Chapter 3

At the end of the tunnel was a large and peaceful green meadow in the coldness of the night. We had to pass by it to get into a forest I presumed led to Zauks Pack. I didn’t realize why it took so long for the she-wolves to get to the border until I realized we were basically like sheep in an open, vacant land waiting for the wolves to pounce. We were open targets and that wasn’t a comforting thought.

“One.” I snapped my head over to the golden-haired woman who was counting. She must be the luna.

“Two.” All the women adjusted themselves for the run, getting ready. I allowed my wolf to push forward.

My stance went from slumped to prepared and confident. My wolf raised our body to stand on the tips of our toes to run. Our abdominal muscles were clenching with slow breathing as adrenaline pumped through my body at an alarming rate.

“Three.” Everybody took off running into the clearing.

We shot off like a bullet, running for our lives. Although agility was a wolf’s nature, knowing that our lives were in danger doubled our speed. I smiled sensing victory as we got closer to the edge of the forest—but I was wrong.

Suddenly, large wolves of all shapes and sizes shot into the clearing, forming a large wall in front of us, snarling and snapping. I dug my heels into the ground and skidded to a stop, almost falling over my feet at the sudden jerk. My eyes widened at the sight before me.

Whimpers and shrieks could be heard at the sight of the army before us. There could have been twenty-five of them. I heard the sound of a loud click behind me. I glanced quickly behind my shoulder to see that the door was closed.

The luna had closed the door to the tunnel.

My wolf snarled out loud at the betrayal and situation we were put in. My head turned back to face the threat before us. Anger filled me to the core, pushing the fear of uncertainty away. I would rather die fighting before they could take me. I was angered by the coward who called himself “a god” but could not show his face.

The she-wolves began to retreat together, huddling with their whimpering pups. Our eyes were fixed solely on the wolves who stood between us and our freedom. It was evident that we were outnumbered, but we were not going to surrender. We growled when four large wolves stepped forward breaking the wall they had in front of us. They would surely regret it if they got any closer.

The wolves in front of us were larger than normal werewolves, including the warriors. They were covered in blood. Others had a few chunks of meat torn off of them, but they didn’t seem to mind it. One thing was certain: they all had the same color in their eyes. No matter what the stories said, wolf’s color eyes wouldn’t change once turned, no. Eyes stayed the same color as the human eyes, but these wolves all had the same eye color.

Silver. Every single pair of eyes trained on us were the same cool shade of silver; it was unnerving. I could feel my wolf pushing for release, urging me to do something, anything but stand still. It was deathly still in the meadow. The she-wolves not knowing how to react other than growling in warning and the enemy wolves staying still but not allowing us to move forward. What are they waiting for?

Questions just kept ringing through my head. I snapped out of my thoughts when the silhouette of a tall muscular man showed up, and as he stepped away from the shadow of the trees, his face became clearer. He had matted, curly dark hair. Defined features rested on his oval face. He had bushy eyebrows furrowed above a pair of catlike green eyes and naturally dark lips, giving off a smirk. The man was perfectly handsome, if it wasn’t for his threatening expression.

The wolves in front of us made way for the man to pass. His hands were behind his back; his stride was long and quick. He paused for a moment, making us shift from foot to foot with unease. He scanned everyone of us with his alert green eyes. I could see how strong he looked. Was he the leader? I didn’t feel the tremendous power that was spoken of so he couldn’t be the wolf god, could he? He lifted his head a little higher and pushed his chest forward before booming out, “Most of you won’t remember this, but I’ll humor you. No, we won’t kill your children. They’re of no use to us.” The she-wolves released a sigh of relief.

“We would rather do this quickly, so if you please.” He motioned for us to come forward.

Does this crazy bitch really think we will obey them?

The she-wolves decided on their own. Some took a step backwards. Some made a run for it, only to be pursued by some of our captors. A handful of us were left in the same spot. I grabbed Lily before she could run. Wolves liked to chase and if we were caught, who knew what those monsters would do to us? I looked around for a clue on what to do. Run or fight? I clenched my fists and shifted back and forth between feet. As I looked at the man, his eyes were on me, and my body froze under the scrutiny of those narrowed green slits. He looked at Lily, then to me alternately with a sly and mischievous expression on his face that alarmed me.

