Mercy and the Merciless Alpha

Chapter Two

"You'd think help would have already been here by now." Emmanuel shrugged with a small laugh, turning back towards me.

His hand reached out and took my chin, he craned my head up and he examined my neck. Emmanuel grunted, "You bruise way too easily," He frowned and dropped my face. "Azrael's not going to like this."

Azrael?

He was visibly irritated as he roughly took my upper arm and hoisted me off the dirt and began walking. "Come on, judgment day awaits."

"Where are you taking me?" I tried to pull my arm away as I spoke, to no avail.

Emmanuel raised an eyebrow, pitying my attempt. "To your trial."

He ignored me for the rest of the time and eventually grew tired of my hesitant pace, Emmanuel hoisted me over his shoulder. I pounded against his back and twisted underneath his viselike grasp, my aggression halted when suddenly the ground beneath us quickly transform from lush grass to dark, rocky gravel.

Emmanuel finally set me down on the floor and forced me to walk along side him, surrounded by his entourage of wolves. In seconds, we went from being in a lush forest and now...it was like i was in a whole other world.

Or underworld.

"Welcome to Mortal Pack." Emmanuel sardonically announced.

The name wasn't entirely unfamiliar, while not many people knew of our pack we were still taught about the history of our kind and the origins of the some of the other packs. I knew things but I never encountered or applied my knowledge in a real world situation since we were so isolated--Curtesy of me.

There were sharp, jagged rocks everywhere. The trees were barren, not a single sign of life on them and yet they were all around us. I closed my eyes and instantly sensed life in the plants, to my surprise, it wasnt dead—quite the opposite. I could feel their energy despite the fact that they all looked positively decrepit.

It was eerily quiet, except for the cracking noise of fire emanating from two enormous bonfire pits that guarded either side of a grand entrance to a large, intimidating building I was being lead towards.

"What is this place?" I whispered mostly to myself as they forced my hands behind my back and they pushed me forwards like I was a criminal.

Emmanuel glanced behind his shoulder with a smug smile seeing me restrained, he pushed open the door and allowed me and the guards holding me to enter first.

We weren't alone.

There were people sitting in an elevated semicircle all looking down at a singular podium on the floor, the same podium I was being dragged towards.

Directly above me on the terraced circle was an empty seat that loomed forebodingly. Emmanuel signaled for the guards to release me and as soon as their hands left my sides, he attached my wrists to metal cuffs that were connected to the top podium. I thrashed my wrists against the metal more out of annoyance than anything else at this point.

Suddenly Emmanuel's hand was grabbing my chin, forcing my gaze upwards. I assumed it was because of my struggle moments before but I was sorely mistaken. "Your bruises...."

He pushed my hair away from my neck and closer examined the spot where only a short while ago there had been bruising marring my skin.

I couldn't believe that I had been so careless. I was so used to healing, it was like a second nature to me and often times didn't even realize I was healing myself. Werewolves did heal remarkably faster than humans but with my gifts it was all but instantaneous—an overstatement but it was pretty fast.