Chapter three

Chapter Three

As the fire advanced, I wished I could wolf out and tear the ropes, or make my claws come out so I could free myself, but I couldn’t because I had not yet gotten my wolf, I wondered if I even had one.

 I was twenty-one—three years past the normal age for turning—yet I had not experienced any signs showing I might wolf out soon.

Just then, the fire burnt the roof off, exposing the radiant full moon. Suddenly, I heard a voice inside my head: It’s time.

My bones instantly started snapping, and an indescribable wave of pain took over me. It felt as if my bones and my organs were being rearranged. My hands twisted, and the ropes fell from them. Suddenly, the pain stopped, and I stood up, meaning to find my way out of the fire. But as soon as it left, it returned, and I fell on my knees.

Looking at my skin, I found it being covered by ash-grey fur. I was turning.

Soon enough, the pain stopped, and where I stood before, only a huge white wolf stood there. I felt my sight, hearing, and all senses heightening in my wolf form. I ran through the fire, unburnt, unscratched. I jumped over the extra-tall electric fence that had been specifically put there to stop even the strongest wolves from breaking into the pack house.

My wolf, controlled by me, ran past several houses, making straight for my parents’ house, which I figured was the safest. As I ran, heavy rain started.

As soon as I reached there, without me calling it, I turned back into my human form. I grabbed one of my clothes from the window and dressed. For the first time, I realized I was smelling like burnt meat.

I tried opening the door but found it was closed, so I knocked. My mom opened the door, looking shocked to see me.

As soon as I sat down, I started explaining everything that went down to her.

“Didn’t you see the fire?” I asked, because all that time I expected the whole pack to gather and run away to help me out. The pack house was in the middle of the pack, and everyone who had their sight was supposed to see it.

“No, I am just coming from the arena,” she answered.

Then it hit me. Everyone was still at the arena celebrating, and the arena was far away from the pack house, so nobody could have seen the fire. That explains why no one came to save me.

A bang snapped outside, and looking in that direction, I saw Dad storming towards the house with Jordan and Mira and several of Jordan’s goons. I looked at my mother and found a sorry look on her face.

“You should have died in the fire, Chelsea. Everything would have been alright now,” she said, to my horror.

Then I realized she must have sold me out.

I sprang up from the seat and tried to escape from the back door, but my mom blocked my way.

“Just stay still. It will all be over soon.”

I lunged at her, determined to survive the night, and she tried to push me away, not knowing I had turned, and was surprised when I grabbed her wrist and flung her to the other side of the room.

I myself was surprised by my abilities, but I had no time to dwell on that, as my father appeared at the front door and shouted, “Get her!” pointing at me.

The goons instantly turned under the full moon and lunged at me. Unknowingly, I turned as well and ran. I was sure that no matter how strong my abilities might have proven to be, seeing how easily I flung my mother, I could not take these goons who had been trained in combat and had more experience.

They followed swiftly, pursuing and chasing after me. I ran into the nearby forest, where I had always spent time, sure that I could lose them there since I had better knowledge of the area. I ran through the forest in a zig-zag manner, making it hard for them to keep up, but they relented and kept on following me.

My body started getting weak, but I pressed on, running through the rain and lightning.

All of a sudden, I stopped hearing the howling of my pursuers, and when I turned, I found they were not within eyesight. Not wanting to take any chances, I decided to press on, but suddenly I found myself turning back to my human form.

Before I could process my next move, the goons appeared surrounding me—all seven of them. The leader turned back into his human form, exposing his naked self to me. It was then I realized that I too was naked, and they were all looking at my nakedness.

“It’s over now, Miss Perfect. But first, we’ll all rape you one after the other until we are exhausted and have the full taste of what you have denied us for years. Then we’ll kill whatever is left of you at the end,” he said, grabbing me and spreading my legs, meaning to dive into me.

I tried to resist, but three of the goons had already anticipated this and turned back into their human forms to hold me down.

I stared at them helplessly. This was the second time I was about to lose my life in one night—only this time, I saw no hope of survival.