Tempting the Lycan King

- SCARLETT

"Wipe out the entire pack! Leave no survivors!" the voice commanded. The command was sharp and clear and uttered with venom. The rogue lycans of the Savage Fury pack now rallied around, nodding their heads in agreement, drawing their arms.

One of them raised a question, "But, sir, what about the cubs and pups? They're innocent."

"Innocent?" snarled the voice in reply. "They're the future of the pack. We cannot risk letting them grow up and avenge. Kill them all!"

Looking at each other with nervous cues, they all dared not defy the order. They drove away toward the dark and threatening valley, their weapons on the alert, to execute the order.

It was a full moon this evening. Dradraley was a place in a dark, gloomy world called Dark Valley. It was a large and twisted valley, dark, with sharp cliffs jutting above and cutting out the sun. In the valley, it was encircled by huge mountains that were continuously covered with snow, contributing to the feeling of chilliness and remote location.

I am Scarlett Leighton, a young she-wolf in Dark Valley Pack. I saw them kill my family, and I did not know whether to scream or burn the entire place down.

I was hiding in a hidden nook under a cliff when the rogue lycans began to kill every one of my family. I survived, leaving behind the rest, since my mother had instructed me to run away. I shut my ears when I heard their wailing cries.

I still recall what my mother told me before it all happened. "You must stay safe and hide. Don't come out no matter what."

So I hid there and saw the rogue wolves cut off the head of my father. I would have liked to go and help, but my mother said no.

I caught a scream somewhere above. One of the rogues had pushed my mother over the cliff and into the raging water below.

All the blood had turned the water red. I stood and watched it all with tears streaming down my face. I kept holding myself not to cry, but failed. It was too painful.

My father and mother were killed right in front of me, but I could not do anything about it.

I did not know how long I had to keep quiet, but just watch and cry silently.

I was standing and staring at them where the clearing thinned out, and my breath caught in my throat as rough as a rusty blade. My fur was wet with some mud and gore, which was not mine. The jagged cliffs of Dark Valley were rising around me, like tombstone sentinels, shutting out the sun as usual.

My eyes ran around in search of an escape. I noticed an opening in the woods, and I ran, with a racing heart, to my life. I heard the savage shouts of my chasers as they ran after me, but I had no time to look back. I continued to run, with pumping legs and burning lungs, to create as much distance between myself and my attackers as possible.

The woods had a strange silence when I ran. The only sound was the rough breathing of the pack of lycans that were close behind me.

But all at once, everything seemed odd. The rogue lycans stood still in terror as a loud howl echoed in the forest.

"What was that?" one of them whispered.

They stared at one another and said, "Is that Lycan king?"

And before anyone could answer, there came another, nearer howl in the night. My heart started beating faster when I saw the howls were of some other pack of lycans. I needed to flee when the rogue lycans were busy.

I felt the weird flow of energy over me, as the rogue lycans stood frozen in terror. I was connected with the Moon Goddess, a goddess of all werewolves and lycans, and it seemed that the goddess herself was blessing me with a new strength. The moon was even more bright in the sky, and the howl was transformed into the chorus of howls of lycans all over the wood, all calling to the Moon Goddess.

I felt my body begin to shift, my senses becoming keener, and my strength and agility were improving. I screamed with the rest, and I could feel the strength of the goddess flowing in my blood. The rogue lycans could not stand before me now, and I was prepared to fight a battle with fresh energies and power.

I was just about ready to charge forward when a dark individual came out of the trees.

Tobias Richfield was the strong and dreadful king of the lycans in his lycan form, and a pack of his most reliable subordinates accompanied him.

They all stood still and ceased whatever they were doing.

The rogue lycans were trembling with fear as they knelt before Tobias. One of them stammered, "We are, my king...

Tobias interrupted him, "Give me reasons. What's going on here?"

Some other rogue lycan said, "We require your aid, my king. It is a pack of werewolves causing trouble in our territory. We have to punish them."

Tobias stood over the rogue lycans with his eyes closing in on them as he listened to their request. "What trouble are they making of it?" He snarled, attempting to get more knowledge.

The leader of the rogue lycan gave Tobias a parchment, full of false charges against the Dark Valley pack. Tobias narrowed his eyes and read it with shock and anger.

He stood undecided what to do. Being a king of the lycans, he had always been taught that the rules of the land had to be respected, but he had also heard rumours of trouble that some werewolf pack had caused.

"They have been robbing us of our heirlooms, making a mess, assaulting our pack members, and our leader is even dead. We must end then," said the rogue lycan, his voice becoming more angry.

Tobias listened to them. Being the king of the lycans, he was aware that it was his responsibility to guard the people of his area and keep the land in order.

"Fine. I will see to this," Tobias at last said. "No more unwarranted violence."

They went away with the Lycan King, and I had to creep back into the pack house like a ghost.

I stumbled toward our house. The Savage Fury rogues had disappeared into the trees like smoke when their King appeared, but they had left their work. I headed towards a pile of grey fur beside the main longhouse. My knees failed me before I got to it.

"Dad?" I rasped. My voice was a mess, a sunken out reflection of the girl I was an hour before.

Silence. The oppressive, stifling one that comes after a slaughter.

