by Roxanne Lee
Fraser nodded and smirked my way, "Very well, could you explain why you are not yet mated to my son?"
Carvers roar overtook my own and I felt Sam’s hands grip my shoulders to keep me seated while my breaths blew out in pants. My vision was hazed in gold and the black eyes of Fraser were narrowed in curiosity at my own.
"ENOUGH!" Carver's shout deafened the room and I felt his large hands cover my own as he lifted them to my nose and blanketed my wolf in an overload of cinnamon.
The brunette next to Fraser was glaring in my direction, a sneer of disapproval evident on his face.
"Father, you will tell Matthew to take his eyes off my mate or I'll cut them out of his face." Carver's voice was almost entirely wolf, gravelled and harsh as all eyes snapped to his slowly withering control.
Voices rose to shouting, a group of men acting like children in their name calling and tantrums. I blocked all sound from my hearing and attempted to calm the animal murderously stalking around my head.
I slowly heard whispers break through the block in my ears. A voice that slyly persuaded action, one that needled and attempted to trick the wolf inside me. I turned to see Sam arguing with two governors to my right, Lane with a hand on Carver's arm restraining him from launching himself at the glaring brunette.
"What are you waiting for?"
Whispers in my ears. Words turning my thoughts around in my head.
"Kill him."
My Wolf was blood and vengeance, a stalker in the night pacing around my savage mind.
"No more waiting. Go. Kill him."
I stood in the cacophony of noise. My voice drowned out in the chaos that surrounded me.
"Kill him."
I looked at Carver, his muscles straining against the shirt he wore, movement under the surface skin a sure sign of the animal pressing for release. I looked at Sam with the two dogs at his side, growling and baring teeth at the men shouting back with red faces. I looked at Lane smiling in the midst of anarchy.
"Kill him."
I backed from the room and slipped through the open doorway, one last look at the scene before me. My wolf burst through in the hallway, her sprint displacing oncoming air and slicing easily though the negative force. I breached the steel door and gave not a single thought to the guards waiting in the forests cover. They had no hope of catching me.
So this is where I end it all.
Chapter 30.
I knew that voice. That rough draft of Scottish, light on accent but heavy on culture. "What are you waiting for?"
Okay Duncan, your words pushed me to make a choice and so I made it. Cocooned in the wolf's mind, a throne of mindless need and nature's angry absolution, I sat and pondered the reason behind his actions. I was not so far gone that I hadn't recognised his lilted brogue. What game are you playing Scot?
Regardless, his words had forced a reaction from me and my beast. She knew the way, the smell a distinctive map to his marked end. Even buried deep within as she'd been then, her malformed memories were in perfect sync with mine. Through crowded woods and barren land she left tracks of dust and carcasses of wildlife.
It was perhaps eight hours drive from the building I'd left Carver and Sam arguing in. My wolf made it in two. She was an extraordinarily built machine of speed and endurance, she was not even remotely tired by the time I saw the sun high above the street I'd once escaped. The beast paced back and fore within the tree line surrounding the neighbourhood. The very same wood I'd run to so few weeks ago.
She sniffed high in the air, sorting scents and discarding ones not relevant. His scent was stale in the wind and she settled down to watch and wait, a narrowed focus reminiscent of army snipers, comfortable to endure hours of staring at the same point, just for that one moment when the target appears in her sight-line.
I'm sure Carver was already on his way. In fact I doubt he was all that far behind me. I was angry at his lie by omission, I assume he had a reason not to tell me about his father, but it still didn’t bode well for the future. I hoped when he finally appeared that he would remember his promise, this day in hell would be all mine.
I wonder if he knew I was coming, if he could feel my seething animal from miles away.
I wonder if he'd run, if he'd try to escape his long awaited fate.
I wonder if my animal would finally be satisfied, if the human wallowing in memories of sin would become something else from bathing in blood.
