Irregular (mlm)

Chapter 31

Kai had come to find solace in hunting. His father took him to the fenced in yard every day for a few days, maybe it was weeks. He'd lost count. After he'd begun to reliably and efficiently kill small prey, his father took him outside of the gate. Into the forest.

He gave him a tuft of fur from a mystery animal and told him to find it and kill it. That was the only way he and his mate would eat.

Kai was good at hunting. He could track a rabbit from miles away. He was fast, too, and quiet enough to sneak up on an animal with as good of hearing as a dear. He'd even managed to kill a wild boar, which had left him sore for a while. But he'd been full, and Owen had been given a better meal after.

Kai's father eventually trusted he was obedient enough to find his own prey, without being handed a scent marker to track. He hunted whatever he could find. Rodents, smaller predators, some birds.

It was freedom. Or as close to freedom as he could get, with a tracker on his collar and his mate being held over his head as leverage.

He hated that Owen was stuck in that cell, unable to leave. He hated himself for letting himself find some form of freedom in hunting for his father. He could block everything out of his mind, release all stress and worry and just go based on instinct. Having to kill was the unfortunate price for it.

He didn't like the killing. He didn't like warm blood flooding his mouth when he closed his jaws around the necks of his prey. He didn't like that he could hear their hearts slow and their breathing stop. He didn't like how his father grinned at him when he brought his catch pack to the warehouse, how he praised Kai for his good work and sent him back to his cell.

He couldn't bear to shift and have to explain what he was doing to his mate. How he was able to run outside of the warehouse while he was stuck inside a tiny cement room. It felt like a betrayal.

Everything only got worse when his father decided he was ready to move onto a real challenge. Prey that made hunting lose any of its comfort.

A werewolf.

She was tied up outside of the warehouse, beaten and bloody, barely standing. Kai pinned his ears back as his stomach lurched when he realized what his father would have him do.

He planted his feet in the grass, stopping dead in his tracks.

No. He couldn't do this. Hunting animals was one thing, but a person... this was wrong.

Kai's father delivered a sharp slap to his snout. "Walk. Or your mate may wind up like this bitch."

Kai forced himself to move, closer to the woman. He could smell her blood, hear her heart racing in her chest. She was a small woman, with pale skin and jet black hair that had been cropped to her skull. Her eyes, which may have once been a bright, lovely green were dull and full of shadows.

Kai's father approached the woman and crouched beside her. She flinched at his closeness. He whispered something Kai couldn't hear as he unlocked the silver shackles that bound her wrists.

As soon as she was free, she shifted. Her wolf form was small, about the size of a regular wolf, and covered in black fur. She took one wary step towards the open gate beside her, then another, then bolted.

She was fast, for how small she was. Kai watched her disappear into the woods, shrouded by the shadows of approaching nightfall, and swallowed against his dry throat.

Kai's father stood beside him with his hands clasped behind his back. "Now, son. You are going to hunt her down and kill her. If you don't, your mate will be my next experiment." He looked down and gave Kai a grin that made the fur on his neck stand up. "I've learned that he cannot shift, but both his parents are wolves. I'm very curious as to why that is."

Kai knew what he meant by experiment. He knew what his father did to any living wolf that he "tested." It was torture. There was barely any reasonable explanation for what he did to people in the name is science. And once they wore out their usefulness, they wound up dead.

Kai was shaking. He had a paralyzing choice to make, the life of his mate or the life of one of his father's victims.

Owen would receive a slow, agonizing death. Kai could offer the she-wolf a quick end. It was the only way he could rationalize his decision to himself. A quick end was the only way he would be able to keep himself sane.

Kai took one heavy step forward, heart thundering in his ears. The glee leaking from his father was enough to suffocate him. He was playing right into his hands, doing exactly what he wanted. But what else could he do? His mate was going to die if his didn't.

Kai clenched his jaw and lowered his nose to the ground, catching the quickly fading scent trail the she-wolf had left. When he found it, he glanced back to his father.

He smiled, sharp canines glinting in the setting sun. "Go on, Kai. Be a good little wolf for me."

Kai whined and shot out into the woods, following the scent of his prey.