Something Wicked This Way Comes Ch8

Sorry this is late, school is keeping me crazy busy!  I'm going to see the physical therapist today, so hopefully I can work on shortening my hiatus.  In the meantime, Theseus and the Beast won the vote so I'm working on the first chapter of that!  (We are actually studying Aegean civilizations in my art history course right now, so I'm learning about Crete and the palace/city that might've belonged to King Minos!)

*****

Jack remembered the first night he’d encountered the wolves. Days after he’d gotten lost in the woods, he’d stumbled, half-starving and dehydrated into the clearing where the cabin sat. He’d cried when he found there was food. He wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

He’d spent a few nights at the cabin, waiting aimlessly for someone – anyone – to come and find him there. Then he’d found the bone pile. He hadn’t wanted to stay after that.

He’d jammed his pockets full of poptarts and stuffed jerky into his hoodie pocket then headed off in a vaguely southward direction. When night fell, he’d thought little of it.

He had had many nights in the woods before going to the cabin. It was terrifying – he’d heard sounds he’d never conceived of before – but he expected that by then. Then he’d seen the eyes glowing from the darkness and felt such an intense unparalleled terror at the sight. He’d run. The thing had chased him.

It was dark as pitch then and he was all alone and terrified. Just like now.

Jack’s lungs burned as his feet grew numb. The gun felt heavy in his hand. He hoped he wouldn’t need to use it. He listened hard for sounds of pursuit, but the rain was beginning to fall harder now, cutting off distant sounds, blurring his already poor vision. All he could hear was his own labored breathing, the rain striking the canopy of leaves overhead, and the crash of the undergrowth as he ran.

He stumbled over some unseen object and crashed through the brush, foot coming down hard on something sharp as he tried to right himself without pausing, staggering as he regained his footing. There was no light beneath the trees, none at all. Occasionally lightning flashed in the distance and everything light up in jagged, confusing patches of black and white, but otherwise. Nothing could be seen. It was a darkness that Jack didn’t know existed until he’d been trapped in these woods.

He glanced behind himself, looking for the fluorescent glare of werewolf eyes – he hadn’t forgotten how their glow had saved him the first time he’d encountered the wolves. Then, he’d managed to haul himself up into a tree, climbing high and fast. He’d spent the rest of that night clinging to the trunk, shivering and sometimes crying through his terror – another thing he didn’t know the possible depths of until he’d been trapped in these woods. He’d felt like prey then and he felt like it now – but he couldn’t climb away and hide. Koz had said to reach the road and Koz knew what was best.

Jack slipped over slick mud as he ran up the edge of the rise and then started down the other side. In the darkness, he couldn’t make out anything and – inevitably - he slammed into a tree. His teeth rattled in his skull, as he was knocked back. He hit the wet ground and popped up, on his feet again in an instant and running once more.

The rain came down harder and made a thunderous, rattling, rustling cacophony of flailing branches and falling leaves. Jack could hardly hear anything else and then a sound came to him. A dull roar that rose up fast, flew past him, and was gone in an instant.

Traffic!

Jack could have wept. He’d never thought he’d be so glad to hear the sound of tires on pavement. The foliage thinned out ahead of him and he began to see a dull light shining through the leaves.

Then he heard it.

He’d thought the rain was too loud, but it was nothing compared to the familiar panting of a canine and the sound of foliage breaking as a huge animal made its way towards him, coming in fast.

‘It might just be were-Koz following after me.’ He thought hopefully. ‘Except Koz was going to use the gun first and I haven’t heard any gun shots.’

He ran. The leg he’d injured in the accident protested, but he pushed through – push through – push through – tried to remember his physical therapist’s voice. Go go go-don’t stop-almost there!

A car drove by and suddenly he could see! The passing headlights blasted through the darkness, reflecting off the falling rain like a thousand tiny falling stars, and then the car was gone and the wolf was closer - he could hear it.

Jack whirled, pressing his back to a large oak tree, trying to silence his breathing to hear better.

