A Wolf Scorned by Taylor Spratt

Callum

Why was it that nothing made sense since she came? Why was it that every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was her?

I threw a kick at the gym punching bag after leaning into it, making it swing o

n its hook.

I heard the faint bang of the kitchen door slamming. Syrus and Amira must have finished training for the day.

I swallowed hard, taking another punch.

Every day since Amira moved here, her scent had been everywhere. In the hallways, the kitchen, living room. I couldn’t escape it. Couldn’t escape her.

So why did this fact not make me recoil like it should have?

Why was I so obsessed with a girl who wasn’t even a pure wolf? It just didn't make sense.

Miles swung the gym door open and waved at me before jumping on the treadmill.

I watched him run, turning up the speed until he was sprinting as fast as the machine would go.

I breathed heavily, throwing my worn out boxing gloves to the ground.

The image of her face zoomed to my mind for the twentieth time today and I remembered the day we met.

I found her presence troublesome, to say the least, but even then, there was something about her I couldn't put my finger on. The shine of her stunning green eyes, they were so captivating. They effortlessly melted away the darkness that clung to this cabin for decades. Like it was nothing, she brought back the light.

I slapped myself in the face. Come on, you need to end this nonsense, and fast. You almost kissed the girl in your last training session. You couldn’t afford to slip up like that again. Breaking the curse was the only thing that matters.

Grabbing my water bottle, I opened the spout and poured the cooling liquid over my face. I reached for a nearby towel and patted myself dry.

Once the curse was broken, she would be free to go as she wished, and I would be free of these plaguing thoughts.

“Callum, Callum, did you hear what I said?” Without my even realizing it, Miles had left the treadmill. He stood in front of me, sweat trailing down his face, waving like a madman. “I said I smell an intruder.”

“A what? In the cabin? Nobody would be so mad as to break in here of all places.” I dropped my towel and sniffed at the air. A foreign scent hit my nose, one I vaguely recognized and it made my blood run cold.

“We need to go to Syrus. Now!” I bellowed and the two of us kicked up dust, ripping out of the gym and running through the downstairs hallway.

We ascended the stairs and I made a call to Derrick informing him of the intruder in the cabin and the need for him to come with reinforcements.

At Syrus’s door I didn’t bother knocking, preferring to barge in, nearly ripping the door off its hinges.

“Hey, hey! Where’s the fire, man? I just oiled those hinges,” Syrus complained from his resting place on his bed. He sat up, his movement seeming strangely inhibited.

Could he have been attacked by the intruder and not inform me?

“What happened to you?” I demanded.

“The fire sphere,” Syrus moaned before reaching behind to rub his bandaged chest. “It did a number on me. But I’m healing quickly enough. Now mind telling me who’s going to fix my door?”

“Forget the door. Your nose broken or something? There’s a stranger in the cabin.”

“A what? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Syrus swung himself off the bed, landing on the floor with a bent back before slowly straightening.

Syrus moved over to Miles and I as quickly as he could with his injuries. “If there’s an intruder then where the hell is Amira?”

Amira...

By the Gods. Please, don’t let her be their target. How could I have been so foolish. She was the most vulnerable person in the cabin.

I flew from Syrus’s room with Miles and Syrus following stealthily behind me.

Reaching Amira’s door, I kicked it down and it cracked hard against the inside wall.

My eyes searched the room until they finally laid on her. Struck dumb, I watched on in wide eyed horror at the ghastly sight in front of me.

That vile sub-wolf Ragnaron dared to have his hands firmly grasped around her waist and worst of all, his filthy lips were all over hers.

The taste in my mouth soured, and my blood went hot as lava as I imagined nothing other than killing that bastard, Ragnaron.

Ragnaron challenged us, staking his claim to Amira. He shifted and fled the scene.

He meant to take her from us. Never in a million years would I think that even he would stoop to such a level.

Despite Amira’s warning, Callum, Miles, and I knew we had no choice. Curse be damned, we could not continue to call ourselves Alphas if we allowed our mortal enemy to enter our home and leave unscathed.

To hell with the consequences. Ragnaron dies tonight!

I shifted to my wolf, falling to my paws. With the fire of determination in my eyes, I darted forward, springing out the window and landing on the soft grass of the front yard.

The air felt heavy on my fur, and the scent of impending bloodshed penetrated my nose.

I growled as Ragnaron and his two Betas came into view. All three of the cretins stood in wolf form, snapping their jaws in righteous challenge. They formed an impenetrable wall, shoulder-to-shoulder in front of me.

