My Wolf and me

by Adams, India R

  Chapter Eighteen:

  Sacred Moments, Songs of Death

  Romy stared at me while Zeus guided us. “Most choose to be bitten in the thigh or the waistline—more meat there to handle the canine teeth. Which would you prefer, Marley?”

  “Will I scar?” I refused to break eye contact with Romy. We were connected.

  “Yes, but most find it to be a symbol of their rite of passage.”

  I thought of Agatha’s scar on her leg and then proudly said to Romy, “I want to carry your mark on my waist.”

  Zeus bowed his head, and all the wolves turned away. “This is a sacred moment for only the chosen and the one to inherit. My words will guide you, but I will not watch so you two may bond in the most personal way a wolf can invite you into his life. Kneel, dear Marlena, for it is time.”

  I dropped to my knees in the snow with no hesitation.

  “Sebastian, son of Mercio, lie on your stomach where you now stand.” Zeus was sure to use our proper names. Romy’s belly went to the snow with his paws in front of him. “Tonight, we share the moon with Sebastian and Marlena as they unite.” Without raising his eyes to see us, Zeus told me, “Marlena, daughter of Everett and Amelia, remove your shirt.”

  I had requested my mother’s name be mentioned, even though it was not custom.

  I removed my shirt, proudly exposing myself to my wolf, waiting for instructions.

  “Sebastian, to make this a non-aggressive event, I’m asking you to crawl to your Marley.”

  Romy’s back paws pushed him forward as his front paws pulled on the snow in front of him. As I watched this submissive, majestic animal approach me, I instantly understood why. Romy looked kind and gentle, and it helped reduce the fear of allowing such a powerful animal to bite me.

  Encouragingly, Zeus said, “Sebastian, your saliva is key for this bond. You must consume all your mouth can encompass. To show your respect for the one allowing you into her being, lick the front of her, right above her hip, and repeat the process on her back.”

  As Romy stayed in a prone position, he easily reached my waist as his mouth opened and licked me across my belly to my side. I whispered, “I love you.” Another long lick came across my back to my side.

  Zeus spoke again. “Don’t be afraid, Marlena. Your mate is of strong blood. His essence will guide you. Sebastian, open your mouth and place it over the area.”

  It was amazing to feel and witness the size of Romy’s jaw. Almost my whole waist was inside his mouth that was being as gentle as a baby’s.

  “Sebastian, close your eyes and connect with the power you feel around you. Trust your essence to know what to do, and commence your union.”

  Sebastian’s eyes closed with me inside his mouth. Soon, I felt something move around him, around me. It was like a cleansing breeze, yet there was no physical movement. I inhaled freely as my soul filled with light and my heart with love. I became so entranced with what was happening around me, inside me, that I didn’t even feel pain as his mouth tightened around my waist, his teeth sinking into my skin. I simply felt overtaken in a magical bliss. I surrendered with no fight.

  I did not know I was moving downward. The only reason I had any knowledge was because Zeus quietly said, “Don’t release her… follow her… lie with her.”

  The snow next to my face was the last thing I saw as my wolf held my body in his mouth and lay next to me, sharing his essence.

  “Sebastian?” I woke, fully clothed again.

  Lips brushed mine. “I’m here. You slept all day, Marley.”

  My eyes opened. Early evening air welcomed me. I felt rested and touched his face, hovering over mine. Sebastian kissed my palm the way he always had—the way he always will.

  “I love you,” I told him softly. His eyes closed as his face so affectionately caressed my hand. I whispered, “When?”

  “Don’t know. He says it’s different for all.” Sebastian was talking in code again, so no humans passing could overhear and understand us. I felt like I could sense Sebastian’s emotions—or some sort of impression of his present state of mind. It was amazing to sense someone’s well-being so purely.

  The night got darker as I stayed in Sebastian’s embrace, continuing to silently communicate, silently branding each other. It was a phenomenal experience. With my arm around his neck, I pulled myself to him. “I feel you inside me.”

  His whisper was so quiet I didn’t know how I was hearing it. “I know. I felt your blood travel through me, Marley, and join with my… everything inside me and beyond.”

  We stayed that way for as long as we could.

  Zeus, in wolf form, growled, maybe because of the approach of ones who meant us harm or maybe because our battle was soon going to escalate, and some would die.

  Footfalls echoed miserably inside my ear. “Isn’t this romantic? The moon—lovers holding each other,” Boss cooed. I heard his voice with a new vibration, one that lightly scraped my flesh, like a cheese grater. And his odor was nothing if not totally offensive. Boss continued to assault my ears. “Too bad I have to break it up, but we have quite an eventful evening planned. Took all day, but the time is finally here.”

  Wolves breathing… I could actually hear exhales and inhales of wolves cages and cages away from mine. I heard wolves on the other side of the tents barking.

  Men surrounded our cage; the smell of their leather boots told me so. Sebastian and I kept staring at each other. I kissed him, heedless of the many witnesses, as noose poles took their positions. Sebastian kissed my forehead, and we stood up together. I stepped to his back, as Sebastian turned from me to lean forward and place his head through the waiting wires. My eyes closed as I inhaled, begging myself not to attack every human around me.

