I woke up without any pain for the first time in days. It didn’t feel good though, I knew it had come at a cost. I soon found out just how steep it was when a towering, amazon-like Mina flew into my room.The breakfast tray she was carrying hit the floor and I was sent sprawling with a vicious slap across my cheek.“Seraphine is dead! What the fuck did you do to her?” she screamed, her neck muscles rigid as I cowered beneath her.“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”“You don’t mean it! You’re just looking out for yourself, you feel better, at the expense of my only friend here’s life!” she raged. Kicking the gilded breakfast tea tray into the wall it smashed the remaining bits of porcelain not already decimated “I would never wish that on anyone, please believe me! Austin forced me!”“It’s your demon, so I’ve heard how the hell did he force you?”“You know he could kill me anytime he likes, he is insane!”“You’re a coward, you should have killed yourself, she was fine two days ago, perfectly fine
Luna Madeline is right. War is coming. Austin will be expecting it, we probably don’t have the element of surprise but we have to try. Together in Luna Madeline’s dark and musty drawing room we try to create a plan. “Any ideas?” I say, feeling Alba pushing me to the forefront. “We’re all ears, Alpha Dex, you know my pack does not have warriors to offer but we have different skills,” Luna Madeline said, sitting breathing raggedly. Lifting Ariel’s curse had taken more out of her than she wanted to let us know. Olaf fetched a cup of broth and a blanket, tending to her carefully. “I have several hundred warriors Dex, you know we will fight alongside you,” Alpha Frank said and I felt my heart rise with pride. With everyone else sat down, Glenn cradling Ariel close to him watching me with pained, blue eyes I felt the gears in my mind turning. “I want to send a unit to attack, and if necessary, kill Roxie and take the summoning stone. What we do with it after that I don’t know but i
Dex and I spent hours on that balcony. As he unburdened his hidden fears, he probably felt he was weaking himself before me. In my eyes he was stronger, even taller than before. He was an Alpha, he was born to lead. I knew he would make everyone proud in battle. Over the hours I told him dozens of stupid tales about Roxie and I. The time we once dug underneath the gate to escape. We dug for hours every break for over a week, using little plastic buckets. I had the job of hiding the earth Roxie dug, trying to casually scatter it near other buildings. Every night she would leave a construction of leaves and twigs trying to mask our route. We couldn’t have been older than ten and we felt so grown up with our plan. Roxie talked about how all we needed to do was find a circus. They would employ us, we could wash elephants and perform tricks. I knew Roxie was basing this entirely on one of the library books she’d seen in the library, but she was convinced. The hole was discovered, of co
Trussed up in gold and silk I had to perform like a dancing monkey. “Put a drought on Foxton, no…forest fires!” Eduardo cried giddily. “They are too damp for fires to do any damage,” Austin muttered under his breath.“Let their crops fail,” Luna Gwyneth said coolly. Dressed in a black cape with a grey silk dress she exuded power. How had she hidden that behind a giggling, cooing nonsense for so long? She had everyone fooled.“Mmm, yes, they grow rice in the damper regions, fruits too,” Eduardo said, relaxing into his chair.“No Fyrestone should have its crops fail. They grow nearly everything for the others. All the orchards and grains. Make them suffer. They have nothing outside of that.”Between them the vicious little coven of bullies spent considerable time planning the downfall of their so-called allies. How many years had they sat together across various Conferences, eaten, drank and even danced together on occasion. It was mind boggling.I was the monkey, the cheap little ente
It was a close call but just before midnight Alpha Frank’s troops from Jura appeared. Exactly as promised as our fire torches blazed we heard the heavy, weary sound of footsteps. The bulky men were representative of their pack leader. Horrifically strong, their muscles masked by flesh. No six-packs on display, just lethal strength and guts.Their chief warrior Azus shook my hand and gave a bow. Draped in brown leather pleats with gold embellishments, Alpha Frank's second in command was a notorious warrior. As round as a cow, thigh as thick as my torso he was a monstrous figure. His shadow alone would probably make the Greenway fighters run for their lives given their weak reputation. I was immensely grateful he was on our side. Alba is tough, strong and resourceful, he isn’t a buffalo on legs like this guy. /Fuck off/ Alba muttered in irriration, /we shall see who is swiftest into battle./The lecture halls and classrooms of the Compound had been cleared out. All students who weren’t
Olaf was the quietest companion. With the suppliers on our backs we didn’t shift form, weaving our way through the damp muddy tracks that made up Luna Madeline’s Foxton pack. I was grateful for his guidance.Changed into black leggings and a tunic dress with sturdy boots I had to top over muddy bogs, clamber over fallen trees and practically job to keep up with him. The one big difference was seeing his eyes. For the first time his hair was pulled back from his face. Tied up in a knot, secured by a long silver pin I imagined he kept as a weapon. His golden eyes scanned constantly. If a seed pod fluttered to the ground, he paused.We didn’t sleep, he passed me snacks from his bag as we walked. Even stopping to relieve myself felt as though I was delaying us unnecessarily. Perhaps I was a hindrance, maybe it would have been sensible to send another person of Olaf’s skill instead of me. All I had to offer was the connection to Roxie.“It’s time to drink the bottle she gave you,” he whisp
/Breathe through it, just breathe through it/ Bree urges me for the thousandth time. I can't, I just scream in agony as the poker stabs into my leg again. He’s gone for a place he’s already burnt one, searing my raw, bleeding wood all over again. I howl in agony, twisting and shaking my head wildly.“You know how to make this stop Roxie!” Austin screams, pacing around as Zaw adds more logs to the fire. “Just say what I need to hear and you’re free!”They’ve been jabbing me that long he’s had to restart the fucking fire. My right leg is a mess of red welts. A series of horrific lumps and bumps, red and angry covered my thigh. The longer he pressed the poker to the flesh the angrier the wound. Slug-shaped boils are forming, flinching away from the red-hot poker makes them crack and weep clear liquid.The room stank of burning flesh. I’d already been sick once. Bree was right there, frantically trying to heal me. All my energy was going into not cracking. The rock was right there in fron
Dusk was approaching as Azus and I headed the dozens of wolves under our command ever westwards. Greenway was approaching. There were skirmishes, small traps we largely avoided. The main battle was to come, we all knew that. My aim was to ensure Alpha Austin was focused on Fyrestone, I want his eyes on me for when I go to rip his throat out. I know exactly how Glenn felt. His wolf seemed to tread lighter, now bouncier along the paths knowing that he had taken just vengeance on Luna Gwyneth. We reached a river with a narrow stone bridge. Azus broached it first and then howled as a silver tipped arrow landed into his shoulder. /Attack, this is it!/ bellowed out across the mindlink. Arrows rained down upon us. This had to be Cliffrill. They were known for these kinds of attacks.After surviving a rainstorm of deadly arrows their wolves came charging towards us. Eduardo is a jet back wolf like myself. I once thought we were similar characters but whatever had blinded him so fatally was