by Natavia
I snapped the young wolf’s neck then bit into it. I shook him by the neck until his neck was mangled with his head slightly attached. I dragged the dead wolf body into the nearest woods and waited for Dash and the other wolf to find me.
Are you okay? Where are you? Kanya’s voice panicked inside of my head.
In the woods by the mall. Get my pups home like I told you!” I shouted.
You want me to leave you? Kanya asked me.
Go the fuck home, Kanya, before I get madder!” my voice boomed. I put the dead wolf up in a tree then leapt from tree to tree and waited for a few moments. Dash and the other wolf ran into the woods sniffing.
Do you think the other wolves are following his mate? Didn’t Keora say to distract them so she could get to whatever it is that she wanted? The young wolf said into Dash’s head.
Shut the fuck up! He might be near, and he can hear your thoughts dumbass, Dash said into the young wolf’s thoughts.
Goon, I’m being followed by a big group of wolves while I have the twins in the truck. We were set up, Kanya said.
I left Dash and the young wolf roaming around in the woods. I took off towards my home, running as fast as I could.
When I got to the house, about fifteen wolves had Kanya surrounded by the gate. Dayo, Amadi, Elle, Izra, Adika and Anik were all leaping over the gate to attack. I charged into the wolves, biting any wolf that was close to me. I needed to get to my pups. Kanya shifted then burst out of the window with the twins in her mouth, clinging to them by their clothes. They screamed and cried as she leapt over the gate then took off towards the house. The wolves tried to leap over the fence, but a force was turning them to ashes. Our house was shielded; they couldn’t get over the gate. Three wolves were left alive after we viciously attacked the other wolves, killing them like flies. The three wolves took off running, and the pack and I chased them. When we caught up to them, we ripped them apart. Dayo, Elle, and I pulled a wolf apart as it howled, our teeth piercing through its flesh. Blood dripped from our mouths as we howled. Our deep howls could be heard miles away; we were warning the other pack that it was war.
Moments later, everyone in the pack sat around me. I was glad that Kanya’s parents left to go home before the wolves came to our house.
“What the hell was that?” Anik asked.
“We were distracted so that Keora could take Akea, but her plan didn’t work. This pack is stronger than twenty wolves together. We are bigger and we are stronger,” I said, pacing back and forth. Kanya held onto the twins, shaking. Her teeth had put wounds on them. I had to give them my blood for their wounds to close up. My blood boiled. “When we go onto their territory, we will kill anything in sight! Even if they surrender, we still kill! Fuck pack rules. They are dead!” I growled.
I kneeled down in front of Kanya and moved the hair out of her face. “You were only trying to protect them,” I told her. She squeezed the twins closer to her.
“I almost killed them,” she said.
“It’s in our nature to grab our pups with our mouths,” I told her. The pack was in an uproar as I tried to calm Kanya down.
“Why is this happening to us?” Kanya asked me.
“We discussed this after we found Dayo; Saka wants Akea,”
“He isn’t getting our damn baby. Where can we find him?”
“Only Keora knows. Don’t worry. We will find her. I bet Dayo knows where she’s at.”
Dayo stood up. “What the fuck does that mean?” he asked me.
“You marked her didn’t you? She pops up in your head doesn’t she?” I asked Dayo. We went to Keora’s house a few times after we found Adika and Dayo. Keora could sense when we were coming.
“No, she doesn’t,” Dayo said.
“She knew where we were going to be. I would’ve known if Kanya and I were being followed. I told you where we were going before we left, and she heard me through your visions. She can see and hear what we do through your fucking visions. She is probably hearing us now,” I said to him.
Everyone looked at Dayo, and Anik growled at him. I noticed over the past few weeks that they have been getting close.
“Come on, bro. Don’t tell us you still fucking the witch,” Elle said to Dayo. Dayo sat with his head down. “Muthafucka, I should kick your ass! You mean to tell me you are still fucking that bitch, and you couldn’t kill her?” Izra said, charging into Dayo. Elle and Amadi pulled them apart.
