---
WOLFMANIA FANFIX
Wandering to the Alpha
Chapter Forty Eight
He was standing there, just a few feet away from me. Silver beams danced off pale blond hair, and eyes gleamed around a shadowed face, ice and gold. His aura was overwhelming me - which made no sense. This was no Alpha.
Yet he was beautiful...
He looked fragile, like a snowflake. I watched him from the shadows as he cocked his head to the left. Those angelic eyes were watching me.
My heartbeat picked up. I suddenly realized - it was ME too. My wolf leaped to her paws, excited. And there was that PULL... I'd felt it with Daniel, but this was not like the beta bond. This was... something else. Darker, and sweeter, and much, much stronger. I felt inexplicably drawn to him in a way that was completely beyond sense.
I walked forward at the second he did. Somehow, I'd lost control. I reached out my hand, and ever so gently, he brushed my fingertips with his.
And the world EXPLODED.
Tingles rushed through my entire body, lighting me up like a flame to kerosene. Blown. Away. I saw his eyes widen. My own were frozen, latched onto his. Time itself slowed down, as his eyes drifted up from our fingers, over my neck, hovering over my lips, and finally to my eyes. I felt a jolt pass through me, and the place where our fingertips were touching BURNED. My wolf started jumping, crowing; I was faintly aware of the chanting at the back of my head. MATE. MATE. MATE. MATE. MATE. MATE. MATE...
"Do you feel it too?"
I nod, unable to swallow. He smiles a small smile, and clasps my hand between his. Tightly. I give him a gentle squeeze. "My wolf..."
He smiles in response, and
My.
Heart.
Stops.
Slowly, he slips a hand behind my head, into my hair. A soft breath slips past my parted lips. He gives me tiny crooked grin, and leans forward, pulling me towards him. We've all heard of the mating kiss, the one we have to do when we meet our life partner. I oblige, and move in. My eyes dart down to his lips before I can stop myself. And it's all the encouragement he needs.
His lips softly brush mine... and god, they're so SOFT. My knees go weak, and I bring my own hands up round his neck to stop myself from falling. I pull him in closer, but - my ears pick up a rustle beyond him. He pulls away. I bite back a whimper.
"I'm sorry, my mate, but my pack is coming, and I cannot let them see me with you." He ducks his head, and swears softly. He meets my eyes again. "I will regret this forever, but I have to go. Run away from them. You'll be safe."
And then he darted away.
I exhaled a puff of air I didn't even realize I was holding, and looked back to where, moments ago, he had been standing. "Until another time, silver angel of the night," I whispered. I hoped he would come again. I knew, without a doubt, that I would. My eyes travelled over the trees around me, but he was gone.
I smiled a small, wan smile, and stepped into the patch of moonlight, and - suddenly, a presence next to me. "Just until tomorrow night, my princess. Same time, same place." I feel a soft breath sliding over my ear, and he presses his warm lips onto my cheek for a second before slipping away again. A shiver passes through me, one of delight and excitement, and I turn around, and flee away into the shadows, my heart racing with a million different emotions.
---
I sigh, and pull my fingers away from the keyboard. My eyes travel over the few paragraphs that I just wrote, and I make sure there aren't any spelling mistakes. I click Save, and store it in my drafts.
Thursdays are my upload days, so... I have a few days to catch up. I log out of my account and shut down my laptop, hauling myself away from my desk. I grab a couple of black pens, stuff my phone in my pocket, grab my easel with my latest project still pinned onto it. I text my parents that I'm leaving home to do some drawing, before I head out.
My parents' house was near the center of town, and the old buildings were more common on the west side. I took the bus over to Sudbury Road, where, on the bench, I had the perfect angle to draw a tower on one of the old castles. It was a twenty minute bus ride, but there were multiple arches carved into the base, all with a deep carvings, and the others were too hard to do properly… Plus, it was sunny today, perfect weather to sit out. I worked on the sketch for a few hours, content to simply sit out and draw. The detailing was the hardest bit, but our teacher insisted on it more than anything else. And he was a tough grader, too.
I had set out to finish most of it, but I was surprised I had gotten so much done. In fact... I stayed out an hour too late. It was sunset by the time my buzzing phone jostled me out of my stupor. It lit up, telling me the time.
