Chapter 226: The Werewolf
Carter caught her wrist and pulled her to the front. Dorothy fell down on the ground.
The scrawny young man widened his eyes. He quickly lowered his body to caught Dorothy, wrapping her entirely in his arms.
Their position was closer than needed and their faces were only a few centimeters from each other. Carter could even feel the warmth of her breath on his face.
Dorothy blushed intensely but she didn't move away. The girl closed her eyes and pouted her lips. She was ready for a kiss.
"What are you doing?" Carter said.
Dorothy snapped back to her senses and got out of his arms. "Nothing!"
"Why are you here?"
"I just thought you may need some help. You are just a human after all. I can help you find Maisie." Dorothy said.
"And does Beatrice approve of this?"
"Haha. Beatrice can't control me!"
Back in the ranch, the old witch was furious and Leah had to hear everything.
Carter sighed. He acter a little bit more real this time.
He sat down beside the campfire and built a seat from rock for Dorothy.
"You can sit here, Dorothy."
The witch nodded and sat down without hesitation.
"We didn't know each other for long. Why are you... liking me so much?" Carter asked. He was both acting and curious at the same time.
"I don't know, John. There is just something special about you. We were both entranced the first time we see you. Leah likes to be around you a lot too. She's just too shy to admit it."
"Do you mean that you have romantic feelings about me, Dorothy?"
The young witch slapped his shoulder repeatedly and laughed. She tried to mask it with jokes and laughs but it was clearly not working with the young man.
She froze as she saw the intense gaze Carter put on her. She diverted her eyes away.
"Not... Not really. I just... You just smell very good."
"My smell?"
"Yup! You just make me want to sniff you all day!"
"Leah is also the same?"
"How would I know?!" Dorothy rolled her eyes.
'Smell? Is it Otherworldly Intervention again? Or because there is something about the biology of John Collins that attracted the witches? More experiments need to be done.'
The sun had completely disappeared and the veil of night fell over the entire land.
In the dark of night, a creature was lurking. It noticed the fire in the far and slowly crept up on it.
Its movement made very little noise. The same rustling that the howling wind caused on the tree branch. The ordinary people wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. Even the Wolfmen with their enhanced perception.
But Carter could see it. He had seen it since the first moment it appeared in his Sonar Echolocation.
It was a large skin-and-bone creature. The same kind of creature that Maisie had encountered. But Carter knew it was a different kind.
Its shape was slightly different. It was shorter than the previous one but with a bigger body. It didn't have the long hair and instead a bald spherical head.
It had come too close. It hid behind the leaves, looking at Carter and Dorothy sitting side by side.
Then. It attacked.
The gray creature jumped out from the bush and lashed at Dorothy.
Carter grabbed her and pulled her away. He was surprisingly strong for his small frame.
The two of them rolled away. Dorothy was both surprised and happy because the young man hugged her.
But her expression was quickly filled with dread as she saw the ugly monster.
"That... That is..." Her lips trembled.
Carter stood in front of her. His shadow illuminated by the flame.
"Run away, Dorothy."
"But... I can't leave you."
"Run away! Now!" The soft spoken John Collins was suddenly harsh and authoritative. His voice slammed Dorothy's heart and snapped her out of her senses.
She nodded and ran away, leaving Carter to fend for himself.
The scrawny man looked at the Gray Beast and smirked.
'I haven't had the opportunity to test the power of this skin yet. You shall be my lab rat.'
The young man arched his back and lifted his head up. He howled.
A primal animalistic howl of a wolf. This howl spread even farther than Richard's howl from before.
The Wolfmen in the Lanely Ranch stood up at the same time when they heard the howl. It was not the howl of an ordinary wolf. But it wasn't the howl of a Wolfman either.
It was the howl of something very powerful.
"What is that?" A Wolfman mumbled. "Is it Maisie?"
"Not Maisie. Her howl was different."
Richard walked back and forth in his room, biting his nails. "What was that? Is it a new Alpha? I can't let them take my tribe away!"
Skin tore off of Carter, revealing a black fur coat underneath.
The Gray Beast didn't allow him to finish his transformation. It jumped up and pushed him to the ground. Its large jaw bit into his neck.
Its teeth was caught between the flesh. Carter's flesh felt like rock and it was becoming even harder every second.
The transformation didn't stop. It continued even in the midst of battle. It was very painful and very disgusting. A proper Werewolf transformation. Not the shapeshifting transformation of the Wolfman.
His hand became larger with claws sharp as a sword and black like obsidian.
Carter pushed the Gray Beast off him and at the same time, slashing at the Gray Beast.
Five visible claw marks were left on the Beast's chest, leaking blood constantly.
A single tooth was trapped in Carter's neck. But it was quickly pushed out as his body healed in a rapid rate.
A thick white cloud of smoke covered the black werewolf, showing how much energy had been expended to finish the transformation.
Carter pulled the last remains of his human skin off. The scrawny young man was no more.
There was only the large monster of the night. A black Werewolf that was almost three meters tall with the hybrid physic of a wolf and a human.
It had a long snout with two big noticeable fangs.
The Werewolf roared. It and the Gray Beast sized each other up.
The Gray Beast was larger than any Wolfman. But it paled in comparison with the Werewolf.
One was a walking bag of bones. The other was a monster of nightmare.