He pointed Koz’s gun in the direction of the approaching wolf. He breathed deeply and adjusted his grip on the foreign weapon. ‘Relax’, he told himself. ‘The last thing you want to do is accidentally shoot Koz because you’re so jumpy you shoot at the first sign of movement.’

The nearing sounds stopped suddenly. The hair raised on the back of Jack’s neck. His eyes flashed around the gloom for any sign of the beast’s glowing eyes. Was Koz there? Why didn’t he approach?

Jack couldn’t help but think of Sophie crawling slowly along the ground to creep up on him – what if he was being stalked at this moment? He looked to his left and right and back again but he saw nothing. The hair stood up on the back of his neck and his hands were damp and shaky around his borrowed weapon.

He could run for the road – he’d be safer there – but that would leave him vulnerable. At least with his back to the tree, he felt a little sheltered. He didn’t think he could outrun a werewolf – but he didn’t think he could out-fight one either.

He was shaking. Sweat trickled down his temple and the gun felt slippery in his damp palms. With nervous jerkiness, he switched the gun from hand-to-hand and wiped his palms on his pants.

Time seemed to crawl by. Jack got more and more anxious as the seconds past. It definitely wasn’t Koz; he was surer as the moments trickled by. But that meant it was another one. He wiped sweat from his forehead and adjusted his grip on the gun.

A crack rang out in the distance and Jack jumped. “Koz,” he breathed, nearly taking a step away from the safety of the tree. Koz was in trouble!

But he couldn’t help Koz. The best thing he could do was get to a phone. But first, he needed to get to the road.

He scanned the trees nearby and picked out a nice big one, then bolted for it, swinging around to put his back to it and bringing up his gun in one motion, scanning the surrounding foliage for signs of pursuit. Adrenaline coursed through him. He was trembling from nerves and the cold, sweat and rainwater plastered his hair to his head and his shirt to his chest.

‘Hold on, Koz,’ he thought. He ran for the next tree and flattened himself against the damp bark.

This time when he held his breath, he heard a car. Headlights shone through the trees, light shining through in thin bars, coming towards him and flashing by – but not before Jack spotted a furry head and a pair of luminous green eyes disappear back around the tree he’d just taken cover at.

Another shot rang out close by. Jack jumped and for a split second the echoes of the shot made him deaf to the crashing underbrush.

A car sped by and light flashed around Jack’s tree, illuminating the wolf’s form mid-pounce, long, white fangs gleaming. Jack threw himself to the ground with a yelp.

He rolled away and jumped to his feet as the wolf hit the tree and sprang off, moving so fast, Jack could barely keep track of it. The car on the highway sped away and it was dark once more – but the wolf wasn’t hiding anymore and Jack could see its glowing eyes perfectly as the animal charged him.

He raised his gun just as the beast leapt at him, barreling him over and forcing the breath from his lungs.

Jack felt hot breath on his face and he clenched his hand around his weapon.

Bang!

The pistol kicked back into Jack’s chest and he wheezed – it felt like he’d been punched in the chest! Before he could catch his breath, the wolf collapsed on top of him.

Jack let out a choked yelp, thinking he was about to be bitten, until he realized the wolf was limp, its head heavy and lifeless against his neck.

It was then Jack realized he couldn’t breathe. The wolf was enormous! He started to kick and squirm, surprisingly un-panicked, despite how his lungs burned for air. He managed to get his chest free and gasped for air, his battered chest aching sharply with each greedy inhale. He’d definitely broken a rib or two.

Warmth was spreading along his chest, stomach, and now his lap. He squirmed the rest of the way free and stood on shaky legs. His whole front was covered in blood – even his legs had gotten some when he squirmed free.

He was trembling from head to toe, but still felt an odd sense of calm as he looked down at the wolf – no, not a wolf. A werewolf, a human. He swallowed. He’d killed someone.

But he didn’t really feel anything. Actually he didn’t feel anything at all – even his ribs had stopped hurting. He did feel cold though. Maybe he was in shock? Is this what shock felt like? He didn’t know.

