by Unknown
'You will be a part of this family, one of us,' he has promised, they have. 'We will protect you.'
Today, we both know, he won't. He can't. He may have tried to make me one of them but I'm not. I am the one being sacrificed and no matter how hard he tries he can't change what fate is forcing upon us. None of us can.
"I just hope you won't hate us when this is over." There's something in the words, something different in him when he says this. Almost like it's a different man saying them and not the one I know.
His hand reaches up for me, cupping my face in his palm. He's leaning closer, lips brushing against mine, begging for understanding of something he never told me, something I don't know.
A kiss that means more than words. A kiss to remember when we get old. If we get old.
"Let's go," he breathes out, taking a hold of my hand.
"Where?"
He turns back, glancing through the window, his eyes lingering on the woods surrounding the place. Shadows are breaking over the daylight, the Moon only hours away from spilling out Her grace once again. The never stopping cycle that keeps us sane enough from turning into monsters, that gives us - the people who are not supposed to live in a close proximity together, a shelter in the form of a family, of a pack.
Is it all a lie? Is it real? Is he hiding yet another truth from me?
I don't know and he won't tell me.
"Let's run," he says. "Let's forget just for tonight."
I smile at the wistfulness in his voice. "Sounds like a plan."
I can only hope this is real.
(36) What You Find In The Woods
|Scarlet's POV|
"That didn't go well," Cole says, halting next to me.
I nod. It certainly didn't go well. Especially, considering what's laying in front of us.
I can't move my eyes off. The kill is fresh, the ground soaked with blood and what is remaining of the body. The sight in front as gruesome and terrifying it's a wonder none of the patrolling wolves have discovered it before us.
The smell is heavy in the air, clogging my lungs and not nearly as repulsing as I'd have wanted it to be. The monster inside is screaming to let her free. She's stirring up, the remains as appealing to her as a fresh offering.
She longs for something else, though. New kill, unspoiled blood and still warm flesh. She wishes to hold a heart that's still beating and squish it under her claws, drink up its contents to her own blackened heart's content.
Her hunger needs to be filled and this only makes it harder for me to resist her.
"Who would do this?" I ask, hoping his answer will distract me from my own dark desires, if not from the bloody mess in front of me.
I wish I could say I felt some semblance of pity towards the juvenile who's now a cold corpse placed on the lifeless ground but can't. He's been one of them, one of my tormentors, his age notwithstanding when he took part of Greene's pack' usual behavior towards me, and I just can't feel that loss the way it is supposed to feel.
It'd have been different if this was one of my own, however, this boy is nothing but a stranger to me. A sight that's, at most, something curious and has the potential to turn into a threat to my family, nothing else.
Does that make me cruel? Does that mean I am a monster too?
I don't know. I can no longer say what is it that makes you one.
Cole steps closer to the body, leaning over and inspecting it as if trying to find a sign about what has really happened.
His clothes have been torn, stripped off his body. Now, they are laying a few feet away from the corpse, leaving the body, the flayed skin on the chest for all to see. Parts of the flesh are missing as if some hungry animal has bitten it off. The throat is open, the windpipe, judging by the gaping hole on the jugular, probably missing as well.
I don't get that close to see. I'm already holding by a thread.
I watch Cole turn the body with his foot, rolling it flush on its face.
There are claw marks on the back. Big and long trails of torn flesh, blood smeared over the skin.
"No wolf can leave such marks," I choke out, breath hitching in my throat.
"No wolf did this," Cole confirms even if he doesn't need to. By now, we both know what did this, if not who.
"This is a message," he goes on softly, the guilt in his voice palpable. "A warning of what will happen if we don't comply with their demands."
"He knew this when he agreed to take us in," I point out matter-of-factly. "He knew this could happen. You shouldn't feel guilty because of his losses, Cole."
He sighs. "You've become ruthless, Scarlet. A quality I'd usually admire but not now. This is more than a loss. This is a murder and I am the one to be blamed it happened. It's all because of me. Innocent people-"
"Innocent?" I spit out, cutting him off. "They are anything but innocent. They more than deserve this. They had it long coming."
"They might but it's still my fault, Scar. I can just go and all of this will be solved. No murders, no wars, no losses like this one. I can just go but I'm too scared to do what I should. I'm not as brave as you are." He looks up from the body, eyes focusing on me as I contemplate his words.
He can't seriously be suggesting he just disappears off with his brother, the wildling. "So all of this was for nothing? Did you ask me to come back here just to give up at the first sight of danger? Were you always this weak, Cole? This spineless?" I accuse.
Hiding his hands in his pockets, he doesn't look at me for a long time. He's just staring ahead, lost in his thoughts and in this moment I wish he will share them with me, tell me all there is burdening him.
"This is the only way," he mutters to himself, sighing as if giving up to his fate, then whips around to face me. There's hardness to his eyes now, darkness that scares me. What do I see exactly?
