The stench of gunpowder and fear hangs heavy in the night air. I'm crouched behind a fallen oak, my heart hammering so loud I swear the hunters must hear it. This was supposed to be a routine border patrol, for crying out loud. How did it turn into this nightmare?
"Skye!" Liam hisses from my left. "We gotta move. They're getting closer."
I glance at him, taking in his tense posture and wild eyes. Five years apart, and now we're thrown into this mess together. Talk about lousy timing.
"How many?" I whisper, straining my ears.
Liam's jaw clenches. "At least two dozen. And they've got some serious firepower."
A twig snaps nearby, and we both freeze like deer in headlights. These hunters are way too close for comfort. I can practically smell their sweat and hear their radios crackling. This isn't some random group of yahoos out wolf hunting – this is a pro operation.
"We need to warn the pack," I say, my mind racing. "If they hit the compound—"
"Not happening," Liam cuts me off. "We end this here."
I want to snap at him, remind him he lost the right to call shots when he bailed on us. But now's not the time for a lovers' quarrel. We need to work together or we're both dead.
"Fine," I nod. "What's the plan?"
A hint of a smile crosses Liam's face, reminding me of simpler times. "Just like old times? You high, me low?"
Despite everything, I feel a flicker of our old connection. "Let's do this."
I close my eyes, reaching for my inner wolf. But as I start to shift, that weird new energy pulses through me – the one that turned me into some freaky bird thing last time. No, not now. I need my wolf, dammit.
With every ounce of willpower I've got, I shove that foreign energy down and let my wolf take over. Bones crack and reshape, fur sprouts everywhere. In seconds, I'm a massive white wolf.
Liam's eyes widen a bit. "Damn, you've grown," he murmurs, before shifting himself. His fur's pitch black, the opposite of my snow white. We're different in so many ways, but right now, we're in perfect sync.
I give a soft woof before springing into action. My legs carry me through the underbrush, circling around to flank our attackers. Through our newly reformed pack bond, I can sense Liam moving the other way.
The first hunter never sees me coming. I burst from the shadows, clamping down on his arm. He screams, dropping his gun. Before his buddies can react, I'm gone, melting back into the darkness.
All hell breaks loose as Liam makes his move. Panicked shouts fill the air, mixed with gunfire. But we're too fast, too strong. These humans, for all their fancy guns, are no match for two pissed-off Alpha werewolves in sync.
Or so I thought.
A high-pitched whine fills the air, and suddenly my muscles seize up. I stumble, my wolf form flickering like bad reception. What the actual hell?
"Activate the suppressors!" someone shouts. "Don't let them shift!"
The strange energy inside me surges again, fighting whatever tech is messing with my wolf. For a moment, I'm caught between forms – not quite wolf, not quite human, something freaky in-between.
Through blurry vision, I see Liam struggling too. He's still a wolf, but moving like he's swimming through molasses.
A figure steps into view – a woman in tactical gear, face hidden behind some high-tech helmet. "Well, well," her distorted voice oozes smugness. "The great Alpha Skye and her runaway Romeo. Two for one special."
I snarl, fighting the paralysis gripping my body. "Who the hell are you?" I manage to growl, my voice a weird human-wolf mix.
The woman chuckles. "Oh, we're old friends, Skye. Or we will be. Call me Chronos."
Chronos. The name sends chills down my spine, though I can't say why.
"What do you want?" Liam demands, his wolf form shaking with effort.
"Want?" Chronos tilts her head. "Honey, this isn't about want. It's about fixing a mistake. You two... you're a glitch in the timeline. And I'm the debugger."
She raises her arm, showing off some crazy-complex wrist device. "Where I'm from, werewolves are extinct. Humans found out about you and went full extermination mode. But somehow, you two survived. Changed history. Created... this mess." She waves her hand in disgust.
My head's spinning. Time travel? Extinction? It's too much to process. But one thing's crystal clear – this Chronos chick is here to kill us.
"You're out of your mind," I growl, still fighting the paralysis.
Chronos sighs. "Figured you'd say that. How about a little show and tell?" She taps her wrist gizmo. "Let's see how you handle a blast from the future."
The air shimmers, and suddenly we're surrounded by snarling wolves. But these aren't werewolves – they're monstrous, twisted versions of regular wolves, with glowing red eyes and foam-dripping jaws.
"Like my pets?" Chronos asks, sickly sweet. "This is what becomes of your kind in my time. Mutated, feral, hunted for kicks. This is your legacy, lovebirds. This is what I'm here to stop."
The mutant wolves circle us, eyes full of mindless hunger. I can feel Liam's panic through our bond, matching my own. We're still weak from Chronos' tech, barely holding our wolf forms.
"Now then," Chronos says, stepping back. "Let's see how the mighty Alphas fare against the future they create. Oh, and don't sweat your pack. When we're done, they'll never have existed in the first place."
She raises her arm, ready to sic the mutant wolves on us. In that moment, I lock eyes with Liam. Whatever crap's between us, it doesn't matter now. We're fighting for more than our lives – we're fighting for our entire species.
I dig deep, reaching for that weird new energy inside me. If I'm gonna die, it won't be as some weakened wolf. It'll be as something new, something powerful. I feel my body start to change, feathers sprouting where fur was.
Liam's eyes go wide, but there's no time to explain. As Chronos drops her arm, signaling the attack, I spread wings I didn't know I had and let out a shriek that shakes the damn trees.
The mutant wolves lunge, teeth bared. Liam and I brace for impact, the fate of all werewolves hanging in the balance.
But just as the first set of jaws is about to close on my throat, everything freezes. Like, literally freezes. The wolves, Chronos, even Liam – all motionless, like someone hit pause on reality.
A new voice, ancient and powerful, echoes in my head: "Well, little Alpha. Looks like you've got a choice to make."
I turn, my new bird-wolf hybrid body moving in the frozen tableau, and find myself face-to-face with a being made of pure light. It holds out a hand... or maybe it's a paw?
"Come," it says. "Your destiny's waiting. But choose carefully – the path you pick now determines the fate of everything you care about."
As I stare at the glowing whatever-it-is, caught between time-traveling psychos, mutant wolves, and this new cosmic player, one thought keeps repeating in my head:
What the ever-loving fuck have I gotten myself into?