I froze in my tracks the moment I saw her. My cousin, Sarah, was standing near the back of the room, her clothes torn, her hair wild and matted. She looked nothing like the girl who had left weeks ago-her eyes were feral, glowing with a strange intensity, and her mouth was smeared with blood. In her hand, she clutched a piece of raw meat, tearing into it with ravenous hunger.
“Sarah?” I whispered, my voice trembling with disbelief.
She didn’t respond. She was too absorbed in what she was doing, her movements more animalistic than human. The sight made my stomach turn. This couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be her.
“What happened to her?” I demanded, turning to Logan, my voice filled with desperation. “Who did this?”
Logan’s jaw clenched, his eyes dark with anger. “We don’t know yet,” he said, his voice low and grim. “Someone bit her-transformed her. We’re still trying to find out who’s responsible.”
I felt my knees weaken, the shock of the situation overwhelming me. Sarah-my cousin, my friend-was now a werewolf. And not just any werewolf. She looked… wild, uncontrollable. Nothing like Logan or the others. This was different, more savage. My heart ached seeing her like this.
“Why is she like that?” I asked, my voice cracking. “She looks… feral.”
Logan sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Some transformations don’t go smoothly, especially when it’s forced. She was bitten against her will, Audrey. Whoever did this didn’t follow the right process. It can mess with the mind, make the person more animal than human.”
I felt a wave of fury rise inside me. Whoever did this had taken Sarah from me, from her family, from herself. She was lost in this brutal form, and it broke my heart to see her reduced to this state. I wanted to scream, to fight, to make someone pay for this.
“We have to help her,” I said, my voice shaking but resolute. “There has to be something we can do.”
“We’re trying,” Logan said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “The pack is doing everything we can to find out who’s behind this. But right now, we need to keep her calm. If she loses control…”
I glanced back at Sarah, watching the way she moved, almost like a cornered animal. She seemed more dangerous than I could’ve ever imagined, her movements jerky and erratic, like she was constantly on edge. The sight of her was a painful reminder that the world I’d been pulled into was far more dangerous than I had realized.
“What do we do now?” I asked, trying to hold myself together.
Logan met my eyes, his expression softening just a little. “Right now, we protect her. Keep her safe until we figure out what’s going on.”
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. I knew this was going to be hard, but I wasn’t about to give up on Sarah. Not now. Not ever.
As Logan and I moved toward the rest of the pack, my eyes stayed fixed on Sarah. She still hadn’t acknowledged me, still hadn’t shown any sign that she recognized who I was. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I would find a way to bring her back. I had to.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure who I was apologizing to-Sarah or myself. Maybe both.
Logan squeezed my hand gently. “We’ll get through this,” he said, his voice steady. “We always do.”
“She’s not safe to be around, is she?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Logan hesitated for a moment before answering. “Right now, no. She’s unpredictable. We don’t know how much of her human side is still there. Forced transformations can mess with the mind. We need to be careful.”
“What if she hurts someone?” I asked, my throat tight with fear.
“We won’t let that happen,” Logan said, his voice firm.
I turned to Logan, my voice shaking but laced with determination. “We can’t just wait around. We need to find the person who did this to her. I want the entire pack out there, searching for whoever is responsible. And I want them brought in alive.”
Logan looked at me, surprised by the sudden fire in my voice, but he nodded. “We’re already investigating, Audrey. We’ll find them.”
“Not good enough,” I snapped, anger bubbling up from deep inside. “I need every single person out there looking. I won’t rest until we find who did this.”
Night had fallen, and the moon was high in the sky, casting a pale glow over the streets. I couldn’t sit still any longer. The pack was searching, but I needed to do something myself. The anger and frustration burned too deep. So, I shifted.
My bones cracked and reshaped, fur sprouting as I transformed into my wolf form. It felt natural now, the power coursing through me as I embraced this side of myself. My senses sharpened immediately, and the cool night air filled with new scents and sounds.
I slipped out of the house, moving through the shadows, my paws light against the ground. The streets were quiet, but I kept my guard up, my eyes scanning every corner, every alley. I had to find a clue, something that would lead me to the person who had done this to Sarah.
After what felt like hours of searching, I wandered into a narrow alley. The air was heavy with the smell of damp concrete and something else-something familiar.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me.
“Audrey Coleman,” a voice growled from the darkness. “We meet again.”
I spun around, my hackles rising, and there he was-a man stepping out of the shadows. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized him. His face was scarred, and an eye patch covered his left eye. It was the man who had chased me when I was out shopping with Tanya and Mal.
I growled, my wolf instincts sharpening.
The man smirked, stepping closer, his voice dripping with mockery. “I guess you’ve discovered your power now. Took you long enough.”
I snarled, my teeth bared, but the man wasn’t intimidated. Instead, he started to change. His bones shifted, muscles rippling as he transformed into a massive wolf, his fur dark and bristling with menace.
He crouched low, ready to attack, his eyes locked onto mine. I felt the tension between us, the threat thick in the air. But I wasn’t scared-not anymore.
I stood my ground, growling deep in my throat, knowing that this was it. The fight was coming, and I wasn’t backing down.