| Wattys 2022 Shortlist | CURRENTLY UNDER THE EDITING PROCESS
Bora, the last arctic breed, was born with an ominous curse. He must sacrifice himself to the deity for the sake of his kind, but when he meets Gemma, love makes him reevaluate his self-i...
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Bora
I stand alone at the peak of a high hill that I could reach in Alaska, looking at the landscape of deep snow and western hemlock trees.
I can feel this place inviting me with open arms. The wind is coming from a distance to chill my warm coat. Everything I've been through has led me here. It's been hard. And part of me wants to run back to Gem because the act of staying strong is overrated.
I lean more towards wanting to be weak and in her arms. A part of me wonders how her grandmother came to know my people. But if I go back now, it will cause more pain. I guess I will never know.
The choice I decided to make is for the sake of us.
Being able to be reborn repeatedly and reliving life with her is more beneficial than living one life with her. But still, a hard pill to swallow. But it has to be done. I see the bigger picture, even if I have to break your heart. The only thing that makes it easy is that I'm a beast to the human eye.
I'm sorry, Gemma.
Time to go.
My chest burns that this is my fate. Let me blow off some steam before I see my bastard people. I dash through the wind, barely feeling the snow under my feet. I punch trees like punching bags making the wood bust open and growling from the adrenaline, punching more.
I can punch trees out of anger all day, but my ending will be the same. I run full speed towards the Arctic Circle, right into a cave of ice from the ceiling to underneath my claws. I walk to the end, seeing nothing, not one tomb insight.
Where is the deity that I must pray to? And the more I look around, the more I notice nothing is there, only water that leaves out into the open.
Strange, maybe I'm at the wrong one. I caught a smell of a group of seven wolves outside, approaching the glacier. I leave it out, walking upon seven men in view, wearing all-black snowsuits with covered faces only showing their eyes.
"Who the hell are you?" I snarled.
The man in the middle put his hand over his heart. "So, heartbreaking, you don't know." He playfully stepped forward, irritating me with his energy. "Whew," he fans his face. "What happened to you? You look like the werewolves in the cartoons." He snickers.
"Cage, let's get this over with. I'm freezing my ass off." The little guy in the group shakes through each word.
Cage eyed him and popped him in the back of the head. "You don't rush your alpha, Stan." He rolled his eyes and trailed them to me with a smirk. "Bora Hawk, if that's your real name. What took you so long? Didn't you know you were dying today?" He laughed along with his pack.
I stepped closer. "Yeah, that was the plan, but what does that have to do with you?" I glared.
Cage looked back at his men. One hunched his shoulder, and a few others stayed quiet.
