3.1 | Animal Instinct ✓

01 | still

0 1

s t i l l

" – SHIFT."

The voice jolted me out of the daze I'd fallen into. Glancing up, I looked at Nicole, who was standing mere feet away, a large garbage bag in her hand.

"What?" I blurted.

She shook her head in silent mirth, eyes crinkling in vague amusement as she stared at me. "I said I'm off my shift. Think you could close up?"

I scanned the kitchen. Most of the chefs had left by now, and it was just the two of us. "Sure."

"I'll leave after taking out the trash. Night, Quinn."

"Goodnight. See you tomorrow," I added, before continuing to scrub the grime off the pans.

It wasn't until a good twenty minutes later when I was finally done. As quickly as my tired limbs would allow me, I retrieved my bag from the cupboard and headed to the back door.

I was still in the middle of locking the stubborn, rusty catch when a sudden howl ripped through the cold wind. It was like an echo through the empty street, and somehow sounded frightened, desperate.

Wolves.

I spun round quickly, feeling my skin crawl as the howling continued. This wasn't supposed to be a surprise – I'd always known that the town was near a forested area that supposedly was home to hundreds of creatures, but this, this was close. Far too close, far too lethal.

Without wasting another moment, I strode off to the nearest bus stop. It was freezing, and I knew I should've taken out my gloves but I was more concerned with getting away from whatever it was back there.

Only I didn't.

And when I crossed to the next pavement, my heart leapt into my throat as I glimpsed a flash of black and brown fur, all snarls and teeth and growls. A large, feral black wolf had its jaws clamped around the neck of a smaller brown one, and I had passed by just in time to hear the agonising, sickening crunch that followed as the black wolf brutally snapped the neck of the other. Then, with another growl, it viciously tore the brown wolf's throat out. It was all blood and guts, staining the gravel below and bleaching the white snow crimson red.

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to retch or scream, but I did neither. Instead, I took a step back. But my boots scuffed against the road as I did, and the black wolf snapped its head up.

The first thing I noticed was that the wolf's eyes were hued a faint but piercing green.

My heart slammed in my chest as I looked at the creature.

Think, Quinn, think.

The wolf took a step closer and I found my hand darting into my bag, fingers latching round a special metal case that I brought with me everywhere. "Go away," I said lowly, my voice a tight rasp in the tired wind. I couldn't even fathom why I thought talking to an animal was a good idea, but the wolf's eyes seemed to lock on mine as I spoke.

My fingers were still fumbling around the metal case, until I found the catch on it and tugged it open. A shard of silver fell out of the box and I clasped my fingers around it, feeling suddenly courageous with a weapon in my hand.

"I mean it," I said, louder this time, when the wolf took another step closer. I hoped against hope that someone would hear, but the streets were empty this time of day. Removing my hand from the bag, I brandished the sharp knife in front of myself and watched in relief as the wolf quickly fell a step back. "Don't make me kill you."