“I can’t! I feel a connection to her. I can’t help what she did to me. The bitch cursed me! I get urges for her,” Dayo shouted.
Anik grabbed Arya’s hand then walked out of the room.
“Anik!” Dayo called out to her, but she didn’t answer.
“As bad as I want to rip your fucking throat out, I can’t. If you marked her, it’s only natural that you feel this way about her,” I said to Dayo.
“We have to keep you out of our plans,” Elle said to Dayo.
“WHAT! I’m still a part of this pack,” Dayo fussed.
“You will always be our brother, but Goon said Keora can see us through you. That means she knows all our plans that we discussed as a pack. She knows everything, bro. She is using you to get an inside look into our lives,” Amadi told Dayo.
“Goon, I told you what you should do to me,” Adika said.
“Would you shut the fuck up? Nobody is going to kill you. Damn, you say stupid shit when you get mad,” Izra yelled at Adika.
“Adika, please don’t say that. I need you right now. There has to be another way to get rid of Keora,” Kanya said.
“What other way? An immortal prison would keep her and strip her from all of her powers. Naobi is the only witch that can put her there, but Naobi cannot stay on earth long enough to do that. Goon can do it, but he doesn’t practice spells or curses,” Adika said.
The next day, Kanya stayed home, and Anik went to the Beastly Treasures to keep the business going. Kanya said that Anik’s down-to-earth personality and aura drew in more costumers. I cut up pieces of raw meat to take to Kanya. When I walked into our bedroom, she was packing her clothes and the twins’ clothes.
“What are you doing?” I asked her.
“I’m going to stay with my parents for a while. I feel like the pups cannot be protected here,” she said to me. I never showed real aggression towards Kanya, but at that moment, I wanted to attack her.
I snatched the suitcases away from her then tossed them across the room; her clothes flew all over the place.
“I’m tired of this shit with you!” I yelled at her. My body temperature rose. I wanted to attack her. I was ready to forget that she was my mate, and she gave me pups.
“I’m scared. There is an evil warlock preying on my damn baby!” Kanya said.
Adika came into our room then grabbed the pups out of their cribs. I guess she knew that Kanya and I were about to shift. Adika called for my pack brothers to come and get me before things got out of hand.
“You can go, but leave my pups here. They are safer here than at your human parents’ house. If a wolf gets a hold of them, they are dead! You would put them and our pups in jeopardy!” I yelled at her.
“You can’t protect us neither, so what fucking difference does that make?”
“That’s how you feel about me? If so, then you can get the fuck out and leave my pups here, bitch,” I seethed with my fangs withdrawing from my mouth. Black hairs pricked through my skin. I was ready to shift, but I couldn’t. If I did, Kanya wasn’t going to be safe around me. She seemed to be against me. In our beast nature, we targeted anything and anyone who seemed to be an opponent. Kanya’s beast looked at me like an opponent as well. Even if she didn’t want to attack me, she couldn’t control it. She shifted then charged into me, but I had already turned into a wolf. Her canines pierced through my neck, and I bit her shoulder then slammed her into a wall. She charged back, clawing into my face. Kanya is the only one who could possibly kill me. I wouldn’t heal as fast as I usually did.
She s
ank her teeth into my neck, locking her jaw. I bit her as hard as I could. I could feel the pain I was causing her, but her beast wanted to kill me. In the animal kingdom, real wolves and jackals fought. They are natural born enemies. But in our tribe, she is my soul mate. I avoided biting her neck. My jaw was stronger than hers. If I bit her neck hard enough, I could snap it and kill her. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did that.
The other wolves charged into our room, pulling us apart and bum-rushing us. Izra pulled me by my hind leg with his teeth piercing through my leg. I howled out in pain. It looked like Kanya and I were being attacked, but we weren’t. I felt blood dripping from my neck onto the floor. I loved Kanya so much that I was willing to let her kill me because I couldn’t bear killing her. Since I met Kanya, I have been able to control my beast. If I didn’t control him, Kanya would’ve been dead. Kanya’s jackal neck isn’t as strong as a wolf. Even though she is part of me, I would’ve killed her in seconds.