But he did know that no one would pick up a hitchhiker covered in blood.

In the distance he heard Koz and the wolves fighting. Snarls and a few sharp yelps echoed through the trees between the pounding of the rain and the distant claps of thunder. Jack looked down at the gun, its metal marred with blood. A passing headlight lit up the scene and Jack blinked owlishly. ‘Well,’ he thought, ‘if I can’t leave…’

He held the gun firmly in both hands, pointing downward – like Koz did – and set out into the woods, following the sounds of the wolves fighting.

*

Jack disappeared into the foliage, swift as a stag.

Koz was tempted to watch him go, but he had to focus on the threat at hand. He took a deep breath and tried to push aside his pessimism. He might never see Jack again, he realized. He grit his teeth. If he wasn’t going to see him again than it wasn’t going to be because Jack lost his life! Koz might get killed but he’d see to that!

Jamie made a brief movement like he wanted to follow Jack, but paused, looking to his unmoving sister, ears flicked back. Perhaps they’d decided that Jack was relatively harmless and were choosing to take care of Koz first? Koz had a bad feeling that said this wasn’t the case.

He could smell Jamie’s anxiety cutting in and out of the rain – strange in and of itself: they were down-wind, as obvious as they could possibly be.

The hair raised along the back of Koz’s neck. This was an ambush.

He whirled around as a third wolf exploded from the underbrush.

Koz fell back, rolling onto his back before the werewolf could tackle him; he kicked up, and threw the wolf over his head. No problem, it was only some two hundred pounds.

He jerked his lower body up and jumped back into a standing position just as Jamie and Sophie screeched to a halt on either side of him, snarling ten feet from him, but otherwise not approaching.

Koz whirled around to see the third wolf, a large black beast, slowly approaching with its hackles raised.

Koz backed up, but a warning growl on his left let him know he wasn’t going to escape. The black wolf leapt forward, teeth snapping as Koz jumped to the side.

Belatedly, Koz realized he was snarling. A quick glance down at his hands revealed that his nails had warped into claws. The ache on the back of his neck had turned into itchy-painful pinpricks. He was on the verge of sprouting fur already.

He swallowed hard. It was too close to the full moon; he could hardly contain the change. He couldn’t turn now, he might not be able to control himself this close to the full moon.

He tried to quash the feeling, but his nails remained dark and curved. He’d have to be careful.

Distracted as he was, he barely dodged the black wolf’s next lunge. Instead of grasping flesh, the beast’s jaws closed around the barrel of Koz’s shotgun. The wolf pulled, trying to yank the weapon away. The rain was falling harder now and Koz’s grip on the weapon was slick, but he dug his wolfish claws in and didn’t let up. He twisted the weapon so the wolf’s head bent awkwardly. Still, the beast didn’t let go, growling and tugging sharply.

Sophie darted forward, snarling as she lunged for Koz’s leg.

Koz planted his feet and turned, the muscles in his arms and shoulders straining as he pulled the black wolf after him, flinging the beast into the she-wolf.

Sophie let out a yelp as she was knocked off her feet and the black wolf let go in his surprise as they fell into a heap.

Koz yanked the gun away and spotted Jamie coming towards him. He pulled the gun up and fired – too quick to aim but still managing to hit the boy wolf in the shoulder.

Jamie collapsed, mud splattering as he shrieked in pain. Non-silver bullets may not be fatal to a werewolf, but a load of buckshot still hurt like hell.

Koz whirled around as the black wolf leapt up and lunged toward him, jaws wide. Koz swung his gun and struck the wolf’s lower jaw with a sickening crack.

The black wolf yelped and stumbled away, his jaw hanging limply from his skull.

Sophie roared and leapt at him, paws slick on the muddy ground.

Koz dodged left and she whirled to face him, snarling savagely. With a jolt he realized that her eye hadn’t healed. A thin scar marred the side of her head – the pricks of Koz’s teeth where he’d bitten her etched into her skin, even going over her sunken eyelid.

