The Beast Within and Without

~WITHIN~

BRIAN

“Run, little mate! Run!” I urged, my voice loud as I banged my head with force on the walls. It was starting again.

“Brian, no! We can stop this.” Her fingers faltered, the bunch of keys falling to the floor as she struggled to find the right one. The rattling sounds were messing with my head.

“I SAID RUN!” I growled from behind my metal bars, fangs bared, snarling at her.

It would happen and I would be powerless to stop it.

The hairs on her skin stood on ends but still, she refused to stop. She tried out key after key even as her fingers burned, the stench of her charred skin permeating the already dense air.

Curse the moon goddess for giving me a stubborn mate, and curse my wretched self for allowing this to become more than just a dream.

The whispers started then, their shallow voices calling for my wolf. I would not keep him in for much longer, and I knew the metal bars, though fully silver, would not save Lyra from me tonight.

“You are my mate! I will not leave you to your fate alone, Brian.” She cried, the tears pouring down her pale face. “We are destined to be and we will be.” My wolf whimpered at her words, trying to force himself to the furthest corners of my mind.

It was futile.

“What the fuck, Lyra.” Brenda cursed as she ran in through the dimly lit corridor.

With one hand, she grabbed Lyra, throwing her away from the door of my cage, then standing guard in front of it.

Lyra landed with a loud thump at the corner of the room, and my wolf whimpered again at the sight of her crumpled body.

She was up on her feet in an instant.

“Move, Bren.” She growled, her voice commanding.

“You need to leave, Lyra. We talked about this.” Brenda darted a look back at me; it was filled with sympathy and pity, and a heavy dose of fear. She knew.

She turned back to Lyra, her voice desperate. “You need to leave!”

“He. Is. My. Mate!” Lyra's voice was filled with such deadly menace, and her fangs and claws extended to full length. “I. Am. Your. Luna. You will move, Brenda.”

“And he is my Alpha. My duty lies with him first.”

In a fight, Brenda would win. Lyra might be my mate, but I had not claimed her yet and Brenda had years of experience on her side.

I could no longer hear them above the whispers that clouded my head. He came forth then; my wolf, pushing me to the fringes of our consciousness, where I could only watch but not influence.

The time had come.

I let out a painful howl, my body undergoing a change that had become as familiar as the next breath, but still as horribly painful as my first shift.

My bones shifted, cracking and readjusting, my skin splitting to let out my dark fur. The monster that lay within creeping out. I had tried to coat and cover him, but now, there was no more hiding space.

“Shit! Lyra get the fuck out now!” Brenda shouted at Lyra above my pained howls. She was right.

Soon, I was fully transformed, and pointing a large snout in the air, I took a gloriously long sniff, reveling in the sweet smell of my mate… My prey.

“I will stay!” Lyra growled back.

I swiped a huge paw at my silver blocking, the metal refusing to budge to my assault. I roared at the cage, my wolf going berserk at the sting of the silver. It didn't stop him. My higher resistance to silver had been a gift from the moon goddess on most days, but it was a bigger curse tonight. *

“Lyra, get out, now!” Brenda screamed, “You can't be here.”

My wolf raged from behind the cage, swiping at the bars, banging his body against it, roaring even louder at every failed attempt.

The room was now pungent with the smell of burning fur, but my mate's smell stood out, spurring my madness.

The pillars were getting weak, dust falling from the ceiling with every powerful attempt my wolf made to get free.

A huge chunk of the ceiling fell directly at Lyra, and Brenda lunged, knocking her out of the way. They both scrambled up to their feet, and Lyra attempted to cross the room back to me again, but Brenda held her back.

I shrank back even further to the edges of my consciousness at the painful look she sent to my wolf as he raged, doing his best to be free of his confines.

It was me, it was him, we were one.

Over the years, over the eyes I had stared in before ridding them of life, over them all, I knew Lyra's painful green gaze alone would remain with me for all time.

“Look at me!” Brenda shouted, shaking her back to the present. “If you stay, you will die. Run Lyra, run as far as you can, as fast as you can, and do not stop. Never stop.”

My wolf broke free of his confines then, the large metal barrier fell to the floor In a deafening thud, and he finally emerged from his prison.

He growled fiercely at them, a large paw kicking at the dirt floor as slowly stalked them.