I lay down on the floor panting, losing my blood. Anik put pressure on my neck with her paw. Izra shifted into human form.
“Kanya, what did you do?” he yelled at her. Kanya backed away into the corner as the pack growled at her. I howled at them to leave her alone. I tried to get up to protect her, but I was weak. It was in my pack’s nature to protect me; that was the reason they were bred.
Everyone shifted back except Kanya. She walked out of the room with Anik following behind her. My eyes closed, and my body slowly started to shift back to human form. My brothers picked me up then laid me down on the bed.
“He is losing a lot of blood, Elle!” Izra yelled. My body got weak. I yelled out in pain when I tried to heal myself. I was too weak for my wounds to close on their own like they usually did. Amadi ran out of the room then came back in.
“This is about to burn, bro,” he said, pouring some type of liquid onto my neck.
“ARRRRRGGHHHHHHHHHH!” I shouted. Kanya stood in the doorway with a robe on. She ran to me then hugged me.
“I’m so sorry. I couldn’t control it,” she cried, holding onto me. Izra and Dayo pulled her off me.
“Get your ass back! You almost killed him,” Dayo said to her. Dayo pulled Kanya out of the room, and she screamed, kicked, and cried.
“Bro, I don’t give a fuck who she is to you. I almost snapped her neck. You let her get away with too much shit. She doesn’t appreciate shit you do for her. You got her a store, and she is barely there. You cater to her, and look what she does to you; she almost killed you,” Izra said to me.
Elle and Amadi wrapped my neck up. It was starting to close up. That was the first time I experienced real pain before healing. My pack brothers cleaned up the room. Kanya and I had things everywhere. It looked like we had an earthquake. There were even holes and cracks in the walls.
When I went downstairs, everyone was silent. Arya watched cartoons eating raw meat chunks. Adika had the twins rocking back and forth in their swing. I went into the kitchen and walked straight into an argument between Dayo and Anik.
“What the fuck do you want from me, Anik? You and I are like brother and sister? I don’t understand your attitude!” Dayo yelled at her.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m saving up my money that Kanya is giving me from working at her store. I appreciate you all letting Arya and I come here because we didn’t have a place to go. I am very thankful that Goon let us in without knowing us, but this isn’t working for me,” Anik said, with her head down.
“Today has been a rough day, and you are talking out of your head. It isn’t safe for a female wolf to be alone with a pup. Some wolf gangs rape females then kill their pups,” Dayo said to her.
“We’ve been doing just fine,” Anik said, walking out of the kitchen.
Dayo looked at me. “Good to see you up, bro,” he said, patting my shoulder.
“It feels good to be up. I still can’t believe my mate tried to kill me. I didn’t know who she was.”
“She was you, bro. She can’t control herself just like you couldn’t ages ago. She is still learning, but she feels fucked up about it. She locked herself in the room in the basement. Elle and Amadi tried to get her to come out, but she didn’t. They said all they heard was her crying. I almost feel bad for her,” Dayo said.
“Kanya and I need to be away from each other for a few days. My beast is very vengeful.”
“I should’ve told y’all about Keora. That night at the club, she locked me inside of the bathroom. I fucked her. I didn’t want to, but she got a hold on me. She pops up in my head. She taunts me in my dreams. The crazy witch even threatened me to stay away from Anik. I got a feeling she will try to hurt her. Anik is too special for something to happen to her.”
“She is acting like a scorned human woman,” I chuckled then got serious. “We will fix it, but Anik is acting like that because she is ready to go into heat. She will become very jealous, maybe aggressive. She is a young female; Kanya showed the same signs as her,” I told Dayo. I went into the fridge to grab the pup’s bottles. I warmed them up then headed to the living room.
“Uncle Goon, can I help you feed them?” Arya said to me.
