He finds her. She makes a proposal.

Hunter started to move towards Lucinda, although his movement was hampered by the growing crowd. He didn't want to draw attention to himself by pushing people out of the way, and he saw her lips curl in amusement at his slow progress. With scornful smile she stepped back turning and disappearing through the crowd.

Finally free of the throng, Hunter looked around for her but saw nothing. He almost growled in frustration, then caught a whiff of her aroma. The same wild lupine scent he had smelled earlier that day. Wrinkling his nostrils, he tried to follow it, tracing it down a block and into the lobby of the hotel.

She was waiting for him, looking poised and assured and utterly without fear. He prowled towards her, his senses prickling, a desire to leap on her and rip her throat out growing inside him. And another desire, almost equally powerful, to mount her like a bitch and fill her full of wolfish cock. There were too many people in the lobby to satisfy either urge, and his muscles tensed as he approached.

"Why?" he growled at her.

"I had needs," she smiled viciously. "You will have needs too. You sated some in the park last night. But they will not be quenched."

"Why her?"

"What matters who? They are prey, these human insects. Prey for any strong enough to take them. Dunnigan tried to make a virtue of culling what he called the misfits and degenerates. A waste of time. Take what you need, when you need it. Regrets are for humans and weaklings."

"It was needlessly cruel," Hunter snarled.

"It was necessary. Shall I tell you how she screamed? How her hot blood tasted?" She licked her lips lewdly, and Hunter curled his hands into fists, wanting to attack her.

"Was she dear to you, this insect? You have no place for affection now. You are were. You are of the Strain. We can rule forever, with all of humankind as our prey."

"Did you attack her because I knew her?"

"Perhaps..." Lucinda smiled with unutterable cruelty. "Are there others dear to you too? Guard them well, Hunter."

"Touch them and I will kill you," he hissed, stepping closer.

"Do you wish to kill me or mount me?" she chuckled. "I can smell the lust on you. Imagine what fun it would be to lope together, to hunt together, to rut together. It will be sex unlike anything you can imagine, sex that will make fucking these human vermin feel like nothing at all. Join with me Hunter! I can smell the desire on you."