Page 6 of Baiting the Werewolf

“Fuck. You’re here, aren't you?” His voice is low, dangerous.

It makes my body go hot. “Uh, of course, I’m here. In this city. On this earth. In a way, aren’t we all here?” I ramble on before I catch on to what he just said. How does he know I’m here? He can’t. So there’s no reason for me to act weird. Except the possibility of almost certain death, but you know, nothing serious.

“Wes? Wesley Eldon Wiley, you’ll tell me where you are, and you’ll tell me right now,” he growls, his breaths heavy like he’s running. I hear someone shouting behind him.

Then I don't hear anything, but I see eyes blinking at me from behind the bushes. My blood runs cold. Yellow, luminescent, looking straight at me from a height that can’t possibly be a small animal. Not even a normal-sized predator. If I had to guess from the distance, and that’s what I’ll do because there’s no fucking way I’m going closer to investigate, it’ll at least come up to my chest.

“Jacob?” I ask, hoping it’s just the goofy giant wolf that used to visit me since I was a kid. I know how that sounds, okay? Besides, he hasn’t visited me in years. I had imagined him anyway. Wait, no, maybe he was real.

“Wes?” I startle. I forgot he was still on the call.

Or maybe this isn’t real either. I’m obviously imagining things. It’s already dark. I’m in a forest. My mind has decided this is the perfect time to indulge in some of that overactive imagination everyone in my life has accused me of having.

Another pair of sparkling eyes joins the first.

I swallow. No, nothing to see there. It’s just me, chilling in the dark forest, alone.

Then there’s another pair. This can’t be happening. I turn my head slowly, as if any movement would spook them, and realize I’m surrounded by glowing eyes. My heart decides it wants no part in this and starts drilling a hole in my ribs.

Then I remember I’m not really alone. “Logan,” I whisper, clutching my phone like a lifeline.

“Fuck,” he says with feeling. “What’s the status on the backup?”

“What?” I ask, staying as still as humanly possible. Clearly my brain has packed up and left too. I’m dying. Yep. This is happening. These giant animals of unknown variety are going to make a meal out of me. Not in a fun way. It’s inevitable. “They’re everywhere.”

I hear some louder breathing on the other end. “I’m coming, okay?” he whispers. Does he have large animals surrounding him too? Why is he whispering? “Don’t move.”

Then I hear the rustling. I turn quickly. I register the paws first. Paws the size of my head. Perfect size for crushing it too. My gaze moves slowly upward, taking in the scene before me like I'm operating a camera in a low-budget horror movie.

The huge legs, very proportionate to the paws covered in dark fur. The large head of what can only be described as a wolf. Except a wolf can’t be that large. Shouldn’t be.

Its mouth is peeled back, revealing the large pointy teeth, perfectly built to rip my throat out. It hits me a second too late that this is only one of the probably thousands of wolves surrounding me right now. Wolves that are not native to the area. Or any area, considering they’re fucking monsters.

I would know because I looked it up when I spotted one years ago. Then again, when a man was found mauled to death a few weeks ago right after a wolf sighting. It was in the newspaper and everything. Logan had immediately dismissed it as unnecessary sensationalization of a poor man’s death.

Sucks. I’ll miss the chance to say ‘I told you so’ to Logan for the first time.

“Wes? I’m almost there. Just stay put.”

“I—I lov—”

“Don’t you fucking dare. Don’t do the dramatic goodbye thing. I’m coming.”

The wolf clearly has had enough, and now that Logan won’t even let me have my epic last words, there’s no point in waiting. I glance around. Nowhere to run.

My body goes numb. I’m not making it out of here. I’m surrounded, like the wolves coordinated to cut off every possible escape route. They seem really intelligent.

Well good. At least I won’t be eaten alive by dumb animals!

What was I thinking following Logan into a forest? Wait, did Logan say he’s coming here? No. Fuck, he can’t come here. “Don’t come here.” The words come out louder than I meant them to.

The wolves really don’t like that. The leaves rustle under seventy thousand paws, and they all come out of the shadows, one after the other, like a well-practiced act they’ve performed many, many times.

Logan doesn’t reply, but I can hear him on the other side. His footsteps are fast. Inhumanly fast. I can’t let him come here. Wait, how does he know where I am? I don’t remember sharing my location with him. My brain is well and truly scrambled.

The wolf in front of me growls. The sound vibrates through me, raising every hair in its wake.

My body goes lax. The phone drops on the ground.