The Beast

Chapter 3 - Hidden Weapon

My heart raced as I pounded my fists even harder into the punching bag, over and over again while leaving a dent within the thick vinyl material.

Sweat was dripping down my forehead, staining my black sports bra that matched my skin-tight exercise leggings. The grunts and groans of other wolves sparring in the distance fueled my want to continue training, but my sore leg protested another minute. The wolf the day before got me good, and I was lucky the surface wound healed nicely. My muscle was just struggling to return to normal, and I hated every second of it.

Passing wolves waved or nodded their heads. Some I recognized from back in my school days, others appearing as friendly faces that were bonded to the same group of wolves as I.

I unwrapped the tape from my hands and sat upon the surface of the wooden bench against the lockers, squeezing the soreness out of my knuckles from the previous workout. There was something that I really enjoyed about exerting my body, and this was one of the only ways I could truly experience that feeling.

Maia plopped down at my side and braided her curly hair out of her face. She was prepping for a run with her unit of warriors, and I was far too tired to join her.

"Baby." She mocked, playfully shoving my arm. I smirked and rubbed my sore shoulder.

As I opened my mouth to shoot some sort of sly remark, a loud siren blared across our territory and shook the nearby tree branches.

It could only mean one thing—someone was invading.

"Already?" I hissed, shooting to my feet and disposing of my used tape in the trash can to my left. Maia rushed to pull her shirt over her head to cover her bra and followed behind me out to the center of our land.

Thundering of paws rattled the Earth beneath our feet as our pack gathered together, all still recuperating from the last fight. My father emerged from our house barking orders and commanding wolves into position, his heated brown eyes locking onto me at the center of all the chaos.

"Juniper!" He snarled, shoving his men out of the way to get to me. I stood my ground and mentally prepared myself for the verbal lashing I was about to receive. "Inside. NOW!" He jabbed his finger in the direction of the house, and I shook my head with my arms crossed.

"No. I'm staying to fight." I silently dared him to challenge me with narrowed eyes. He growled and gripped the strands of his hair, tugging at the roots in frustration. Was it really worth the energy to argue with me now?

Wolves poured into our clearing, all lined up and ready for the command to attack. Each held a look of bloodlust in their eyes that I had never seen before, and my high confidence wavered in the slightest.

At the front of the group stood Alpha Barlowe who wore a smug smirk across his own aging features. He stared down my father from across the field, clearly wanting so badly to take him down and finally become the sole ruler of our kind.

Mark's focus dropped from me for the time being and shifted to the betrayer, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.

"Leave our land, and we shall spare you any more bloodshed." My father ordered. Even I knew it was a useless threat.

Barlowe threw his head back and barked out a laugh, his men echoing ones of their own.

"Please, Elsher. We all know your death now is inevitable. Just turn yourself in, and all this nonsense will be over with." There was a strange light glowing in his eyes that made our own line of warriors take a hesitant step backwards.

"Never." Mark spat, shifting into his powerful wolf on the spot. He lifted his large head and released a howl from his lips, signaling for us to attack. I shifted at his side, weaving into the mass crowd and taking out the enemy wolves as they passed as quickly as I could.