Hunting Human - Amanda E. Alvarez [100]
Braden arced toward the right, zipping in and out of her vision, and Chase did the same on her left. Instinctively, Beth kept her pace and moved toward Braden, covering the landscape behind him. Lucy did the same for Chase. As they fanned out and accelerated, Beth admitted that there was something beautiful here, if she looked for it. The way that the four of them worked in synchronized harmony, coats shining and flashing in the patches of sun that pierced the leaves and mist, short howls heralding the hunt; it made a compelling picture. Fascinating. She imagined they looked a lot like the predators on television. Beautiful, powerful, lethal.
She burst into a clearing, automatically tracking Braden. She and Lucy moved in, tightening the noose that ensnared the deer. She couldn’t see Chase but knew he was close.
The clearing was open on the sides but steep at the back. She, Braden and Lucy had effectively trapped the doe. Every instinct in her urged her to leap forward, fasten her jaws around the doe’s throat and make the kill. Distantly, Beth acknowledged she knew exactly how to do it, exactly how much pressure it would take to bear the doe to the ground, how to break her neck. She felt her muscles coil, the wolf ready to leap at her command.
She didn’t move. Her heart pounded against her ribs, her muscles quivered in anticipation and air rushed over her snout. Her brain processed the scent of the deer’s desperation. But she didn’t move. The wolf inside her thrilled at the chase and longed to lunge and finish the hunt. But Beth didn’t. Seizing control, she sat on her quivering haunches and scanned the woods around them. Braden and Lucy prowled about the periphery, boxing in the doe, but neither of them moved in for the kill either.
Movement at the top of the rise, directly above the deer caught Beth’s attention. She jerked her head up in time to see Chase’s sleek body appear at the ledge, then leap, muscles flexing under a shiny coat, legs pulled up beneath his body, completely focused on his prey. He landed against the doe’s back with a heavy thud. The force of his jump and the weight of his body brought her down beneath him, sending them both tumbling across the forest floor. His jaws grazed her throat as they rolled, but didn’t snap shut and make the kill in the way Beth expected.
Instead, Chase pulled his teeth back and allowed the momentum of his leap and roll to carry him away from the doe, allowing the frightened animal to rise and race in a blind panic toward Lucy. Chase watched the animal go, tracking it as it disappeared into the forest, straight past Lucy who couldn’t have looked less interested.
Amazement flooded Beth; Chase hadn’t missed the doe’s throat, he’d never intended to kill her in the first place! She finally understood what they’d all been trying to tell her—what her own experiences had shown her.
My decision. My control.
She wondered at the simplicity of the revelation all the way home and through the rest of the day.
***
“You were quiet today,” Braden said, leaning against the bedroom door.
“Just thinking.” Beth flipped off the light in the bathroom and took a seat on the bed. She gestured Braden forward when he took a hesitant step into the room.
“Yeah?” He asked, sinking down next to her on the mattress. “What about?”
“A lot of things. But mostly this morning.”
“Are you sorry you went with us?” He asked, trailing his fingers through her damp hair.
“No. It clarified some things for me, answered some questions.” She watched, distracted as her hair caught his retreating fingers. Was there any part of her that didn’t want to constantly reach for him?
“Any questions left? I can fill in the blanks,” he offered, dropping his hand and pulling up a knee.
“About a thousand.”
“Start