I wonder if this was really the end. If, my ever growing database of people who committed crimes against my person, would suddenly be halted by this one act.
In all my honesty inside my own mind I was well aware that not all sat right within me. Product of heinous deeds or not, my psychosis was all my own. A fully functioning, unstable lunatic.
I smiled within my wolf, I think I was somewhat okay with it.
Oh look.
I nudged the animal from her amusement with my assessment.
He came home.
Blood red bled through the beast's glittering gold. A rumble thundered from her deep chest. She crept as a hunter, stalking the prey who made his way slowly up the driveway. Stiffness in his side from where his stitches must be pulling. Evidently without a born wolf in his possession, his healing was human in its sluggishness. My wolf snarled as she stalked closer still, keeping hidden within the season's sparse trees, he would be able to heal faster in her presence and she didn't like the thought; that he would be taking more from her without her consent.
He entered the house, a look around the deserted streets, perhaps he could indeed feel those swirling emotions. She stepped forward almost revealing herself in the open, before I pulled her back and redirected her to the back of the house. The small wall protecting the building was laughable in its ability to keep her out. She leapt the seven foot wall with plenty of clearance and landed softly in the grass trampled and wilted with frost.
Her entrance was stealthy enough to creep up on even seasoned warriors, and yet, when I looked up at the glass patio door, I saw him waiting with a smile stretched wide on his face. I glared at the man opening the door and stepping outside, his joy at my appearance obvious.
"I knew you'd come."
I snorted through sensitive nostrils and my wolf threw a growl in with it.
He peered at me for a moment before throwing a slip of cloth my way.
"Would you like to change?"
I sniffed at the cloth and realised it to be the silk nightie I had always been forced to wear. My wolf roared at the offending material and sunk sharp teeth into the silk, tearing it into pieces so small, it would never be able to be returned to its previous state. She spat the last piece of cloth put of her mouth and bared her teeth at the man on the patio. His smile was bright and white, a mouth full of sharks teeth.
"No?" He chuckled, "maybe something else then." He raised his hands in surrender.
I looked to the nearest neighbour and saw sweats hanging from the line, they appeared cold and still a little damp but I would choose that over anything of his. It took me less than a few minutes to steal the garments and return to his garden human and clothed.
"Mhmm there you are pumpkin. I've missed you."
I cocked my head at him, standing so calmly awaiting his demise, he was either incredibly misinformed or idiotic enough to believe he could beat me now, I was so much more then he could ever hope to be.
I hissed at his smiling face, "bottom feeder."
His smile only grew,"Oh, so she finally gets it. I'm so glad, your pain was most delicious."
I wrinkled my brow in disgust,"Yours will be better."
Daniel laughed and nodded his head," I'm already feeding off your rage, you think you can kill me?"
I smirked at his confidence, "I'll bet I can damage you faster than you can heal." I brought the sparkling knife to my hand. From its permanent hiding place in my jeans it had been transferred to be held between wolf teeth, she also appreciated the mastery of steel, such familiarity with her hardened
claws. "Shall we play the game Daniel?"
I followed his retreating form into the house, his smile never slipped and I began to question his sanity. However much my presence healed him, however much of me he stole to feed his own habit, I was Wolf, and therefore I was way above him in the food chain.
He led me to my previous hole. The cell in which I'd spent four years of my life.
"Easier to get blood out of the flooring, don't you agree?"
I scowled his way, "Give me the keys Daniel."
He chuckled at me,"Of course." and threw the set to my waiting hands.
I turned and left the room locking the door behind me. I walked to the kitchen, twelve foot on the wooden flooring, a right turn over the thick rug at the bottom of the stairs and through those heavy double doors. I scanned the room and picked up one of the chairs and searched for string in the drawers. I wouldn't need much, they healed quicker when they fed but their strength was on par with human.
I carried my load back to the room and locked the door behind me. I wanted no interruptions for quite some time, just in case Carver turned up.