She jumped, Koz dodged, and the she-wolf ended up flying past and falling into the black wolf as he crept up behind Koz. It was almost comical how the two struggled to disentangle themselves.

Sophie leapt up and darted forward, but the black wolf was faster still, charging ahead of her and snarling – a feet that would’ve been much more intimidating if his jaw weren’t still broken. As it was, he drooled more than he growled.

Sophie tried to circle around him and come at Koz, but the black wolf snapped at her; she growled at him, ears folded back.

Interesting. It seemed there was a pecking order problem. What could Koz do but take advantage of their distraction? He raised his gun and aimed for Sophie.

Jamie let out a warning bark and Sophie darted away, not even bothering to look. Better for her. The black wolf looked to Jamie in confusion and in that moment, Koz re-aimed and fired.

The black wolf jumped straight up, then collapsed heavily, eyes rolling back in his skull. Rain poured onto his wet fur, dripping into the series of leaking holes in his head and mixing with the red. Amazingly, the searing pellets in his brain wouldn’t kill him. Maybe he’d be a little brain-damaged, but he’d recover. Eventually.

For now, Koz only had the two pups to worry about – and one of them was injured. The other was furious.

Sophie seemed to leer at him, as if she knew he was out of bullets and were teasing him for it. Koz wasn’t worried, he’d taken her once before without a weapon and he’d come out on top.

“Come on,” he growled, sharpened teeth prickling his lips. “I’ll take your other eye too!”

Sophie snarled and charged forward, Koz ran at her ahead as well, teeth bared, holding his shotgun by the rain-slick barrel – ready to club her unconscious if need be – but the she-wolf stopped, her paws squelching in the mud she braked so fast. She back up, tail between her legs as she whined pathetically.

The hair rose on the back of Koz’s neck. A scent came creeping towards him through the falling rain. The ache of the change stole over him, growing stronger and stronger as the source of the smell drew nearer and nearer. He knew almost instinctively that it was the musk of a male werewolf – big and dangerous.

He whirled towards the source just as a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the forest in stark shadows and brilliant light – but none of the tangled arms of the trees or rippling leaves could compare to the blinding whiteness of the massive wolf standing not twenty feet from him. Lightning cracked again overhead and Koz saw red eyes shining, pupils dilating, hackles rising over curved teeth.

The newcomer glared past Koz, towards Sophie and she squeezed her smaller frame against the ground, mud soaking her sandy coat as she tried to make herself as small as she could.

But Koz didn’t see, all he could focus on were those two red eyes – those massive teeth!

Red teeth. Crunching, Cracking. The snap of bone and smack of lips. Koz’s whole body jerked as the memory consumed him. The ache in his neck blossomed into agony as his body changed. The memories dimmed, his torment fading sweetly. He snarled around his fangs and glared up at those red eyes, lunging forward as his mind melted into a pure blissfully bestial rage.

*

Jack fumbled through the dark, picking up speed as the sound of sharp yelping echoed ahead of him. He nearly hit another tree, glanced away from its trunk and fell over a massive, wet, furry shape.

He sprang up to his feet in an instant, gun up and aimed at the still form. All he could see was that it was black and roughly the same size as the wolf that had collapsed on him just earlier. It felt as though his stomach dropped through the ground. It was a black wolf!

“Koz?” Jack ran around to look at the beast’s face, gently touching the beast’s head and then yanking his hand away when its broken skull gave way beneath his fingers, sticky blood staining his fingers. He looked down in horror. “Koz?!” He choked. The wolf let out a wheeze, eyes fluttering at the noise – opening just enough for Jack to see glowing green eyes beneath the creature’s eyelids. Not Koz. Jack let out a sigh of relief, then jumped to hear sound of a scuffle go up again, but much closer.

There was a crashing in the brush nearby and Jack held the gun firmly in his hands and pressed on towards it.

Lightning flashed and Jack saw Koz – and it could only be Koz – pinned down by Sophie – although not quite losing. His teeth clamped around her neck while she struggled to pull away.

The flash died away, leaving Jack to furiously blink the spots from his vision. He took a few steps back, blind and suddenly frightened. Where was Jamie? What was going on?

