She sat up, grasping her twisted, throbbing ankle as she gaped at the Beast. This is it? This is how I'm going to die? she thought, horrified and oddly disappointed. Eaten alive...by my own species...?
The Beast growled at her, its small, sharp eyes skewering her in place. Its brown coat was the colour of tree bark and it had fine hair all over its body and face. Its body was enormous, stocky and resembled a cross between a wolf and a bear. Its face however had human features; the eyes were human but glazed over with blood-lust and barbarous superiority. Jaz could see its disdain at her weakness and its eyes laughed at the expense of her terror.
She felt around the ground with one trembling hand but there were no rocks or branches to use as a weapon.
The Beast crouched, ready to attack. She gasped half a second before it dived straight for her. Without thinking, she lashed out with her right hand; the reaction was swiftly followed by a sharp yelp hacking through the night air.
Seconds later she realized she wasn't being used as a chew toy.
She opened her eyes, saw the Beast with one paw clutching its bloody face. It gnarled when their eyes met and didn't give any warning before pouncing on her. Before its claws could slash at her insides, a whip of cold air hit her face and the elephantine weight of the Beast was suddenly lifted from her, followed by a smack of two solid bodies above her and then a thunderous crashing through the trees.
Jaz lay frozen on the ground, too terrified to move. The sound of growls followed by one of the Beasts' pained whines made her jump up into a seated position. Her breath was ragged and jittery as she listened, her wild eyes darting from tree to tree. The growls stopped dead and the forest was ominously silent. Jaz didn't know whether that was her cue to run, scream or just let them eat her and get it over with. Instead she waited, and waited, for what seemed like hours before there was movement in the trees ten feet or so to the left of her. A Beast appeared, moving very slowly with its head down. It wasn't the same one who'd attacked her. She saw no sign of that one.
Jaz held her breath but as she watched it, seeing how it moved cautiously, not making eye contact with her, she somehow knew it wasn't going to attack her. Though she still couldn't stop shaking with fear.
This Beast was longer than the other, slimmer but with broad shoulders. It had less hair on its head and strong features from what she could see. It hid most of its face from her as if anxious, though she was sure she was only imagining that.
As she watched it, somehow knowing again that the Beast allowed her to observe it, she saw how the skin was crinkled up on the nose like a gorilla, or a canine when it bared its teeth. The nose wasn't quite a snout and still retained most of its human-like form. The jaw was the most canine feature of its face. The chin was long, pointing downwards which allowed the teeth of the Beast to fit in the slightly human face, giving it an under-bite.
She also observed as it got closer that it wasn't the darkness that made it appear black. This Were's coat was really black. A deep, jet black. She remembered what Edda had said and immediately knew who it was.
Other Beasts appeared in the clearing to her right. She whimpered, staring at them in horror, her muscles strained and ready to bolt. The oak trees no longer shaded the Beasts as they prowled into the open; the moonlight cast eerie shadows across their faces and bodies, exaggerating the contours of their features.
They held back as if waiting for something.
The black Beast stopped a few feet from Jaz to look their way. He barked a command and they slowly edged back, dissolving into the darkness.
Jaz's eyes flickered in his direction. He didn't speak, but she wasn't sure if it was because he couldn't or just that he didn't want to.
Neither of them moved for a moment.
When he stepped forward Jaz reacted, springing back on her bottom until she was against a tree. She gasped at the shooting pain in her ankle, the cuts in her feet. The Beast moved even closer and though she knew he only wanted to help, she shrunk further back into the tree. She was so startled and frightened beyond words and rationality she couldn't let him near her, even though he meant her no harm.
“I'm fine,” she said shakily, not meeting his eyes. She held up her right hand in signal as she said this. It remained stuck in midair when she laid eyes on it and saw something that made her eyeballs nearly pop out of their sockets.
Her fingernails had grown into claws.
The hand had started shaping into an animal-like appendage, like his, and had got stuck between human and Beast. Not fully Changed. And staring her in the face.
She nearly threw up in her mouth. Her gut froze like a block of ice inside her.
Despite her agony, she jumped up faster than she thought herself able, and broke into a frantic, limping run through the trees in front of her, away from the pack of scary Beasts that had just been there. And away, as far as she could get, from Nik.
He howled after her once, which sounded strangely to her like he was calling her back. Then he broke off and in the silence she could herself whimpering all the way back to the cabin.