Turned: A werewolf love story

Chapter 1: The beast

Bernard tried not to clutch his robe around him like a security blanket. There was nothing that made him so aware of his pudgy, five-foot frame than staring down a lean, muscled monster.

It was a thundery, cloudy day outside the the city of Lyedyn, near the thirty-foot stone wall that protected their nation from the rest of the world. The Mage Society had been summoned to witness Archmage Allard's magic demonstration. They stood in a crowd, all men in blue and black robes, and gazed into a wooden pen made of felled tree trunks.

A werewolf stood inside the pen, towering over them all, and stared at Bernard with hateful yellow eyes. The chains on its arms and legs didn't reassure Bernard at all.

Archmage Allard stood inside the enclosure, staff pointed at the werewolf. Green light glowed at its tip, and although the werewolf shuddered, it couldn't lift a paw.

"See?" Allard beamed. "It's completely under my control."

Bernard glanced at the other mages. They stared at Allard and his wolf, and exchanged wide-eyed glances. Bernard shook his head. Someone had better question the sanity of this plan. "It's amazing, Allard. And yet, how do you expect to control these beasts forever? It's fighting you."

The werewolf trembled and whined. Saliva dribbled from its lower jaw.

Allard shot Bernard a fierce look from under pale blond brows, then disguised it with a laugh. "No matter how much they fight, they can't reverse their nature. My spells control them through their own pack instincts. I'm the Alpha and they can't resist me."

Bernard turned to Kryn, the Potion Master. "What do you think, sir?"

Kryn was a dark-haired, dark-skinned man of Southern descent, with a build more becoming a wrestler than a potion master. "I say we have no choice. The goblins draw closer every day. I say we present the werewolves to King Grayton."

The other mages nodded assent.

Bernard bit his tongue, but warning screamed in his heart.

Allard pointed his staff at the ground. The werewolf lay on its belly, never taking its eyes off the humans. "Excellent! Once the King approves, I'll construct an army the likes of which has never been seen. The goblins will fall like wheat before a scythe."

Bernard wished he'd not eaten that last mince pie at lunch. Fighting monsters with monsters--and what did that make the humans controlling the beasts? Lyedyn might be saved ... but at what cost to its humanity?

He hurried away from the meeting, another sort of dread settling over him. In a week he'd be married to Lady Charlotte Brighton. Most likely, he'd only ever see the werewolves again in the newspapers.