qazyfiction

Part 1

Silver closed the hotel door behind him and took advantage of his solitude to curse his stupidity.

The girl’s guise as a were wouldn’t last long, although hopefully most affected wouldn’t look past the fang. But anyone with a decent nose would immediately sniff out her humanity. And when that happened, how was he going to explain the presence of a human, let alone a worm?

He ran through his options. The most likely explanation was that she was just his slave, someone he used as a bed warmer, although why a werewolf would fuck someone who wasn’t pack remained questionable. Weres weren’t known for interbreeding.

And he didn’t even have the money to pay for the hotel room. He’d left his earnings from the theatre in the dressing room, with his clothes. The whole venture had been a mess.

He made his way towards the staircase, scowling all the while. Perhaps he should just report the girl to the authorities, let them take her back underground. Yet the thought of leaving the girl with trackers, who were known for their rough-handed ways, made Silver bristle defensively.

His mood soured even further when he opened the door leading out to the reception and was greeted by a blast of noise. A flock of teras crowded the room, wings wrapped tightly around their bodies, chattering nervously amongst themselves. Meat, his inner wolf thought, and he couldn’t help but smirk in agreement.

The teras nearest to him noticed his appearance and flinched. Silver widened his smirk, showing more tooth than was necessary. They scuttled even further away.

He glanced over to the front desk. The Snake was busy speaking to two teras. While both had the curved leathery ears and black button noses of their kind, the similarities ended there. One of them was short, with dark fur and skittish movements. The other stood a good half a head taller than the rest and had an odd red tinge to his fur. The two teras seemed to be spending more time arguing amongst themselves than speaking to the Snake.

Silver scanned the room a second time. The reception was by no means small, but with fifty-odd people in the room there was little free space. Then he spotted the barely noticeable boundary in the room. There were two distinct groups of teras, and each had claimed one side of the room. That explained the clamour, and the arguing at the front desk. Teras were territorial to the point of stupidity.

He sighed heavily. There was little point in waiting around. Besides, the smell was making him hungry. He automatically thought about the girl; perhaps she was hungry as well. Then he scowled, wondering how she had managed to get under his skin so quickly.

He couldn’t help but flash back to the sight of her, trapped in that cubicle in the theatre, eyes wide and pleading as she spoke to him. What was it she had said? He couldn’t remember the exact words, lost amidst the clamour and carnage. The words hadn’t seemed that important, anyway. It had been the sight of her, and the odd, sudden feeling that she was part of his pack, that he had to save her at all costs.

He still couldn’t shake that feeling, the stubborn certainty that, despite her humanity, she was pack. He didn’t know why. She looked nothing like his previous lovers, her body vulnerable and fragile to touch, her hair dark and long, hanging just past her shoulders. He bet her skin bruised easily. And she was young, in her early twenties at the most, probably younger. He found himself wondering whether she was still innocent, and felt his body thrum with excitement.

He cut off the line of thought immediately. There was little point in comparing the girl to his past lovers. He wasn’t interested in her that way; after all, she was a bland. By saving her life, she’d become his responsibility. That was why he kept thinking of her; there was no other reason.

A tera hobbled past him, and he quelled the sudden urge to pounce. His stomach rumbled. Silver glanced at the front desk, then made his way to the across the room and out the front door. He had ten minutes left to explain his situation to the Snake. It was more than enough time.