Shit.
I shoved my stuff into my bag and ran. Sudbury Road was a ten minute walk from the bus stop, and I had only a few minutes...
The stop was deserted by the time I got there.
“Fuck.” Of all the days for it to be on time...
Miserably, I pulled out my phone. It was a forty minute wait till the next bus, and I was running out of battery. My parents were out of town for the weekend, so I was on my own.
I sighed, and sat down on the bench. It was getting colder too. I glared at the thin cardigan I'd brought with me and pulled it on, wishing I hadn't been fooled by the sun this afternoon. I crossed my arms and closed my eyes, leaning back against the glass behind me.
***
I awoke what seemed like hours later.
Cursing, I switched on my phone. 1:37 am. I was on two percent.
The last bus would've gone ages ago. I cursed again, at myself, for falling asleep. I was probably an hour away from home, on foot. Getting up, I powered off my phone and tucked it away. Hopefully that would last long enough that I could switch it on again if I ran into trouble. I picked out my wallet. I had one 50p coin. One call.
I started walking up the road.
***
The streets were deserted.
Darkness loomed around me, picking up my heart rate. My footsteps hit the pavement ominously, no matter how much I tried to quieten them. The temperature had dropped significantly, and I was shivering; I could see the white puffs of my breath whenever I passed a street lamp. I blew on my fingers again. Strange, how the backside of my fingers were frozen, but the inside of my clenched fists were clammy.
There was a cold feeling in my heart; dread.
Something was about to happen.
Up ahead, a lamp post flickered. My steps faltered. This was just like one of those cheesy horror movies, where the stupid lady sees the signs but goes on walking anyway. Was I being the stupid lady right now?
No. I'm not silly - I can't just randomly call out. Besides, if zombies come for me, I know to run away. They're slow. I'll make it.
Suddenly, I realized what I was feeling.
… It was more than apprehension.
There was another set of footsteps following me.
Fear lanced through me. How long had they been there? I didn't know. I didn't want to turn back, for fear of what I'd see. Instead, I quickened my pace.
After a moment, so did they.
My heart was pounding. My legs were starting to heat up, probably from my gathering speed. My fingers fumbled for my phone. But to no avail, my pursuer did too. Soon, another pair joined them. And another.
I was running now. Somebody was after me. It was obvious. I hurtled down the streets, which looked so different from in the day. At one point, it was clear that I had taken a wrong turn, because instead of my clean neighborhood, the streets were getting dirtier, grimier. The stench of sewers was getting stronger. My slippers pounded against the pavement, though it felt like my feet were bare through the thin soles. The street lamps were growing more sparse too.
By this point, my whole body was burning. I wasn't that unfit, was I? I had been running for less than ten minutes, and I was one of the fastest on the track team. But my whole body was crying out in agony. My eyes got blurrier, and I could barely see the numbers my shaky fingers were punching out.
And then, the worst possible thing happened.
My foot hit a bump in the road.
Screeching, I crashed down. My phone hit the ground with a sickening crack and skidded away. My attackers were on me. In the dim light, I counted three figures approaching me.I didn't know how, but my eyesight was getting clearer. Maybe this was adrenaline, I thought, widening my pupils for me. They were all men, I could tell from their build. Probably in their thirties. They looked fearsome, their faces streaked black in the dark and their hair and clothes ragged. The sharp smell of smoke clung to them, and I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose at how strong it was, as if right under my nose. Two of them held knives. I cringed at them.
"Look here, we caught the girly!" One of them grinned. His voice was hoarse and loud. Everything was loud. I could hear my breath, gasping, their breaths gasping, and their voices were loud, but at the same time, I was only hearing them. My vision was swimming, but also getting clearer. My head throbbed, and my body burned. Everything else was taking a backseat, because this burning was getting fiercer, and fiercer... at last, unable to to hold back any noise, I groaned slightly.
What was this pain? It was tearing through me, through every fibre of my being. And it was growing, stronger and stronger until I threw my head back and screamed. Nothing else mattered anymore. I felt salty, dirty fingers clamp against my mouth, but I shoved them off.
