The Marking Ceremony #2
I hurried out the back doors just in time to see a group of wolves I didn’t recognize disappearing into the trees.
Outside the air was clearer, and three familiar scents met my nose. I took a deep breath, inhaling the stink of pungent pollution, the overly acidic scent of citrus right before it spoils, and the alluring aroma of cherry pie.
Alpha Huxley, Sunny, and Shade.
I rushed into the trees after them without a second thought. Two wolves jumped on me from behind, the three of us crashing to the ground as several more surrounded me. I threw them off, calling for Dillon, Taffy, and Oliver through the mind-link.
Goddess, I hope they’ve shaken off the effects of Shade’s gift.
One of the wolves in front of me snarled, his body crouched low as he prepared to pounce. Just as he leapt, three wolves I’d know anywhere burst through the undergrowth.
Taffy and Oliver jumped straight into the fight, scattering Huxley’s forces while Dillon tackled the wolf that had tried to attack me. I quickly shifted and joined them, smashing into another pair with a growl.
“They took Shade!” I declared as I jumped onto the opponent closest to me, snapping his neck with a twist of my head. “Huxley has her! We have to find out where he took her!”
I swiped my massive paw against the face of the next Dark Moon wolf, my claws digging into his flesh and destroying his eyes. He howled in pain, spinning around desperately as he struggled to see.
I left him, racing to help my friends. I need one of them alive for questioning anyway, and he’s not going anywhere.
Taffy and Oliver were tearing into their own opponents with ease, but Dillon was fighting two wolves at once. I rushed over and jumped on one of the attackers, gripping his ear between my teeth and ripping it free from his head.
He snarled, flailing beneath me and snapping at my leg in an effort to break free. But I wouldn’t be stopped so easily.
I grabbed onto his other ear, blood gushing into my mouth as I tore it off. He yowled in pain as Dillon finished off his opponent with a sickening snap, stalking toward the wolf I had pinned to the ground.
He gripped the front of the warrior’s neck and yanked, ripping his throat out with his sharp teeth. Taffy and Oliver trotted over, their foes dead as we surveyed the carnage before us. The panicked whimpers of the one I’d blinded reached me.
“Bring him here,” I instructed as I shifted back.
Dillon and Oliver changed into their human forms, running over and grabbing the wolf. By the time they dragged him over to me, he’d lost the ability to maintain his wolf form, his injuries too grave to hold it any longer. They dropped him to his knees before me.
Taffy remained in wolf form, circling him and snarling, the blood of his comrades still staining her fur.
“Where did they take her?!” I roared. “What does Huxley have planned for Shade and Sunny?!”
“What makes you think I’m going to tell you anything?” he gasped, his face twisted in a pained grimace as he spat on the ground before me.
“Because if you don’t talk, I’ll begin removing one appendage after another until we find the one that finally loosens your tongue,” I remarked, grabbing his arm roughly and yanking it back sharply. “Now, where did they take my mate?!”
“Okay, okay! I’ll tell you what you want to know!” he squealed. “Alpha Huxley only wants the one sister. The gray-haired one. He just used the other one to get to her.”
“Sunny is helping him?!” I exclaimed, my rage that she would betray her own flesh and blood like this threatening to boil over.
“After we killed Alpha Butch and took over Thunder Moon, she pleaded for mercy,” he rasped. “She promised to help him kidnap her sister so he could force her to become his mate.”
I snarled, moving my grip to his throat. “Keep talking.”
“He found out about the curse and all the damage he could do with it once he could control her with his alpha command, and he became obsessed. Then he saw what happened on the night of the challenge. A power like that could make him king of the wolves. He plans to force his mark on her tonight.”
My grip tightened, the man’s fingers clawing at my hand as I squeezed. He’s going to make her his mate?! Not while I still have breath in my body. I’ll put an end to this the only way Huxley seems to understand.
I sank my claws into his tongue and ripped it free from his head. His attempted scream became a strangled gurgle as blood gushed forth from the gaping wound, spilling from his lips and dribbling over his chin.
Before he had a chance to register what was happening, I punched my fist into his chest cavity and yanked out his heart, holding it up for him to see as it stopped beating.
His glassy eyes stared in disbelief before he fell into a crumpled heap at my feet.
“Woah,” Oliver gasped.
