Chapter 2 Fangs In The Moonlight

• Cold rain pelted the ground in a steady, icy downpour, fat droplets lashing against the bare tree branches surrounding the clearing. Olivia huddled beneath the scant overhang of a gnarled oak, shivering as she pulled her soaked cloak tighter in a vain attempt to stave off the chill.
• She didn't dare light a fire - not after what she'd witnessed stalking through these cursed woods just nights ago. The mere memory of those feral, lupine eyes glowing beneath the full moon made her shudder harder than the biting wind ever could.
• Wrapping her arms around her knees, she fought against the rising swell of panic that bubbled up every time flashes of that harrowing night in the forest resurfaced. The growls and snapping fangs, the brutal fury of ripping claws, the excruciating pain of...whatever had happened when that enormous wolf bit her...
• Reaching up, Olivia tentatively touched the raised welt just below her jawline. It hadn't scabbed over fully yet, the angry red grooves inflamed and tender. Whatever wound she'd sustained hadn't been deep enough to scar, yet the fevered throbbing she felt pulsing through it made her uneasy.
• Chalking it up to the anxieties weighing on her mind, she focused on regulating her rapid breathing to quell the rising current of panic lapping at her wits. Inhaling deeply, she tried to force herself to remain grounded in the present. Right now, she was alive - battered and shaken, but miraculously alive after her terrifying brush with...whatever that creature had been.
• Had she fallen prey to the hallucinations of an exhausted mind giving shape to her deepest, most primal fears given form? Or had she truly borne witness to some ancient, mystical beast lurking in the forbidden woods behind her village's borders?
• The anguished, soul-rending howl echoing through the night's deluge was suddenly the only shred of reality that made sense. Her grip on reason was slipping through her trembling fingers like grains of mist as every tick of falling rain intensified the oppressive silence suffocating the forest.
• A twig snapped somewhere behind her.
• Olivia went rigid, her breath catching in her throat as the sound of something large crashing through the thicket rapidly grew nearer. Scrambling deeper into the shadows, she crouched against the weathered bark, heart hammering a staccato rhythm against her rib cage.
• Through the curtain of rain, a pair of fiery amber orbs appeared in the darkness, growing larger and brighter as their owner approached. Olivia stifled a whimper as the feral gleam of fangs emerged, clenched in a snout lowered to the ground as if tracking her scent.
• Her breath hitched as the creature prowled into the moonlit clearing, its sleek frame revealed to be that of a sizable wolf with matted, charcoal fur plastered to its muscular shoulders by the downpour. As it stalked into the open, steam rose in wisps off its hulking body, lending an otherworldly aura to the predator's presence.
• Olivia remained deathly still, willing her pounding heart to stop thundering in her ears lest it give away her hiding spot. But she couldn't tear her gaze away from the wolf as it lifted its great head, sniffing the air in her direction. Saliva dripped from its lolling jaws, and its lips slowly curled back in a grotesque snarl as it caught her scent amidst the rainfall, revealing rows of razor-sharp fangs.
• Uncoiling its haunches, the beast oriented on Olivia's tree, unhurried yet with the unmistakable menace of an impending strike. Its piercing amber eyes locked onto the shadows where she cowered - as if somehow aware of her exact location despite the cover of darkness.
• With a bellowing howl that seared the night's silence like a banshee's shriek, the wolf sprung forward in a sudden blur of charcoal fur and gnashing ivory. Olivia squeezed her eyes shut just as the predator's jaws gaped wide mere feet from where she crouched, ready to close with bone-crushing force--
• The resounding crack of impact split the air as a thunderous force slammed into the leaping wolf from the side, the two juggernauts skidding across the rain-swept earth in a whirlwind of yelps and snapping teeth.
• Olivia's eyes flew open to the sight of another wolfish shape that easily dwarfed the first, this one sporting an ashen coat with bristled hackles and glinting fangs the length of daggers. Its jaws clenched around the attacker's throat as they grappled in a lethal tangle of slashing claws and gnashing jowls.
