"I don't have any clothes," she mumbled.
Axel rolled his eyes, turning to walk back into the house. Deepa assumed that he'd left her to freeze, until a skirt and blouse came flying out the window, landing on the grass outside.
"Here," he shouted from inside the house.
"I need shoes as well!" Deepa yelled back.
"Then get some," Axel called, before shutting the window in her face.
"Fucking bastard!" Deepa muttered as she slipped the clothes on.
Deepa had never wished so badly that she could go home to her apartment. She and Parker had started renting it once they were accepted as trainees at Infection Control. The walls were covered with cracks and the floorboards creaked, but it was theirs and they loved it.
But now it was empty. And she could never go back.
Parker was gone. Her job was gone. Her human life was gone. She had to somehow pull herself together and create a new existence on the fringes of society. Constantly running and hiding while figuring out a way to kill the arsehole she kept fucking.
Deepa was beginning to wonder if her hatred for him was so strong that it must have somehow turned into a morbid sex kink. Maybe she always had a thing for psychos and murderers.
But Parker was never like that.
They met when they were teenagers in foster care, after Deepa had nowhere else to go after her aunt's shitty boyfriend kicked her out. Parker had been kind and patient, putting her at ease with his calm and logical manner. He became the family that she always wanted, and his dream to join Infection Control gradually became her dream as well.
But now she was back to square one. Broke and homeless with nowhere to go.
Deepa regretted not robbing Axel before walking away. Her lunch was a sandwich that she unearthed from a dumpster and she drank from a drinking fountain in the park. She tried to kill time by sitting on a bench, watching as children and parents walked around her without a care in the world.
As evening approached, Deepa realized that she was going to have to spend another night outdoors, cold and hungry, and that the wolf would probably force her to shift again.
She was exhausted and angry, her mood worsening with each passing moment. She wanted to scream and punch something, or someone. She wanted to hurt and break and destroy.
It was a strange and unsettling feeling. She had never felt this enraged before.
Deepa clenched her fists, her claws digging into her palms.
It was as if something was trying to claw its way out of her. As if some dark, primal, instinct was taking over.
Axel needed to die. He and his friends needed to suffer for what they did. For the life that they took away from her.
Chapter Eight
It was easy to track Axel down, she only needed to follow the pull in her chest and his scent in the air, backtracking to the house where she left him that morning.
She climbed up the wall and over the fence, the moon glowing bright overhead.
It was as if the wolf was guiding her, the animalistic instincts taking over, pushing her forward.
She could hear men inside, the sound of laughter and conversation.
Deepa crept closer, her steps silent, her ears picking up every word, but she couldn't hear Axel's voice.
"So," a male voice spoke. "How long are we going to wait for Axel before we eat?"
"It's already late," Luke replied. "We might as well start without him."
"I hope he's okay," another male voice spoke. "He's been locked up in his room all day."
"It's probably because he couldn't cope with fucking a turned one, probably worried that his dick will fall off."
