CHAPTER 6

HAZEL

Frustration. 

Frustration gnawed at me as I struggled to revert to my human form. Five days of failed attempts had left my wolf stubbornly resistant. 

The guards kept accusing me of disobeying their orders. The intake judge labelled me as 'brute' and 'feral.' Even the social worker assigned to my case has expressed frustration, claiming I'm unwilling to cooperate.

If only that were true. My wolf refuses to let me defend myself in human form. 

Everyone believed I killed my mother because Alpha Declan told them I did. He claimed I went feral with her when I learned the truth about my lineage.

He feigned sympathy, calling my situation a 'sad, helpless case.' He then launched into a patronising speech about how he couldn't bring himself to put me down, absolving me of blame for being born as I am.

Yet he didn't have a single problem with Alpha Arturo's wolves killing my mom, but he also had the audacity to accuse me of the crime. ‘what a coward for an Alpha.’

I felt so screwed, chewed and betrayed right now. 

My wolf is furious. I am also furious but I also felt terrified because they are taking me to the shadow moon pack, home of the cruellest wolves in existence.

They falsely accuse me of murdering my own mother, and they think sending me there is my punishment.

I want to cry, I want to scream out of my lungs. I want to bite. 

They gagged me, my growls only fueling the rumours of my feral and brutal nature. My inner wolf is furious and itching to attack the guard who dared to silence her.

He keeps looking at my wolf with a hungry gaze, his nose twitching as he scents me. 

I growl in response, my animal allowing the sound through. 

He smiles, clearly amused by my show of defiance. 

‘I'm such a dead wolf,’ I think, signing heavily. 

The boat sliced through the water, leaving a wake behind as we departed for my new home—or so they say. My paws were slick with sweat, and my heart pounded in my chest as we sailed further into the unknown.

I know my former Alpha is counting on my survival rate. “She won't make it long enough to talk,” Alpha Declan said to my father before the officials arrived the other night. 

My mind was a fog, my skull throbbing from Cosmo's blow. A part of me hoped it was all a dream, but a quick glance at my paws confirmed the harsh reality.

The world tilted, and I was plunged into darkness. When I regained consciousness, I found myself trapped in a cell, the cold metal walls closing in around me. My social worker's voice, cold and impersonal, cut through the silence as he recited the charges.

My mother was indeed dead. 

My pack had disowned me. 

And the fucking elders think I killed my mother in a fit of feral rage. 

Panic and fury suffocated me in the next moment, causing my wolf to react aggressively. 

A sharp pain pierced my neck, and then darkness enveloped me as the guards had struck me with a tranquilliser.

That happened to me three times in the last few days. 

I very much do not want to go through it again while on our way to the most dangerous pack on planet earth. So I'm focusing on my breathing and trying very hard not to freak out. 

But my mother's agonising screams continue to reverberate through my mind. 

She had begged them to stop. 

They had laughed with no pity. 

My own father allowed it to happen. 

‘Not my father,’ I reminded myself. 

But he was still her mate.

How could he be so cruel?

How could he be that heartless to do that to his mate?

'Why didn't she tell him the truth?' A small part of me instantly whispered. She should have told him about the brute wolf and what he did to her. 

But then she would have lost me. 

She was perhaps scared that my father would have made her abort the child.

‘I wouldn't have exist.’

That's why she didn't tell him.

Because of her love for me.

And now she had paid the ultimate price with her dear life. 

A tear longs to sneak from my eye but my wolf refuses it. She is still very much in charge and presenting a confident air that has me cringing inside.

It is a bravado I don't event feel. 

She is in survival mode, not allowing me to run the show. If I could speak during my trial, I may have been able to negotiate where the elders wanted to send me to. 

But NO. 

My wolf cemented our fate by snarling at the intake judge instead. 

I try to close my eyes, to just relax in the open ocean air. Finally, the guards moves to the right, keeping my wolf on a high alert.

