Chapter 3

Ever since I was a little girl, I'd had an irrational fear of the dark.

I jumped at little noises that were most times just the creaking of my bed, and startled at sudden movements that were always just random items of clothing hanging off chairs or in closets.

Now though, nothing about those fears were irrational or fake.

Trees with long branches and sweeping leaves waved back and forth in the slight wind, and the wind made a high whistling sound as it wove through the dense vegetation, rustling the dead leaves on the forest floor.

I hugged my arms to myself as I walked, the heels of my shoes sinking into the soft earth. 

I was suddenly yanked backwards by my dress and I screamed, whirling around and expecting to see someone holding on to me.

I heaved a quiet sigh of relief and a titter at my own jumpiness when I saw that the train of my dress had simply snagged on a tree root.

Sighing, I gripped the flimsy lace firmly and pulled taut, ripping it in two so that it now hung halfway to my knees instead of trailing a full two feet behind me.

The end tangled in the trees fluttered to the ground quietly and I turned to continue on my miserable way. 

The night was a dark one, and the dense canopy of trees above me enhanced the darkness. I could barely see three feet in front of me.

My hearing was excellent though, which was why I heard the sound of a tree branch snapping underfoot. 

My spine stiffened as I straightened abruptly, pausing in my tracks.

My ears strained keenly, waiting to catch that sound again. I must have stood motionless for at least a minute, before concluding that maybe I'd been the one to step on the branch.

Afterall, the large skirt of my dress prevented me from seeing the ground directly in front of me.

More carefully this time, I took a tentative step forward, before beginning to walk in earnest.

Since I had no idea of where I was going, I had just decided to walk in a straight line, figuring I would definitely get to a landmark of some sort. 

I'd walked for another minute maybe, when I heard it again. The sound of deep breathing, and the light padding of footsteps behind me. I whirled around and I saw it. 

About four feet tall, the creature was mangy, patches of fur missing from it's coat.

It's dull yellow eyes were sickly, and saliva dripped hungrily from it's canines.

My eyes darted around and I saw that I had spoken too soon.

Not it. They.

About half a dozen of those such wolves stood in a half circle in front of me. I had stumbled right into a pack of rogue wolves. 

Tales of what had happened to people as careless as I was began flooding through my mind.

Stories of the havoc rogue wolves caused, the injuries they inflicted on the minds and bodies of their victims.

Little, useless pieces of advice on what to do if you were confronted by a rogue.

Nothing that could help me though. Because I wasn't cornered by a wolf. I was cornered by wolves. 

One of them growled menacingly and a glint of hunger passed through his eyes.

I could easily have defended myself or outrun them if they were regular wolves, but from their size and the intelligent look of villiany in their eyes, I knew without a doubt that they were werewolves. 

I ignored all my instincts screaming at me to run, because I knew they would only chase me down. The instinct to give chase was inborn in all predators. So I tried talking. 

"Er...hello", I said tentatively. "Anyone know the way to the nearest town? I think I'm a bit lost." I added a little 'hehe' at the end of my statement, as if I couldn't believe myself. 

The wolf in the middle growled again. He was a lot bigger than the others and by the way he stood authoritatively, front and center, I knew he was their Alpha. 

"Do you mind telling me your name?", I asked him instead, hoping to lure them into their human forms though I wasn't sure which was better.

To be chased and mauled by wolves, or to be left to the calculating evil of six sense-deprived human minds. 

One of the wolves flanking tenses, his claws scratching at the ground expectantly, and I instinctively knew what was coming.

I didn't wait for him to pounce, only turned and ran faster than I'd ever run in my life, grateful for my alpha genes for once. 

Despite my speed, I was still considerably slow, especially when compared to six muscled wolves used to chasing down their prey.

My dress hugged at my legs and I cursed my lack of foresight in not doing something about it earlier.

The sharp heel of my shoe snagged across a thin root of a tree and I found myself sprawling forward, barely managing to catch myself my throwing my arms out in front of me.

I landed with a yelp of pain, immediately turning on my back to see the advancing wolves. They looked really hungry. And they were going to get me if I didn't do something, and fast.

"Wait!", I suddenly screamed, breaking the serenity of the night. Surprisingly, they listened and all of them paused, staring at me inquiringly. 

It was a lot like a lion asking a lamb what it wanted before it got eaten. 

"Wait a moment", I continued, my hands shaking as I tried to grab as much handfuls of lace as I could. Who the hell designed these things? A bride couldn't even run for her life in them. 

"This isn't a fair chase", I told them sternly, keeping my voice firm so they wouldn't take it as a sign of weakness and stop listening to me. "Give me a moment."

