Struggle

CHAPTER TWO

I struggled against his hand on my mouth but he was insistent. In the end I went limp in his arms and he slowly released his grip on my mouth. He waited till the murderer had moved away from my family's death table, then turned to me.

I stared at his features in momentary awe: his eyes were big and bright and blue, almost electric in their intensity. The eyes of an inexperienced man who hadn't yet seen the rougher side of life; probably nineteen or twenty years old, not much older than me. His coal-black hair was plaited in cornrows, each strand falling to his shoulders. His skin was tan, which was a rarity in this cold climate. And he was staring at me the way I knew I was staring at him.

Against my better judgement, I began to wonder what he saw when he looked at me.

"I know you're planning to come out of this table and face those men..." He started.

"They killed my parents!" I whispered furiously, amidst tears.

"And?" Alpha Alexander asked, eyebrows raised. "That doesn't justify getting yourself killed too. That would be a stupid idea."

I glared at him. "You have no right—"

"Oh, I think I do." He replied. He gazed at me for a few moments, then continued. "How come you aren't dead?"

"How come you're not either?" I clapped back.

"Okay, we'll ask questions later. First, I have to make sure the murderers get out of here before we move out too. Hold on." He whispered, then leaned up slowly. He gazed around for a few seconds, before returning under the table. "Their backs are turned: they're on the edge of the garden. We'll move out slowly, then walk to the edge of the forest. Then we'll escape together. Alright?"

I nodded. "Alright."

He offered his hand to me and I slipped my fingers into his. However tanned he looked, his hand was as cold as ice. "Ready?" He asked, and I nodded in the affirmative. And together we slowly stood up from under the table.

Again the sight of several dead people met my eyes. It was hard to look away, hard to ignore the blood and the unseeing eyes and the cold, deathly silence. Hard to see where people had once dined on my account, flowing with blood. My heart was broken beyond fixing.

"They all died...they all died because of me..." I whispered, and the alpha held on to my hand.

"They all died because some wicked person killed them." He said, staring into my eyes with those blue ones of his. "Come on, let's go." He added, and began to steer me towards the edge of the forest, several yards away.

My eyes never left the ghastly death scene and the men that stood on the other end of the garden, their backs to us. Alexander gently pulled me until we were in the safety of the forest. He never let go of my hand.

When we got to the forest, the young alpha crouched behind some shrubs and motioned for me to do the same. I followed suit. "Stay here," he ordered. "My horse is on the other side of the forest. I'll get my horse and circle back to you, but you mustn't leave this spot."

"I won't leave this spot." I promised, but he shook his head.

"No," he said. "Those people will kill you without feeling remorse if they find out you're here. Swear it. Upon the Moon Goddess."

I groaned. "I swear it upon the Moon Goddess that I won't leave this spot. Satisfied now?"

He stared at me for long moments, his beautiful blue eyes locked into mine, and then he nodded with satisfaction. "Alright. Wait here."

I waited until he was safely in the forest, then turned the opposite way he'd gone. I broke my promise and left the spot I was crouching, then slowly began to circle the perimeter of the forest, towards where the murderers stood on the edge of the garden.

I just wanted to see their faces once, wanted to memorize their happy smiles so that when those same faces were twisted in the grimace of death, my revenge would be sweeter.

I just wanted to know who killed my parents.

I stopped at the brink of the forest, ever closer to where the men stood. They seemed to be having a discussion about how to dispose of the dead bodies they'd created, the people they'd murdered. I scanned their faces one by one, my eyes moving rapidly through the group of ten or twelve men, and my eyes came to rest upon the last man in the group. He looked like he was their leader, and his teeth was shining in a sinister smile that made my hair stand on end.

My uncle.

By all the powers of the Moon Goddess—

Now I knew why that voice had sounded so familiar.

I gave a loud gasp as my eyes fell on his face: scarred, pitted and bald. I'd only seen him twice, when he came to my father's palace begging for a place to stay, but my father had never taken him in those two times. My father never liked to talk about him.

The men had heard my gasp. They fell silent and turned towards my general direction, peering into the forest. I saw my uncle frown, the scars on his face catching the milky moonlight. "Someone's there," he murmured to the others. "Get the person and kill him or her."

Oh, Goddess.

I began to slowly move the way I'd come, my eyes never leaving them, my heart thundering with fear and rage. My uncle...my own uncle...had killed his brother, my father. To what end?

