Authors: Marylynn Bast
Amber
t
r
ailed
him
for a
couple of miles
,
glad she had stayed
back far
enough to avoid running into the rear of his van
when he
suddenly
slammed on his brakes for no apparent reason. His driving
was erratic
. He
nearly ran
of
f
t
he road
several
times before
aggressively
overcorrectin
g,
jerking hard on the steerin
g wheel. She could hear the thumping of his tires
, running over the r
ough sections cut into the shoulder of the road
.
He
slowed the vehicle to a crawl when
he approached the
dirt
road Amber knew
led
to the camp
grounds.
His
van crept along, still weaving
,
even at
his
slow speed.
Gerald
took the turn wide and al
most
taking
out the stop sign. Amber
snorted a bit
when she saw the turn signal come on after
the van righte
d its
s
elf on the straight away. S
haking her head in disgust, she continue
d following until Gerald
pulled over
to the side
of the road
. H
e cut the engine and turned off the headlights
.
Nearly falling out
of the door
when it opened, Gerald staggered
around the front bumper
to the
passenger
side of the van
.
Cutting the engine when she saw he was pulling over,
shifting
into neutral, she coasted to a stop. Stepping out of the jeep, she pushed lightly on the soft side door until it closed with the softest of clicks. To her sensitive ears, the sound echoed
through the quiet night
and she winced.
Amber’s nose wrinkled in a silent snarl when
she saw h
e
had stopped
to relieve himself
in t
he ditch
.
Once done,
he walked forwar
d, stepp
ed
in
his own puddle
,
and
stumbled across the shallow
gully
. He sloshed through the mud, leaves and
debris from the rains
that had saturated the ground
the day before
.
She watched him turn back and point
the keys at the van. At the chirping noise, he nodded his
head
, fumbled
with the keys
a bit
before dropping
them into
his pocket
. From where she had parked
a couple hundred feet behind his van
,
Amber
shook her head again, watching him l
urch in a zigzag pattern through the
trees.
Pausing only a moment before sniffing the air, she ran after him,
her steps light a
nd silent
. G
erald’s
odor was strong and Amber
follow
ed
him without a problem
. Stopping at the edge of the tree lin
e
surrounding the campsite,
she
heard him
mumbling and
laugh
ing
sadistically
when he entered the
large military style
tent.
Amber stiffened when she heard
someo
ne stirring inside
. S
ounds of muffled sobs
reached
her
ears and she knew that whoever
was in
side
had
something over their mouth
, preventing them from crying out
.
They were not there by choice.
With her first change close, her senses were on high alert.
Her heart quickened
and p
ure
adrenalin sped through her vein
s
.
The queasy feeling in her stomach disappeared. Her skin began to itch with the feeling of ants crawling all over her.
She was excited, yet a little afraid of what would
happen with her first shift during
th
e upcoming full moon.
Sniffing the air
,
hi
s offensive odor filled her nostrils
, but she could still
smell
the
scent
of the female inside
.
The smell of humans differed from male to female and even as they aged.
Amber’s heart accelerated and thumped in her chest
when she realized
that
it was a
young adult, possible teenage girl
in the tent, not a grown
woman like she had
originally
thought. It now
explained the sense of dread and urgency she
was feeling. Why
she
felt
the insistent push to follow this man.
The sound of a small generator kicked on.
A dim
light filtered through the thin material of the tent when it came on, casting a
thick
shadow of his emaciated form.
Amber could see
his hand reach
ing
for
the g
irl
who was whimpering and trying to scoot away from him, her
shadow cowering in the corner.
Not
wanting
to alert him to her presence,
Amber
remained quiet at the edge of the camp.
There had to be a way to get the girl away, without Ger
ald
recognizing her from the bar.
Standing with her hand gripping the tree
,
he
r stomach roll
ed
and the pounding in her head blinded her momentarily. Shaking her head to clear her visio
n, she remembered
that all werewolves had the ability to alter their appearance slightly.
Pulling her hair back, tucking it into the collar of her shirt, Amber close
d her eyes.
For some odd reason the stone her grandfather had given her always settled her nerves. While grasping the stone
,
she spoke the silent words which
a
ltered her face just enough so
s
he wouldn’t
be recognize
d
. In his drunken state, Gerald
might not have anyway, but she didn’t want to
take the chance of him identifying her.
Her
dark
chocolate brown ey
es and
strong bone structure
,
was replaced with light green eyes and soft
er more
delicate features.
Her
face became fuller and a little more rounded
, more youthful
.
Walking
into the campsite, she w
ould easily pass for a young teenager
,
exactly
w
hat Ge
rald seemed to be attracted to.
“Hello?” Softening her voice,
making herself sound somewhat timid, she called out
while
stomping
noisily into the clearing.
“What
?” Gerald grumbled, shoving
the bound girl away from him
,
he
stumbled towards the
entrance of the tent. “What do you want?” He growled
.
Grasping the zipper and
yanking it down,
h
e wrenched the flap open
and stared at her with a scowl on his face
.
The light from the tent spilled out, reaching where she stood a couple feet away.
His attitude changed wh
en he saw that another young
naïve looking
girl stood
within his grasp
. H
is frown
turned into a leering
evil grin
.
Amber could
almost
read his mind. He
assumed
he
had
another victim to play with.
“I’m looking for my dog.” Amber thought quickly
, moving
closer
into the camp
. She knew
with her werewolf genetics
she wa
s
a lot
stronger than him
,
so she wasn’t worried
about
getting hurt
if he
attack
ed
her
. With
him being so drunk
, s
he could easily knock him away from her.
The
dilemma was
she
had no idea how she was going help the girl he held captive inside.
She just had to keep him from harming her any more than
she had a feeling
he already had
, to
get her away
from him
.
Keeping her face
calm despite the fact that
she was seething inside
at what he had more than likely done to this poor girl
. She could feel her wolf
pushing at her.