Free The Alpha's Desire 5 by Willow Brooks

without so much as a second thought. He ran and I ran, it seemed as simple as that as something inside me trembled to catch him.
     
    By the time he got to the tree line, I’d jumped forward, pushing my muscles to their limits to position myself just in front of him enough to force him into a complete stop. I made him stumble as I gained more ground, blocking his way entirely. We did a dance like this, my moving, him retreating, as I kept him trapped just by engaging with him consistently so that he could no longer run away without my jumping onto him in full attack mode. Thoughts didn’t run through my mind, I just acted, each movement of my legs, each snarl, instinctual.
     
    When he turned, made a sudden move as if to flee, I leaped onto his body, and my teeth sunk into his neck. The grisly crunch of hide being punctured by my teeth sent a faint shudder trickling down over my spine, giving me a chill even as warm blood filled my mouth. While the part of my brain still human sat silent in shock, my head shook until the snap of bone rang out in my ears. The blood tasted different than human blood, though I only had biting my lip and raw meat to compare to the flood of liquid now in my mouth. A sudden pulse, shooting another wave of it into my mouth made me drop him as the human in me began to gag if that was even possible. It was much more a mental reaction, not physical, but I slowly backed away from the body regardless.
     
    Two steps back, and I stopped dead in my tracks, watching the motionless body of a wolf transforming back into a man whose head laid now at an odd angle to his body. I’d broken his spine in one shake of my head. The whole idea of it, all of the ramifications, settled in. The emotions waging war within me were not all my own, but at this moment, I’d no ability to decipher them. Pride and victory lingered over shock and disgust only to war with sadness and celebration.
     
    Shaking, I let my hind legs crumble under me, taking me to a sitting position before I laid my belly on the ground, my head on my front paws by my victim. Looking back over my shoulder, the other vampires and wolves with me had animalistic grins on their faces. Well, as far as the wolves went, their mouths were open, with the sides of their mouths wrinkled up in what I’d come to know as a grin. On the other hand, both Lex and Nira had tense looks of concern on their faces. Both of their eyes had darkened as their mouths tensed into flat lines, both human and wolf.
     
    A sudden bout of shame went through me like a hot flash from head to toe born of whatever blade had just sliced through my core. I lowered my head, looking only at my front paws rather than back at the dead body, worse somehow looking like a broken, frail man now. The red splatters on my brown fur turned even my wolf stomach suddenly. Taking off, not knowing what else to do, I raced back to the spot where we’d left our clothes balled up high in a tree.
     
    I made a quick change back into my clothes, the night air even of summer making me cold, trembling, as tears wet my eyes. I couldn’t place an emotion on the raw ache in my chest, beyond guilt, something like sadness, with some sort of self-loathing mixed in. The last I’d known all too well at one point in my life being a big-boned woman, as the cruel boys liked to joke in high school, believing themselves somehow politically correct in their cruelness.
     
    As the odd memory passed through my mind, I attempted to hold onto it, to step away from the memory of my killing a wolf, a man, just moments before. I needed a break from the image of flesh, bone, muscle and blood torn open at my feet. It didn’t stick though. I couldn’t maintain the distraction; instead I latched onto the word cruel. I wanted to blame my wolf, claim it instinct, but it didn’t feel right, or even justified. Maybe to some degree, but not entirely.
     
    I’d held guilt over not killing the man before now, taking every number of