I so wanted to rush into that garden littered with dead bodies, and rake my fingernails across his face. I wanted him to roar with pain, wanted to channel the emotional agony I was feeling inside into his physical one. He'd killed my family in one single night. He'd killed dozens of people like mice. He was a murderer, and I wouldn't rest until he got his measure back.

My feet stepped on a twig as I slowly backed off, and it gave out a loud snap, further confirming my location. The men were combing the forest now, their eyes on my general location. The shrubs and thicket around were thick and it was very easy to hide underneath them, but my uncle's men had me surrounded now. There was no escaping without making myself seen.

Before I could do anything more stupid, I heard the galloping of a horse behind me. I turned, still crouching, and saw Alpha Alexander on a regal white horse, his face contorted in rage. I heaved a relieved sigh and stood up from my crouch, just as my uncle's men morphed into their different wolf forms. Four wolves, four deadly beasts.

Alexander himself leaped down from the horse and morphed midair. Where a man had once stood, now a great black werewolf crouched, snarling, his teeth bared dangerously.

Suddenly something clicked open in my mind, like a window shutter. Suddenly I could hear Alexander's thoughts, filtering into my own head like sunlight through that open window, the thoughts directed at the snarling wolves in front of him. Touch her, and I'll tear you apart, he seemed to say.

Then he turned his regal head to me. Get behind me, he said through the wave of thoughts, and my eyes widened. "What?" I whispered.

Get behind me, Elaine. Now!

I dashed behind the large black wolf, almost my height, and  crouched in safety. And before I could think or act or say anything, the four wolves before us attacked.

Alexander lunged forward and grabbed the first one, then flung him against a nearby tree. A second one leapt and landed on him, and they rolled into the depths of the forest, snapping at each other's throats.

The other two turned their gazes on me instead, their amber eyes full of maniacal rage. Then one of them leapt towards me, sharp canines bared.

I didn't think or act when it happened. All I knew was that a sudden warmth had enveloped my body from head to toe. I felt my bones begin to shrink and elongate at various places in my body, and I watched as I had my second change ever. Fur sprouted all over my body, my limbs lengthened and claws protruded from my paws.

The rogue wolf landed on me and knocked me to the ground. I striked back with as much force as I could muster, raking my brand new claws across his face. He yowled in pain and backed off, and before he could recover, I leaped forward and landed on him, sinking my canines into his throat. He gave out a loud howl of pain, then went silent forever.

I looked around frantically, but the last wolf was nowhere to be found. It seemed the howl had attracted the rest of the rogue pack, as I could hear them moving through the forest and calling on their comrade's names now.

Where the hell was Alexander?

I scanned the whole area with my sharpened vision, looking for him, but he was nowhere to be found. I decided to copy his earlier actions and closed my eyes, focusing on my thoughts. Where are you? I called out to him. The murderer's men are coming.

There was silence at first, and then he replied. I'm at the border of the forest, to the west. Go to the horse and meet me there.

Alright, I replied, then morphed into my human form just as my uncle's men broke into the scene of our fight. "Oi!" One of them yelled and pointed at me. "It's a girl!"

I turned and ran towards the white horse as the men chased after me, then clambered on top of it. I'd never ridden a horse before—my father usually said it was just for warriors—but I settled comfortably enough into the saddle. As the men reached the horse, I kicked its side with enough force to send it running through the forest, heading west.

The men behind me never relented. They continued to race after me—some even changed into their wolf forms—but the horse was considerably faster, just a head ahead of them. I scanned the area for Alexander as I reached the border of the forest to the west, then spotted him.

He was racing towards the horse too, still in wolf form. Slow down! He called out to me.

"I can't!" I said, with words this time. "They'll overtake me!"

Do you trust me? He asked through our mind link. His voice was calm, unusually calm in the dire situation we were in.

Yes, I replied his thoughts.

Rein the horse in, Elaine.

I did as he asked and pulled on the horse's reins, making it skid on its hooves. The men who were in hot pursuit hadn't predicted that move. They all ran past the horse, and when they realised they'd ran faster than their target, it was a tad too late.

Alexander had changed into his human form and jumped on the horse behind me. He took the reins from my hand and sent the horse running past the rogue wolves. They all yelled and howled after us, but they knew that the chase was up.

Alexander and I continued to race inside the forest, then we broke out of the forest and into a grassy plain. He didn't stop or slow down, and we continued to gallop into the night's darkness, into the unknown.