He could only barely see Koz and Sophie because one was so dark and the other so pale. Koz rolled over and yanked Sophie after him, pinning her down. The she-wolf struggled a moment, limbs flailing and scratching at his underbelly until she slowly went limp. Then he let go and leapt away, yellow eyes flashing as he looked around wildly.

“Koz?”

Koz’s eyes snapped to him and Jack took a step back because God, he forgot how intimidating wolf-Koz was. He forced himself to smile and offer out a shaky hand. “Koz?”

There was another flash of lightning overhead illuminating the way Koz’s dark form crouched low, rainwater trickling down his jaw as his lips pulled back over his teeth. The werewolf snarled and took a step towards him.

Jack froze. Koz wasn’t growling at him, was he?

Then Koz sprang – launching himself at Jack so fast it was all Jack could do to raise his arms, flinching back as his hands balled up – accidentally pulling the trigger on Koz’s pistol.

BANG! Right in front of Koz and Jack’s faces, the kickback sending Jack’s arm flinging painfully to the side as the bullet whizzed away through the rain and Jack was knocked off his feet by the startled werewolf.

Jack’s injured ribs put up a violent protest against the rough treatment and for a moment he feared suffocation alongside mauling – but Koz’s weight disappeared instantly.

Jack hauled himself to his feet a moment later and took several steps back, holding the gun properly in both hands. He watched Koz as the massive black wolf backed away, edging into the foliage. There was a distant flash – dim but just bright enough for Jack to see his companion pressed low to the ground, ears back, tail low.

Koz let out a soft keen and Jack let out a breath of relief. “It’s okay, Koz—” He took a step forward and the wolf bolted away, his dark form disappearing instantly into the gloom and rain.

Jack stood alone for a moment, stunned and frightened and wet.

He heard a whimper at his side and whirled, gun raised, to see Jamie just behind him. Even in the dark, Jack could tell how pathetic he looked. Lightning flickered in the distance and for a second Jack saw the soaked pup’s brown fur stained red, blood seeping profusely from a wound in his shoulder. He looked up at Jack, his eyes – brown as a human, golden as a wolf – seemed watery and sad.

Jack squared his shoulders and put his finger on the trigger, but it was an empty gesture. He didn’t want to kill Jamie; he didn’t even want to hurt him. That other wolf had been trying to kill him - Jamie just seemed too… resigned.

Jack lowered his gun and watched the surprise grow in Jamie’s eyes. He tipped his head to the side, ears tucked back - it was almost cute.

“I’m sorry,” Jack said.

Jamie’s eyes flitted past him suddenly and he flattened himself to the ground with a whine.

Jack turned and gasped.

With the metaphorical werewolf clown-car this forest had turned out to be – he probably shouldn’t have been surprised to see another one standing between him and Sophie. Even in the gloom he could see it almost perfectly – its fur was so white and its eyes glowed red like some sort of monstrous specter.

Jack was petrified as the wolf looked at him, almost quizzically, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Red eyes, Jack realized. An albino. Like the White Wolf, Koz had mentioned.

“Shit.” Jack lifted his gun just as the wolf pounced. The gun fired under the wolf’s foreleg, the bullet whizzing pas his side harmlessly.

‘Of course, I couldn’t be so lucky twice,’ Jack thought right before the wolf clamped down on his shoulder and pain exploded across his senses.

Jack screamed as the wolf shook his head, tearing flesh and muscle alike. The teeth shifted from his shoulder and squeezed, teeth pierced his throat and Jack gasped blood.

Through the burning agony of muscle ripped free from bone, Jack felt the wolf let go. There was a near deafening roar and then the White Wolf was gone with a surprised yelp, barreled over by an enraged shadowy beast with yellow eyes - Koz.

Blood that wasn’t Jack’s spattered the ground as Koz sank his teeth into the albino’s ruff and yanked, tearing flesh before the White Wolf could retaliate by thrashing, smashing his skull into Koz’s hard enough to send him staggering away.