I set the chair down and indicated he sit as I unravelled the string. He complied easily and I quirked my brow at him again. I tied his hands together behind the chair and his feet to the wooden legs.
For a moment I breathed in the scent of the empath in front of me. Slightly musty and dank, a little bit decayed in his wrongness. It calmed the rage inside slightly, that he was finally where I wanted him to be.
"Are you going to ask Arya? You know...why all these years? Why you, why your mother?"
I stared at him for several moments, greedy in my satisfaction, revelling in my prisoner. "No, not yet. I have a few things to do first."
The first quiver of fear put a twitch in his eye and my wolf zeroed in on the small betrayal and shivered in anticipation. I stepped forward and around to his back, his shirt rolled up at the sleeves to leave his arms bare to my perusal.
"I think I promised myself some permanent scaring. Why don't we start there?"
It was a rhetorical statement, he had no choice in this matter, just as I'd had none. I sliced a line down the fleshy part of his forearm and watched in glee as his blood ran rivers down to his fingers and turned the white string dark in its trail.
He gasped at the pain and coughed a laugh, "You know I can feel your joy right? Watch as it closes when I feed from you."
My annoyance grew as his words were proved correct and I stood staring at the perfectly clear skin beneath a stain of crimson. I huffed a breath and sighed." Well, if at first you don't succeed..... "
I bent towards his arm again and carved words in the flesh coming apart so easily for the knife in my hand. Words like: rapist, nonce, filth.
I found my concentration eventually blocked out the screams from the rigid foulness tied to the chair. He had started so brave and quickly descended to nothing. His skin still healed but I found as long as I kept the carving deep to the bone, the scars would remain.
I smiled at my own ingenuity. I felt like an artist at work, a painter creating a masterpiece. A piece of work people would talk about for many years to come. I found my enjoyment increased with every new picture I created and time passed quickly as he laboured under my surgeon's knife.
Two hours later and I was covered in his black blood, like tar on my skin it was both revolting to me and made me famished for more.
I stood from my knelt position, I hadn't even realised I'd gotten so close to his bleeding form. I looked at his pale face, he'd lost quite a bit of blood as it pooled on the cement floor beneath his chair. Curiously a grim smile remained on his face, maybe this was the curse of empaths; enjoyment even in mutilation.
I unlocked the door and grinned at the man breathing heavily. "I'll be back soon. Don't worry I won't forget about you."
I left him staring at me with those shark teeth obscuring his smile. I skipped down the hallway to the kitchen, straight to the sink to wash away the evidence of my deeds.
I like this, I think I'll stay awhile.
Chapter 31.
The kitchen window above the sink stared out onto the garden. I spent a long time washing that blood off, a long time removing stains that sank into my skin. It was a metaphor for how I constantly felt; a sponge that had absorbed so much corruption, now scrubbing furiously to be rid of all that contamination.
I felt marginally cleaner once I was done, not even close to how I'd hoped to feel. Maybe no matter what, I could never attain that pre-Daniel state, I could not erase four years with soap and water. I sighed at the raw redness of my fingers. I'd sit for awhile and then return to the cell, today I would finish this. Finally...unequivocally...without remorse...finish this.
As I debated my next move at that sink I looked up at a movement in the garden, a flash that caught my eye, a large figure that interrupted my thoughts and stopped my heart.
Shit.
An eight and a half foot wolf stood in the garden. Grass beneath it's feet flattened to nothing after failing to hold such weight. Seething anger returned my stare, evident in the strained muscles standing out through its toughened skin. The panting breath heaving it's chest in a parody of the normal bodily function, the teeth bared in an open, gaping mouth running with saliva. The trembling hold it seemed to have on its stance, stilled of movement and yet constantly appearing as if it were one second from leaping forward.
He remained glaring at me and I knew his expectations. He wanted me to leave the house and explain my actions.
But I had a man tied up in the cell.
