“It needs to end.” Jenny pushes herself up, the gleam of her knife blade reflecting from the fire.
Rolling to my side, I dig for another magazine and snap it into place, then load another bullet into place.
In the breadth of a second, she’s over the hulking mass.
“I’m sorry,” she cries, stabbing into the neck of the half-breed.
Crimson pours in a swirling pool from the widening wound as she slices through the thick tissue.
“I’m so sorry.” Her wails are emphasized with each thrust of her knife.
Then the furry head rolls free, severed from the massive frame.
As the muzzle comes to a rest in the furrowed earth, she collapses over the broad chest in heaving sobs.
“Burn it.” Her words are muffled against the dark carcass.
The stench of singed hair fills our camp.
Sparkling embers flit into the void as the blood sizzles out of the cooking skull.
I’m not sure if I should comfort her, or pull her away.
Instead I give her time.
All of my bits and pieces have healed when she finally leaves the body.
“I hated him,” she sniffles. “Why does it hurt?”
“Come here, baby.” I gesture at her from where I’m sitting.
She slumps onto my lap with dried flecks of gore sticking to her bare skin.
Wrapping her tightly, I tuck her under my chin. “You have a big heart and saw his humanity. He helped you when you needed it.”
“I’m so done with dogs,” she sighs, flattening her palm against my chest.
“Me too.” I rock her slowly as the tension leaves her shoulders.
“You know what I’d really like?” I give her a half-chuckle.
Her blue eyes glow in the dim light when she tilts her face up. “What’s that?”
“To make love to you without having my neck ruined.” I watch her mouth slip into a perfect circle.
“Oh, shit.” Her bottom lip rolls between her teeth, but I get a smile out of her. “Yea. We’ll work on that.”
It took us four months to find ourselves in a tiny town in the forests of Oregon.
By then, Jenny’s baby bump was starting to show.
Their rules were no wolves or hybrids, but we fit in easily.
They didn’t test for healing. It’s such a rarity, it’s almost a myth.
I suppose the corporations kidnapping all of them purged the system.
Finding work was as simple as being able to swing an ax or take a turn at the guard post.