Brenda slowly eased Lyra back with a hand protecting her. She never looked away, never turned her back to me as she slightly crouched, pushing Lyra behind. My wolf stood tall, taller than Brenda on both fours, and Brenda was a tall woman.

She inched the smaller woman farther behind, her eyes carefully watching me.

My wolf lunged then, and Brenda lunged as well, transforming mid-air and knocking me back.

Lyra finally came to her senses and took to her heels then, running out what was left of the corridor.

I made to go after her, but I was caught off by Brenda. She pounced on my neck, delivering several painful bites before I bounced her off me.

Her wolf stood inches shorter than mine, but she was a formidable foe, blocking the corridor Lyra had run down.

I could smell my mate getting farther away from me and a deep part of me rejoiced, but my wolf was not having it.

He lunged at Brenda, claws slashing and teeth snapping. She did not stand a chance.

It was a short battle, and Brenda’s wolf shrank back in a few moments, her bloody and naked body falling to the side.

Soon, my wolf was racing down the dimly lit corridors as well.

It led to the woods, and I left the building which was now nothing more than a pile of rubble behind.

The trees were thick, their canopy blocking out most of the glowing moon, but I didn't need the light tonight, for despite the several flavors of nature teasing my nose, the smell I was after stood out, and lead me in a straight trail to Lyra.

I wept when we found her.

She stood in a clearing, the moonlight bathing her in an ethereal glow. She had a knowing yet peaceful smile on her face, and she was the most beautiful thing I was opportune to lay my eyes upon.

She was still as I raced to her, awaiting me with open arms. Never once flinching, never looking away.

I heard her whispered words before I sank my fangs into her soft flesh.

“I love you, Brian.”

‘I love you, Lyra.’ I screamed from the edges of consciousness as my wolf devoured her body, with no one but the damned moon and the woods as witnesses to my depravity.

*****

~WITHOUT~

Moons later…

VIOLET

The whispered words carried on the wind froze me in my tracks. “I think she likes Coda.”

I lingered behind the last cabin on the path to the training center, unwilling to face their thoughts. My heart hammered beneath my ribs, nearly drowning out the source of the voice, but I forced the sound back.

Laughter followed.

“Everyone knows she does, Belle. She follows him around like a lost puppy.” This voice didn't whisper, she wanted to be heard.

“Coda will find his mate soon enough, I wonder what'll happen to her then,” A third voice sighed, her tone gentle. “Perhaps she'll find hers as well.” The third voice held sympathy and pity, a combination I hated to my bones.

The second voice spoke again, with its thick dose of nastiness. “What mate would want her? No wolf, no mate. I'd reject her if I were her mate. It's simple, she'll be stuck with her brother forever.”

It was followed by another round of giggles. I gripped my bow tighter, forcing back the tears that threatened to spill. I itched badly to puncture Zita full of little holes.

Why were they even here so late, the training range was mostly empty at this time.

I emerged from my hiding spot, strutting confidently like their words didn't leave a gaping hole in my chest. The three girls sat at the only bench available in the training area, so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't notice my approach.

“If you were Coda’s mate, Zita, the moon goddess would have revealed that by now. He isn't mine, but he's not yours either.” I leveled a bored stare at her, grabbing arrows from the weapon's rack to fill my quiver. The girl hated me for no reason at all.

“At least, I have a wolf.” She shot back.

“Zita!” The third girl hissed in warning.

Bless her soul, but I didn't need Jill to defend me.

“And you will no longer have a face if you keep speaking.” I turned, notching an arrow, and aiming straight at her.

“You wouldn't,” She snarled, but I could smell her fear.

Zita was the only shifted member of their group of three. But my arrows were faster than her wolf. Everyone knew this.

“Try me,” I smirked.

The other girls rose to their feet, nudging Zita to do the same.

“Come on,” The one named Bella urged, her eyes never leaving my pointed arrow.

“I don't know how long my weak arms can hold this arrow back, Zita.” I mocked in a singsong voice, following her movements with my arrow.

“Bitch,” Zita muttered as they slipped around a corner.

I fired the arrow then, hitting the spot where Zita had been seated. The tears I'd held back fell and I wiped them away angrily. It shouldn't hurt, but it did. I should be used to it, but I wasn't.

Dropping to the ground, I cursed the moon goddess for stealing what was best about me.