"Dad, where are you?" I called again.

But I already knew the answer. What had happened could not be mistaken.

My family had been attacked by the rogue lycans, and they had massacred them all.

I stood frozen in place. Pain poked my chest as if I had been stabbed with a knife.

The pain was overwhelming. It was as though a burning, a feeling that seemed to rip through my whole body and cause havoc in its path. I screamed, sobs streaming down my face.

The sight was devastating. The long houses had been totally burnt down, and corpses littered the ground. The air was strongly scented with blood. Others had been torn open, and their blood and gore had been sprayed on the floor.

Something stirred, and then I heard a little whimper.

It was my father. He was staring at the ceiling, and his eyes, which were normally so bright with their irritating, get-back-to-training spark, were fixed deadly on the ceiling. Nigel, my brother, was huddled not far away, his hand still extended towards him.

"No, no, no," I stammered, throwing off the words. I moved toward Nigel and managed to touch him with my hands, which were trembling so much that I could hardly do it. "Nigel, please. Wake up. Just... stop playing. This isn't funny."

The anger struck me at the time, a swirling, jagging spurt which flamed through the shock. I held on to the silver pendant hanging on my neck, the one that Mom had thrust into my hand when the first wave of the attack had struck. It was warm. Hot, actually.

"I'll kill them all," I snarled, scratching my nails. "Every one of those bastards. I don't care if they have a King. I'll burn their world down."

But the words sounded hollow. I knew I could do nothing, even when the words dropped out of my lips. They had killed all the people I loved, and why? Revenge? Money? Power?

It didn't matter. None of it mattered anymore. I just wanted to see the blood dripping on the floor and their screams in my ears. I would punish them for what they had done, even when it would be the last thing I would have done.

My throat narrowed, and the tears were threatening to escape once more. I cleared my throat and pushed them away.

I had to be strong. For myself. For Mom. For Dad and Nigel. And to all the others who had died tonight.

My eyes filled up with tears, and the anger that surged within me was greater than any that I had ever felt.

A cold uncertainty began to sink in my stomach as I stood on my feet and wiped the dirt out of my eyes. I started counting. Ten. Twenty. Fifty. The whole pack was here, and spread out like a map of murder.

Except for two.

"Jax?" I called out with a cracking voice. "Mia?"

Jax Meyer was my boyfriend. He was expected to be on the western perimeter. Mia Logan, my best friend as we were pups, should have been in the nursery assisting the elders. I rushed to the fence, and my heart beat like a captive bird.

"Jax! Mia! Where are you?"

I checked the nursery. The elders were gone, the pups... God, the pups. I walked away, and my bile was swelling in my throat. But Mia wasn't there. I ran to the western line. No Jax. No signs of a struggle. No blood that smelled like them.

I stood, flustered in the midst of the carnage. "They wouldn't," I breathed. "There's no way."

There was a vibration, and the pendant started to shine with a blinding, scathing white light. It was hot--searingly hot. The world started to tilt, and my vision became blurred.

"I'm going to get you, Jax," I choked, and the light swallowed me. "I'm coming for both of you."

After the light died, I leapt out of the valley. The air was also, however, colder, purer. I was on the shore of a deep, calm lake. The moon was shining on the water like a huge silver eye.

My body felt... different. Stronger. Faster. As if the Moon goddess herself had touched down and made my nerves run. I stared at my reflection in the water. My eyes were no longer wolf-eyes; they shone with a wicked, bloody flame.

"Scarlett?"

I froze. That voice.

I looked across the lake. I could see two figures through the trees. One of them was tall, broad-shouldered. It was Jax. The other was small, and with the old braid she had always had. It was Mia. They were standing by a black SUV, talking to a man in a Savage Fury tactical vest.

They were not chained, and no one was putting a finger on them.

Jax was laughing. He walked into the SUV and took out a large duffel bag, which he threw over to the rogue. Mia was leaning against the door, examining her nails as though she had not just witnessed the murder of her whole world.

"Do you think she died in the explosion?" Mia called out, and her voice fell across the dark water.

"Nobody ever comes out of a full-fledged attack on the Alpha," Jax said, casually. As though he were discussing a business. "Pity, she was the first to go. She was a good lay, but she was too bound to that miserable pack."

The rogue laughed, and he had an ugly voice. You are a merciless man, Jax, aren't you? Don't worry. Here is your money, and you will have everything soon. I will report to the King that the job is done.

"Don't mention my name. Scarlett was not meant to live through the attack."

"And we didn't find the pendant. So how did you get it out of her?"

"It was easy. I told you Scarlett was always too trusting."

I went cold. Another type of cold than the valley. This was an ice with a deep soul freezing.

They did it. My best friend and my boyfriend. They turned us in to get a bag of cash and a seat at the table of the Lycan King.

I have a list now. It is written in the blood of my people, and I am about to begin crossing names off.

Jax.

Mia.

Each of the rouges in the Savage Fury.

The King who let it happen.

I made no noise and simply crept into the gloom and headed off across the woods. My chest was still vibrating with the pendant, and I was reminded of the pack that I was unable to rescue.

I will come, I said to myself, the anger resting in a silent, lethal threat. And God knows when I get there.