on his back, breath labored. Then he sprang to his feet and
rushed around the room, barking high and shrill. His eyes were wide
and white and spittle flecked his muzzle. He stopped in front of my
cage, sniffing me. I bared my teeth, trying to warn him off, but he
simply raised his hackles and dropped into an attack pose, body low
to the ground, leaning forwards. Despite the wire between us, I
tensed, adrenaline racing through me. The chorus of wild barks and
howls around us fired me up and Eddie’s death flashed through my
head and I all I could think was
hunt,
hurt, kill
.

I threw myself at the cage door, snarling
and spitting at Oscar, determined to remove the barrier between us
so I could just get at him. My claws snagged on the wire and it cut
into the tender skin between my toes. I didn’t notice. It was just
more fuel for my rage.

Oscar flung himself at me, our claws and
teeth clashing frustratingly briefly as we both attacked the cage
door while the other wolves sang their bloodlust and encouragement.
Sly roared with laughter and kicked Oscar hard in the flank,
sending him scurrying away for an instant. In the brief second
before Oscar leapt at Sly, the feral opened my cage and I launched
myself out, falling between him and Oscar.

Oscar spun midair, darting away from Sly to
lunge at me instead. We clashed, forepaws tangling, jaws snapping,
both blind with fury. This close, Oscar stank of Silver Kiss, like
he was sweating it and the smell drove me crazy. It was enticing
and sickening at the same time, like rotting meat. I twisted under
Oscar and closed my jaws on his shoulder, sinking my teeth in
deep.

He yelped and pulled away, leaving a spatter
of blood on the floor between us. He was younger than me; a less
experienced fighter and I sensed his surprise at the injury. He’d
probably never had a real fight before, soft little pup that he
was. He dropped to the floor, looking up at me with glazed eyes,
waiting for my next move. I pounced, whacking his head with my paw
and grabbing at his muzzle, drawing blood again before he tore free
and darted away. He shot to the other side of the room, backing up
against an empty cage, where he licked his bloody chops and
regarded me with real fear.

I stalked towards him, excitement filling
me. He cowered as I approached. I had him. He was already beaten,
pathetic little runt. I’d have his heart’s blood on my tongue in
minutes, the pack around me howling their approval. My own heart
pulsed and skipped. I could almost taste his death already.

And then a new voice joined the chorus of
bays and wails. I paused, flicking my ears towards the wolf
battling to be heard over the others. I knew that voice; it stirred
something in the fog that consumed my brain. My wolf-self retreated
a little as my human-self remembered Moira.

She’d been hurt. I’d forgotten.

I swung towards Moira. She was caged between
two skinny, battered wolves, laying on her side with one leg bent
awkwardly underneath her. Sly did that. I remembered now and my
wolf pulled back a little more, some of my wild anger slipping
away. I trotted over to her, Oscar forgotten, and pressed my nose
to hers through the diamond-shaped gap. Her nose was warm and the
sour smell of old blood emanated from her. I sniffed at her leg,
seeing that it was healing, but healing wrong. The broken bone
hadn’t been straightened and would mend at a horrible angle. She’d
have to break it again to get it healed properly.

My anger returned in full force on her
behalf and the wolf took over again. I wasn’t interested in Oscar
now though; there was only one target I wanted. I whipped round and
flung myself at Sly.

Faster than I could move, Sly scooped up his
bat and swung it. It connected with my ribs with an audible crack
and I collapsed with a yowl. The world spun around me as I fought
to breathe. Sly leaned over me.

“
Feisty bitch,” he said.
“Got plans for you.”

Nearby, out of my sight, a door creaked open
and the scent of humans filled the room. Three men entered. I
recognized them as some of the ones from last night and whimpered
at the memory. Across the room, Oscar yelped fearfully, but all the
other wolves had fallen silent. Eerily silent.

“
So?” one of the men asked
Sly.

He stood and nudged me with his bare foot. I
didn’t have the wind just then to do more than cough in response.
“We got a fight tonight,” he said, hefting the bat again. I closed
my eyes before he brought it down on my skull. It didn’t hurt quite
as much as the lead pipe had.

