Blood on Sand

BLOOD AND WINE

Rage. That was what Wojtek felt. Hot boiling rage. Someone had been in his house. Again. And this time they had taken something of his. No one was around. Why wasn't there anyone around?

Someone should've noticed that an outsider had crossed the border into pack territory. They should've sounded an alarm when a stranger walked into the hamlet. Someone should've seen the open cellar door. Wojtek kicked off his shoes as claws tore through the skin on his fingers and toes.

Blood was smeared all over the cellar floor and out on the walk. A metallic tang hung thick in the air. Some fucker had been in his home!

Satul stared at the floor. "He fought back."

"Of course he did!" He wanted to howl. Zoe was a warrior, of course, he fought back. The question was who he fought against. He was gonna kill that arse, and he was going to take his sweet time doing it.

"There's no of course about it. He would've been in a daze when they got here. It's too cold for him to function properly. Just to get to his feet without help..." Satul shook his head, and Wojtek wanted to snarl at him. Zoe was his concern. His, not Satul's.

How could he have known that Zoe would need to defend himself—he couldn't have known that. He wouldn't have been much of a challenge for a group of men. Or two, Wojtek thought he smelled two creatures besides Zoe. "Well, there's more than one type of blood, so I guess he landed a blow or two." He tried to sound more confident than he felt.

Satul moved around in the wine cellar, dipped his finger into one of the blood drops, and licked it off. "He wouldn't have been able to change. The fight was between him in human form and someone, something, changed. Taste it." Wojtek did, it had a round, thick flavour, definitely a warm-blooded animal.

The thought of Zoe, slow and sluggish, trying to fight something bigger and stronger than himself made Wojtek want to destroy something.

"He wouldn't have stood a chance."

Satul needed to shut the fuck up. He knew he'd made the fight uneven by using Zoe's nature against him; he didn't need Satul's comments to remind him of it. He'd thought he'd been smart locking up a lizard in the cold. Why did he always have to be such a fucking idiot?

"Argh, that's tough, dude. Not being able to defend yourself." Koray didn't seem half as affected as Satul and Wojtek, and maybe that was the right attitude. Sure, he should be angry over the break-in and his stolen property, but he needn't feel bad for rendering Zoe defenceless. Anyone could have thrown their slave in the cellar when they were leaving the house. But this was Zoe.

"What's that smell?" Koray sniffed the air. "I feel like I should know what it is."

"Is that..." Wojtek scented the air. How could he have missed it? A snarl erupted from his chest. That lying fucking cow!

"Wait!"

Wojtek didn't listen. He heard the fabric of his shirt ripping as he changed. Muscles bulging, hair growing out along his spine and continuing over his tail. His vision shifted as he started to move. He was gonna kill that fucking ruminant and eat his flesh for breakfast. He was gonna tear every piece of meat from his bones, one muscle at a time, and feast on his warm blood. He could almost feel it splatter on his face as his teeth cut into cow throat.

He heard Satul's voice in his head but shut it out. His clawed feet slid on the floor as he made his way out of the wine cellar. He was gonna kill fucking every hoofed freak he came across.

A furry cannonball hit him straight in the side, making him lose his balance, and end up in a very undignified position on the floor with Satul sitting on top of him. Koray trotted over, obviously also having shifted since a flaming red tail whipped over his muzzle before the clawed foot right in front of his eyes turned into a human one with red downy toes.