  I sensed the moon caressing me. That was when I knew the change was coming soon. Everything sounded so intense. The blood in my veins burned with so many desires to protect my mate. My shoulders rose and fell as my breathing became labored. Wolves howled. I could sense them sensing that I was becoming one of them.

  “Look at me,” Sebastian gently said. I hadn’t even realized he had turned in his noose to face me again. My soul reacted to his command. My eyes opened, and even in the dark, I could see details in his gaze I never thought possible. “You with me, Marley?”

  “More than ever.”

  “Am I going to have problems with you, human?” asked Boss.

  Yes. “No.”

  “Need to tie you up? Or are you going to follow this mutt like a good girl?”

  I will follow him to the end of time. I walked submissively behind Sebastian. I was simply waiting, like the rest of my new family, for an opportunity to present itself.

  Boss suspiciously watched me. “Keep a gun on her forehead. Lycan, one move? She’s dead. Let’s go.”

  More nooses went around Sebastian’s neck as the others released. I grabbed Sebastian’s hands that he held behind his back. With ten men armed and surrounding us and floodlights shining from temporary power poles, Sebastian and I were led around the bend. Wolves growled the whole time. Now I understood. I felt their rage, witnessing their leader being treated so disrespectfully. It was against their—our natural order.

  It was shadowy, but I could see my father pacing in the back of a larger cage, attached to a row of other connected cages. The cage next to my father’s contained a snarling Maximus, Sebastian’s uncle. Not leaving Sebastian’s back, I said, “Dad!”

  I was relieved to see him still alive, even though something felt… off.

  My father stopped pacing and smirked. “Good evening, little girl.”

  I was surprised when a chill ran up my spine. The guards took us to his pen, opening my father’s gate. My father stepped out of a shadow, spreading his arms. “Come hug your daddy.”

  I began to take a step around
Sebastian but stopped when I heard his growl, his command. Sebastian’s voice was gravelly. “Marley, stay with me.”

  Boss started laughing. “Very good, wolf. That was quick.”

  My father grinned some more, letting his empty arms fall.

  From behind him, I asked Sebastian, “What is it?”

  Sebastian started to turn and answer me, but his nooses tightened, silencing him and keeping him from facing me completely. Maximus and the wolves next to my father’s cage made noises resembling hyena laughs. Sebastian was still struggling with the tight nooses, but his arms found me, pulling me protectively to him. I leaned into Sebastian’s chest as I looked around, blocking blinding floodlights from my newly sensitive eyes with my hand, trying to figure out what I was missing.

  “You love him now,” Boss told me, “but will you love him twenty minutes from now?”

  Always and forever.

  Sebastian was pushed by the poles restraining him, which forced us both inside my father’s area. Nooses were released, and the gate was locked behind us. Sebastian speedily grabbed my face. “Marley, remember him for all the wonderful things he did all your life. Never forget the man who has adored you and showed you that love with every kind action—”

  “No,” I said as I began to understand my father’s forced promise. “Choose Romy…”

  Sebastian ignored me. “Don’t forget how a bad essence can change who you were.”

  “No!”

  “I’m so sorry, Marley.”

  “NOOOOOO!”

  Boss laughed. “Oh, but it is true. Thanks for the essence tip. I’d been wondering why such a dramatically different wolf would come from this wolf versus the other one, but watching a proud man fight losing himself has been one of my most favorite experiments to date.”

  My body jumped to attack the man mocking my pain, but strong arms caught me midair. Boss smiled and continued to poke at my fresh wound. “Whoa! Is there fight in this human after all?”

  I’m not human, you asshole!

  His laugh made my skin burn. “Oh, your father pleaded and begged for a different outcome as his soul was ripped from him.”

  I kicked at the cage between me and the man I hated most. It was all I could do because Sebastian was not letting my feet touch the ground, preventing me from finding the traction needed to rip the cage apart.

  Boss laughed and laughed.

  I growled. “I will find pleasure in your death.”

  There was another laugh, but it wasn’t from Boss, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand and warn me. Sebastian slowly turned, still holding me, to face the man I had admired and respected since I understood how lucky I was to have him. But that man was gone, and what stood in front of me was a creature who seemed to hold hatred. My heart cracked, and my chest ached in measures that compared to what I’d experienced during my mother’s death.

  He whispered so only the wolves could hear him. “We know what you two have been up to… last night.”

  Boss stepped forward. “I couldn’t hear that.”

  Sebastian set me back on my feet, quietly begging my father, “Don’t do this,” as he forced me behind him.

  My father’s eyes shifted from his blue to the same scary electric green as Maximus’s eyes. “Romy, coming out to play with me?”

  I quickly turned to Boss. “You’re going to make them fight?”

  “Nah, too easy. I’m having your father try to kill you, so your big, bad wolf will protect you. I love to test lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Like I said, you love your fleabag now, but will you when this is over?”

  Boss knew my father didn’t have a chance battling with a wolf of Romy’s stature. Boss wanted to witness me witnessing my father’s death. And my father had tried to warn me. The bandage on his arm. Maximus. His words. “Choose Romy.” He knew what was going to happen to him, yet he still put me first, tried to protect me until he couldn’t anymore.