My body began convulsing, shaking, and I fell down against the pavement. I could faintly feel fingers grabbing at my arms. I curled in on myself, and then I heard it.
Crack. It rung out, loud and clear, shocking me.
Had those blasted men broken my bone?
And then again. Crack. Crack. Crack. I was shaking, screaming, while all the bones in my body were slowly cracking. I didn't understand what was happening. Fear had sunk it's claws into me, and I was shaking. All I could feel was panic. What's happening to me?!
My voice failed. I writhed in agony.
But then I felt something inside me moving. My bones were moving. Slowly, they were moving, rejoining, differently. My skin prickled, and I let out a hoarse screech as a million needles pushed through my skin, spouting long, dark strands of... fur?! My nails elongated into curved claws, and my jaws ached, as if I were teething violently all over again. I felt my jaws snap too, elongating.
The men had all backed away now, paralyzed in shock. I lay there writhing, until several minutes later, it stopped.
And everything went black.
***
When I woke, I screamed.
I immediately regretted it; my throat ached. My voice came out roughly, as if my larynx was ripped.
I was covered in blood. Dark red and black blood had dried and cracked all over my skin. My nail beds were bleeding slightly, and were cracked too, and I could taste blood in my mouth and my throat. My clothes were lying, shredded, around me. Two bodies lay near mine.
They both were surrounded with pools of blood and bits of fur, huge claw marks and blood mixing with their clothes, their faces torn to shreds and made utterly unrecognizable.
I looked around frantically, and noticed a third body lying in the middle of the road. I held back another scream, and screwed my eyes shut.
I have to calm down, I told myself. I have to calm down right now and get out of here. I will not go to jail as a suspect. I immediately clamped down on that thought. I am going to take three deep breaths, and stand up. I will not look around. I will run home.
I took three deep breaths, desperately trying to ignore the stench of blood, and opened my eyes. I looked at the sky; it was still dark. I got up, heaving out a deep breath, and began to walk. Luckily, after a few turns, I began to vaguely recognise where I was, though I was ages away from home. Why - No.
I didn't want to think about why I was here. I didn't want to think about anything just yet.
I walked home quickly. I didn't want anybody seeing me like this, and they would likely call the police. But by the time I got onto our street, the sky was beginning to lighten. I saw a jogger leaving his house and I panicked, throwing myself behind a tree on the street.
Thank god, again, that there are large trees planted on the side of the streets.
I waited for him to round the corner, and then I sighed in relief. I was a few houses away from my own. Risking it, I dashed to our house and threw myself through the open gate. I dashed behind the house, and then fell slack against the wall.
I made it.
Panting, I closed my eyes. The bricks and cement were pushing against my back, freezing. My parents could be back by now. I had to get inside, quickly. I turned around and grabbed the pipes, and began climbing up using the niches. I had done this various times before, though my toes were being scraped in a way that I had never felt before. I was in my room and in the shower in a minute, much longer than usual.
I closed my eyes and prevented myself from flashing back to what had happened last night. I had to steel myself, and get through this.
I opened my eyes, but I couldn't help the gasp of horror that fell from my lips as I looked as my skin. I rubbed it, harshly, and the water ran black and red as blood flaked off. I scrubbed at my skin as the water ran, and used soap, and let the water run again, and again, for what was probably an hour, but it still looked stained. Soap wouldn't get it off. I opened my mouth and let water fall in, filling it, washing it. When I spit out, to my disgust, there was blood in the water. Thick, clotted blood. Water had reached my throat and I coughed up as much as I could, though there was still a thick layer clotted around my throat. I’ll have to drink water and swallow it. I couldn't help but wonder - What did I do to get somebody else’s blood in my mouth? And this much? I reached up a hand and touched my teeth and gums delicately. They were aching painfully, especially now that the clotted blood was off. But they weren't bleeding.
Memories were flashing through my mind. I didn't understand some of them. A dark, unrecognized street. Footsteps following me. Falling, hard, onto the pavement. Scraping my cheek.
Fur? Claws? Growling?
Was there a huge dog there?
Anger. A deep, rattling anger.
A memory of a voice.
How dare you touch me, filthy human?
I shivered.
---
OFFICIALLY COMING LATE 2019!
Comments (0)
See all