Koz let go and the White Wolf backed away as Sophie stumbled to her feet and darted between them, snarling unsteadily at Koz while Jamie hobbled after her.

The White Wolf shook his head casually, flecking them all with blood, before he turned and strode away.

Koz made to follow, but Sophie barred his way. Jamie slunk after the pale alpha, whimpering softly and sparing glances towards Jack’s still, bloodied form.

Jack hardly noticed the exchange.

Oh God, he’d been bitten. Jack would be slightly more alarmed if he weren’t certain he was about to die. He didn’t know how bad the wound was – he couldn’t feel his left arm – was it even still there? He wouldn’t be surprised if he’d been ripped apart.

He coughed and blood flooded his mouth – the taste burning his tongue as the motion sent his torn throat into spasms. He gasped for air, coughed, breathed, gargling nasty thick blood. He choked.

Fat, heavy raindrops splattered down on him, dripping onto his face and following a trail of tears running down his face - he didn’t feel any of it.

A shadow loomed over him and Jack looked up through watery lashes to see Koz returned.

The black wolf whined, ears flattened to his head as he crept closer.

For a moment, Jack felt a spear of panic as the beast’s muzzle pressed against his wound – but the touch was gentle. A cold nose pressed against the uninjured portion of Jack’s neck and then trailed up. Koz licked his cheek gently, whining.

The massive wolf lay down against his side; furry head leaning gently against his so every one of the beast’s breaths ruffled Jack’s hair.

Jack wheezed, coughed, and nearly whimpered, but the sound couldn’t survive in his shredded throat.

Koz nuzzled his hair with a cold, wet nose. Tears flowed freely from Jack’s eyes and he struggled in vain for air. The dark forest grew darker still as a strange, senseless calm stole over him.

He realized he could feel Koz’s damp fur against his left hand. He moved his fingers weakly – an attempt at petting the wolf – his only companion in his last moments. In return, Koz gently licked his cheek again. With a wet sigh, Jack closed his eyes, the last of his tears squeezing free before darkness stole over him at last.

*

The first thing Koz was aware of was bird song. It was pleasant. Sweet, like the pale morning light seeping through his eyelids. He needed to get up. Sera would wake soon and he needed to shower before she could claim the bathroom in the name of her pre-teen beauty routine.

He took in a deep, sleepy breath. Instantly his senses were flooded with the scent of blood. His eyes snapped open.

Jack lay beside him, his skin nearly white – red splattered across his torso, seeped across the ground, even smeared up across his cheek. The skin on his neck and shoulder was ripped open to reveal the shreds of torn muscle and flecks of bone scraped by teeth left bare for the rising sun to see.

Koz jack-knifed away, a cry on his lips. He leapt to his feet, backed away, stumbled and fell, twigs and rocks jabbing into his bare skin, mud slicking up his sides. His eyes fixed on Jack’s still body, his mind clouded with memories of teeth and bones and red eyes.

“No. God, no.” Someone was moaning. It was him. Half-words and desperate pleas fluttered through the air and vanished into nothing.

He killed him. He killed him. He killed Jack.

A wave of nausea washed over him and he clapped a hand over his mouth. Swallowing hard before he realized his mouth was sticky. His hand came away covered in flakes of red.

Koz retched, his body convulsing in on itself as he spilled the contents of his stomach over the dewy grass. He gasped, his throat searing and when he saw the sickly red color of his own bile, he retched again.

“Oh God.” His whole body trembled as he crouched on the muddy earth.

He’d killed Jack.

He tried to look up, tried to make himself look at the boy – but he couldn’t. He’d rather look at his own sick than look at what he’d done.

He’d killed before – Lord knew, he’d killed before. But never something so guiltless - so without a chance of fighting back. And he didn’t remember it. He remembered red eyes and then… bird song. In all his human years of killing monsters he’d finally killed a human as a monster.

He wanted to die.

This was the reason he’d come out here. It was to avoid this very scenario that he’d come out here!

Where was his gun?

He looked up slowly, eyes skating over Jack’s still form and then off him again. Then back again suddenly. He stared.