  My father’s clothes exploded into the air as he morphed into a mangy brown wolf, right in front of my eyes. I didn’t even have the chance to mourn the loss of my daddy before he lunged for me. Sebastian’s arms were around the wolf’s neck with an unnatural speed. He had my father down to the ground in a headlock, looking just as surprised as I.

  Zeus had told us Romy was not aware of his powers. Light was being shed on that statement, and Romy was merely in his human form. I knew my father, even as a wolf, stood no chance going head to head with Romy at full strength.

  Sebastian must have realized this, because he was telling my father, “Please, don’t make me do this!”

  I became hysterical as I was faced with a choice no one should ever have to make. I had to decide whether or not to allow my lover to kill my father, or to allow my father to kill me, which I knew Romy would not stand for. Either way, someone was dying in this cage.

  I turned to the fencing and shook it while screaming at Boss, “You’re the devil!”

  I heard the wolf my father had become growling and trying to attack Sebastian. I could hear Sebastian’s human form struggling against the power of the wolf that did not wish to be contained. He needed to become Romy, but that meant the balance would no longer exist.

  I looked to the dark sky and screamed, begging for mercy, mercy that would not come. In moments, my father’s blood would be spilled. There was no going back. My mother had been shot and killed in front of me, and now I was going to be forced to watch my last parent, my last human blood member, be ripped from my heart by the man I loved.

  My throat was raw from my bloodcurdling screams of terror, but the time had come, and the decision needed to be announced. My choice must be revealed.

  With my back to the horror, one last scream was forced from my lungs, “ROMY!”

  I heard Sebastian crying, and I realized I had the easy part. I didn’t have to murder the man who had loved me and watched me grow into the man who would bring his death.

  “Don’t watch, Marley!”

  I clung to the fencing as my body shook violently, and I closed my eyes. Sebastian’s voice was replaced with Romy’s tortured growls. I felt the two wolves behind me. Their paws pounced and gripped the earth, the earth that vibrated like a song of death.

  A wolf’s whimper told me the deadly bite had taken place.

  Then… silence.

  No howls. No laughter. No sounds of my father’s breathing. He was gone.

  My knees gave out from under me as my heart shattered into pieces. I fell to the ground, slumped up against the fence. Boss knelt in front of me, and the son-of-a-bitch smiled. “You don’t look to be in love anymore, little girl.”

  Boss jumped back as Romy lunged at the fencing. I wish I could say Boss was offended, but he wasn’t. He was joyously boasting in his success. “You just killed her father! Can she ever look at you again? Are you scared, Lycan?”

  Romy’s head dropped in shame. Boss was playing his most disgusting game to date.

  I cried and shouted to Boss, “You gave him no choice, you bastard!”

  “This is true. But will you ever forget your father’s blood dripping from your wolf’s mouth… like it is now?”

  I slowly looked to a painfully shameful Romy. His fur was matted with my father’s tainted blood. “No, I will never forget, but…” I looked at Boss and began to play my own game. “I still love him. In fact, for his sacrifice, I love him even more.”

  Romy’s head rose with my words. He dared face me when he understood I could not and would not hold him responsible for a madman’s insanity. Romy slowly came to me. I leaned to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. I looked at Boss again. “Forever.”

  Boss rushed the fencing between us with pure hatred in his eyes. “That’s what she said!”

  Something was making Boss crazy. Spit fl
ew from his mouth as he yelled, “What is it with these mangy dogs and loyalty from women who have lain with them? I will get to the bottom of their power over you, and I will save my son!”

  “She? Your son?” I was so confused.

  “MY SON!” he screamed with lunacy. “Don’t you question me! He’s mine!”

  “What does your son have to do with the wolves?”

  “My son is the result of his mother being a Lycan-loving whore. So far, my beautiful boy is still human. I will not allow him to turn into one of these creatures from the bowels of hell. And if he does, I will save his soul and have a cure waiting.”

  “You’re torturing these beings to learn how to prevent a possibly unpreventable transformation?”

  “He is pure and innocent. He deserves a chance to stay that way.”

  “Can’t you just love your son for what he is?”

  Madness erupted inside Boss. “NO! ’Cause then he will resemble his—” Boss almost admitted what we all knew now. This boy he spoke of was indeed not his.

  I felt satisfaction. I had won that round. “His mother and true father will save him from you, you lunatic.”

  “That is where you are wrong. I killed her and the miserable Lycan.”

  I gasped. That poor boy was trapped with the devil’s finest tool.

  Boss’s expression went blank. He was completely unreadable as backed away. I waited to see his next move. I waited to see what chess piece he would pick next.

  He said one word. “Proceed.”

  One of his guards walked away from Maximus, passing us and six more cages with similar-looking wolves in them, stopping at the seventh one. He pulled a lever, a side door rose, and the wolf walked through the opening into the adjoining cage. A cage with another wolf waiting. They both nipped at each other and then turned to face the next cage and us. The guard also headed toward us, walking to the next cage and pulling another lever. The two wolves passed through the opening to join the next wolf, also waiting.