The Moonlight Chronicles (Book 1: The First Bite)(Complete)&Book2: (teaser)

Chapter 3: A Lesson About the Past

As the sun sets I am on edge. Every sound and smell makes me twitch as my body begs me to move and use the energy of the rising moon. I hear what sounds like a semi drive past the campsite on the road that winds through the forest, then a deer leaps into the clearing and I struggle to maintain control as my beast’s urges kick in. My stomach growls and begs to be filled as I cradle it in my arms. The beasts urges to hunt, kill, and feed grow as my sight locks onto the deer. The longer I watch it, the harder it becomes to suppress the beast within me. I can feel my teeth begin to shift and grow, then I feel my fingernails begin to bite into my exposed arms as they turn into claws. I try to shift them back with increasingly less success as the deer begins to harmlessly graze on the far side of the clearing. It doesn’t take long before I realize that I am fighting a losing battle as my hunger increases so does the beat’s control over my body. I give in and barely have enough time to shed my clothes before they would have been shredded.

Surprisingly the deer barely seems to take notice of me even though to me it seems like my bones popping and grinding as I shifted forms would have scared it off…if the sight of me shifting didn’t. Of course I am too focused on filling my stomach to think about anything else in any detail. I leave my clothes by my bags under the tree and charge the unsuspecting deer. It doesn’t look up until I am only a couple feet away. I am already mid pounce before I realize something is wrong…the deer didn’t even try to run when it looked up. It just stared at me. When I hit it, I realize why as it explodes shooting a net from its body to cover me. Within seconds I realize that this net was meant to contain werewolves. Its fibers are laced with silver and burn whatever parts of me are unlucky enough to be touching them. I struggle against the net for only seconds before a strong force begins pulling me across the ground and through the trees following the path the deer came from. Then I see the rope at the base of the net. I try to struggle against it again, but moving seems to cause it to burn more as it makes the net dig in on the opposite side as well as into my hands and feet. Then I see it, a large vehicle almost as long as a semi with tank treads for tires and thick armor plating all around it. The back is open and the rope disappears somewhere inside. I give one final effort to break free before I am pulled inside.

I hear the door slam shut behind me and something heavy slide into place. Then the lights flicker on and I see Ben sitting in a chair next to a control panel on the other side of a glass wall. He smiles saying, “See, my mobile containment unit was designed specifically with the strengths and weaknesses of werewolves in mind. It can both capture and contain a werewolf without ever putting any humans at risk.” He pushes a series of buttons then I feel the net around me loosen. He says, “You should be able to get out of that now. I have sent my bodyguards to go collect what is left of the bait deer along with your things. When they return; we will take off for my house.” It burns, but I manage to shrug the net off of me. When I do the rope pulls it up and out of the cage through a tiny hole in the glass ceiling that is too small for my arm to fit through. He says, “Go ahead, test out the strength of my containment unit. It is triple layered bullet proof glass.” I charge the glass and hit shoulder first with little result. I pound on it with my fits, then use my claws. They leave tiny scratches on the surface but nothing deep enough to compromise its integrity. Then the beast within me seems to realize that I am in a cage and not going to be seeing the moon while inside here. It surges up within me and catches me off guard. I am helpless as I watch myself bounce from wall to wall as I claw, bite, and tear up anything and everything in my way…which in this case was just the bedding materials that were left in the corner for me… key word here…WERE. By the time the beast within me settles enough for me to regain control; my heart is racing and my blood feels like it’s on fire. I am panting and feeling the hunger growing within me along with exhaustion from bouncing around this cage like a deranged psychopath. I look over to Ben who seems to be thoroughly interested in me. I try to say something but it comes out as a half garbled growl. I think to myself, ‘I either really need to learn how to speak English in this form…or at least remember that I can’t speak English while in this form.’ Ben says, “Good to see you back in control. We are almost there…any longer and I may have had to take measures to calm you down for safe transport to the other facility.” I growl and he says, “I am fully prepared to treat you as a wild animal if you act like one, but if you want to be treated as a human I am willing to trust you to behave like one…even in this form. So, what is it going to be? Do you want to test out the capabilities of my men and my facilities in caging a wild beast or do you want to do this the easy way?” I think for a second then decide to test the capabilities of his facilities to make sure he can contain me if I do lose control. I howl and pound the glass in front of him in response. He replies, “The hard way it is.” He pushes a button on the control panel and speaks into the microphone, “Coming in with a lively one, prepare for full containment measures.”