White Fangs by Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden Page A

Callie. "You're that sure they're going to come for us?"
    "Come for us?" Callie asked. "Hell, boy, I'd bet my last dime they're already here."
    As Jack closed the last few feet between himself and his companions, he began to open himself up, to reach out with his heart and soul to whatever animals might be around him. As he reached Sabine, she looked up with fear in her eyes, and he knew he had no need to seek the monsters out. They were already here.
    Off to the west, where Tim Underwood had led the other survivors, the night erupted in screams.
     
     
    Maurilio was the first to break into a run, sprinting north along the river bank. Jack shouted for him to stop, but the wolves were skittish — they weren't used to encountering anything that might view them as prey — and once he'd bolted, the animal in Maurilio had taken over.
    "Get him back here or he'll be dead," Jack snapped at Vukovich, who tore off in pursuit.
    Jack took Sabine's hand, searching her eyes. "What do you feel?"
    "There are two in the river, closing in," she said, her expression grim. The wind kicked up, rushing through the trees as her elemental magic stirred the air. Her power would be diminished so far from the sea, but it wasn't gone completely.
    "I figure two more over that way," Callie King said, gesturing toward the thick pines from which screams still arose. "More than that, and I wouldn't lay odds on any of us seeing the sun rise."
    Jack's skin prickled and his heart hammered in his chest. Here in the Yukon, he felt so much closer to the wild part of himself, and now he let it out — let it feel the wind and smell the river, and the vegetation, and the animal scents of the werewolves. The beasts within them might be more visible and harder to control than his own, but he still had a wildness inside.
    Reaching out with his senses, touching nightbirds and sleeping hares, he found the two dark voids moving through the woods to the west. The pure malice and cruelty emanating from them caused him a stab of nausea, but he ignored it. His love for Sabine filled his heart. Keeping her safe was his first priority.
    "Louis. Reverend," Jack said, turning to them. "We stay together." He gestured to Callie. "She's with us, and she knows more about what we're facing than we do. If Callie gives you advice, take it."
    The screams to the west began to diminish. Jack knew that soon, the creatures over there would be coming for them.
    "Let's move!" he said.
    "Stay by the river," Callie said as they started to run. "Sabine, sing out if you feel them getting closer."
    Sabine's eyes darkened. Her hair flew behind her as she ran, and she squeezed Jack's hand as if to let him know she was all right. Louis and the Reverend led the way as they hurried over the rutted, rocky bank, a dozen feet from the water. Jack scanned the trees, feeling for those dark voids, and he knew that Sabine focused her search on the water.
    The Reverend stumbled over a jutting stone and growled as he righted himself. His jaws had grown more prominent, sharp teeth glinting in starlight. Something crashed through the trees off to the left and Jack frowned, only now sensing that one of the two on that side had gotten closer and was pacing them, lumbering through the pines and yet not attacking, as if enjoying their fear and the thrill of the hunt.
    A roar split the night, but Jack knew it was not a true bear.
    "What are they, Jack?" Sabine asked, though she glanced at Callie when she said it. "What's hunting us?"
    Before he could answer he spotted Vukovich and Maurilio ahead. The two werewolves were half-transformed, facing one another with claws and fangs bared. Jack wished he had a club to beat Maurilio for his stupidity.
    "Fall in, you idiots!" he shouted, running closer. "There are other monsters to fight!"
    "I'll be damned," Callie said as she caught sight of the beast-men. Instinct made her lift her pistol and take aim at them.
    "No!" Sabine shouted, letting go of Jack's hand and grabbing