• Together with the hiss of the rain, the sounds of their ferocious struggle formed a discordant chorus of primordial chaos. In a wild dash solely motivated by fear, Olivia jumped out of the alcove and dashed toward the trees. Her breaths seared her lungs in ragged gasps as she careened into the forest, branches whipping at her face and stinging her eyes.
• She was vaguely aware of the night fracturing with a hollow, reverberating snarl before the world around her exploded with a deafening boom that pulsed against her back with physical force.
• The gale-like blast of searing heat slammed Olivia face-first into the mud, her vision whiting out as what felt like a flung boulder smashed into her shoulder blades. Her ears rung with a high-pitched keen as her cheek pressed against the damp loam, stars flickering in her periphery.
• When the ringing faded enough for her to make out the low, gravelly rumble nearby, Olivia slowly tilted her head to find the source of the noise - and froze at the sight emerging from the shadows before her.
• The wolf - the massive, soot-furred behemoth that had rescued her from the first creature's attack - was rising to its hind legs, spine contorting in a series of stomach-churning cracks and pops. With each labored movement, its lupine framework seemed to shift and dislocate as Olivia watched with horrified fascination, elongated muscles and bones distending beneath the bristled pelt.
• Spine unnaturally straightening in a parody of a human's upright stance, the creature threw its monstrous head back, unleashing a bone-rattling roar that reverberated through Olivia's core like the peal of some ancient, eldritch bell. She flinched, squeezing her eyes shut as waves of searing heat buffeted her face, rippling off the lycanthrope's thrashing form in stifling pulses.
• When she dared to reopen them, pupils blown wide in shock, the sight awaiting her made Olivia's breath seize in her lungs.
• Where once the gigantic wolf had stood, now towered a man - not a normal man, but rather the unmistakable vision of sublime masculinity rendered in flesh and blood.
• He loomed over her in all his magnificent, naked glory, the broad columns of his muscled chest and abdominals carving exquisitely defined grooves gilded by the moon's pale luminance. The contoured slopes of his strapping arms, dusted with a sheen of rain and flickering shadows, tensed as if ready to unleash another devastating show of preternatural power.
• Olivia was spellbound as she traced the sinewy cords of his abdomen down to the impressive masculinity emerging from the thatch of dark curls between his thighs, a sight that sent tendrils of forbidden heat coiling through her core despite her shock - feelings she hastily suppressed and scolded herself for indulging.
• She tore her wide-eyed gaze upwards, feeling naked and exposed in an entirely different way as she took in the ruggedly hewn features of his face - the sharp jawline clenched with lupine ferocity, the pronounced brow and cheekbones emphasizing his savage beauty, and the timeless eyes that smoldered down at her with inhuman intensity.
• As she gazed entranced into their azure depths, Olivia saw them flare with unconstrained savagery - the ancient, primal spirit of the wolf they'd harbored mere moments ago still simmering perilously beneath the surface.
• The sight sent a shockwave of visceral terror through her veins, piercing through the heart-fluttering haze those eyes had hypnotized her with. Mouth agape, she drew back while the werewolf slowly descended into a defensive crouch, his aura of primal dominance saturating the air with an electric charge.
• As she stared up at the wolfish demigod towering over her prone form, Olivia's mind whirled with a torrent of unanswered questions and deeply buried yearnings abruptly awakened by his presence. Just when her jumbled thoughts began reordering into coherency, the werewolf's feral eyes flicked over her shoulder toward the forest.
• His lips peeled back in a snarl as another bone-chilling howl pierced the night - this one unmistakably closer than before. A low, reverberating growl rumbled from the werewolf's chest as he swung his imposing bulk around to face whatever fresh threat encroached from the darkness.
• With the swift inevitability of the moon's wane, Olivia realized her harrowing night of soul-shaking revelations had only just begun.