My heart thundered as the wolves stared at me perplexed as I ripped along the middle of my dress as quickly as I could until the whole thing was knee-length and a frothy concoction of dirty lace lay heaped on the ground beside me.

Next, I took off my shoes, wincing at the blisters on my feet from keeping them imprisoned in pointy-toes all day. 

I could tell by the shifting muscles that the rogues were going to pounce on me anytime soon, fairness be damned, so slowly, I got to my feet, the fear I felt at that moment overpowering the relief of being barefooted after a whole day. 

Before the first wolf could take the initiative, I turned and resumed my race, this time infinitely faster than I previously was.

Tiny twigs prickled the soft underside of my feet, but I barely even noticed. It was literally a death race. I knew that the rogues would have zero qualms ripping into me...or worse. 

I started to severely doubt the strength of my alpha genes when I started to tire after only a few minutes of ducking under and leaping over branches.

I was tired - pre-wedding nerves and the events of the day had prevented me from eating anything other than a slice of pineapple that morning. 

I heard the rrip my dress made as it was snatched my sharp teeth and urged myself to run faster.

I saw what I thought was my salvation in the form of a tree branch that was high enough that I didn't need to leap over it.

A crazy idea room hold in my mind, and without thinking it through, I jumped, right as I passed under the tree, putting as much power and momentum as I could into that jump, slapping a hand on the bark of the branch, and launching myself upwards. 

I underestimated my momentum, or the pull of gravity. My shoulder screamed as my whole weight dangled on it for a split second before I swung my body up onto the branch.

A sharp searing pain up my calf had my eyes watering. I glanced down to see that the rogue who had been in the lead had completely sped past the tree, and one of them had clawed at my leg when they saw what I attempted.

I barely had time to climb up to a safer, sturdier branch when one of the wolves leapt, putting his forelimbs right in front of me, on the branch that was already ominously creaking. 

With a snap, the branch fell, and I screamed as both I and the ambitious wolf tumbled several feet to the ground. He recovered before me. My ears rang and my vision swam for a minute before I shook myself alret. 

The wolves had completely surrounded me, and I knew there was no means of escape. They wouldn't fall for any more tricks, nor would they let me out of their sight long enough to run.

My eyes stung, but I silently ordered myself not to cry. At least not before the alpha wolf began to shift.

His body undulated, and his limbs creaked, then, there was a rough, scarred man in front of me in place of the wolf.

His face was hard as he glared down at me. I swallowed fearfully as my gaze travelled down his naked body and I saw that he was rock hard. My face paled at the realization of what was to come. 

The man licked his lips. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing out in these woods on your own?"  

My only response to that was a fearful whimper. 

He looked around at his circle of loyal wolves. 

"She's pretty, eh, boys? What d'you say we have her now? Of course, I get the first turn." He grinned at me, showing off teeth yellowed with poor nutrition.

I gasped, my heart thundering as the other rogues made noises of assent and began to shift, all of them sporting erections.

I felt the beginnings of a panic attack coming on as the alpha stooped and gripped me firmly by the front of my dress, his grimy hand entering into the sweetheart neckline, the backs of his large fingers brushing against my breasts.

I screamed as he yanked me upwards, then yanked at a lock of his mangy hair, angling my face towards his ear so I could get in a good bite. 

He seemed to read my intentions, and backhanded me across the face, sending me falling backwards. My wedding dress was not made for that type of strain.

As I fell backwards, the sides of the dress ripped, since he was still holding on to it. He let go, and I fell to the ground, sobbing and trying to hold up the open bodice of the dress.

The rogues hooted and whistled as my breasts peeked out, and the alpha started to descend on me with single minded purpose.

I stared to crawl away as fast as I could only to be yanked backwards by a grip on my ankle, the rough ground skinning my knees through my thin garters in the process.

The man turned me around and shoved my legs apart while I fought uselessly. 

Suddenly, there was a bellowing growl, and a large shape hurtles out of the woods towards the men.

It took the man on top of me first, slamming him into a tree and ripping into his throat iñ the blink of an eye. The other rogues tried to rally around, but their attacker was easily three times their weight. 

The dark wolf - that was what it was - lunged at two men at the same time, killing them with such efficiency that my head spun.

He moved with all the grace and practice of a seasoned killer, ripping through throats and spines, yanking heads off. It was a bloodbath.

Soon, there was nothing left of the rogue werewolves but blood and few chunks of body parts. 

My heart thundered as the black wolf - my saviour - stalked towards me, amber eyes sharp.

He paused right in front of me, scrutinizing me with keenly intelligent eyes. I wondered dimly whether he was truly my saviour or if he only wanted me for himself. 

I never got to find out the answer to that question because soon after he stood before me, my vision doubled and my ears began to ring again.

I lost consciousness before I could even convince myself of the foolishness of that decision.