Hollow Moon #3: Dawnfall

Chapter 5

Zoey walked out of the Heart, growling. Heather was going to meet with him and other two Elites, but she was late, so he decided to go out and search for her.

-She is on Gray's house. That's for sure. I bet they are making out... that bastard...! I can't believe that I once was friends with that piece of dung...!- he thought about Gray.

He knew that the full moon was shining above his head, but he kept his eyes on front of his nose, staring at the tree trunks. He was very careful in case that there was any pool on the forest's floor.

He spent the whole day on patrols, and the ones that check the boundaries, and Warden and Phantom were with him, and the wolf's insults toward the Lakeers made Zoey's head want to explode of overheat. He did not understand how Phantom was so patient to him.

He stepped on a small rock and cursed it with a snarl. He did not have the mood that night. He finally reached the edge of the forest and erected his ears as he saw how a human Heather and Gray walked out of the boy's house. He could not help feeling a horrible pinch of jealousy that made his heart cry. He hated that feeling with all his heart. He watched every second as they got closer to the forest. They were walking very slowly and talking together. Zoey could not handle it anymore and dropped a few tears. He turned around and walked quickly to anywhere.

-Just accept it! She will never be with you! She prefers him over you!- he thought and dropped more tears. She felt another pinch of that pain, but this time it was bigger. He wanted to cry, to kill Gray, to kill Heather, to kill himself, to be Gray, to die in a horrendous way so that Heather would feel horribly and regret choosing Gray over him. He wished that Heather cheated on him so that he could feel the same pain he was feeling in that exact moment. There were so many feelings at the same time, and they did not make sense at all. He sank his paw into something liquid and looked down. He had arrived at the lagoon. A tear dropped from his eye and made small circular waves as it touched the water. He looked at his face, all wet under his eyes.

Suddenly, something shone on the lagoon. He waited for the waters to calm down and squinted to see what it was. He gasped loudly and moved his head to a side, but it was too late.

That thing that was shining, it was the moon. The clouds stopped covering it, and Zoey saw its reflection. He started feeling sick. He felt how his whole body ached. He snarled and noticed that his pelt color was way darker than normal. He felt his teeth and claws growling larger, and his skin ripping. He snarled again, very loudly and then the pain stopped.

But Zoey felt a desire. To kill and taste blood. And he knew exactly whose blood he wanted to drink.

"What you give is what you get...!" he growled with a very deep voice. His paws were shaking of excitement. He wanted to sink them into soft flesh and hear screams of agony. He started running toward the three houses.

. . .

"And what is it...?" Heather asked Gray after he said that he wanted to tell her something.

"I..." he suddenly stopped as they heard a branch break in the forest. Both of them turned their faces to look at it. There was nothing, so they stared at each other's eyes again.

"So?" she asked gently.

Gray touched gently her cheek, and as soon as he did, they heard another thing in the forest. Someone breathing heavily. Heather squinted at the trees and then noticed Zoey's pelt color. She separated from the boy and sighted.

"Zoey, I know that I'm late, but I kind of wished you gave me my own space..." she told him. Zoey growled and took a step toward them. "Didn't you hear? I'll be at the Heart in a moment, okay? Wait for me there." She said, but Zoey did not react, he just kept walking to them. He stepped outside of the forest darkness and Heather frowned as she saw his very dark pelt color, and that he was bigger than usual. His eyes were of a shiny yellow, not pink, as his eyes were. Heather started getting scared. She looked at him and then at the sky. Her heart started beating faster than ever as she saw the full moon.

"Gray... run." She said and looked at the boy, who was terrified too. She turned around again to Zoey, who opened his jaws and looked at Gray. "RUN!" she yelled. The boy turned around, but almost at the same time Zoey jumped.

Heather transformed just in time and pushed him with her head while he was still in the air. He fell down and growled. Zoey ran to her and bit her biceps very hard. She screamed in pain and bit his cheek, making it bleed. He backed away and she stared at her burning wound. She rose one paw and scratched his side as hard as she could. Zoey fought back clawing to her throat, and Heather was lucky that is just bleed a little bit. She jumped over his body and her weigh made him tumble. She took advantage of that and bit and scratched as much as she could. She really did not want to hurt him, but she had to. They fought for a minute until he finally pinned her down. Both of them were covered in blood. Zoey had deep wounds all around his face and sides, meanwhile Heather was bleeding from her belly, chest and biceps. Zoey growled at her and opened his mouth and showed his teeth.

Then, a shooting sound filled their ears. Zoey fell to a side and Heather finally got up panting. She saw that Gray was standing in front of his house with a riffle on his hands. She saw how Zoey passed next to her as fast as a comet and ran to Gray. He shot again but the werewolf elusive it, and the bullet collided with a tree. Heather ran as fast as she could but noticed that Zoey was already on top of Gray. Heather heard the boy screaming and grabbed Zoey's tail and pulled it. He turned around and the she-wolf scratched his eyes and bit his belly as hard as she could. The werewolf cried and touched his bloody eyes. Heather looked at Gray, that was laying down on the floor, his left arm was covered in blood, and it was still flooding red liquid from his shoulder. His chest and belly were wounded too. She took a quick glance at Zoey before transforming to human and turning to Gray.

"Listen, Zoey has bitten you and you are still alive. You need to transform, if not we will never win the fight." He told him as quickly as her tongue let her and transformed back. She jumped once more over Zoey's body and bit his spine. He yowled and scratched Heather, who was still holding to his back. The werewolf shook his pelt and Heather fell down, but not before clawing on his paw. Zoey got on top of her and pressed his paws to her throat. Heather started feeling dizzy and in need for air. A second after, Zoey released all his weigh from her and she breather heavily from her mouth. She looked up and saw another werewolf, of a grey color, darker on the ear tips, paws, part of the back, part of the backing legs and tail tip, with a clear green in some parts. And the same triangle-like symbol in his cheeks that Heather and Zoey had. She knew that it was Gray. He was bleeding even more from his arm, but still he was fighting Zoey very well. Heather ran to him and decided to join him. They fought Zoey back together, but he seemed to be made from metal in the inside. Just when Heather started thinking that things could not get worse, Gray fell to the ground. His wound on the shoulder spilled more blood with every heartbeat.

"Gray!" Heather yelled and ran to him. Zoey jumped to her, but she kicked him away. Gray was moaning. She then noticed how Zoey stood still for a moment. Darkness fell once more as the clouds covered the moon. The werewolf's pelt color returned to his normal tone, and so did his eyes. He now seemed smaller than he was before. He blinked and looked all around, shocked.

"Heather! What happened!? Why are we bleeding!? Who is it!?" he pointed to Gray. "Heather, the last thing I remember is me being in the forest! What is happening!?" he walked to her, who was leaned over Gray's body, pressing his wound. She turned around and growled as the werewolf touched her.

"Stay away from me! You did this! You should not have been wandering around in your wolf form while it is full moon!" she snarled and cried at Gray. "Oh, please Gray, don't leave me, I need you..." she was shaking. She turned to Zoey one more time. "I hope that you are happy now that you have broken two rules in one night and almost killed Gray!" she rose to her feet and filled her lungs with air before howling two times as hard as she could. She grabbed Gray's body, who had passed out and his blood was still coming out of his body, with her teeth and pulled him to the forest. Then, she had and idea, she lifted him, and with a fast movement she put her head under his neck and gently pulled his body over hers. Now she could carry him on top of her back. She started running to the forest as fast as she could. She did not even bother to check if Zoey was following her, she just wanted to save Gray even though she knew that he was losing way too much blood, and it was almost impossible to save his life.