Miles and Syrus joined me on the lawn in wolf form. Undaunted, Miles, Syrus, and I formed our own wall and faced them head on.

“You okay to fight, Syrus?” I said telepathically

“My wolf heals faster anyway. I won’t let the injuries slow me down too much. Now let’s kick some…” Syrus’s words cut, to be replaced by a series of pained howls.

My vision went red, everything around me blurring as if I were in a dream. My body quaked as an uncontrollable rage surged through me.

The curse. It had kicked in faster than I’d hoped and it wasn’t taking any prisoners. The telekinetic channel was completely cut off from Miles and Syrus. The feral madness had claimed all three of us, muddying the link.

“The pain! Stop this pain!” my wolf cried out so loud I’d almost mistaken it for actual sound.

Taking advantage of my mental haze, Ragnaron made his move, coming at me with the speed of a soaring eagle. Both of his Betas, following their Alpha’s lead, charging towards Syrus and Miles.

Ragnaron lunged forward, opening his large jaw to take a bite at me from the side. I dodged his teeth, moving to safety.

Though my vision was hazy and my mind foggy, there was one benefit of the curse. My body became a killing machine, my wolf’s only instinct to draw blood.

I scratched Ragnaron in the neck and he yelped in pain. Blood stained my paw but the wound wasn’t deep enough to take down an Alpha.

Shaking his head and recuperating faster than I would have liked, he shifted from side to side at lightning speed, ripping up the grass under his claws.

Ragnaron was trying to confuse me, he knew my vision was blurred. Moving at that speed, he knew he would have the advantage.

So, I joined him in his little game, sprinting around him as fast as he did. I cut through the wind, zooming towards Ragnaron. Matching his speed, tit for tat, his wolf no longer appeared blurry.

I bit his bad leg and he bulldozed me off him. I tasted the metallic zing of his blood as I flew back, skidding over the grass.

Ragnaron looked over the field, contemplating his next move. He breathed heavily, licking the blood from his fur.

I shook the pain from my back.

Miles and Syrus confronted Ragnaron’s Betas, giving it all they had. Fur went flying and blood stained the grass as the four wolves aggressively clawed and bit at each other.

Normally, Syrus’s speed and strength would easily eclipse the Beta he fought, but with his injuries, Syrus’s movements were noticeably slower. Still, he fought like a champion, smacking the Beta against a tree and digging his teeth into his hind leg.

Miles and the other Beta were more evenly matched, meeting each other bite for bite, and scratch for scratch as they wrestled each other on the grass.

Both my comrades seemed to be holding out well enough, at least until the telepathic channel suddenly reopened between us.

The cries and whimpering of their wolves flooded my mind like a broken damn. They were in excruciating pain. The curse, ripping away at them from the inside every bit as badly as their opponents were trying to do from the outside.

My wolf’s cries of pain were no quieter than theirs. My wolf begging for relief mixed together with that of Syrus’s and Miles's to bring me to my breaking point.

“Miles! Syrus!”I called out telekinetically, hoping to make contact with them but it failed; their brains were too frazzled to communicate with.

This was a losing battle. Even if we did manage to kill Ragnaron and his Betas, we would no doubt go on a killing spree in the town square and there would be nobody strong enough to stop us.

The curse robbed us of control, leaving nothing behind but the insatiable need to kill. My eyes met Ragnaron’s. Even with his wounds, his eyes shone brightly with satisfaction.

This was his plan all along. To come here, force us to shift and then we would destroy our own pack from the inside out. Doing for him, what he always wanted to do himself but never could.

I refused to let that bastard get away with this. He would pay! He would pay! He would pay!

I raced for Ragnaron, tackling him to the ground. I scratched at his muzzle and his wolf shrieked. He fought to push me off, but I remained on top, determined to do as much damage as I could. My teeth ripped into his chest and dug deeper.

He flailed about, before biting my right paw. Unable to hold him any longer I released him and he jumped away from me.

“Please, stop this! Don’t you see what's happening? The curse is ripping you apart,” a desperate voice penetrated the chaos that was my mind.

Amira?

Amira waved at us a few feet away from the fighting wolves. Had that half-breed lost her mind? She could be killed standing this close to a wolf brawl. In this state, it could even be me that killed her and I would be powerless to stop myself.

“If you don’t stop this you’ll end up killing yourself and your wolves.” Tears ran down her cheeks as she continued begging us to stop.

I growled at her, commanding her to go. But she stayed just where she stood, refusing to leave.

Ragnaron, taking advantage of my distraction, snuck up from behind and bit me on my back. I yelped as pain drilled into my spine.

