Growl for Me: BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance (2 page)

She was now on her own.

The wolf howled again. It
sounded nearer this time. Mina jumped in her seat and swallowed.
Another howl sounded to her left, and immediately there was an
answering howl on her right. She glanced into the dark woods looming
up from either side of the road and saw glowing eyes in the shadows.

Wolves? Wild beasts?
Monsters?

Mina gulped loudly. Her mom
had said that wild and wonderful things were coming her way. Her mom
was only half right.

From the sound of it, wild
things were coming for her all right.

Mina had no doubt that
whatever these things were, they were wild, savage and deadly. They
were wild, but they weren't wonderful. Not at all.

Mina shrieked when she
glanced in her rear view mirror and saw a huge black shape slink out
of the woods and dart across the road behind her car. What was it?
A bear? A big wolf? A figment of her imagination?

Mina cut her eyes to the
mirror again, but this time she saw nothing but a ribbon of empty
road behind her. Trying not to hyperventilate, Mina kept her foot on
the pedal and urged her little car to go faster along the dark,
deserted road.

She shook her head. She was
sure she had seen that big, black shape. Just a few minutes ago, she
had been worrying about being alone on this long, lonely stretch of
highway when night fell. But now, she rather wished that she was
utterly alone.

Clearly, she wasn't alone
anymore.

The woods on either side of
the road was alive with movement and the sounds of snarling, wild
beasts. Through the shadowy trees, Mina could see eyes, pale,
glowing eyes following her as she rattled along at top speed. Top
speed for her car being fifty miles per hour.

Mina's wide eyes darted from
side to side, watching those terrifying eyes watch her. She saw
lightning quick movement between the trees and saw those glowing eyes
blur into streaks of light. With a panicked cry, she realized that
the beasts were running through the woods, and they were moving as
fast as, or even faster than her car.

A chorus of howls echoed
through the chilly air, and Mina fought to keep her shaking hands
steady on the steering wheel. She had to go faster. If those beasts
overtook her car and burst from the trees onto the road, they would
effectively block off her escape. They would surround her, and smash
through the windows to get at her. She couldn't let them outrun her.
She had to outdrive them.

“Come on, come on,”
she urged her car. “Faster, faster, faster!” With a
painful gulp, she floored the pedal. “You can do it. You have
to do it,” she whispered. She had never driven her car this
hard before. The engine whined in protest and sputtered, obviously
struggling with the taxing demand.

The needle slowly inched up
from fifty to fifty-one miles per hour on her speedometer. Mina
didn't ease back. She couldn't. The beasts were gaining on her.
Some were already ahead of her. She could see their eyes glittering
as they flew through the shadows. There was a lone spine-chilling
howl and this time, it sounded too near, too close for comfort. It
was as if the beast was just beside her car.

Mina pushed her car to go
faster. She was now going at fifty-three miles per hour, and her car
was rattling and jerking more than usual. The engine was making
ominous clanking and hissing sounds, warning her that it couldn't
take much more of this abuse. But she couldn't afford to take her
foot off the pedal. She saw the eyes glow brighter as they moved
between the trees, coming closer and closer to the edge of the woods.
In her rear view mirror, she saw an enormous shadow emerge from the
woods and step onto the road.

With a sharp gasp, she
straightened her car just in time. It looked like a wolf with
yellow, glowing eyes, and it was huge. It looked much too big to be
a wolf, but...what else could it be?

Mina shook her head to
clear it. She had never seen a wolf that big before. Maybe it was
just a trick of the shadows. The shifting, slithering shadows made
something look bigger and scarier than it really was.

Her car was now rattling
noisily along at fifty-five miles per hour. Mina should have paid
heed to the loud ticking and clanging sounds coming from the engine,
but her blood was pounding too loudly in her ears. She just kept
seeing those eerie, glowing eyes all around her, blinking and
reappearing between the trees.

“Please...just let me
get to Misty Valley in one piece...”
And not in pieces.

Mina sat forward stiffly in
her seat, staring into the fog. The fog seemed to have crept out of
the trees and thickened considerably, making it impossible to see the
road up ahead. Mina sniffed the air, frowning. Did she
smell...smoke? Smoke? And was that smoke coming from under the hood
of her car?

Her eyes widened in alarm
and disbelief. “Oh no, please...no, not now!” she
wailed.

Slowly easing her foot off
the accelerator, she watched her little car wheeze out more smoke
from the engine. Her car was still chugging along, but she knew it
was just a matter of time. It was on its last legs now. She heard
the death rattle as her poor car coughed out another cloud of smoke.
With a tired sigh, the small green car shuddered and breathed its
last sooty breath. Then it died.

For an instant, Mina sat
frozen in shock and fright. Then she spun round and locked all her
doors. She sat unmoving in the driver's seat, unable to pry her
fingers from the steering wheel. She stared unblinkingly through the
windscreen, feeling her heart hammer in her chest.

The fog had wrapped all
around her car, so she could see nothing but swirling gray outside
her windows. But she knew that it wasn't just fog that surrounded
her car. She could hear low growls and soft footfalls all around
her. She was effectively caged in, trapped in a dead car, waiting,
just waiting...

A trickle of cold sweat slid
down between her breasts. Her eyes flew to her phone on the
passenger seat, but she didn't dare reach for it. Any movement, any
sound she made, might just provoke an attack. Mina didn't even dare
breathe.

One of her car's headlamps
was still on. The light was flickering and dimming rapidly, and she
knew she would soon be left in complete and utter darkness. A shadow
passed in front of the light, and Mina jumped. The figure advanced
slowly, confidently until it stood right in front of the car. Mina
stared into the yellowish eyes of a large, red wolf. The wolf put
one massive paw on the smoking hood of her car and the car dipped
forward. Mina had to stuff her fist into her mouth to stifle a
scream. If that gigantic wolf sat on her car, it would crush the
flimsy tin can into a pulp.

