Three men invade Janet's cabin and a terrible secret is revealed. While Janet discovers her heritage is greater than she ever imagined, sinister forces promise to disrupt the idyllic world of Janet, Charles and everyone they care about.
That evening was the beginning of the full moon cycle for her, and Janet decided to let nature take over for a change. Charles had business in town that kept him late, so she shifted and padded out the door of the cabin alone, on high alert for the wolf hunters.
So as to not draw attention, Blue Eyes walked stealthily. She didn't mind being stealthy; her senses were more alert and the moonlight filtering through the trees gave her ideas she could eventually turn into paintings.
As she neared her ledge she stopped and tensed. Hair stood up on her back and her body tingled with danger. She sniffed the air - humans, and Charles wasn't among them. With extra caution she turned around and headed back to the cabin, but the scent got stronger, even though it came from behind her. The roar of engines pierced the night. They seemed to be aware of her presence and were tracking her.
Blue Eyes picked up her pace to a trot and headed away from the cabin, intending to circle around. She planned to shift on the track leading up from the main road and the wolf scent would disappear, or so she thought.
The crack of a rifle shot was accompanied by the splintering of a branch only feet away. To hell with the plan, she took off running, zigging and zagging to prevent the hunters from getting a bead on her. Still, there were two more shots, although neither came close. There was no time to shift outside. She circled the cabin around the west side and darted in the door, nosing it closed behind her as four wheeler engines sounded near her jeep.
Blue Eyes stood panting until she heard the engines stop and voices coming closer, obviously on the run. She dashed into the bedroom and shifted, managing to pull on clothes just as footsteps sounded on the porch. Shit, she thought, her rifle was propped near the door. Her holstered pistol was hanging on a peg near the door also, and her shotgun was in the Jeep.
There was no knock. The door was thrown open. The three men she had chased away earlier in the month strode in and one pointed to the wolf painting. "Looka there. She's seen that wolf close up. Must be mighty friendly with it."
Another said "Search the place. The wolf came in here, I can smell it."
Janet appeared in the bedroom doorway. "You men get out of my house. Now!"
"Or else? Whatcha gonna do this time, little lady? Looks like your guns are out here tonight."
The one she recognized as Will looked hard at her and said "I think we need to have a little talk."
"We have nothing to talk about, except you leaving."
Will grinned. "Oh, I think we do have something to talk about. Come on out here and we can all have a little chat. Of course, we'll hold your firearms for ya. Wouldn't want anything to happen to them."
"I am not coming out there, and you are going to leave. NOW!"
"We ain't leavin' 'til we are satisfied, right fellas?"
The two others nodded and all three headed towards the bedroom. Janet slammed the door shut, but Will shoved it open before she could lock it.
She could smell liquor on Jason's breath as he faced her. "That's not very hospitable now, is it?"
Janet aimed a kick at Will, but he caught her foot and pushed it up, toppling her backwards onto the bed. Jason and Will pinned her down as Ray ripped her clothes off.
"My, my. Tiny little titties." He grabbed her breasts and squeezed them roughly. "Pussy looks good enough, though." Janet watched with horrified eyes as Ray undressed slowly. "Ever see a REAL man, girlie."
"Yes, and you're not him."
That enraged Ray and he forced her legs up and shoved into her. "How ya like that? I think we'll all take turns and rate you as a fuck." Will and Jason took turns pinning her arms while Ray held her legs, each undressing to prepare for his turn.
Even as Ray started to thrust Janet narrowed her eyes. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Yeah, I guess not. I think you need to be fucked harder." Will and Jason squeezed her breasts hard and Ray thrust harder and faster.
Janet went still and closed her eyes, hoping she had enough mastery to overcome what was happening to her. She felt a momentary pain, but the shift was quick. Ray found himself bent over a wolf, and claws raked his chest. He staggered backwards out of the room and looked down, horrified, to see blood on his chest. The wolf snarled as she leaped at Jason. She could have ripped his throat open, but grabbed his right arm with powerful jaws instead. With a sharp twist of her head, she snapped his arm and he shrieked in pain. With a shake of her head she tossed Jason into Will.
Will staggered backwards but managed to shove Jason out of the room. "Ha! I suspected as much. Let's you an' me have a tussle, wolfie." Before her eyes Will shifted into the big cat. The cat gathered to jump, but she was faster, and this time she went for the throat. A powerful paw with sharp claws ripped her side open. There was pain, but she was still faster than the cat, darting around behind it, grabbing the back of the neck and tearing flesh open. The cat snarled in pain and whirled around, but Blue Eyes wouldn't let go. She held onto the torn flesh, even as more flesh ripped open, managing to remain just out of reach of the claws.
