SILVER’S KISS

‎"Hey, there's a wolf there!"

‎"Kill it quickly!"

‎The voices of the hunters jump-started my heart.

‎I felt so tired and exhausted, but adrenaline pumped through my veins.

‎I found the strength to get up again because I feared for my life.

‎They already had my tracks, so I knew I needed to run.

‎The best thing would be to shift and make a run for it.

‎Unfortunately, I doubted that I had enough energy to run talk less of shifting. The wolfsbane in my blood was doing a number on me now.

‎A poison like that shouldn't have even been available in the pack, but they somehow came by it.

‎A loud shot resonated through the forest and the tree behind my head splintered.

‎I bent quickly and began jogging away. It was the best I could manage.

‎The shots continued.

‎They took me back to a time in my past when I didn't know what guns were.

‎The hunters had invaded our pack. Their numbers were barely thirty, but they did a great amount of damage with their cursed silver weapons.

‎They had killed my mother that night and injured my father. But the loss of my mother had been the mortal wound to him that weakened his heart and eventually took his life years later.

‎Humans had never shown such aggression before and all the packs dismissed them as a weak race. That was until they took up weapons of silver and trained their hunters. Now the wolves were the weak race with threats of extinction.

‎A shot impacted my shoulder and I fell to the forest floor.

‎"Argh!" I screamed.

‎The silver bullet burned my shoulder from the inside out.

‎I felt it sap what little energy I had left.

‎I struggled to my knees with tears in my eyes.

‎I had thought of escape, but now I was in the hands of hunters.

‎Was this how I was going to die? In the hands of the despicable race that had destroyed my family?

‎‎The memory of Adriel telling me that my father’s bloodline shouldn’t end flashed through my mind.

‎No. I couldn't go out like this.

‎I wouldn't break my father's last wish that our bloodline should continue.

‎I managed to get up.

‎"I see the wolf!" A voice called from behind me. It was close. Very close.

‎I grunted. I began to run.

‎I had no idea where the strength came from, but I took advantage of it.‎

‎"Stop her!"

‎"I'm out of bullets!"

‎"Use the arrows!"

‎I heard an arrow fly past my head, missing it by an inch.

‎I gritted my teeth and increased my speed.

‎Pain radiated from my shoulder and washed over my entire body. The wound bled profusely.

‎The silver prevented the wound from healing, and it would bleed me out in under an hour unless I somehow removed the bullet.

‎My vision blurred as I focused on one step at a time.

‎"Stop!"

‎My muddled mind wondered about what the hunter said. Did he really expect me to stop just because he said so?

‎Then I took the next step, but there was no ground under my feet.

‎My body lurched down as gravity pulled me.

‎I fell down the cliff and rolled.

‎The brushes and brambles cut my skin as I rolled down the hill.

‎I landed hard on the ground and heard a loud crack.

‎It sounded like my shoulder was broken.

‎I tasted blood in my mouth.

‎I knew I was spent. I would just lay down and die. The hunters would find my body in the morning.

‎Then I heard footsteps approaching.

‎I immediately knew that somehow the hunters had found me.

‎They would kill me just like they killed my mother so many years ago.

‎I felt so weak. There was nothing more I could do.

‎The footsteps stopped in front of me.

‎I felt arms grab my shoulder and prop me up.

‎My head lolled down, but the hands grabbed my chin and raised my head.

‎Wolves had night vision. But I felt light-headed and my vision was already blurry.

‎But the full moon was out and still I saw his face clearly.

‎His hair was red like fire that burned in the night. And his eyes were blue like the sky.

He wore an overcoat and black leather gloves. There was a scabbard on his left hip and a holster on his right. Holding a gun and a sword.

‎He was a hunter.

‎I tried to open my mouth to curse him, but I felt too weak.

He took my hand and bound it with a leather belt.

I was completely naked, so my eyes widened as he touched me.

‎Then he grabbed me by my waist and tossed me over his shoulder.

‎I felt pain shoot up from my shoulder. The silver bullet was still inside, burning me. I could barely focus on how I was completely naked and on his shoulder.

‎I let out a moan from the pain.

‎"Quiet." He said in a deep muggy voice.

‎I had no strength to reply.

‎I simply stared at the ground as he carried me away. No doubt to the other hunters to show off his price.

‎My imagination went wild at what he might do to me. It wasn't unheard of that human hunters would rape their victims first.

‎I felt a shiver go down my spine.

‎He had a handsome face, but I knew that he was a monster.

He carried me for half an hour. It was far longer than I expected a human to last, considering their weak bodies.

We entered a cave and the light of the moon was blocked out.

He dropped me against the cave wall.

I grunted.

I felt dizzy. I had clearly lost too much blood.

He stared down at me.

I spat at his feet.

He reached to his side and pulled out his sword.

I stared up at him defiantly. I didn’t care that I wasn’t wearing any clothes.

“Do. It.” I mouthed as I had no strength to speak. I wouldn’t die like the scared little girl I was the night my mother died.

He raised his sword and touched it to my neck.

The silver burned my skin and the pain was excruciating.

I raised my hand reflexively because of the pain.

Then he swung.