More yellow eyes emerged
from the fog. She saw more red wolves prowling silently in the fog,
closing in on her. Their coppery red fur brushed against her windows
as they circled her car. They growled as they paced impatiently, and
Mina wondered briefly why they hadn't attacked. What were they
waiting for?

Very slowly, Mina turned to
face the large wolf standing on the collapsed hood of her car.
Frozen in terror, she could only stare at it as the wolf watched her
through her windscreen. It was staring straight into her eyes,
almost nose to nose with her. Only a sheet of glass separated them.

Mina stared into those
glowing eyes, and willed herself not to show fear. Animals,
especially predators, could smell fear, and they were quick to pounce
on any weakness. She had to look braver and stronger than she felt.
Mina sensed that this big wolf was the leader of the pack, and the
other wolves were waiting for the command or signal to attack.

As she glared at the wolf,
she sensed that the wolf wasn't just waiting for the chance to smash
through the glass and seize her by the neck. There was something in
its eyes. The eyes held cunning and cruelty.

And she knew. She knew that
these weren't just ordinary wolves. Animals only killed when they
needed to feed. And they killed their prey swiftly. They didn't
take pleasure and pride in torturing and terrorizing their prey.

Very slowly, Mina slid her
hand under her seat. Eva had given her a gun, a gun that was loaded
with silver bullets.

Eva was right. The weres in
the wild were different from the weres living in the city. The weres
in New Moon City were easily recognized as shifters, even in their
animal forms. Their eyes, their mannerisms and habits were less
feral, more human, more gentle. City living had tamed their beasts
somewhat, made them more civilized, less savage. But outside the
city, that was where the wild things were. Shifters outside New Moon
City lived close to nature, and let their beasts out more often,
without inhibition. There was nothing civilized or genteel about
them. They were animals, wild, dangerous, savage. They possessed
beastly speed and strength, and human cunning and callousness.

She was staring into the
eyes of a monster. A werewolf with violent, sadistic eyes.

Mina knew she had to lodge a
silver bullet into the head or heart of a werewolf to kill it. Eva
had taught her well. Mina tried to still her breathing. Her aim had
to be dead accurate. Killing one of the many wolves surrounding her
car wouldn't make a difference. She had to kill the Alpha of the
pack. And the Alpha was right in front of her.

She kept her gaze steady,
but something must have shifted in her eyes. The wolf opened its
mouth, revealing sharp, glinting fangs. Mina's fingers closed around
the gun under her seat and she froze.
It knows that I know
,
she realized. The wolf chuffed, and it sounded like a derisive
laugh. Mina slid the gun further out. One shot, that's all she had,
before those powerful jaws smashed through the glass and clamped
round her throat.

The wolf's eyes flashed and
glowed brighter as it stared at her moving throat. At the same
instant that Mina whipped out her gun and fired, the wolf unsheathed
its lethal claws and punched through the windscreen.

Glass splinters rained down
on Mina, and she had to raise her arms to shield her face and eyes.

Their Alpha's charge was the
signal to attack. The wolves immediately swarmed her car, and Mina
heard the sound of glass breaking and metal screeching and groaning
as her car crumpled under their assault.

Mina was aware that her gun
was still in her hand and she fired blindly. They were going to tear
her from limb to limb, so she figured she'd better squeeze off a few
shots while her arm was still attached to her body. Hopefully, she
could take a few of her killers down with her.

She fired again and again,
seeing nothing but red fur and slashing claws in front of her. She
cried out when she felt a sharp claw drag down her forearm. Her hand
shook and she could feel blood oozing down her arm but still she kept
her finger on the trigger.

Forcing her eyes open, she
saw that large Alpha wolf crouching in front of the broken
windscreen, preparing to pounce. Mina was still strapped to the
driver's seat, and she fumbled frantically with the seat belt, trying
to free herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a sudden
movement, and before she could get out of the way, a wolf with
brownish-red fur and hazel eyes barreled into her. She screamed as
the wolf snapped its jaws inches from her throat. She waited, but
she never felt teeth and fangs tearing into her skin. She opened her
eyes a crack, and realized that the wolf was just snarling, growling,
making all kinds of intimidating noises while
pretending
to
bite her.

She blinked into those hazel
eyes, and saw the wolf give her a small, sharp nod.
Play along.

Mina nodded back quickly,
and opened her mouth to let out a blood-curdling scream. She smeared
the blood from her bleeding arm all over her face and neck as she
flailed wildly, screaming, sobbing and begging as though she were in
excruciating agony.

She wondered how long the
wolf could keep up the pretense before the Alpha caught on. Clearly,
this hazel-eyed wolf was not on board with his Alpha's plan to
brutalize a helpless, harmless human woman who was traveling quietly
along a deserted highway and just minding her own business.

Her scream sounded hoarse
and weak to her own ears. She turned to meet the wolf's narrowed
hazel eyes before he lunged at her.

Instinctively, she fired a
shot.

And then everything
became...white. Not blood red, as she'd expected. But white.

Pure, pristine, snowy white.

Angel wings?
Mina
thought dazedly.

But
f
urry
angel
wings? Who would've thought.

Mina shrank back as white
fur swept across her vision. She scrambled out of the way of
snapping teeth and swiping claws, and huddled behind the driver's
seat. Her gun was still in her hand, but she had run out of silver
bullets.

She raised her head just in
time to see a magnificent white wolf close its jaws around the neck
of a smaller red wolf. There was a sickening crack, and the white
wolf dragged the dead wolf out through the back window of her car.
Mina met the eyes of the white wolf, and did a double take. Did the
wolf just...wink at her?