In the meantime Ray recovered enough to reach for his rifle and Blue Eyes had a decision to make - let go of the cat or get shot. While a bullet couldn't kill her it could do damage that would take time to heal and give the cat an advantage.
Just as Ray reached the weapon her decision was made for her as a bedroom window shattered and a huge wolf hurtled into the room. In a single bound Fang leaped across the bed and out the bedroom door, snatching the rifle from Ray's grasp. He broke the stock with his powerful jaws. Ray put up his arms for protection as Fang used the shattered weapon to batter him before tossing the damaged weapon through a front window, shattering the glass.
Blue Eyes began to lose grip as more flesh ripped open. The cat, screeching in pain, flung her off, but Fang knocked him over and tore at his throat. Blue Eyes regained her feet and backed Ray against the wall and he put his hands up in surrender. "Don't hurt me! I swear to God I won't do anything if you leave me alone."
Blue eyes looked at Ray's bleeding chest, snarled at Jason and Ray, and turned to renew her attack on the cat. The cat got in one more swipe at Blue Eyes before Fang squeezed the life out of it, and it crumpled to the floor motionless with blood gushing from its throat.
Fang and Blue Eyes whirled together and growled as they approached Jason and Ray, cowering in the corner near the fireplace. Fang shifted into Charles and ran into the yard, leaving Blue Eyes to keep the men in place, and returned with the axe Janet used to split wood. With a single stroke he severed the head of the cat before he relaxed and tossed the axe aside.
Blue eyes felt woozy due to loss of blood from her wounds and began to sway. Charles lifted her and laid her on the bed, stroking her head. "Come on, Blue Eyes. Heal! Dammit, heal!" She closed her eyes and slipped into a dream-like state, imagining herself as a little girl. Charles felt the first quivers of her beginning to shift. "Blue eyes! Listen to me. You're a wolf. You're a wolf. You're my wolf!"
Ray and Jason sat motionless watching, wide eyed, as Charles raced into the bathroom and emerged with towels to use to stop the bleeding. "Blue eyes! My wolf! Hear me!"
Her eyes opened. "That's my girl. That's my wolf. Stay awake, please stay awake."
Ray and Jason trembled as they watched the gashes on the side of the wolf gradually disappear, until Blue Eyes stood up on the bed and shook, somewhat unsteadily.
Charles strode over to the two cowering men, towering over them. "Nothing happened here tonight, understood?"
Jason whined "My arm is broken, and he's...all scratched up. What...what happened to Will?"
Suddenly sober, Ray said "You dumbass. Will was like them. Will was the cat we've seen prowling around. We've never seen the cat when Will was with us."
Blue Eyes shifted back to Janet and walked over. "You've never seen a wolf bothering anything of yours, have you?"
The two men shook their heads.
"And you never will. We don't hunt livestock. We know what that means to farmers. Maybe we'll hunt a wild rabbit from time to time..."
Charles interrupted and looked over at her "We will?"
"Okay, some of us may hunt a rabbit or squirrel from time to time, but NEVER anything on private property. We have plenty to eat in our kitchens and at restaurants. We don't need livestock. If we see a real wolf, we keep an eye on it and warn it away or report it to the rangers."
"No real wolf is a match for either of us. We're bigger, faster, stronger and smarter."
Janet took Jason's arm and observed the bite marks. "Sorry about this." She looked directly at his eyes. "I could easily have killed you, you know."
Jason gulped.
"But we're not killers...except for that evil thing on the floor that will never bother anyone again. That's what has been raiding your farms. Now, let's see if we can get this arm splinted and clean up those other injuries."
It only then occurred to Jason and Ray that they were all naked except for some shreds of shirt that remained on Charles. Janet shrugged and went to work on the injuries while Charles disposed of the cat, dragging the body outside and burying the body and head separately. When Jason and Ray were tended to and bandaged the two dressed and prepared to leave. Ray said "I'm really sorry for what I did to you, Janet. I'm so ashamed. Please don't tell my wife. She would kill me."
"I'm sure you got swept up in the moment. I sensed that Will was something other than what he pretended to be. I don't sense evil in either of you two."
"You can sense that?"
"It comes with the territory. Look, neither Charles nor I chose to be what we are. But I know that lycans get a bad rap because of some bad literature. We're not monsters; at least most of us are not like that cat. We just want to be left alone."
"You got it. Nobody would believe us even if we did tell about what happened here. But why did you have to chop off his head like that?"
"I couldn't chance that he wasn't really dead and could heal up enough to shift back into Will and cause more mischief. He had to be ended."
"I guess we all thought there was something off about Will. He didn't have a family, lived alone, and he was just so...strange. It was like he had some sort of, I don't know...hypnotic hold on us,"
"That was obvious. He's ended now."
