I can't turn and I've no idea why. I'm as weak and powerless as Juan said I was…. because of me, Colton will perish tonight too. He'll feel this pain, he'll know I'm suffering and as soon as my heart stops, his will too. I failed to keep my mate safe, by failing to save myself and I don't deserve his love, his bond.
I'm sorry, my love. You were right. I'm no warrior.
I doubt he'll even hear me, as along with my ability to turn, my mind link is silent and has been since I lost him upstairs. I close my eyes, trying hard to connect to him, to feel him inside my head one last time, but there is only deathly silence in the recess of my brain as fingers encircle my throat and I wait for the inevitable squeeze to end it all.
My blurry vision focuses in front of me, straining across the lawn in a last-ditch attempt to see the world I'm leaving behind. As he begins to choke the air out of my body, slowly, enjoying the power, savoring it, smug about the lack of my fight because I have nothing left. Truly sick.
My eyes settle on the chaos laid before me, and my heart implodes with what I see, the devastation too much for me to really compute. Tears rolling down my face as sadness numbs out everything else. A quiet peace filling my senses as shock and reality hit, to shield me from the horror of what I'm witnessing.
There are bodies everywhere. The unwanteds, the guardians, side by side, no care as to whether one was important or not. There's blood, debris, and the lifeless souls of my reject pack, strewn wherever the eye strays. Headless, maimed. Some torn to pieces, some just bleeding out from wounds across their throats and already dead. Dark fluid taints it all, blood in the shadows, stains everything as far as I can see. Chaos everywhere. It's a massacre we never saw coming, and they hit the weakest in our kingdom, the ones who had no defenses. Most of us were just children, or teenagers, and we never stood a chance.
This is it for us. My story is finally over.
I close my eyes and accept fate, choking slowly, no longer panic strewn but accepting, as blood sours out my sense of taste and I gag and fumble at the grass beneath my palms. Hot and sticky with my own life essence. Struggling to breathe, heart giving in, unable to fight while my body is broken and shattered. Paused and waiting for the final snap to end this agony and suffering.
The sudden wrenching of the hands around my neck makes me spasm in response, so in tune with the final blow, but instead of a relief from this plane to the next, I'm set free. Dropped hastily so my face collides with the damp stinking grass and the taste of my own blood is rammed backward as I inhale it forcefully. My throat released, and the flash of air that wooshes by me turns my gaze to follow impulsively. Weakly following the path of whatever just flew by me.
A black flash of snarling fur, a huge beast in utter rage, taking down the form of the man that held me captive and I can tell it's Colton as his scent follows on the wind. That instant inner completion only his presence can bring me, and a tiny ounce of my heart is restored. I slump my head down on my cheek to watch him, as I can't do anything much else.
He's ruthless, a true warrior, and one of the biggest of the pack as he towers at three times the size of my assaulter on his hind legs. Within seconds, without any obvious effort, or fight, he tears the man apart from limb to limb, no hesitation, as though merely pulling apart a piece of damp paper towel. Scattering him across the back wall in a vile dark red spray of body parts, with an almost explosion like drama.
Snarling, seething so his teeth glint in the moonlight devilishly and he turns viciously, before throwing its head across the courtyard, with enough force that it clears the wall completely. It's an act of rage and fury, and he throws his own massive head back, letting the most terrifying, stomach churning howl, erupt from deep within his body, alerting his kindreds that they should come.
The noise fills the air, echoes insanely, overtakes the silence and chaos as more of my brethren clear the walls effortlessly, like water over rocks, scaling and flowing smoothly in from all directions to land in the courtyard. Pouring from every avenue into the small space. Flooding all I can see with the forms of wolves of all sizes and shades and packs from every corner of the mountain. Uniting for a common enemy.
I try to get up, relief overwhelming me that they've come to our aid, our saviors are here, but I can't move. My hands are bloody and ripped up, my body is weak, smashed internally, and I can't feel my legs anymore. So drained of my life force that I'm ebbing away into nothingness. Try as I might… I can't move.
Lorey? Baby…. Lorey … nooo. The black beast is over me now, turning me gently with massive clawed paws, so I face those glowing ember eyes to fall into his safety and care. He calms from snarling teeth to human form instantly. In a blink, from ferocious to handsome and familiar. Suddenly smaller, naked before me, in the dark night sky and a look of utter despair washing over that furrowed brow and tear-filled eyes.
'I'm sorry.' Is all I can splutter as I cough up blood and shudder with the effort, too consumed with fatigue to do anything else. Colton stifles a sob, scrunching his face up, and cradles me close. Picking me up as carefully as he can and pulling me against him gently, his own pain at me being like this filtering back to me and weighing upon me tenfold. Sharing our agony, and I can feel his heart shredding for me. The devastation tearing through him at what he sees.
