The ride was shaky, bumpy, the van seemed to hit every lump and pothole on the way back to the school and football field; Kara felt like they were doing it on purpose. With each bump, Merk’s body moved, shook and he whined, moaned, even cried, loud manly sobs. When Kara couldn’t take it anymore, she fell to the floor of the van with him and tried her best to steady him.

He was lying on his stomach, face down, to the side really, agony engulfing him. Kara laid next to him, her hand on his broken back. Maybe… She thought about it: could she heal him? But there was something wrong, something inside her that wasn’t the same. There was an ache deep down inside of her and in that she felt doubt and guilt, sorrow and loss. She was broken. Kara moved her hand to her face, she could feel the open gashes on her face and how deep they were. Ratty had done that – he had beat both her and Merk – and in a deep and profound way, just like her wounds now.

The van came to a stop. She could hear movement, out of the corner of her eye, she could see someone moving from the van – they were getting out. Kara’s heart pounded. They were there. The van door swung open. There was no sense of care; the cousins grabbed them, hands clawing at both Merk’s and her body. The cousins threw Merk’s body out of the van like it was a sack of feed or a barrel of hay, anything but a human being, alive and animate. His body hit the field hard. He groaned. All of the fight was gone from him. Blood was steadily coming from his mouth, he was no doubt bleeding internally. After Merk, they pulled her out as well, tossing her to the ground; a couple of the Fairweather cousins came over to loom over her threateningly. She and Merk next to each other on the ground. Instinctively, she crawled to be under him, wrapping her arms around the man she loved, leaning her body almost over his to protect him if possible.

It seemed like the entire town was out. They had driven the van and truck right onto the football field. The bleachers were full of people – just like it was Friday Night and they were waiting for the game to start. Kara spun around to get a full view of them all – panoramic and telling. Onlookers, denizens of this small hub, stood on their feet, gawking at the horror in front of them on the football field. They all had to see what was in front of them and not one of them protested. Rather, they looked like they were ready to be entertained. It made Kara sick.

Ratty came around the truck to stand next to her. He leaned in: “How’s the face?”

Blood still streamed down Kara’s face, although it was drying now and getting sticky and hard. She didn’t respond. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. But the mentioning of her face made her aware again. It wasn’t as if she could or would ever forget what he had done to her, but Merk had been her focus since having his back broken. She still couldn’t believe that all of this was actually happening. She was still waiting to wake up from the dream. But this was no dream. Nightmare, yes. Still, as Kara stared out into the bleachers, accepting the reality that she was in, she realized that no one was going to stop this from happening and no one was going to save them, that everyone in this town was going to let the obvious happen.

Ratty stepped forward.

“My brothers and sisters… Our good town has been besieged in the last couple of months with someone that has meant nothing but bad for us and the people we love – Merk Castle!”

Kara laughed. It was laughable. Who in their right mind would believe this shit? But there had been no disagreement, no jeers, no roar or rumbling of confusion.

Ratty continued: “Since his arrival in town things have been… Weird. Wrong. But let’s start with the slightly below average start to our beloved football team’s season. Right?”

And then the unbelievable. The crowd jeered. They actually responded to him. Was that agreement? No. No, this can’t be, thought Kara. Who were these people? What kind of human beings allowed this? Bought into this…? Allowed this?

“My son’s grades went down… The team stopped listening to him – Merk turned the team against my son…”

Lies, thought Kara. Fuckin’ lies! They had to see that, know that. 

“He seduced one of our own, Kara Daniels, a favorite teacher to so many of our kids –!”

“Lies –” she started to yell but Merk touched her hand, stopping her.

Ratty eyed her hard, then Merk, threatening. He focused back on the crowd.

“And finally he let lose some animal – wolf or something – to attack students. It is clear that we are dealing with a sociopath – psychopath! This is who – no what – we have let in our little town! But have no fear…”

Merk was trying his hardest to heal, to get enough strength to fight back. But he was hurt to badly, she could see that. His back was shattered, his leg nearly torn off. She loved the fight in him though, it made her proud to be his woman.

“I… We… The Fairweathers, staples of this community for close to a hundred years, have stamped out the problem – we caught him – and, my God, he put up a fight! But look… We got him… We got him… For you!”

And the crowd cheered. Kara couldn’t believe her ears. Her eyes. They all were standing. Clapping and cheering.

“I would like for the police to come forward and arrest this man for –”

“No!” a voiced yelled. “No! This – This is all wrong!”

