at Gawron, but only a screech came out of his muzzle. He had no idea what was going on or how, but he wasn’t about to wait around to find out. He dashed for the door, and despite being new to this four-legged body, he knew exactly how to move, as if the instinct was in his blood.
Something heavy landed on the ground after he passed between Gawron’s feet, but he didn’t turn around to see what could have broken his neck. He sped straight for the open gate, his small paws not nearly as prone to sinking into mud as his boots had been.
Gawron shouted something about a shotgun, but Radek was already beyond the fence, hopping through the thick snow so fast he was losing his breath. But all his senses screamed he was still in danger, so he ran forward, through naked bushes, between the trees, far, far away from humans and the foxes he couldn’t save.
He was so much smaller, the distances he saw in front of him seemed so vast, and yet, each of his strides pushed him forward at great speed. He was sure he could outrun not only an old man like Gawron, but any human for that matter. A strange sense of euphoria powered his legs, and despite the growing darkness, he saw the world around him clearly. He sensed every deer in the distance and heard every branch rustling above.
The pillows of snow were no challenge as he jumped from one to the other with ease. He didn’t have a goal. All he knew was that he needed to be as far away from the fox farm as possible.
Something gave a rusty screech, his paw hit metal hidden under the snow, and the world erupted with pain as if a lightning bolt had struck him.
He fell before he even realized he couldn’t escape the sharp teeth of snares trapping him in place. His foot lay at an awkward angle, and he screeched in panic and agony, trying to call for help, but all he could do was howl.
Chapter 6 – Yev
Yev wished he could have told Burian to go fuck himself, but pack law wasn’t on his side. As Dad’s right hand-man, Burian had the authority to tell him how to deal with any situation related to the smuggling business, and it wasn’t as if Yev could hide Radek’s presence forever. If the boy was a tourist, he could have let it go and lie about what happened to him, but a local? As much as it pained Yev, he needed to get that red-haired pawn off the chessboard.
He should have done the deed when the pest came over to tease him earlier, but things had gotten out of hand, and when the boy had been at his most vulnerable—kneeling at Yev’s feet—he couldn’t make himself grab his head and twist it. Not when Radek was pleasuring him, his copper hair like silk in Yev’s hand. So eager to hand himself over.
Prey should always be given a chance, even if a grown werewolf, superior to a human in every way, would never fail at such an uneven hunt. But since Yev had let Radek go, he needed to chase him down again, so he drove to the boy’s family home, stopped the old truck at the riduculously large gate, and rang the bell.
“There is a mailbox to the right, in the bushes,” said a female voice after a longer while.
Damn it. What happened to speaking face to face to one’s neighbor?
He cleared his throat. “Excuse me for coming so late. I’m Yevhen Vovk, the forest ranger. I was wondering if I could speak to Radek by any chance? It’s about last night’s incident,” he said, trying to look professional in the green camo jacket he wore for work.
“Oh? An incident? Of course there was an incident! I knew it,” the woman’s voice raised with each word. “Well, listen to me, Mr. Vovk, I am not responsible for my son’s behavior. As unbelievable as that is, he is a grown man. He’s off to Cracow, and isn’t even staying for Christmas. He probably won’t be back until Easter, but who knows if he’ll even respect that date. I don’t! Maybe he’ll be backpacking in Asia at that point, because who cares to spend time with their sick mother?”
Well, that was too much information.
Also, wow, clearly he wasn’t the only one on whose toes Radek had stepped on today.
But if Radek was gone