"What if they come for you next, Scar? What if they come for Jaz, Hunter, David, Micah or Adam? Will you be this hell-bent on me staying here if the next time they kill one of the people you actually care about? And, trust me, I know they can do that. Once they decide to do something, there's nothing that can stop them. I can guarantee you. There will be a next time."
"There won't be," comes out an angry bark.
We both turn to see Alpha, followed by his beta, Hayden, making their way toward us. One of the patrols is walking a few steps behind them, obviously already notified them about the body we thought we were the first to discover.
Too distracted to engage in our argument we never even heard them coming.
"Alpha Greene," Cole acknowledges him, stepping away from the corpse as the wolves take that place to inspect it on their own.
By their tense and rigid postures, I can conclude they are none too happy to make the same discovery that this is one of the wildlings' handy workings. A few grunts are exchanged as the men probe onto the corpse, faces revealing too much even in the fall of dusk.
A few minutes later, Alpha nods at the patrol guy who retreats back into the surrounding woods, following the unspoken command neither Cole nor I can hear.
"A pack meeting will be held after we bury the boy," Alpha announces aloud, his gaze skipping to his beta then travelling to me and, finally, settling on Cole. "I expect you and your people to attend." He switches his attention back to me and adds, "No exceptions will be tolerated."
I grimace, not too happy to be standing under his cold stare and being reminded of the past when he could give me as many orders as he wished, but nod all the same.
For once, I can just go with the flow and be the good girl I am supposed to be... I guess.
(37) The First Of Many
|Scarlet's POV|
I can see their angry expressions haunting us, their eyes filled with hatred and blame. They know this is our fault, ours and their Alpha's for taking us in.
This one lost life means more to them than all of ours combined.
Perhaps, for the short period of our stay they have forgotten what we are. Perhaps, they never
stopped to consider it, too swept up by curiosity to find out who we were, if we were different than them or if we were just like them.
I don't know what kept them silent for this long. I've been surprised by the lack of response. This is no longer the case.
Silently, as they bid their farewells to the dead, they are condemning us too. This is their loss, the pay-back for the mistake of taking us in to shield and protect and now they have been reminded of it. Reminded of the fact that, indeed, we do not deserve their pity. This isn't good for them – we aren't, and if there's one thing this pack knows is how to get rid of all things standing in the way.
I can see it on their faces, in their eyes, squinted in anger . Sooner or later, one way or another, they are going to dispose of us.
Alpha's silent, staying by the side of the coffin like an angel of Death, waiting to take away the tortured soul that still lingers for its last moments of remembrance. His face is somber, a similar to the others' expression gracing the skin but whatever feelings are lurking under the tough exterior are hidden under the veil of green eyes.
Unreadable.
The bond is blocked, a hollow misplacing the usual warmth I can feel from him. Is it anger? Is it something else?
I don't have the slightest idea what feelings he's harboring inside, what thoughts are crossing his mind now. A mind of a monster, much alike the one I believe I have become, yet, for once, there is not understanding I can find.
I listen to the sobbing of the boy's mother, a few pews ahead of where we sit. Heartbreaking sobs that do nothing for me. Perhaps two years ago, I'd have cried alongside her. I'd have mourned the lost pup. But not now, not today when I know we have already lost whatever fight we were to fight.
Have I grown colder? Has my heart frozen in hate? Does it matter?
This pack of traitors will turn us to the bigger monsters. Even she, who knows how loss burns, even she will do it. Perhaps not despite but because of it.
Our presence has wounded them in a way they've never been wounded before. Their Alpha has betrayed them and now I can see the seed of doubt taking roots.
It's only a matter of time before he's challenged for his place and he probably realizes it too.
She's the last to approach the cold shell of the child. Hunched over the merciless wood that's going to slide shut over his face, she sobs. Quiet whispers leaving her lips, I don't want to hear them yet I'm forced to listen.
Closing my eyes, I think about my hate for them, about all the things they did to me.
It does not affect me. I am just another monster. Monsters can't feel for others.
Like arrows struck inside my heart, the one I shouldn't have, the one that should be dead, corrupted by now, I can't deafen her pleas for him to come back. They echo inside my mind in a relentless litany.
Cupping my face in my palms, I pretend, keep on pretending even if I can feel the moisture on my skin.
I'm not crying. I'm not weak. This isn't my fault.
Drying my tears with my sleeve, shame and guilt and so many other feelings I've had buried are surfacing. Like the tides bringing lost memories to the shore, my sea is filled with these feelings. It's spitting them on the sand. I rise from my seat, pushing my way out of the small chapel adjacent to the house.
The pack is giving me odd, angry stares when they see me leaving when I should stay and suffer as much as they're suffering because of me – us, but I can't stay.
Shoving the old Scarlet down my throat, it must be what it feels like to be possessed. This girl inside of me, she's crowding everything I have, she wants out when I'd rather have her being lost to me.
Who is she? What does she want from me now? She is the cursed one, the one who can feel the pain, the one who caused this pain with her brave stupidity. She is the poison that spreads through my life like the bite of a snake spreading through your body, incapacitating you in every possible way until it stops.
