Dani Harper: First Bite

But his damn wolf wasn’t taking no for an answer. Trotting to the west side of the promontory, it was already picking its way down the sheer hillside. There were narrow goat trails hidden in the grassy rocks, most just a few inches wide. One misstep and Travis would reach the valley floor in a helluva hurry. Worse, he’d probably live through it—and wouldn’t that be fun? His species could survive a lot of damage, thanks to regenerative healing powers, but that didn’t mean it was a painless process.

No broken body lay among the rocks at the base of the cliff. Travis breathed a sigh of relief—he hadn’t been looking forward to finding what was left of the woman. But where the hell had she gone? Baffled, he looked around and tried to catch a scent. Suddenly the wolf took him toward a thick stand of pines, a family group with the tallest tree in the center, the ancient giant surrounded by dozens upon dozens of younger trees that had sprung from its cones over the decades. Not possible , thought Travis. She couldn’t be there; it was too damn far from the cliff.

Yet as he approached, he caught a whiff of newly released sap. Cautious, he pushed his way through into the heart of the forest, where a falling twig suddenly made him look up. Overhead, a few of the trees had freshly broken branches from crown to floor, their jagged edges exposing moist wood that gleamed white in the moonlight. It marked the path of descent as surely as if a small comet had crashed to earth here—only it wasn’t a comet. Swallowing hard, Travis lowered his gaze and cast his nose over the needled floor. The tang of blood was in the air now, mixed with the heady pine.

He found her beside a rotted-out stump that was feeding a tall stand of maidenhair ferns. Her dark clothing and dark hair made her a crumpled shadow in the tangle of broken branches and crushed fronds. Only her pale, drawn face caught what little light filtered down to the forest floor. She was young, maybe just twenty-five or so…

What a goddamn waste. Travis gently nosed the pine needles and leaves from her fine features as he wondered what to do. He could bury the poor girl, he supposed, but someone out there was probably missing her. He didn’t relish the thought of having to call the cops. They’d want to know who he was, and try to pinpoint the call, and—

She opened her eyes, and Travis nearly yelped in surprise. And then he did yelp as the knife struck his chest.

The tawny wolf leaped backward and landed several feet away, growling and baring its teeth. A sudden flurry of pine needles and dead leaves flew up from the forest floor, forming a whirling vortex around the snarling creature. Seconds later, the plant debris fell back to the ground, accompanied by a scattering of tiny blue sparks that winked out as they struck the earth. The wolf was gone. Travis stood in his human form, a small knife protruding from his sternum.

“What the fucking hell was that for?” he shouted as he grabbed the hilt and yanked. Then yanked harder since the damn blade was wedged in the bone. “Ow, dammit!” He pressed the pad of his thumb hard against the hole in the front of his favorite T-shirt to stop the bleeding as he regarded her with narrowed eyes. She could have stabbed him in worse places, he supposed glumly. He threw the knife into the forest and most of his anger with it, then approached her cautiously and knelt beside her. “Got any more surprises on you?”

She was terrified but defiant, and Travis was reminded of an animal gone to ground, backed into a corner with no chance of escape, yet determined to battle on. “I wish I did,” she spat out, her voice raspy. “I’d kill you. I’d kill me . You’re not taking me back.”

Right. In that case, Travis was almost glad that she had stabbed him—at least he’d gotten the weapon away from her. What if she’d chosen to do herself in first? He couldn’t have reacted fast enough to stop her. But why the hell was she so damn determined to die? And what was so terrible that she felt she had to jump off a damn cliff to escape it? Of course, she couldn’t be in her right mind at the moment, not after that landing. He’d just shape-shifted right in front of her, and she hadn’t turned a hair.

“You’re in shock,” he said. “And you’re hurt.” Nothing like stating the obvious, but maybe she didn’t realize how bad off she was. He could see from here that her left leg was broken. Her left arm was broken, too. And she was bleeding from scrapes and gashes in a dozen places that he could see and goddess knew how many places he couldn’t. “You’re not going anywhere but a hospital.”

He ignored her protests as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, thankful anew for that little Changeling quirk that allowed him to retain his clothes and everything that was within his aura each time he shifted. Christ, if life was like the movies, he’d end up naked and penniless every damn time he ran as a wolf. No wonder Hollywood werewolves were insane with rage. Probably pissed off at the sheer inconvenience of their lives.

Travis dialed 911 on just two bars—it was amazing he had any at all—and thanked all the stars when someone answered. He spelled out the location, described the woman’s injuries.

“What happened to her?” asked the dispatcher.

He considered revealing exactly how she’d gotten her injuries; he really did. Then after Search and Rescue delivered her to a hospital and she was treated, she’d be held for seventy-two hours in a psych ward to protect her from herself. But it didn’t feel right. Maybe his inner wolf was repelled by the thought of the woman being locked up, or maybe his human side was just getting soft in the head, but Travis heard himself say, “She fell out of a tree.”

When he was asked for his name, he gave the one that the phone was registered to. No one would know until much, much later that it didn’t belong to him.

“Please stay on the line until the crew arrives,” said the dispatcher.

“No problem,” he said. He didn’t plan to hang around, though. Instead, he positioned the phone on top of the stump, where it glowed like a beacon—the rescuers would be able to zero in on the cell’s location. “There,” he said to the injured woman. “Help is on its way.”

“I don’t want help,” she hissed.

“You’re welcome.” The flippant remark fell flat as he looked at her drawn face. A strange greenish light shone momentarily in the depths of her big dark eyes. What the hell? He inhaled sharply, but her scent hadn’t changed. Human.

In his whole long life, he’d only seen that flash of green in the eyes of one other creature—a Changeling like himself. The glow vanished as fast as it had appeared, however, leaving her eyes as human as before. Apparently he was imagining things, likely because he was spooked by the whole situation. He was no medic. He knew enough not to move the injured woman and that was about it. He had no supplies, no equipment. And if he did, where the hell would he start? Best to leave it to the pros. In fact, he’d done his good deed for the year, so he should probably just leave, right?

Wrong. She was pale and her teeth had started to chatter. He understood that shock was dangerous, but how did he treat it? Warmth? That sounded right, she needed to be kept warm . She needed blankets, lots of them. The only things at hand were pine boughs, however—and how helpful would that be? His inner wolf whined softly, urging a different course of action. No. He’d already done plenty, and nothing good ever came of getting too cozy with humans. No way.

Unable to come up with another solution, Travis sighed and resumed his wolfen form. This time, though, he was careful to approach her from the left. Her good hand, the one she’d stabbed him with, was her right. Even if she came up with another weapon, it was unlikely she’d be able to reach across her battered body.