*Isla*
I am not alone….
I know that as I continue to run through the woods. My pace has slowed dramatically, though, because it’s clear to me that there are wolves all around me in the darkness, and in front of me, too.
Why am I continuing to run from the man who has already done everything he can to save my life into what could potentially be a death trap?
I can’t help but think that I am the stupidest woman alive….
Slowing my rate significantly, I peer off into the distance, looking for movement. I think I see a pair of glowing eyes up ahead. With that knowledge, I change my course, heading to my right. I wonder if I could potentially circle back to the castle and get away from these wolves. They could be castle guards that King Maddox or Beta Seth has sent after me.
But in my gut, I have a feeling that’s not who they are at all….
The idea that it would probably be a good idea to call for help also comes to mind, but I can’t do that, not now, not when I’ve screwed up so royally already. And Maddox is already angry at me for using his office while he was gone. Why would he want to come out into the woods to help me?
But he might send someone to save me… again.
He was probably getting really tired of having to rescue me every other day or so….
When I change courses, it doesn’t help. It’s like these wolves around me can see me and know that I’ve switched my direction. Now, I feel them closing in on me. I finally come to a stop and survey the situation.
Before me, and to my left, which would’ve been the direction I was running in a few minutes, I hear snarls and growls. I turn my head to my right, so that I’m looking back toward the castle grounds, which are at least fifteen or twenty miles behind me now, I’ve been running so fast for so long, and I sense that I’m not alone; something is coming from that direction, too.
When I turn to look behind me, I see a flash of movement, and I can barely get out a yelp and bare my teeth before a massive wolf with dark fur is upon me.
I fully expect that he will run into me and knock me to the ground and then rip my throat out, but rather than pouncing, he pulls up to my left and crouches down next to me… waiting.
The question almost forms in my mind but doesn’t quite get articulated as my wonderment about what the hell he is doing is answered when, in front of us and to our left four wolves emerge, their yellow-green eyes glowing in the dark as they creep forward.
I turn to see them closing in from all sides, and in total there are at least twelve of them. All of them are bigger than me, with mangy-looking fur in dark brown or gray.
“Rogues,” I think to myself. They have to be rogues. They’re definitely not in good enough shape to actually belong to a pack. Their fur is missing tufts, they’re thin, and they have chunks of flesh missing from their ears or other parts of their body. One of them only has three legs.
“Stay behind me, Isla.”
The wolf next to me speaks in my mind with a familiar voice, and I am immediately put at ease. Why I didn’t notice his scent before, I’m not sure. Perhaps it was because of my fear of impending doom. But… it’s Maddox. He’s come to save me himself. He didn’t even dispatch someone else to track me down.
My heart melts a little, but I don’t have time to bat my eyelashes at him at the moment.
We are about to be attacked by a group of misfit wolves who won’t give a damn that this is their king.
I know he is giving them commands. I can see them slowing, their ears twitching, sideways glances given to one another. The fact that he is their Alpha King still makes him harder to ignore because he is their leader, but they have been living out here on their own long enough that they don’t have to obey like most of us would. It seems that some of the pack Alphas have figured out how not to follow his commands from what I have heard. But then, those are Alphas who are powerful in their own right.
These scraggly wolves do not look like leaders to me. They look like criminals who have been banished from their own packs because they couldn’t follow their Alphas rules either.
They look like savages who are more than willing to rip their own king apart because they just like to terrorize stray wolves who pass through these woods.
Maddox growls so low, deep, and loud that it makes the earth beneath my feet tremble. The advancing wolves around us stop, and it’s clear that he’s frightened them.
I don’t blame them. I’d be afraid too if I thought I was going to have to fight such a large, powerful wolf.
But there are so many of them, I don’t think that their moment of hesitation will last too long. I think that they will come at us again in a moment.
The largest rogue wolf, who is standing in front of me and a bit to my right, begins coming forward again now, and he doesn’t look frightened. He lifts his head and gives a short howl.
In the distance, a response comes in force. Loud howls fill the night sky, and my heart stops beating in my chest for a long moment as I realize there are far more wolves out there than I realize.
And yet, the reaction of the rogues is not at all what I am expecting. They look up, back toward the castle, all of them except the one larger one, and then in a flurry of fur and claws, they turn around and dash away.
With a gasp, I watch them go. I’m shocked. Why did those howls make them all leave?
All but one….
And he is snarling at Maddox.
But the king isn’t scared. He’s not waiting for the other smaller male wolf to attack either. Instead, Maddox leaps right at him, knocking him backward onto his haunches, and then he topples over. Maddox leaps on him and begins to tear into his flesh, and the other wolf screams and shrieks. It’s clear, he was no match for the king
I want to smile, but then, I feel a gush of wind, and my body slams into the nearest tree trunk, a sharp pain radiating through my shoulder.
Instantly, whatever it is that has rammed into me is pushed away as Maddox whirls around and sends what turns out to be another wolf flying through the woods. I stumble to my feet, wondering if this is all part of their plan and another wolf will be over here to attack me again. I feel blood wetting my fur from a gash in my head the tree has caused, not to mention the searing pain in my shoulder from the wolf’s teeth.
A moment later, Maddox is back with me, blood dripping from his mouth. None of it is his. The moonlight reveals the anger in his eyes as he looks at me. Using the mind-link, he says, “Let’s go.”
“But… the howling….” I say, looking off in the direction of the castle, where the loud howls seemed to be coming from.
He shakes his head. “Those are my reinforcements, Isla. Now, come on.”
A sense of relief settles over me, despite the fact that he’s clearly outraged at me. At least I don’t have to be afraid of all of those howls I just heard behind us.
I straighten the bag on my back the best I can with no hands. It’s been knocked about a bit from the blow from the collision with the tree.
Maddox begins to walk back the way we’ve come, and I trot to keep up with him, but my head hurts so bad, and my shoulder is bleeding. I can’t walk that fast.
It’s going to be a long, miserable trip back to the castle.
Noticing that I’m struggling, he slows down a bit and waits for me. For the most part, we can walk next to one another, but sometimes, we come to a tighter section of the path we’re walking down, and he waits for me to go first. I figure that’s because he’s leerier of what’s behind us than what’s in front of us.
Within a few minutes, I see the wolves from the castle running toward us. A ripple of fear washes over me, even though I know that they’re there to help us.
To help me.
Maddox stops when the reinforcements reach us, and so do I, but I’m confused. A few of the wolves stop behind trees, shift, apparently pull on shorts they’ve carried with them and step out.
They have something else with them, too.
A stretcher.
Maddox stays in his wolf form and tells me, “You’re hurt. They’ll carry you the rest of the way.”
I want to argue with him, but he’s right. I am injured–again. And need his help–again.
I feel like a foolish failure as I stand still and let the now human guards load me onto the stretcher to carry me back to the castle.
As they hold me still, another man comes over and patches up my shoulder. It’s not enough to fix it, but it should keep me from bleeding to death before I get back to the castle. It seems like the bandage must have some sort of pain reliever on it, too, because the sharp sting fades. It still hurts but not as badly.
Before they begin to move me, a woman in a dress tosses a sheet over the top of me, and I bury my wolf head under it. I don’t want to see the world at all. Then, the soft rhythm of the stretcher being carried over the uneven ground lulls me a bit, and I’m reminded of being in my mother’s arms or in a cradle
But I’m not in any position to feel soothed or calm.
Not only is Maddox angry at me, but he’s also got another woman back at the castle, and I have to return there.
I’m not even able to run away without messing it up.
As I start to doze off, one word flutters in front of my mind’s eye….
Cursed.