I stay out for a long time. Thinking about that girl. The one who is to be blamed for the flashes of hurt coursing through me now. She brings it back every time she appears. I don't want to have her inside me.
Night is falling across the land I've once called my home, only the house lights and the one She is shedding illuminating the calm as none but patrols stay outside the parting ceremony.
The ones who keep us safe inside pack territory don't frequent such gatherings. They are free to roam and kill the perpetrators, or even the ones who try to escape. Free to forget their own lives as they live for others.
I wish I could do that and not wait for the ceremony to be finished and then people to gather for the pack meeting.
I don't want them to see me broken down. Weak.
These feelings, these memories, they are my shame.
It feels too soon, like a blink of an eye. The ceremony has ended. What is left to be done is actually bury the boy but they will do that tomorrow. For tonight, the mother will stay to wake next to her lost child.
The throng of people is exiting the chapel, my friends finding me amongst the crowd sooner than anticipated. It's Micah who ventures to pull me to her side, not really in a hug, but too close to one. As if she knows I need reassurance, she's letting me have hers without asking why. Silent, we follow the pack inside the house.
I haven't been to a pack meeting since Alpha's attack on our pack but I know the place well. He's using the same chamber my stepdad did. It is the most spacious place inside this house, a dancing room once, it's been turned into a pack meeting commodity.
The last time I've been here has been when my stepdad threw a birthday party for me. Sixteen. It feels so long ago yet I can see the children laughing and running inside the room as their parents chatted. Those who were my age were dancing, joking with each other. Happy. Carefree. It's how I remember that night.
Like a dream long gone, there is only the memory of it, fading from the mind.
Our group sits at the back, the pack taking the rest of available places as Regan climbs upon the stage in front of the roomful of wolves. A few minutes later, the crowd stills, expectant of Alpha's announcement.
Observing him carefully, I try to gauge any sign that he could be nervous, worried about this situation, but there are none. He's holed up inside himself, blocking each and every probe from my part.
"I'm putting the pack on lock-down until we deal with the perpetrators," he declares. "No coming in or going out of pack's territory. No leaving your homes unattended and no staying out after sundown."
"How are we supposed to keep our businesses up and running if we can't restock, Alpha? No coming in or going out of pack's territory will basically force us to close down," one of the wolves in the front rows shouts.
The rest of the pack doesn't seem to be taking the news any better. Angry murmurs are rising from across the rows of pews.
"I understand your concerns, Thomas," Alpha's voice booms over the commotion, quieting down the whispers. "And this is exactly the reason I'm going to assign some of our pack warriors to this task. You, however, won't be allowed to venture outside our territory."
"That's fine then, I guess," the man mumbles, slumping back down to his seat.
"It's not actually," Hayden, Alpha's Beta, speaks up. "If I understand correctly you are going to assign our fighters with getting the necessary provisions for the pack but doesn't that leave us vulnerable to any eventual attack from the wildlings? I think it does and I don't agree with this decision, Alpha."
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is as much of a challenge as any could be.
"Are you questioning my authority, Hayden?" Alpha growls out, the calm facade slipping from his face and being replaced by that look, the one that says 'you'd whether bend or die'. This is the Alpha I know. This is the man who broke me, his mate, who broke the proud girl who had a real chance to become an Alpha one day. A day when he didn't yet exist in her world.
This is the man who crushed her.
"Why, yes, I think I am," Hayden confirms,
teeth baring in a snarl, betrayal in his voice.
A challenge, it's just the first of many to come.
(38) Permission
|Scarlet's POV|
The sky is clear, the Moon shining over us as we wait for them to take their places. Men who are going to turn beasts in the name of the fight. This is only the first one. Other challengers have arisen from inside the pack but the most frightful opponent still appears to be Beta Hayden.
How many wolves will he fight tonight? Does he have a chance against all of them coming in a constant string at him?
I've seen Alpha in his battle cry, it is a sight to behold, a force of nature like none other. But is it going to be enough? Is the Alpha blood running through his veins enough for him to defeat all of his opponents?
Uncertainty is sneaking into my heart, a palpitation of concern, however, I try to ignore it.
What if my mate dies before we have ever had a shot at what I've been denying all along? I don't know if I am affected the way a mate should be, but I know I will be affected whatever the outcome might be. No matter how insignificant the connection is for me, I will be weakened by his fall and shall he fall, then we will too.
I hate how true these words are and I hate admitting it but, for once, I can't pretend that there's nothing about him concerning me when it proves to be a threat to my life, our lives.
Alpha's challenges are never fair. There could be one to oppose the Alpha or there could be many.
It's the latter tonight. Sixteen lesser wolves beside Beta Hayden. This has happened before, just not at the scale it's happening now. I've never heard of an Alpha's challenge having this many contestants. However, he has the option to seek help from his pack. The ones who are still supportive of him can help in the fight but how many are left from his loyal wolves? A handful? None?
The faces around me are all excited by the spectacle that's about to unravel. They do observe those first moments with anticipation... expecting his fall and a new rising.