What have you done

I struggled against the silver wire bound around my wrists. The grass was cold and wet underneath my knees as they forced us down, side by side, hands behind our backs with silver wires that bit into our skin.

 my whole body was shaking. Somewhere, a dog was barking itself hoarse.

I counted six Lycan soldiers in the yard, their eyes glowing red in the dark.

"How gallant of you to think you could outsmart us," the taller Lycan soldier said with a small smirk. Suddenly his claws emerged and he struck my brother with force, shoving my brother's face into the ground. Blood seeped out of the claw marks from his face as the soldier pinned his quivering body.

A scream unfurled from my throat as I attempted to move forward towards Kieran but a second later, a Lycan soldier yanked me back, gripping my hair with his rough hand.

"Stay still," he said, dragging my hair with more force.

Suddenly the door opened, and another Lycan soldier stepped out, scanning the place.

"No one else. The house is empty, commander."

The Lycan soldier holding Kieran, who I believe is the commander, shoved him to the soldier.

"Bind him with more wires. He's proving stubborn."

The commander then slowly turned his head over to me, and he eyed me from head to toe.

"Hmm." His red eyes darkened. "Bring her over here!"

"Don't fucking touch her!" Kieran yelled as the guard dragged me toward the commander.

"Who said that?" The commander slowly turned, gazing into Kieran's amber coloured eyes. Just a nod from him, and without warning, the guard holding Kieran landed a punch on his face, drawing blood from him.

"What's your name?" the commander asked, staring at him.

Kieran struggled against the soldier, his jaw clenched as he looked at the commander, bruised. "Kieran."

"Kieran." The commander's mouth curves. "And what were you doing in the forest, Kieran, so soon after the Prince was found half dead in it?"

"I already told you. I was hunting," he sounded so calm like he wasn't even under pressure at all.

"And yet you ran away the moment we noticed you. Why did you run?"

"I was startled."

The commander reached for my face, and my eyes widened with terror when his sharp claws started to unfurl.

"I swear by the moon goddess's name, I was startled."

"You were startled?" The commander scoffed, the sound terrifying me. "Men who are startled don't outrun six trained soldiers through half a mile of bramble. Men who are guilty do." His gaze slides to me, lazy, cataloguing. "And his Highness, the crowned Prince says the one who shot him with an arrow had hair like the moon." his eyes grew darker.

"Funny thing, that. Because your sister just happens to have hair like that."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kieran says.

"Neither do I," I manage.

"Liars," the commander spat. "A few weeks in prison would straighten your tongues. Now are you going to talk or?" He cocked his head for a moment and when neither of us gave him an answer, he turned his attention to me. I shrank to the ground feeling his sharp eyes piercing into me, and wishing the ground would open up right now and swallow me.

He crouched in front of me and dragged one knuckle down the curve of my cheek. I flinched, and he smiled.

"She's a beautiful thing, isn't she." He's not talking to us anymore. He's talking over my head, his gaze fixed to his men. "Girls like this have always been my favorite. It's going to be such a pity—"

"I shot him." The words rushed out of Kieran swiftly, and the commander went still.

No. No. No. Please, moon goddess save us.

He slowly turned his head to Kieran, and something in his face changed, making my stomach tighten.

"There we are," he said in a softer tone.

The door banged open suddenly and a small figure appeared. My eyes widened when Sara came into view, one hand pressed against the curve of her belly. Archer was right behind her murmuring something I couldn't make out.

The soldiers quickly close the distance, reaching for Archer and Sara. They forced them down on their knees, hands behind their back.

"Leave her out of this," I said immediately. "She doesn't know anything. She's pregnant, for the goddess's sake—"

"Pregnant?!" Kieran's eyes widened, snapping his head to me before looking at Sara and Archer. They avoided his gaze as they both struggled against the soldier's grip.

"Take them all."

Archer wrenched his shoulder half free of the soldier holding him and took a swing that didn't land. I watched the commander's jaw tightened as his claws came out. Suddenly, Archer fell to the ground with force, and he didn't got up.

"Archer!" Sara screamed, tears flowing from her eyes as she tore her gaze to the Lycan soldier. "What have you done?!"

Her spine bows, fabric tearing, and where a heartbeat ago there was a pregnant girl on her knees in the grass there's a silver-grey wolf launching itself at the nearest soldier's throat. She was able to sink her fangs into a soldier before three of them descended on her. Everything moved swiftly and within a blink of an eye, Sara is lying on the ground, her body torn open with claws, and blood gushing out. The last thing I saw in her eyes was fear before they went lifeless.

I couldn't breathe as I screamed.

The commander turned away from the bodies. "Get him to the palace," he told the soldiers, nudging his head toward Kieran. "And burn this house to the ground."

He turned to me, dragging his gaze over me once more. His eyes had a dark glint, that sent shivers down my spine.

In that moment I wished the ground would open up and swallow me, knowing what the look on his face meant. He cocked his head, nose sniffing into the air like he could smell my fear and was enjoying every second of it. 

I squeezed my eyes in fear, and just when I blinked them open, I caught sight of Kieran moving.

He struggled out of the silver wire before anyone could register it, bindings loosened on the ground behind him as he moved with speed.

He lunged straight for the commander's throat, hands turning into sharp claws. A strength in him that looks unfamiliar because he's spent half an hour on the ground bleeding. He looked feral like a beast, and for a second I caught my father's face in his. Same dark brown hair caught by the moonlight, same eyes gone deep amber.

The commander stumbled back into the mess of blood where Sara and Archer are lying. Kieran descended on him before he could right himself. His fists came down, again and again. 

The soldiers froze, for one full breath,  like they couldn't believe what was happening. Then all of a sudden they started shouting, lunging forward at once. The soldier holding me down released me as he sped towards Kieran, joining the other soldiers to tackle him down.

"Rosewyn!" His voice cracked on my name. "Run!"

Help him Rosewyn, a voice inside me said.

But my mind wandered to the commander's hand on my face. I thought of the look on his face when he told the soldiers to take Kieran away. My legs moved quickly, carrying me backward, toward the fence.

No one stopped me. They didn't even seem to notice me at all.

"Rose!" Kieran screamed, his voice raw with a sound I've never heard come out of him before. His face and clothes are drenched with blood, some of them belonging to the soldiers.

I imagined myself in his place, bloodied and screaming for Kieran to run. But he would never run. He would never let any soldier lay a finger on me.

I came to a halt.

Help him, a small voice pleaded.

You don't have a wolf. You can't save him. A cold voice commanded.

Smoke stung my eyes before I made out the flames. They're already burning the house — my house, every room I grew up in, and the fire climbed faster than I could think through the terror crawling up my spine.

"Bind him properly this time," the commander said, wiping his jaw. When he lifted his head from Kieran, his eyes found me at the edge of the yard. "The girl. Fuck. Go after her. Now!"

I turned around and ran for the fence, not looking back as I sped. My lungs burned as I continued running.

I almost made it to the fence before something hard struck the back of my head, and I fell to the ground. As my face connected with dust, the last thing I heard before darkness consumed me was my brother screaming.