RJ. Kara’s heart leapt. He was such a good fuckin’ kid. She watched as RJ stepped forward, slowly but surely, moving closer to face his father. Kara could see the worry in his face. And rightfully so he had seen first-hand what his father was capable of, and he was putting himself directly in the line of fire by stepping up for what was right and what was the truth.

“Son…” Ratty spoke, his voice warning him.

“No, dad… This – This isn’t right.”

“Son…”

RJ turned to the crowd and ran forward: “Merk saved me and he saved all of you from me and from this –!”

The cousins ran for him and so did the brothers, Ratty yelled in the background, but it was too late… RJ leaped forward, howling, and then his entire body peeled back and his bones and body frame shifted and popped and then… A wolf stood on all fours before them. The crowd gasped. But none of them ran. They were all mesmerized. Silence filled the bleachers and the field. Kara waited to see what was going to happen next. But no one moved or said anything for what seemed like an eternity. Her gaze shifted back to Merk. He had lost so much blood.. He needed to get to a hospital. Kara knew it was up to her.

“They’re all shifters! All of them! Shifters!” she yelled suddenly. “All of them! Wolf Shifters!”

In wolf form, RJ howled before them. Ratty’s rage sent him forward. He lunged at his son, tackling him in to the ground. Ratty hit him once, then again. Then again. And again. RJ whimpered and cowered as his dad beat him. Kara watched as Merk stirred trying to move to help RJ. The crowd continued to watch. Still not one of them, no policemen or anyone, no authorities came forward to help or do anything. But someone had to do something… Kara eyed Merk with desperation. Something had to be done and quickly. In the van, she had doubted that she could do what she had with Ferdinando but she no longer had that luxury. She had to take a chance, find it in herself to do what she had done before, anything to stop this from happening. 

Everyone was distracted, RJ had provided that cover for them. Lying next to each other, Kara took Merk’s face in her hands and turned him to face her. His eyes were distant, the pain stoking a wild and glossy glare in his eyes as if he had already gone into shock. She pulled his face forward toward her. The more she looked at him the more desperate she became – she was losing him.

“Merk… You asked who was I?” Kara started. “This is who I am.”

Kara took a deep breath and then pulled Merk’s face to hers, his lips to her lips. She kissed him hard and passionately, making him kiss her back. At first, the kiss was one sided, but the more she pushed her will forward, the more she could feel him responding. But then he wrapped his arm around her and her entire body warmed, she could feel him, his body’s energy coming off of him. She pushed hers into him, a light mist shot from her mouth and into his and then shot up from their interlocked mouths, spewing and covering them.

Suddenly, Kara started to feel tired, drained, but Merk gripped her harder and pulled her into him with a virulent force. It was working, Kara thought. She could feel his body expanding, becoming more animated, stronger, the weight of his hands were heavy and hard on her waist as he wrapped his arms around her. She felt him pull her into his body tighter, closer, and suddenly she was sitting on top of his, like she was riding him. She was glad that it was working and that Merk was getting stronger, but it was all happening at a speed that she couldn’t keep up with.

Her breath was short, as if she was losing oxygen, her heart beat pounded faster and harder than she had ever felt; Kara felt lost, her mind was swirling, her body was caving in, emptiness was there – a kind of hollowing out of everything inside of her, and then she began having a hard time remembering what it was that she was doing – who was touching her? Who was she kissing? Who was she? And then it all stopped. Even her breathing…

 

***

 

Kara had blacked out. She was on her back. The night’s sky was empty. No stars. She fought to recall what was going on, where she was at, who she was. There were loud gasps in the background; cheers and jeers, murmurings and rumblings. A sliver of familiarity ran through her mind: Merk! Her mind began to reboot and she lifted herself up, working against her dislocated shoulder. She couldn’t have been out for that long.

Merk had shifted and was in panther form, his panther body fully intact, his back healed, sized and strong. Kara marveled at his thin coat of fur, a brilliant dark sheen. Merk looked great, new, strong, resurrected. It had worked! She had done that even though she was paying the price for it now. Merk was taking on Ratty and his brothers: panther versus wolves. It was an unfair advantage in terms of numbers but the way Merk was moving, bandying around the alpha Ratty and his pack of wolves, he looked like he was a fitting foe and an equal match for them all.

Merk already had two of the wolves on the ground, clawing and biting at each of them. RJ was on all fours to the outside of them, circling them, as he held off all the cousins, who had also shifted. Kara looked over her shoulder at the crowd on the bleachers. They were entranced by the whole ordeal, watching as if it was their favorite drama playing out in front of them or literally the Friday night football game that everyone in this town was obsessed about. Kara turned back to watch too, praying that Merk would pull through.