At least I can't feel the winter air. My fur keeps me warm as we zip along the water to the islands off the coast of New York.

Brute wolves is the only pack connected to the mainland by a bridge. All other pack, including those housing the Reject Pack, can only be accessed by ferry or helicopter.

Or, in my case, via speed boat. 

Probably because these guards want to drop me at the water’s edge and escape before the brute wolves can sense their presence.

Rumours of the Shadow moon pack have always filled me with a sense of unease. Their enforcers have protected our village, but I've never seen one up close, and I'm not sure I want to.

But no one is guaranteeing mine here. 

I’m in a damn locked cage.

One I suspect these assholes are not planning to let me out of. 

I shiver at the thought. If my wolf allows me to shift, then I can use my fingers to free us both. 

Assuming I can even shift with a muzzle attached to my head. 

I frown inside, uncertain, these are the types of things I have never been taught. 

The boat begins to slow gradually, the guard up ahead kept yelling. “Get her ready!” 

Mister muzzle stands, his lips curling in a way that makes my skin crawl badly. “The fucking pleasure is mine.” 

My wolf sits down in the crate, staring at him. The complete opposite of what I want to be doing right now. She's acting like a damn obedient dog, her ears perked, tail slightly wagging. 

“I knew you would come around,” he says with a chuckle, crouching down in the process. “Why don't you shift so I can see you better?” 

My wolf cocked her head like she couldn't understand one bit of what this bastard was saying. 

It’s disorienting to feel so detached from her and out of control. I imagine it's how she's felt all these years while I suppressed her-something I'm realizing now isn't natural. 

Because I saw a few pups running around at a far distance. 

Female pups. 

“I’m not letting your ass out until you shift,” he says. 

'Well, that's not happening,' I want to tell him. 

Instead my wolf lays down with a sad little huff. 

I have no idea what she's doing and I have given up trying to understand. Instead, I roll with it. She want to mope, then we'll mope. 

The guards frown deepened. “I can't let you out in wolf form, little one.”

Which means he plans to dump my crate on the island. Awesome.

The boat slows to a stop, the guards lips twisting in the process. 

“Yo! We can't waste any of our precious time. Push her off and let's go!” The guard from the front calls back to us. 

Mister muzzle sighs and shakes his head. 

“All right.” He reached forward, his fingers on the latch. “Try to attack me, and I'm going to toss you into the water to drown in the cage. Be a good little wolf, and I will let you swim to the shore,”

‘Wow, those are amazing options,’ I think, rolling my eyes. 

But my wolf doesn't move, just continues to watch him. 

He opens the door and she sits up, tail wagging happily. 

“Well, go on then.” He says, pointing to the shore that I can now see is about a hundred feet away. He wasn't kidding about swimming.

My wolf whines a little and paws at her muzzle.

He narrows his eyes. “I'm not falling for that.”

She sighs, laying down again.

“What the hell, Tino? Push the damn wolf overboard already!” The impatient guard from the front demands.

Tino doesn't move, his eyes on me. “All right. Come here and I will remove it. But if you bite me, you will regret it.”

My wolf sit up again, wagging her tail like an obedient pet. 

I wonder if he realizes that I'm not in control at all, that she's running the entire show. 

His smile suggests he thinks it's all me. 

And he should be since I am the human here. 

But I feel locked away, similar to how I used to push her to the back of my mind. 

I can feel, hear and see everything. I could even taste the rotten food they gave me in my cell. However, I couldn't stop myself from eating it. 

Just like I can't stop this ridiculous wagging now. 

“Come out here lik

e a good girl and I will take it off before you jump.” Tino says.

My wolf stands and stretches, obviously understanding him. Although, I don't think it's his words she processes so much as his tone and movements. There's an animality in her that doesn't assess phrases the way a human would. 

This is the main reason why I should be able to control her but No, I couldn't.

because she was way stronger than i had ever imagined.