“Come over here and feed Kanye. But you got to keep still; you are too hyper,” I told her. Arya sat down next to me, and I gave her Kanye. She smiled. “I want a pup,” Arya said.
“Anik, get your ass in here and talk to Arya. I’m not having this conversation with her. It’s too many damn females in here,” I mumbled. After I fed the pups then changed them, I headed out into the woods. I needed to learn the other side of me, and I needed to have a clear head.
I heard bushes moving. I turned around and it was Jalesa.
“What do you want?” I asked her. She handed me a spell book.
“Naobi wanted me to give this to you. The spells are written in an ancient handwriting. You will be able to read it once you open the book; it’s in your blood,” Jalesa said, then disappeared.
“Damn, she is weird,” I said out loud.
Kanya
“You don’t look too good,” I said to Anik, after she waited on a costumer. Anik was sweating, and her skin looked clammy. She sat down in the leather chair behind the showcase.
“I feel a sensation between my legs, and every time I see Dayo, I feel bubbly,” she said.
“Are you leaking between your legs?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said, feeling embarrassed.
“You are ready to mate. Your body wants to carry a pup.”
“I can’t do that! I need to take care of Arya.”
“I know that feeling. I felt the same way when Goon told me I needed to mate. But I was already connected to him. I felt it when I first saw him. How could I try to kill him, Anik? I don’t like what I have become. This is the part I hate about being an animal.” Anik touched my hand then smiled at me, and just like that, my heart warmed. I haven’t known her long, but I felt like I have known her as long as I’ve known Adika.
“Goon knows you didn’t mean it. I have never seen a beast that didn’t act like one. In nature, we are wild, but loving animals. It’s a gift. Just have more faith in Goon. Appreciate him, and then it will all come into play,” she said.
“I only come upstairs when he hunts. Then when he comes back, I go back down to my room. I’m even thinking about going to live with my parents. Maybe the twins are better off with their father.”
Anik went into her black blazer pocket then pulled out a pretty orange stone with blue swirls in it.
“This is beautiful,” I said to her.
“Before my family was slaughtered, my mother gave this to me. She said it made her feel at peace. I think you need it more than I do.”
“I can’t take this. It’s special to you.”
“Now it can be special to you,” she said to me. I put the pretty stone inside of my blazer pocket.
“Were you in love with your mate?” I asked Anik.
“Arya’s father’s tribe had more money than my family. My fami
ly was poor. We had to eat the scraps left over from the other wolves. My parents thought I would be better off with an older wolf. He had a young baby and needed help. I helped him and he gave my family money in return. It was an arrangement, and he never touched me. I honestly think he just needed me there for his daughter. A gang of wolves came into our small, hidden town and wiped the rest of us out. Arya and I have been homeless, migrating from state to state ever since. I’m very thankful you let me work here.”
“I don’t want you and Arya to leave. The mansion is big enough for all of us. Plus, Arya likes to help Amadi make his oils,” I said to her. Dayo, Amadi, and Izra walked into the store. “What’s going on?” I asked them. Amadi only comes to deliver his oils that we give out in the jewelry bags as free gifts.
“We just came here to make sure y’all was straight,” Izra said.
“Are the twins with their father?” I asked them.
“Naw, Elle got them. Goon is studying some spell shit,” Dayo said, eyeing Anik. Anik hurriedly went to the back. “Is it just me, or did Anik’s ass get fatter and her breasts rounder?” Dayo asked.
“As much as I want to look, I can’t. Adika will fuck my ass up. Y’all know she made my dick disappear,” Izra said.
“It’s disrespectful to voice a woman’s bodily appearance out loud,” Amadi said.
“Can someone tell the gods to come and get this old, ancient-ass nigga?” Dayo asked, making Izra laugh.
Amadi pushed Dayo. “Don’t fuck with me, bro. I might be a little behind in the times, but my ass whippings aren’t.”
A man walked in. He looked to be around twenty-five. Anik came out because the staff was assisting other customers.