The wolf used its paw to smack the panther off balance. The panther rolled on its back and then sprung back onto its paws. Almost immediately, the panther lunged forward, its front legs and paws stretched out, its mouth wide and teeth pearled and ready to bite into the wolf. Ratty dodged the lunge and countered with a bite to Merk’s neck. The wolf tried to latch on but Merk spun and shook the attack off. He and Ratty faced off, circling each other.

Kara looked at Merk in awe. He was sublime, magnificent. She could still see a light scarring from earlier, now a part of his panther coat. He was a warrior cat, tried and battered, beaten, scarred but healing and still fighting. And RJ. He was fending off the rest of his entire family, to protect and help Merk, to give him a chance in the fight against his dad and brothers. Kara wanted to go to him, but her strength wasn’t coming back to her, at least not how it had been before with Ferdinando.

This time was different and she could feel it. Her body felt depleted, void of any substance that animated her. Kara felt empty and hollow. She didn’t want to let them fight alone but despite regaining consciousness, there was something wrong, something that she couldn’t fix. She felt like she was fading away, too weak to really move or say anything. From the ground, her face planted to the side of the cool grassy mound, she watched as RJ threw his body on top of one of the wolves, clawing and biting at them. He wrestled the one down to the ground, it clawed him and bit him, but RJ kept fighting.

The wolves were hard to pin down, there was constant snapping and spinning, but RJ somehow managed to wrap his legs around another one of the wolves, his cousin to handicap it and then sunk his teeth into its neck. Kara could see the anguish and pain on his face even as a wolf as he tore into his family, hating it but knowing that it had to be done – RJ twisted and then pulled. A loud snap sounded. The wolf’s neck was broke. And immediately, the pack stopped. Ratty and the rest of the pack turned to their fallen pack member.

In unison, as if their bodies demanded it, every one of them, including RJ, lifted their head to the dark sky and moon and howled. When they had finished, Ratty’s eyes found his sons. He took one step forward and then shifted back to human form, his naked body marched towards RJ, riled, his eyes filled with hate. He lunged for him but just before he could get to RJ, Merk, in panther form, dove on to Ratty’s back, reared back, and then chomped down into Ratty’s flesh – Merk sunk his teeth into the bed of Ratty’s neck, near the shoulder; Merk had a huge chunk of Ratty’s flesh in his mouth He pulled back, ripping that chunk of flesh and tendon and bone from him, the force and momentum of it causing Merk to fall backwards off the human Ratty.              

Ratty stood there in shock, blood spat and sprayed from his open wound and then gushed out. He turned to his right to look at the missing chunk. Suddenly, his body began to convulse and the right side of his body seemed to just go dead, slumping downward. Ratty’s body fell over to the right, crashing down hard to the field. No one moved for several seconds. The rest of the Fairweather shifters, including RJ, stood frozen to the spot, staring at his dad’s seizing body. One by one the brothers and cousins eased closer to Ratty, each one sniffing to check him out, to see whether he was still alive. RJ didn’t move. It was hard to tell if it was shock that kept him in place or hatred. The rest of the Fairweather crew all seemed to be waiting for Ratty to stop seizing. After several minutes, he stopped.

Merk, who was still in panther form, moved over to Kara. He nestled his head against hers and the purred, it was a loud one, full of bass. Kara wrapped her arms around him, pressing her body into him and pulling herself up to face him. She was weak. Dying. In order to save him, the man she loved, Kara had given him everything she had – all of her power and energy. Kara kissed him on the sides of his neck, light and faint, feeling as if it was about to be her last moments with him. She could feel it – death – coming, it was cold and separate, different from anything she had ever experienced; it was welcoming and made her feel like it was okay to leave, better maybe to go. Her eyes were closed now, and she kissed Merk one last time, woman to panther. She didn’t want to let go, but she did. The night was calling her, that inward darkness that was only in death.

For a few moments, at least for Kara, it seemed like the world had stopped. Frozen. It was just her and Merk. The way it should be. She knew that she would never love another the way she loved him. He was a part of her and she was a part of him. She was sure of it. Somehow. Providence. Fate. They were linked. That was how she had been able to find him; she believed that. And she was satisfied with that. She nodded to herself, telling herself that it was okay to go now, that she was with him, Merk, even if he was still in panther form; they were together and somehow, despite him being in panther form, she heard his last words to her, “I love you.”