Free Wolf Hiding (A Wolf in the Land of the Dead Book 2) by Toni Boughton

open, and the wolf heard the voice of the male with light fur calling out. The strange male hesitated, and then he turned and ran off into the night. The wolf followed.
    The human ran down the dark highway, led by his light. He slowed as he approached a metal box car it’s a car you know that and slumped against its side. The human looked back in the direction he had come from, but the wolf was whispering through the grassy verge, invisible. She swung wide and approached the human from behind.
    As with the other one she grabbed the male by the leg and dragged him down. His screams flooded her ears, and somehow he managed to twist around and hit the wolf on her head. Startled, her grip loosened and the human rose to his knees. The wolf snarled and lunged. She sank her teeth into the flesh of his back and yanked. The human’s body fell toward her. She heard the sharp crack of bone as his legs broke.
    The wolf watched as the male screamed and thrashed. Enough. Death in the wild was as quick and painless as she could make it. Enough. She killed to eat, and so there was no purpose served in making the prey linger in pain and helplessness. Enough! But this human had hurt her, had threatened her, and she felt a strange and rare desire to keep him in agony - ENOUGH! End it! The wolf angrily shook her head but did as the other commanded.
    She ran back to the motel as fast as the pain blazing along her side would let her. The body of the other human lay in the parking lot. The male with the light-colored fur Anton stood over it, his flashlight a yellow beacon in the dark. He’s alone. The wolf trotted across the pavement to the dead human. The male shone the light at her and took a startled step back. “Nowen?” he whispered.
    The wolf gave him one spare amber glance. She latched onto the pant leg of the dead human and began to drag the body across the parking lot. Behind the male the door to his room opened, and the female with fur like aspen leaves called out. By the time Anton had looked over his shoulder and then back again to the wolf, she had dragged the body into the tall grass behind the office.
    The wolf left the dead human and paced slowly back to the far end of the motel. She stopped below the open window and gave the night a last, longing look. Then the other was forcing her back into the cage and grudgingly the wolf went.
    Nowen pulled her shirt back on, running a hand down her side as she did. The wound from the gunshot was healed. She heaved herself onto the windowsill and then paused, examining the interior of the room. Sage, somehow, seemed to have slept through everything. Nowen climbed into the room and replaced the window screen.
    She had no more than hit the mattress when there came a banging on the door. Wearily she rose and crossed to the door, opening it just a sliver to reveal Anton’s worried face. “Yes?’ she said.
    “Uh, is everything ok?”
    “Yes. Why wouldn’t it be?”
    Suzannah appeared behind his shoulder. Even without the wolf’s senses Nowen could tell that the redheaded woman was upset. Very upset. I wonder why.
    “I heard - or thought I heard - gunshots.” Anton’s ash-grey eyes were asking her a question.
    “I didn’t hear anything. But noises carry...if they were gunshots, they might have come from miles away.” She lowered her voice. “I don’t think there’s anything else to worry about tonight.”
    Anton hesitated, and then nodded. “Ok. I’ll talk to you in the morning, then.”
    She closed the door as he walked away.
     
    Nowen leaned against the motel wall and waited. She kept one eye on Sage; the girl was standing where the parking lot met the highway, staring back in the direction they had come from. Inside the room next to Nowen she could hear Anton and Suzannah moving around. She looked at the sky; the sun had been up for an hour, and she was ready to hit the road.
    Finally the door opened and Anton stepped out. He held a shotgun in one hand and only glanced at