I neither had the inclination to explain nor did I feel like sharing my kill right now. I huffed at the wolf staring at me, obviously becoming more agitated the longer I stayed inside. I turned the tap off, finally dried my hands and walked to the patio doors, hoping the smell of blood would be faint enough for him to ignore.
With a hand on the door I paused, long enough to hear a furious growl from the garden. I sighed again and closed my eyes as I opened that door, feeling as if all my hard work was rather quickly going right down the drain. He took a step forward as I came to stand within a few feet of him. That snarling face a mask of pure rage that hid the hurt deep within. I'm sure he wondered why I'd run, maybe thought I was running from him.
But I wasn't. I didn't run from Carver, I ran to finish this before it consumed any more of me, maybe so I could finally move forward without something weighing so heavily that it pulled me back. He wouldn't understand that right now though, not in this form, not when the animal had taken over. Black and white, no shades of grey.
"I didn't run from you."
The roar he responded with blew my hair back with its force, I winced at the sound, hoping the neighbours were either out or assumed it was a rolling weather front.
"I didn't, I had something to do, you need to trust me in this."
His mouth twisted in a snarl, the huge head cocking to each side as it leaned in towards my face. Obsidian eyes flashed as he stepped closer still. I kept my movements as still as possible, he wouldn't hurt me even in this form, but I didn't want to provoke the beast any more than I already had.
"I'll come back, I promise, I just need to finish something."
It was completely the wrong thing to say. Maybe insinuating that he should leave, maybe that I wasn't returning with him. It pushed him further over the edge. The wolf was in full control and the man within wasn't even attempting to take the reigns.
His huge arms lifted me up in the air, a grip of steel I had no hope of breaking. I was brought into his embrace, one of possession and capture. A hold of chains I was envious of for their ability to keep me contained.
His gaze locked on my shoulder, that perfect position to wear his mark. The place that would show everyone, me included, that I belonged to him. A mark of absolute proof, a scar for him and only him.
I struggled in his arms, a look of dawning horror taking over my usual emotionless expression.
"No! Do
n't you do this.. Not like this Carver!"
He ran a large hand over my hair, one arm large enough to fully encase me in his hold. He soothed the wriggling mate in his arms, as if attempting to calm a startled animal. His mouth however, moved ever closer, those teeth sharp and readied.
"I won't forgive you Carver, not ever. Don't take my choice." I whispered my words to the beast, my last attempt to change the course we were currently on.
He paused for a moment, maybe the shake in my voice turned the wolf's attention. Maybe the tears gathering in my eyes and obscuring my vision. Maybe it was my words, that they were nothing but absolute truth. I would not forgive.
Black and white.
The hand on my hair tightened and carefully nudged my head to the side. My animal dropped her claws, raging underneath my skin, contained in arms of binding silver she fought where she could. Her claws burst from my finger tips and I tapped them against his skin. Tough as leather, soft as wool, I let him understand that I would not go meekly. That he would have wounds as well, he would not come out of this scar-less.
Lateral incisors pierced my skin as I pierced his with ten knives of serrated intent.
Blood ran down my shoulder.
Blood ran down my hands.
Tears ran down my face.
I felt the intrusion without restraint, no soothing words of encouragement, no distraction from the pain. This man had mated me in wolf form, and I felt the full extent of his possession. There would not be a wolf alive that would mistake this mark. I was mated and I belonged to the Captain.
A grunt of pain left the wolf's mouth as my claws retracted from his sides only to dig in again at a different point, I would leave hundreds of tiny scars for this one injustice. His teeth pulled out of my skin and I gasped at the pain throbbing from the marks he'd left. His tongue swiped at the flowing blood and I cringed at the feeling. My body became limp in his hold, his saliva working it's way through my blood, changing and evolving what had been it's structure since conception. My eyes fluttered closed and I saw the arms around me reshape to human skin and soften to human flesh. A deep husky groan left the man's throat as I blinked at that beautiful face.