He's been sort of distracted too, like he wants to say something but can't find the words to say it. She wonders if it's about him leaving.
The point is, she had drifted away from him and couldn't find him back and her efforts to walk around the mall had garnered the attention of people wandering around in the mall.
She hasn't been that worried at first. She thought she would be able to find her way and she was in the mall. She won't get in trouble in here. But then she realized she was being followed by a group of what her twitching rabbit nose tells her is a pack of wolves. They smell weird and unfamiliar, and they smell dangerous, like they're tracking her and are circling her, growing closer and closer until she feels trapped and alone even though there are others in the mall.
She gets out of the mall, thinking the open space would mean it'll be easier for her to get way. The last thing she wants is for them to corner her in the enclosed space of the mall, but now she thinks it would've been better if she had stayed because at least there would have been witnesses keeping them from doing something terrible to her.
She thought she was heading back to the hotel and it doesn't take her long to acknowledge that she's completely lost. She's in a completely unrecognizable part of town - though most of it is unrecognizable to her.
She gets more and more panicked when she realizes that she's not being paranoid and the guys really are tracking her, circling around and getting closer, a few of them moving around to close her in.
"Hello there.” The man looms in front of her, huge and terrifying. "What's a little thing like you doing out here all alone? Don't you know it's not safe for shifts like you out here?"
"I um- I'm just here for the event," she stutters. "If you could point me in the direction of my hotel, that would be very helpful," she says, hoping her ears are properly tucked under her hair and they can't see them. Apparently city folks are weird about Shifters like her, which was why Da
rnell had been so wary about letting her out of the hotel.
"Aren't you sweet?" The man sneers, looming in front of her, closing in and grabbing her wrist hard enough to hurt.
"Please let go," she says, her heartbeat going too fast. "I- Please," she whimpers, eyes filling with tears. She can hold onto her shift easier now that she's older, but she's fast forgetting how to keep in control because she's really scared right now.
"Why would I do that? Sweet little thing like you," he drawls, leaning in and licking a wet strip up her cheek.
It's really gross and she pulls away, cheeks going bright red with humiliation. The other werewolves are closing in now too, trapping her between them to give her the feeling of prey being surrounded. It's terrifying. Her breath hitches and her eyes burn with tears. She wipes away the saliva on her cheek with the back of her hand. She doesn't like the he smells like cigarette smoke.
He yanks her close, pulling their bodies closer together and then he shifts partially so that his fingers turn into sharp claws right in front of her eyes. She thinks of hitting him and running away but she's outnumbered like this. She closes her eyes and grimaces when she feels him comb through her hair, tips of his claws cutting through her hair band like it's made of paper. Her hair tumbles out from the ponytail and her rabbit ears drop down. A whine escapes her throat. Her ears fold back, and she trembles quietly, panicking.
"Jesus-" "Oh my god." "What the-"
She closes her eyes, heart beating so hard she's afraid it would break through her rib cage and abandon her.
"Aren't you just lovely," he grins and she can feel his breath on her cheek, burning hot and smelling like cigarette smoke and danger. Her ears are folded all the way back pressing into her ear so his words have a sort of echo to them.
She yelps when he clutches her long ears in his palm and tugs her head back, exposing her bare neck to him and looking at her like he's trying to find the best place to slit her neck. It hurts to have her ears tugged like this.
Tears trickle down the side of her face and he leans in to capture the teardrop on his tongue. Her skin feels clammy where his tongue touches her. She wipes it away with the back of her hand again, not wanting his scent on her. It doesn't just smell wrong. It feels wrong, like it's not mean to be there. She knows wolves mark their possession with scent and he's trying to mark her.
"You smell a little bit like wolf, little rabbit," he says. "I thought you were just a little werewolf girl. Who knew?" he looks a little bit crazed, his eyes shining brightly, his upper lip pulled back into a cruel grin. "And you're unclaimed," he grins.
"I'm not," she lies weakly.
"You're going to catch a high price at the market. But maybe we can play with you a little before we send you there," he says, his voice dropping low. He leans in close, mouth parted a little bit like he's going to kiss her and the idea of his lips on hers makes her blood run cold.
Her breath hitches and she loses control of her shift entirely. It happens between one breath and the next, her body shrinking so rapidly that his hold on her ears loosen enough for her to drop straight down onto the pavement. She runs, leaving behind her favorite dress and what little spare change she has in her pockets.
She runs as fast as her little rabbit body can take her, twisting and turning when she feels the swipe of claws behind her, trying to catch her with powerful swats and knock her off course. It's hard to run like this. There are so many obstacles for her to avoid whereas the werewolves running after her are just barreling through the bins and boxes. The noises scare her and spur her into running even faster, strong hind feet pushing her into hopping forward as hard as she can, propelling her towards where she can hear music playing.
She runs towards noise, towards where she thinks there'll be a crows so people will help, but the people she sees run out of the way the moment they see the werewolves coming after her. She hears their yelps and screams as they scatter and are pushed out of the way when a few aren't fast enough.
Maybe Darnell will come out after her. But what can Darnell do against so many werewolves? He's strong, but not that strong.
She's going to die.
She twists into a corner, wishing she was home. At least she could hide better there. Maybe she could squeeze into a small enough space and they wouldn't be able to reach her. The big bin looks like it's too heavy to be lifted. She tries to scurry underneath it.
Her hind paw catches on a drain hole cover and she trips, crashing onto her stomach, the wind abruptly forced from her lungs. She tries to scramble to her paws but she can sense the large shadows hovering over her, catching up too quickly for her to run and she knows- she just knows they're going to eat her.
They won't even be able to find her dead body because she's a rabbit. They'd just think she's roadkill and her brothers are going to kill Darnell for not taking care of her and they're going to be murderers. She's going to ruin everybody's lives.