The world seemed to slow down and still as Koz stared, stared, stared at Jack’s chest. His eyes were wide, his shaking becoming more violent, all thought and emotion vanishing in the wake of a shock as he watched Jack’s thin torso gently rise and fall as the boy clung – unbelievably – to life.

Alive.

He couldn’t stand. He wouldn’t try. He crawled closer.

Alive?

Jack’s eyelids fluttered, his head shifted and he let out a shallow gasp of pain.

Koz reached out, almost afraid his touch might break the pale body breathing softly beside him. He touched his cheek.

He was warm. Pale as death but hot to the touch – he was alive.

“Oh God.” A torrent of emotion washed over him – shock, relief, happiness, sorrow, regret - dread.

Surviving a werewolf bite wasn’t surviving at all.

The world seemed to click back into order. Jack was a werewolf now. Maybe he’d die from the transformation in the next few days – but he wasn’t human anymore.

Jack very well might die in the next few days. He’d already suffered massive blood loss, and now he would have a terrible fever while his body slowly turned into something less than human. He’d be nearly comatose in this time – he might die of thirst or hunger or the fever or he could seize and choke on his own bile – he might die, but it was taking chances that had ended Jack’s humanity.

Koz looked around and his eyes fell on his pistol, lying just by Jack’s hand.

He reached over the boy’s body and picked up the weapon. Dried blood flaked off the handle and stuck to his palm. He wasn’t shaking now. His body realized how familiar this was and part of his mind did too – shutting down into the cold, calculating machine he’d always needed on the hunt. The other half of his mind was still in turmoil. How he wished Jack had been able to kill him!

He let the cold hunter side take over. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the barrel of the gun to Jack’s temple.

He was still and he was reeling.

He’d never see Jack smile again.

He could. He didn’t have to kill him.

He did. It was only a matter of time before Jack hurt someone just like Koz had.

North should have let Bunny kill him.

Koz wouldn’t make the same mistake he had.

Once Jack was gone, he’d kill himself too.

He looked down at Jack’s pale face one last time.

“I’m sorry.”

He pulled the trigger.

Click.

Koz gasped sharply and stared at the weapon in shock. ‘Click?’ It wasn’t supposed to do that! It was supposed to go off! Jack was supposed to die and then Koz could die! Why wasn’t the gun working?

He pulled the trigger again, then again. Each time the only response was an empty click.

With shaking hands he snapped open the chamber. Empty? How could it be empty? His mind whirled. He’d had three rounds left when he gave the gun to Jack!

Jack fired the gun!

“Oh, God,” Koz moaned. “No. No no no.” He pressed his head to the weapon’s cold, metal handle. “No…” The black and white world of the hunt came crashing around his ears. What had he done? How could he? How could he?!

How could he possibly face North or Bunny or Seraphina ever again? He’d been a monster in form only before – but this? He’d ended a life as a wolf – maybe not an actual life, but still, Jack’s human life was over and now he couldn’t even end his suffering.

He’d failed spectacularly. He hadn’t protected himself enough to stop himself from getting the bite and now he’d failed Jack and now Jack and Seraphina and everyone else he cared for would suffer for it and continue suffering for it because – after all this time, after all his attempts and failures and steeling his nerve and attempting again – he still couldn’t even kill himself properly!

Koz sucked in a shaking gasp and let out a sob. He was starving, unclothed and aching, his mouth covered in blood and he’d ended the life of an innocent.

What could he do? No one would pick them up at the highway except the authorities – and Jack couldn’t go to a hospital. Should he take Jack to North’s and beg forgiveness? Claussen was so far, two days from here and—

Tonight the moon would be too full to resist. Maybe he wouldn’t turn, but Jack would. Tears rolled freely down his face, running clean lines through the dried blood. No death and no escape, what could he do?

He dropped the gun and cried, burying his face in his hands and giving in. He let it out until he had nothing left to give and then he wiped his eyes, picked up Jack’s skeletal body, and carried him deeper into the forest.