The Seal Awakening

Ryan’s POV

“If you are telling the truth about your father’s death,” I said without looking back. “Then someone wants war badly enough to start with your father’s blood.

The guards dragged her out.

Monsters.

That word lingered around the hall long after the human was gone. 

It meant nothing anymore.

They say wolves are monsters, like they haven’t looked in the mirror.

They are all the same.

I looked blankly at the empty entrance. The scent of blood filled the whole space. Human blood.

I hated that scent.

It dragged buried memories back.

The Great War.

Fire.

The sound of wolves dying through human steel.

Humans sounded righteous when all they do is take.

Greedy fools.

The entire territory was restless tonight.

 Unease spread throughout since that human crossed the territory.

I am sure the wolves felt it too.

I could smell it on them.

Suspicion.

Bloodlust.

And hidden beneath it all.

Fear.

I exhaled sharply and dragged my hand across my face.

 I tried to convince myself I made the right decision by following my instinct and letting her live.

For years, Wolves stayed out of humans' way for peace.

Or at least what remained of it.

Yet she stood in my presence, carrying an accusation that did not make sense.

A mark.

My mark.

That’s impossible.

“Don’t tell me that human is still alive.”

Karl.

I didn’t need to turn to figure out who it was.

I could feel his presence before he said a word.

I could feel his anger.

“She is dangerous.” He continued.

“She is human,” I said calmly.

He let out a painful laugh.

“Yeah, the same human that killed more than half of ours.”

I finally looked at him.

Most wolves would have looked down.

Or apologized.

But anger had its way of hiding fear.

Same with that human.

“Nothing about it feels right,” I said, walking up to him this time. “She came alone.”

“That proves nothing,”

“It proves she expected to die,” I said.

Karl stepped closer.

“Yet you let her live, why?” Karl said, disappointed.

Because her scent felt familiar, and I hated that.

Because I want her to realize how evil humans are.

Because I want her to feel the same pain her people caused.

Because I want to take everything from her till she has nothing.

I want her to suffer every second.

“She mentioned the king’s mark,” I said finally.

His expression darkened instantly.

“That’s impossible.” He said to himself.

I already knew that.

Just anyone couldn't mark corpses.

Especially a human one.

It means someone is lying.

Someone is trying to start the one thing I always avoided.

War.

I let out a painful sigh.

I looked up to Karl, and he was still processing what I said.

“She is manipulating you,” he said with a twisted face.

“She hates us too much to lie.”

His jaw tightened.

“The humans hated us, and they lied to our faces, they killed without mercy, raped little kids, they even prepared a whole army,” Karl said, filled with so much anger.

“And yet she came alone,” I said.

Karl looked frustrated this time.

Good, he should be; he should not have any soft spot for humans.

“Why do you keep saying that?” he raised his voice this time, looking into my eyes, like he was searching for an answer.

“For years, the whole territory respected you. You saved what's left of us during the Great War.

Everyone looked up to you for protection, and you brought a human in without thinking of the consequences. Because she came alone?” he continued.

I looked at him for a moment.

Then looked away.

Maybe I should have killed her in the forest.

Killing the human was the right thing to do.

But my instinct had kept me alive this long.

But I could not just ignore the feeling that the human was connected to something stronger.

Maybe I am wrong.

“That’s enough, leave,” I said. I needed to be alone to think this through.

“Maybe I need to remind you how they killed your parent.” He wasn’t loud, but loud enough.

I turned to him immediately, “Don’t you dare cross that line.” I said, consumed by anger.

Then suddenly…

The ground shook violently.

The torch flickered wildly.

And the feeling I tried to cancel out from my head filled my body.

No.

I knew that energy.

Then a loud blast followed.

Fear spread across the hall immediately.

Real fear.

Something old.

Something that was buried deep.

“The lower wing,” I muttered under my breath.

Several guards rushed in.

“Alpha.”

“It came from the lower wing.”

Karl glanced at me. “That's impossible.”

Before they finished talking, I was already moving.

Karl was behind me.

But the guards remained where they were.

They were too scared to accept it.

I could still hear their voices.

“What has that human done?”

“We are doomed.”

The deeper we moved, the stronger the pressure became.

“We will kill that human on sight.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Was I actually wrong?

Did I bring terror to the territory?

“Is history repeating itself?”

What have I done?

The iron door I had avoided for years was opened.

As I got to the entrance of the door.

Pain exploded through my whole body, and I took a step backwards.

Karl looked at me in shock.

Another force pushed us back.

I could see the human on the floor across the symbol and…

Luca? Kira?

The symbols on the walls glowed in the dark

No…no.

“Karl, your sister.”

He didn’t wait to reply.

Karl ran inside.

Then I heard him shout.

“KIRA!”

I could hear the fear in his voice.

I forced myself in despite the crushing pain.

Luca ran to Kira's side, crying. “We told you not to touch it,” Luca said, looking up at the human.

The human looked worried as she went to Kira's side, not caring about Karl’s rage.

Golden light burned in her eyes.

That’s impossible.

Not again.

I will not allow that.

Humans have already destroyed enough.

History cannot repeat itself.

The symbol only glowed like that since…

My claws begin to shift.

Bones cracked beneath my skin.

She has to die.