***

When next I came round, I was outside and dusk was falling. I was
back in the ring of cars, under a storm-heavy sky. I shook my head,
trying to chase away the dull ache that burned in my battered skull
and something cold and hard tightened around my throat. I jerked in
surprise and the choke chain tightened again, throttling me.

Despite the urge to tug against the chain, I
forced myself to relax, picturing rabbits caught in snares. The
harder they pull, the tighter the trap gets. I slumped to the
ground and the chain slipped enough to let me breathe. I huffed in
relief and looked around, wondering what the hell was happening
now. I wasn’t sure I could handle much more. I wanted to change and
slip free of the choke chain, but when I tried I couldn’t. I just
couldn’t. Maybe I had a concussion? My head was foggy and my body
wouldn’t do what I wanted it to. I was trapped in wolf-shape and it
scared the hell out of me.

There was nobody else around, but I could
hear wolves barking and howling inside the barn. The memory of the
cage sent a shiver through me. Sly’s last words before he’d knocked
me out came back to me and I whined. It didn’t take much to guess
what was next.

Sly couldn’t force me to fight, could
he?

He didn’t have to, I realized. He just had
to unleash another drugged-up wolf on me and I’d have no choice but
to defend myself. Both my wolf and human self were in perfect
harmony on that. I wasn’t going down without a fight, even if the
idea made the bile rise in my throat.

Dusk turned to darkness and the cold seeped
into me as I lay there, waiting nervously for Sly to appear. I
flicked my ears as owls and bats emerged into the night, their
cries breaking the heavy silence. The sounds in the barn faded.
Maybe all the wolves were sleeping now. Maybe Sly had left me out
here to freeze?

No
. I heard humans tramping my way and Sly’s gravelly voice
barking orders in their wake. A group of them came into sight, two
of the bigger men dragging a wolf along behind them on a chain like
mine. I wasn’t surprised to recognize Oscar. The knowledge ground
at me, wearing me down as they came closer. Sly followed them, that
wicked grin on his face. I wanted to chew it off.

Sly broke away from the humans to approach
me, flourishing a syringe full of Silver Kiss. I growled but forced
myself to stay still, wary of the chain. He knelt down and caught a
handful of my ruff, forcing my head down to expose the back of my
neck. I fought to pull free and bite his hand but he was so strong,
too strong. And the choke chain constricted as he pushed my head
around and it was all I could do to keep breathing.

There was a brief prick of pain as he slid
the needle into my skin, but it was nothing compared to the
injuries I’d already suffered. I hardly noticed it, not with blind
panic at the thought of being drugged taking me over. I tensed up
until my muscles winced, my whole being on edge as I waited for the
drug to kick in. I was sure that every itch, twitch and tic was a
symptom of the Silver Kiss worming into my system. I quaked and
sniffed, picturing Oscar thrashing around on the barn floor and
wondering if I was about to do the same, just lose control and
choke myself to death in the throes of narcotic madness.

My vision swam and Sly’s face blurred. I
raised my paw to strike him, but it was too heavy, too awkward to
control. My lungs burned and my head felt stuffy, full of cotton
wool. My limbs were stiff when I stood; no give, no flexibility to
my joints. It scared me and angered me. I wanted to move, needed
to, yearned to and this wolf was in my way. I hated him. Wanted to
kill him. It would be so easy, just one quick snap. I could already
taste his flesh and blood; smell his sweat and the dirt under his
nails. Smell other wolves on him, each musky scent an intoxicating
mix of need and fear.

My heart fluttered, my senses going into
overdrive. He was so close, killing-close and I forgot the chain
and dived for him. I was inches from him, inches from ripping his
throat out, when the chain snapped taut and I was pulled back with
a strangled yelp. Rage crushed me, bringing that red veil down over
my eyes again. I twisted and thrashed and fought, all the time
closing the chain tighter and tighter around my neck until lack of
oxygen had me dizzy and half-blind.

