In The Shadows (Re-written)

-FOURTEEN-

Water was trying to force its way into my lungs. My hands slapped at the ice beneath them, slick with the blood from my cut-up hands and torn up knuckles. The icy water bit at my face, a pressure building up on the sides of my head.

My head was ripped from the broken hole in the ice, a roar tearing from my lips.

My beast was in control, but I was aware of everything that was happening to us.

I yanked at the reins for jurisdiction over my own body, but I was weaker than the beast. It shoved me away, not trusting that the hunter holding me captive wouldn't kill me and trusting me even less to get us out of this situation alive.

A full moon cycle had passed and now I was under the training of Masuma. I had failed miserably in my training with Yaga. In the end my beast had always managed to overpower my own consciousness and left me just watching from the sidelines.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

A beast was supposed to be united with their host. Together they should have the same goals, the same emotions, the same mind and heart. Instead, I had to share a body with a lycan.

A lycan and a hunter, two enemies that agreed on nothing.

No, I couldn't share this body. We could never coexist peacefully. I had to take full control, I needed to hold all of the power, break the beast to my will since it refused to bend.

That was Masuma's goal.

He had one moon cycle to break my beast, and half of his time had already passed. He had subjected my beast to all methods of torture in hopes to make it cower, but he couldn't do it alone. I needed to make every effort to do the same.

Masuma's lips were close to my ear, his warm breath fanning my neck as he said, "Are you scared Cleo? Are you going to let your beast fight for you? Are you going to give in to your disgusting blood or will you prove that you're worthy enough to be called a hunter?"

His words made me push harder. I yanked at the reins of control trying to subdue my own red fever. "Stop fighting!" I screamed at my beast as it thrashed our body against the large male.

It only growled back at me. The beast did not communicate in words. It could only project its emotions onto me so that I could understand it.

It was angry with me. It hated that I let filthy hunters touch me and abuse me day in and day out.

Masuma only shoved my head back into the icy water, holding me there longer this time. When he pulled my head back up, he did not wrench my neck all the way down until my back arched. This time he only let my head raise enough that it was out of the water. I strained against his hold to look out across from me where the alpha was crouched down on the opposite side of the ice hole.

I was surprised to see my father there.

We were not on pack lands after all.

Masuma had taken me high up into the mountains to this snowy and rocky prison. If his brutal methods didn't break the beast, maybe the unforgiving weather would. I did have a fear of snowstorms ever since the day I had nearly died in a blizzard and for some reason my beast held trepidation for large amounts of snow as well.

It didn't particularly enjoy this ice bath either.

To my horror the beast snarled at the alpha, lips pulling away from sharp teeth to bare them in a sign of disrespect and challenge.

The alpha's eyes only narrowed. "Disgusting creature," he muttered before his eyes flicked up to Masuma. He didn't say anything but the hunter holding me down seemed to know what he had come for.