'You have to turn, please. It's the only way you can survive these wounds. Turn for me. Don't give up. Don't leave me, baby.' The desperation in his voice ravages my heart, but I'm too weak, and I've lost too much blood. I'm so cold, so numb that even his touch can't warm me as it should and I cry softly, with desperation because I know, as soon as I slip away, his own heart will cease to beat. I can't let him die at my hands; I have to save myself to save him. He doesn't deserve this, he never did anything wrong, he came for me. He came to save me.
I have to try just one more time, to give everything I have into healing myself, but it's futile. I don't even know how to turn, let alone if I can. It's like there is a disconnect and my abilities fail me. I muster any willpower I can but it's like that veil of power is still weighing down, oppressing me and I can't fight it.
'I can't. I don't know how.' Tears roll down my sodden face as I let out a useless breathy whisper. So ashamed of my own inability to ever be a match for his strength and power. Colton stares at me, his face suddenly straightening as he sobers instantly, he looks to his own hand, curled around my shoulder, an instant twinge of his cheek muscle and then a frown that I can't read.
Colton doesn't wait, something registering on his face and he furrows his brow with determination, pushing the softness aside. He picks me up, even though I cry out in renewed agony of this new torture and holds me tight. Pain slicing through my wounds as I cry out at what he's doing, writhing, and shuddering with the sheer pain it inflicts upon me. I push my hands to his chest to beg him to let go, because it's too much and my body can't take more. Glass stuck in my wounds, penetrating deeper with the pressure of his embrace and I howl out in despair because he's only hurting me more.
"I'm sorry, baby. I have to." Pulling us to standing, he starts running for the nearest entrance to the courtyard. His focus intent as he scans the wall and moves us as fast as he can to the nearest gate. It's a human run, not hyper speed and he hauls ass to get me outside the perimeter of the enclosed garden and building. I don't understand and all I can do is cling on and stiffen and sob at the movements that bring me no end of agony.
His mind syncs with mine as soon as we are free from the confines of the courtyard, I feel it. Shocked with the sudden presence of him inside my head even though he doesn't say anything at all. A change to the weight on my chest and the dull fog of my brain as he skids down to his knees, scraping across the tarmac, taking me down with him as soon as he feels the bond return so effortlessly.
"Try now. Trust me, you have to try. Focus on me, think of yourself as you were the night of your turning. The pain, the elation of your new form, will it, baby, will it! Turn!" He begs, commands and alpha tones me all at the same time. Desperation in his plea and I'm powerless to disobey him.
I can't turn and I've no idea why. I'm as weak and powerless as Juan said I was…. because of me, Colton will perish tonight too. He'll feel this pain, he'll know I'm suffering and as soon as my heart stops, his will too. I failed to keep my mate safe, by failing to save myself and I don't deserve his love, his bond.
I'm sorry, my love. You were right. I'm no warrior.
I doubt he'll even hear me, as along with my ability to turn, my mind link is silent and has been since I lost him upstairs. I close my eyes, trying hard to connect to him, to feel him inside my head one last time, but there is only deathly silence in the recess of my brain as fingers encircle my throat and I wait for the inevitable squeeze to end it all.
My blurry vision focuses in front of me, straining across the lawn in a last-ditch attempt to see the world I'm leaving behind. As he begins to choke the air out of my body, slowly, enjoying the power, savoring it, smug about the lack of my fight because I have nothing left. Truly sick.
My eyes settle on the chaos laid before me, and my heart implodes with what I see, the devastation too much for me to really compute. Tears rolling down my face as sadness numbs out everything else. A quiet peace filling my senses as shock and reality hit, to shield me from the horror of what I'm witnessing.
There are bodies everywhere. The unwanteds, the guardians, side by side, no care as to whether one was important or not. There's blood, debris, and the lifeless souls of my reject pack, strewn wherever the eye strays. Headless, maimed. Some torn to pieces, some just bleeding out from wounds across their throats and already dead. Dark fluid taints it all, blood in the shadows, stains everything as far as I can see. Chaos everywhere. It's a massacre we never saw coming, and they hit the weakest in our kingdom, the ones who had no defenses. Most of us were just children, or teenagers, and we never stood a chance.
This is it for us. My story is finally over.
I close my eyes and accept fate, choking slowly, no longer panic strewn but accepting, as blood sours out my sense of taste and I gag and fumble at the grass beneath my palms. Hot and sticky with my own life essence. Struggling to breathe, heart giving in, unable to fight while my body is broken and shattered. Paused and waiting for the final snap to end this agony and suffering.
The sudden wrenching of the hands around my neck makes me spasm in response, so in tune with the final blow, but instead of a relief from this plane to the next, I'm set free. Dropped hastily so my face collides with the damp stinking grass and the taste of my own blood is rammed backward as I inhale it forcefully. My throat released, and the flash of air that wooshes by me turns my gaze to follow impulsively. Weakly following the path of whatever just flew by me.