Dimly, I heard chanting and jeering, heard
another wolf barking at me. The sounds infuriated me; filled me
with the pounding need to get free, get moving. I tore at the earth
underfoot, yipping and panting, no clear idea of what I was doing,
just knowing I had to do something. I heard a shout but it was
human speech, just garbled noise to me. And then there was a dull
clunk and the chain around my neck loosened. Heavy coils of rope
slapped my hind legs and I stumbled, tripping over the leash.

I pawed the now blessedly loose choke chain
off over my head, backpedaling to finally slip free of it. Before I
could recover myself, Oscar shot at me and we clashed in a chaotic
knot of teeth and claws. Over and over we rolled, tumbling and
biting and scratching. Blood flew, his and mine, and the smell
drove me crazy, blending with the scent of sweat and aconite that
poured off us both. I felt moon-fevered, mad and animal to the
core.

My opponent skidded on a patch of ice and
slipped away from me briefly. I lunged at him, grabbing his ruff
and shaking him hard, until he twisted free and smashed into my
ribs. I howled in rage and pounced on him, my weight crushing him
down. He cried in pain and I rolled him over, knocking his head
back with a blow of my paw to his throat. A wave of cheers and
whoops shot up around us, men encouraging me to kill. Their shouts
grated on my ears, made my blood boil.

For a second I forgot the wolf beneath me
and turned on the men, a primal hatred spurring me to dive at the
nearest one. Enemies, we’d always been enemies. For as long as
there had been forests and prey to stalk in them, man and wolves
had been enemies. The primitive beat of my heart echoed round my
skull as I hit my target, slamming him into the hood of the car he
leaned on. He didn’t have time to react, just went down with a
shout as I raked my claws down his chest.

Immediately, a dozen of them were on me,
throwing me back into the circle to face the young wolf. He caught
my tail, pulling out a clump of fur and the humans were forgotten;
we tangled again, no finesse or skill, just brute strength and wild
anger. I stopped tracking my injuries, or the ones I dealt him. The
world narrowed down to tooth and claw and the hard thump of my
heart. I dealt him a vicious blow, tearing open his shoulder and we
broke apart to circle each other, both panting for breath as we
weighed each other up. He was young and weak, reactions dimmed by
the aconite pumping through him. He was slowing down and I scented
victory.

His shoulder bled freely,
dark droplets splattering onto the stiff grass, and the bitter
scent pierced the haze in my brain a little. The human part of me
struggled to emerge through the wolf. It was familiar, the smell of
his blood.
Pack
.
He was Pack. Not just a wolf a rival.
Oscar
. I whined, suddenly unsure of
myself. What was I doing? What was wrong with me?

Then a human booted me in the ribs, slamming
me into Oscar, who responded by chomping down on my flank, teeth
ripping through flesh and muscle. I yelped, fell, and he was on me,
pinning me like I had him. He went for my throat, murder in his
eyes and the wolf part of me took over. She had to. I moved faster
than Oscar and fastened my teeth into his throat first. Taking
advantage of my position on my side, I dug my claws into his belly
until his skin popped under the pressure, spilling more blood over
us both. The air was thick with its scent now and my human self
sank away beneath it.

Oscar gargled and slumped on top of me, his
weight only serving to push my claws deeper into his belly. There
were some boos from the crowd and something sharp prodded me in the
rump. I tried to wriggle away from it and a burst of human noise
blasted me. Cries that sounded angry, hungry. I closed my eyes and
hung onto Oscar, trying to block them out.

And then a sound I couldn’t
ignore.
Gunfire
. I
released Oscar, who rolled off me limply, and scrambled to my feet,
primitive fear drumming through me again. Around me, pandemonium
erupted. The humans were scattering. The feral stood frozen near
the barn, a mix of rage and dread pouring off him. Inside the barn,
the caged wolves exploded into full voice, yowls and yaps echoing
through the building. I scented the air, smelling petrol and
humans, new humans, heading our way.