Of Misfits and Wolves (Pansexual Werewolf Story)

The Bloody Lash

There is dead silence for a moment after my charge is laid then a deafening chorus of voices disturbs the cold air.

I can hear Sky shouting at the alpha, pleading for him to let me off and the alpha calmly telling her that "the rules are the rules."

I can also hear Sky's parents and some other pack members going crazy over the fact that Sky's mate was me: a girl.

And while this chaos is raging, I am perfectly calm, outwardly at least. Internally, my thoughts are a hurricane of emotions. My fox is terrified, I am too.

"Please, alpha! If you hurt her you hurt me too! Please, I'll do anything, don't do this!" Sky is sobbing.

"Elder Kendra, please bring out the whip," the alpha instructs calmly, ignoring my mate's helpless cries.

The old woman, who I now know is called Kendra, brings forward a small ceremonial-looking box decorated with carvings of wolves. When she is standing infront of the alpha, she slowly opens the lid to reveal the whip. Its handle is around 30cm long and the end is carved to look like a snarling wolf's head. It is made of a dark coloured wood and is wrapped in black leather. But the thing that draws my eye the most is the business end. The lash itself is made of thin black leather and is near on a metre long. The oddest thing, though, is the shine of it. In the moonlight, it almost looks as though it is encrusted with jewels.

It terrifies me.

I had read about the wounds caused by things like this; not good, very very not good. The only thing that comforts me is that the whip is a single lash and not the cat-of-nine-tails that was so common in history. 

The alpha takes up the whip in his hand, bending it slightly to stretch it. They had prepared for this, they had known that I would be charged guilty and sentenced to this.

The alpha jumps down from the rocks the pack is standing from. The guards grab my arms and force me to my knees, pulling my shirt off in the process. I cower at being so exposed.

The alpha stands before me, his dark eyes shining with pity. he looks me in the eyes saying: "you have commited a crime and are to be punished," then in a quiet whisper: "I am sorry."

He walks behind me. I can hear him unwind the lash.

My body tenses as I hear the lash whiz through the air.

Fire lances across my back as the whip connects. I cry out and tears of agony well up and spill down my face. My mind is only focused on one thing: pain.

My peripheral vision turns red as I am hit again by the dark leather. As if from underwater I hear myself cry out.

I can feel hot blood pour down my back.

Why aren't the wounds healing?

My questions are lost as the next lash draws a line of fire from shoulder to tailbone. I cannot help but scream at the agonising pain that throbs with each beat of my heart.

Far off, I can hear the sounds of a scuffle; Sky's bell-tone voice is prominent as is Tobias's baritone one.

This time, I hear the whip snap and I brace myself for another wave of pain that doesn't come. I feel the hands that hold me up disapear and shouting take it's place. I attempt to open my eyes and in doing so I see a massive black wolf with a white muzzle snarling at Sky, who has a thin line of blood coming from her temple. 

I try to get up but find my arms and legs unresponsive. My body feels numb aside from the fire in my back.

My vision is fading, darkness swallowing up light.