“You two, come here,” he demanded. Lily and I tensed up, then looked at each other.

“Fuck you,” we responded at the same time. I wanted to add bitch, but I wasn’t going to add fuel to the fire. His expression didn’t change, but the wolves behind him snarled at us. I growled back but apparently the remaining she-wolves didn’t appreciate our tone either because they backed up, leaving Lily and me in front.

“Two brave little pups, aren’t you?” he said in a flat tone right before he adjusted his posture; it looked like something was going to happen. Lily must have sensed it too because we took off running to the right as fast as we could, but it wasn’t fast enough because I heard Lily let out a shriek, followed by a thump.

“Run!” Lily screamed.

I quickly glanced behind me to see her being tackled by a large reddish-looking wolf, but then suddenly, the large green-eyed man sprinted at me with amazing speed, closing in on me with every step he took. His black boots didn’t seem to touch the ground. I pushed myself to run faster, but each step I took wobbled. Why is it that when you need something, you yourself manage to fuck it up? Where was that supposed werewolf gracefulness?

I was tackled from behind before I could make it to the edge of the forest. He wrapped his hands around my body and all of a sudden, I felt an electric zap go through me. He grunted before we went flipping mid-fall and landed on the ground with me on top.

I struggled to get out of his hold, placing one foot on the ground, straddling him. His large hands clamped on my wrists like chains but not enough to bruise me. I was horrified that I would be taken by this brute.

“Let me go! Let me go!” I shouted, trying to claw at his hands, but that didn’t work. I reached for his expressionless face, but he managed to stop me. I huffed as my muscles were tired and my body had started to weaken, but I couldn’t give up.

I leaned forward to bite his face with my canines. My wolf was growling in my mind, but I could feel something familiar in my chest that I couldn’t fathom. I was suddenly in an upright position, standing in front of the dark-haired man with his hands still holding me like a prisoner. He crossed my arms in front of me to avoid any more attacks, but I was able to kick him. He ignored it, blocking me when I tried to kick his “friend” down there.

With one hand, he clasped both of mine while his other hand reached for my chin. I leaned back, trying to pull my arms. He was going to snap my neck! I doubled my efforts in panic.

I turned my head violently, but he grabbed me roughly by the chin and tilted my head to meet his ecstatic expression before it went blank. His glazed eyes were focused on me; he must have been mind linking with whoever bastard was behind this. I used all of my energy to break free, but just as my chance came, his green eyes flickered to black, then to silver until it slowly transformed into a mesmerizing shade of blue that had me frozen in my spot.

Everything faded at that moment except those vivid, hypnotizing blue eyes. Something seemed to change in that instant, pulling me from deep within—a force stronger than will, stronger than life, searching for the missing link. Subsequently, his hold became gentle and he loosened his grip. From the corner of my eye, I saw his pointer finger linger and make its way down to the corner of my lips where it hovered over, then slid to the other side.

The trail left a burning path to my core, scorching my body. My wolf purred and went weak at his touch. As much as it pulled me in and made me feel alive, I knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t figure what it was. I tried to close my eyes to regain control but every time I did, it just dissolved into nothingness, and my thoughts would go back to those lovely blue eyes.

His blue eyes blinked at me as if taking me in, before he nodded once at me. His blue eyes flickered back to black, then to a cat-like green as if the spell was broken.

It seemed like the man was regaining some sort of control over himself with his grasp still on me. I freed myself from his hold, and turned away running for my life.

“Release all other she-wolves! Mission complete. A1-2 has been found,” he yelled.

I thought about saving Lily as I ran towards the edge of the forest, but as soon as I was close to freedom, somebody grabbed my shoulders with its fingers around my neck and pushed me down firmly. I felt like I was about to faint. I was seeing dots, my body suddenly weighing a ton, causing me to fall back against the body behind me. Before passing out, I heard one last thing from my captor:

“We found A1-2, everyone. We found our little luna.”