A Lone Wolf

flower moon

It was stifling hot in notes' and we'd been dancing for hours. I could feel a sticky film under my dress as I stalked towards the back balcony. Walking out through the double doors onto the pier, I lifted my hair from my saturated neck and took a few deep breath.

True to promise, the night had darkened and the sky was hung with thousands of bright stars dancing above the glimmering black of the North sea. My breath misted lightly in the frigid air as I filled my lungs and gazed up at the gloriously full moon. As I gazed, I felt my skin prickle with awareness as I felt eyes on me. I glanced to my left to see a man leaning against the railings in the shadows with his beer bottle, watching me intently. As he caught my eye, he raised the bottle towards me before taking a swig, never looking away.

"Well there's a rare thing" he murmured, whether to me or himself I wasn't sure. He pushed off the railings, turning his back on the waves and took a hesitant step towards me.

As he came towards the light I could see an avaricious gleam in his eyes as they raked down my body. I wasn't unattractive, I wasn't a stranger to male attention but this felt different. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and panic started to rise as I watched him approach.

I tried to appear cool as I stared out at the sea in an effort to appear unaffected. Rather than walk away as I expected, he quietly moved closer. I still avoided looking though I could see him standing not a foot away in my peripheral vision. Something was telling me that this man was dangerous, I could feel the surge in adrenaline and the pricking of my hairs. Oddly, I couldn't smell the cologne I was expecting... Just a musky sort of animal scent. I listened,my ears sensitive to every sound. I almost fancied I could hear the preternaturally slow thud of his heart. I stayed facing the sea, determined not to acknowledge him.

"Oh Princess," he murmured after a short pause, "you're going to have to do better than that; I can hear your little heart thumping, you know you're in trouble."

I felt my breath catch as I turned slightly to side eye him.

"I'm cooling off, I'm going to find my friends shortly." I kept my tone clipped and business like, projecting my best prickly aura. Much to my annoyance, he chuckled and I felt my feathers ruffle. I narrowed my eyes and snaked my head round to fix him with a glare. His mouth was turned down at the corners In barely concealed amusement.

"I meant no disrespect princess but you're feeling warm now aren't you?"

I hated to admit it but despite the seasonal chill, I was warm;more than warm. I looked at him more carefully. Shaggy gold hair brushing his shirt collar, ice blue eyes, piercing, intent with pinpoint pupils that seemed to move too fast. There was a long scar from the middle of his cheek, slashing through his lip and under his chin. Despite this, he was attractive in a savage sort of way. He put his hand out. "Ady" he grunted. I sniffed and ignored the proffered hand. He chuckled again. "No need for that princess, I meant no harm."

He leaned over and laid his hand over mine on the cold rail. The heat of anger flared through my body and before I knew it, a savage growl ripped from my throat. He took a pace back, narrowing his eyes at me as I slapped my hand over my mouth, looking frantically around. Surely that cannot have come from me?

We were alone, nobody had heard.

I shook my head and backed up as he went to step forward. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me," I stuttered, feeling flustered and hot; so hot. I looked down, realising that I'd backed myself up into the corner. "Please leave" I said as firmly as possible but even to me it sounded like a weak plea. I cast my eyes frantically at the door, willing security to do a check.

"You don't know do you princess?" He smirked.

"Know what?" I snapped, "that you are invading my space?"

"Shhhh, " he cooed, raising his hands in a conciliatory gesture, "I can explain, you need to trust me princess"

I felt my neck hair rise again and I felt my mouth curl upwards to bare my teeth and again, a feral snarl tore from me. I felt tears well in my eyes, what was that noise? I felt a pressure building in my body as I frantically searched for a way out.

I felt myself begin to tremble and everything around me seemed to sharpen into focus. Every sound, every detail seemed to stand out preternaturally sharply. I felt my mouth begin to water as I licked at my teeth, fighting the instinct to crouch defensively. My eyes swam with confused tears as I felt the terrified thud of my heart in my chest.

"Shush now, calm down princess" he murmured, turning his palms to me and taking a couple of slow steps backwards. "You'll be alright, just breathe now, you can't do this here..... I'll just back up a bit, give you some space princess, there, that's better..." His words, a low murmur, appeared genuine as he watched me with what looked like genuine concern as I battled to control the rising panic.

"This your birthday Princess?" He asked warily as I started to calm myself down. I nodded and blew out the breath I'd been holding.

Just then, the door slid open and Sabina's head emerged to look around the deck. Seeing me, a look of relief flooded her features as she strode towards me.

"Catching some air Della?" She said, eyeballing Ady with suspicion. I nodded and she glanced between us with a frown. "This bloke bothering you Del? She asked. I considered briefly unleashing the beast by saying yes but thought the better of it.

"No, it's ok Bee," I smiled. She placed her hand on my arm, frowned and then moved it to my cheek.

"Jeez Della, you're burning up girl." She remarked surprisedly, "you feeling alright?"

I touched my cheek and gasped at how warm it was.

Ady snickered to himself and walked back into the club. This guy was really beginning to get on my pip.

"I feel ok" , I said honestly, "just a bit warm"

"Well, Nay has decided to go on to a house party with a guy she met; seems legit, several are going.... I'm shattered so I'm going to head home; you heading back or going on?"

I considered for a while. I was really tired all of a sudden but it was only half past eleven; still, I didn't fancy the party and recent events had shaken me a bit.

" You know, I think I've had enough for tonight... You go, I'm going to finish my drink and head home."

" You sure?"

"Absolutely; we started way early tonight" I nodded. "Let's say bye to Nay and hit it"

We found Nadine draped over a tall, dark and reasonably good looking guy with a megawatt smile. After chatting briefly, he really seemed a good sort and a big group of people were all headed to the party so we gave her a hug as she left with warnings to be careful. She waved as they headed off in a crowd.

" Does that girl never hit the wall?" I wondered aloud.

"Nope, she's a goer, you know that" Sabina laughed. I shook my head in wonder at her stamina and yawned widely.

"You know, you should take that taxi, you're headed in the opposite direction to me" I said, nodding towards the car.

"You sure?" She asked "you going to wait for the next one?"

"Nah, I'll walk down to the rank in town; it's only a few minutes, Don't worry, there's people up and down here all the time" I grinned. I hugged her and gave her a little shove towards the waiting taxi and she got in with a little wave and a blown kiss. I chuckled to myself and turned to walk to the taxi rank. It really wasn't far.

I heaved a deep breath of relief as I lengthened my stride to march along the promenade, projecting my best f**k off aura as I went. The sussuration of the sea starting to calm my jangled nerves. I was still hot and carried my coat over my arm, swinging it in time to my determined strut.

Unusually, I had seen nobody on my walk; this area was normally a constant run of to-ing and fro-ing as people hopped from bar to bar.

I could feel my hair sticking uncomfortably to my forehead and swept it away in annoyance.

That's when I smelled it again; that musky scent cloying in my nostrils; my heart rate picked up as I quickened my pace, panic beginning to set in.

I heard a low chuckle behind me so I snapped to a halt, whirling round to glare at the man standing inches away; how had he gotten this close without me noticing?

It was at that moment, I began to feel afraid.