My legs gave out, as my body struggled to process the agony and loss of blood.

The world went silent around me and all I could hear were the whimpers of my wolf. My already hazy vision grew tunneled and dark. But then I saw something that brought me back some level of lucidity.

One of Ragnaron’s Betas. He’d bitten Syrus in the side, aggravating his wound. Then, as Syrus fell to the ground, the coward Beta set his sights on Amira.

He took off in her direction like a bullet. He opened his large jaw, ready to bite her frail body in two.

“Stay away from her!”

Ignoring my pain, I got up and ran to her. I intercepted the Beta before he could get to her and he stalled and started growling at me.

I didn’t have much fight left in me, my body, feeling colder by the second as the blood drained from my wounds.

The Beta came at me, snapping his jaw toward my leg. I hopped out of the way, only for him to zip around to my back and bite into my neck.

He squeezed his teeth into my neck and I felt the life slip from my body. I fell to the ground, unable to move another inch. My chest rose and fell as I took my final breaths.

All I could see now was her. She fell to her knees in front of me and cried. She spoke to me but I couldn't hear a word. I just watched her lips moving. She really did have beautiful lips. That was the last thought to cross my mind before the darkness washed over me.

* * *

A bright lightreplaced the darkness, a light I assumed was that of heaven’s gate. But as the brightness grew, I could now see it was something else.

Amira’s entire body glowed like the light from the sun. Her hair blew about, shinning like a celestial goddess.

Her hand gently pressed against my forehead and all pain left me. The red haze disappeared like a bad dream and my wolf's cries silenced.

The dark clouds had been broken apart by her light and my curse was gone, leaving no trace to remember it by.

It wasn’t only my mind that was clear, my body felt strong and my wounds had all vanished.

With my sight clear and sanity returned to me, I raised to my feet and faced the Beta who’d nearly taken my life.

I charged for him, ramming into him with such a force he smashed into a tree and fell to the ground like a rock.

Strength coursed through my body in waves as I reveled in relief, joy, and a sanity I hadn’t thought possible in wolf form.

Ragnaron backed away, confused by the still glowing Amira. Unafraid, she walked across the bloody battle ground to where Syrus lay, collapsed on the grass. Just like she had done for me, she pressed a hand to his head and he awoke, jumping to his feet and shaking his head in confusion.

His wound a thing of the past, his eyes darted in every direction not understanding what had happened.

“What's going on? What happened to me?”Syrus’s voice came through clear as crystal as he spoke telepathically, and the purest joy washed over me in waves to hear him at least.

“You are free, brother! We are all free,” I said to him and he turned to face me. Wordlessly he looked at me and then to Amira, who now hovered over Miles.

Miles and the Betas still battled it out, wrestling each other on the grass.

Unperturbed by the violence, Amira went right up to the battling beasts.

“Amira, don’t,” Syrus called out to her, but the warning was unnecessary. The Beta looked up to see the glowing woman in front of him, jumped away, turned tail and ran.

Miles growled at Amira, unable to control his mad wolf. Unafraid of his bite, Amira rested her hand on his face. The red drained from his eyes and was replaced by a calm and lucid grey.

Miles licked Amira’s hand, overjoyed at what she had done.

Seeing that his advantage had been lost, Ragnaron and his two Betas disappeared into the trees.

A Range Rover came ripping through the front yard. Derrick along with five Sentinels came bursting out. They carried everything from bats and hockey sticks to guns.

Callum, Miles, and I shifted back to human form and the six men looked on at us in wide eyed confusion.

“How?” Derrick swallowed before dropping his gun to the ground. "How come you're not feral? How did you all shift back so easily?”

“It was Amira. She freed us from the curse,” Syrus said and we all turned to face Amira. Her light had mostly disappeared. Now only the tips of her red hair glowed.

“That half-breed did it?” Derrick jerked a thumb in her direction, his tone both surprised and disrespectful.

“Her name is Amira, Derrick, and you’d better not forget that. Do you understand me?” I barked and he bowed his head in apologies.

“Sorry, Alpha.”

“That's damn right!” Amira chimed in, before showing Derrick her tongue.

The three of us were dazed, unable to put into words how grateful we were for all she had done for us. We carried her over our heads like a queen as we returned to the cabin.

Today’s battle might have been over, but tomorrow would bring an even bigger challenge. There was one gigantic question still left to be answered.

Amira’s powers had only just awakened and they were unpredictable. Could Amira summon her power at will and break the curse on the rest of the pack? I prayed she was able, as the only thing worse than being a cursed Alpha to a cursed people was being was being a freed Alpha to those still in bondage.