A black flash of snarling fur, a huge beast in utter rage, taking down the form of the man that held me captive and I can tell it's Colton as his scent follows on the wind. That instant inner completion only his presence can bring me, and a tiny ounce of my heart is restored. I slump my head down on my cheek to watch him, as I can't do anything much else.
He's ruthless, a true warrior, and one of the biggest of the pack as he towers at three times the size of my assaulter on his hind legs. Within seconds, without any obvious effort, or fight, he tears the man apart from limb to limb, no hesitation, as though merely pulling apart a piece of damp paper towel. Scattering him across the back wall in a vile dark red spray of body parts, with an almost explosion like drama.
Snarling, seething so his teeth glint in the moonlight devilishly and he turns viciously, before throwing its head across the courtyard, with enough force that it clears the wall completely. It's an act of rage and fury, and he throws his own massive head back, letting the most terrifying, stomach churning howl, erupt from deep within his body, alerting his kindreds that they should come.
The noise fills the air, echoes insanely, overtakes the silence and chaos as more of my brethren clear the walls effortlessly, like water over rocks, scaling and flowing smoothly in from all directions to land in the courtyard. Pouring from every avenue into the small space. Flooding all I can see with the forms of wolves of all sizes and shades and packs from every corner of the mountain. Uniting for a common enemy.
I try to get up, relief overwhelming me that they've come to our aid, our saviors are here, but I can't move. My hands are bloody and ripped up, my body is weak, smashed internally, and I can't feel my legs anymore. So drained of my life force that I'm ebbing away into nothingness. Try as I might… I can't move.
Lorey? Baby…. Lorey … nooo. The black beast is over me now, turning me gently with massive clawed paws, so I face those glowing ember eyes to fall into his safety and care. He calms from snarling teeth to human form instantly. In a blink, from ferocious to handsome and familiar. Suddenly smaller, naked before me, in the dark night sky and a look of utter despair washing over that furrowed brow and tear-filled eyes.
'I'm sorry.' Is all I can splutter as I cough up blood and shudder with the effort, too consumed with fatigue to do anything else. Colton stifles a sob, scrunching his face up, and cradles me close. Picking me up as carefully as he can and pulling me against him gently, his own pain at me being like this filtering back to me and weighing upon me tenfold. Sharing our agony, and I can feel his heart shredding for me. The devastation tearing through him at what he sees.
'You have to turn, please. It's the only way you can survive these wounds. Turn for me. Don't give up. Don't leave me, baby.' The desperation in his voice ravages my heart, but I'm too weak, and I've lost too much blood. I'm so cold, so numb that even his touch can't warm me as it should and I cry softly, with desperation because I know, as soon as I slip away, his own heart will cease to beat. I can't let him die at my hands; I have to save myself to save him. He doesn't deserve this, he never did anything wrong, he came for me. He came to save me.
I have to try just one more time, to give everything I have into healing myself, but it's futile. I don't even know how to turn, let alone if I can. It's like there is a disconnect and my abilities fail me. I muster any willpower I can but it's like that veil of power is still weighing down, oppressing me and I can't fight it.
'I can't. I don't know how.' Tears roll down my sodden face as I let out a useless breathy whisper. So ashamed of my own inability to ever be a match for his strength and power. Colton stares at me, his face suddenly straightening as he sobers instantly, he looks to his own hand, curled around my shoulder, an instant twinge of his cheek muscle and then a frown that I can't read.
Colton doesn't wait, something registering on his face and he furrows his brow with determination, pushing the softness aside. He picks me up, even though I cry out in renewed agony of this new torture and holds me tight. Pain slicing through my wounds as I cry out at what he's doing, writhing, and shuddering with the sheer pain it inflicts upon me. I push my hands to his chest to beg him to let go, because it's too much and my body can't take more. Glass stuck in my wounds, penetrating deeper with the pressure of his embrace and I howl out in despair because he's only hurting me more.
"I'm sorry, baby. I have to." Pulling us to standing, he starts running for the nearest entrance to the courtyard. His focus intent as he scans the wall and moves us as fast as he can to the nearest gate. It's a human run, not hyper speed and he hauls ass to get me outside the perimeter of the enclosed garden and building. I don't understand and all I can do is cling on and stiffen and sob at the movements that bring me no end of agony.
His mind syncs with mine as soon as we are free from the confines of the courtyard, I feel it. Shocked with the sudden presence of him inside my head even though he doesn't say anything at all. A change to the weight on my chest and the dull fog of my brain as he skids down to his knees, scraping across the tarmac, taking me down with him as soon as he feels the bond return so effortlessly.
"Try now. Trust me, you have to try. Focus on me, think of yourself as you were the night of your turning. The pain, the elation of your new form, will it, baby, will it! Turn!" He begs, commands and alpha tones me all at the same time. Desperation in his plea and I'm powerless to disobey him.