I turned to find the three of them staring at me in shock. Was my behavior violent? Yes. A little over the top? Perhaps. But as I glanced down at the heart clutched in my hand, I realized there was no other way.
This is exactly what they’re going to do to me. Shade is my heart. My everything. I’ll end everyone and everything that tries to come between us. Huxley and his pack signed their death certificates the moment they tried to take her away from me.
I dropped the now useless muscle onto the ground beside the lifeless body, bending to wipe my hand clean on the grass.
“Come on. We have to get to them before he marks her,” I grunted, shifting and stalking off through the trees before they had the chance to question my actions.
Dillon and Oliver shifted back, joining Taffy as they followed me without a word.
Hang on, Shade. We’re coming for you.
The Sins of the Sister
SHADE
I sat on the filthy floor of a cold, dark cell. My beautiful dress was torn and tattered from my attempts to escape my captors, but my efforts so far had been futile.
The wolfsbane in my system weakened me. I couldn’t shift or howl. My only defense was my amplification, but I doubted that would do much for me now.
I had fallen right into their trap just as Alpha Huxley had wanted.
The rusty hinges on the cell door screeched as they creaked open, and Sunny came sauntering in with a cocky grin on her face. She was clean and freshly dressed, her disheveled appearance from earlier gone.
I glared at her as she closed the door and stared down at me, one hand resting on her hip as she sneered.
I can’t believe I thought she had changed. She’s never cared about anyone but herself.
“Sunny,” I croaked, my throat dry from yelling.
“Shade,” she snapped back in a mocking tone.
“You betrayed me,” I accused.
“Only because you betrayed me first,” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What?” I asked in disbelief. “How did I betray you?”
“I can’t believe you’d even ask that after everything you’ve done,” she scoffed with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “First, you get our mother killed because you can’t take a joke, and then you steal my mate. I was supposed to be luna of Harvest Moon! You know that was my dream! My right!”
I shake my head, laughing bitterly as I lean against the stone wall. Some things never change.
“Then you abandon Dad and I just when we needed you the most. Now our father is dead and our pack destroyed all because of you!” she spat. “Caelan only wants you for the same reasons that Alpha Huxley does. He doesn’t really care about you. He wants your power.”
“That’s not true,” I growled.
“If I had been the one blessed by the Goddess, then he wouldn’t have even looked twice at you. He doesn’t love you, Shade. How could he? You’re a freak and a murderer!”
My hands fisted at her words.
“The Goddess wasted her blessing on you. She obviously chose the wrong twin just like Caelan did. But it doesn’t matter. Alpha Huxley is going to help me fix it. Make things how they’re supposed to be. Once he’s marked you, Caelan will have to choose me,” she said with a confident grin.
“Is that what Huxley told you to get you to betray your pack?” I scoffed as she looked away. “To betray your own sister? You really think he’s going to let you have your happily ever after? He’s a monster, Sunny! And once you’re no longer useful to him, he’s going to kill you. You can’t trust him.”
Sunny grew quiet for a moment, and for a second, I let myself hope that she was considering what I was saying. But her eyes narrowed as she glanced back at me.
“The only person I ever made the mistake of trusting was you, Shade,” she sneered. “You’ve caused me nothing but pain and heartache. Mating with Alpha Huxley is a small price to pay for your sins.”
I stared at her, utterly flabbergasted. She truly believes that. She’s actually that delusional that she thinks I owe her.
I sighed, rubbing a hand across my face. Why should I be surprised? Our father spoiled her, and he wasn’t exactly a great role model. The only mother-like figure she ever had was his conceited, power-hungry, gold-digging mate. Sunny’s literally never known anything else.
I pitied Sunny in that moment. I may have been the one locked in a cell awaiting a horrible fate, but she was completely blind to the prison she was building for herself.
She couldn’t accept that her own decisions had landed her right where she was. It was easier to blame me than accept any responsibility.
“Sunny,” I sighed. “My whole life has been about you. Everything I ever had to endure was for your benefit. Hiding who I was so I could act as your double. The training facility where I was whipped and beaten for years so that I could learn to protect you. Our father made me suffer for you.”
She scoffed, shaking her head derisively at me.
“I’ve fought and killed to keep you safe. To keep Thunder Moon safe, and I have the scars to prove it,” I continued. “You want to complain about how your life has been so terrible, but you don’t even know the meaning of the word.”
She opened her mouth to contradict me, but I cut her off. This was my time.