Lupine

Prologue

Black, that's all he could see. Endless miles of darkness. He couldn't remember the last time he saw sunlight, felt fresh air upon his face or even the grass between his toes. All he could remember was the stale rotting air he had become accustomed to in this cell. He knew his father was looking for him, he had to be, but the question was, would he find him in time, he didn't know.

The people that were holding him here had made it quite clear that he was never leaving or if he was, he wouldn't be able to know. He'd begged and begged. Tried to bribe them with riches beyond their dreams but nothing seemed to work, so why was he here if not for ransom.

Screams and laughter echoed down the halls as the screech of a metal door slammed shut. The laughter got louder as the screams slowly died down to a whisper. Would that happen to him? Would he be forced to do something that goes against his very being? No, as sick and twisted as these men where they didn't look at him like that, he couldn't even remember how they looked at him. Was it disdain or was it lust? He couldn't remember.

No one had come into his cell for a long time. Food was shoved under the door with no interaction from his captures, so what then? What did these bastards want?

The creak of the door snapped his head up. Two men walked in. One, a burly man covered in scars and missing an eye and a few teeth grinned at him. He was the reason his face now had a scar running from his eye to his cheek. All the man had said was, "you won't be needing this pretty little face anymore," and left. The other man he recognized. He was skinnier than the first man but he was clever. He was there whenever his father and uncle had their parties. He was always lurking in the shadows and now he knew why. If only he could escape and tell his father and uncle. He would be hailed a hero.

"I see that gleam in your eye, you think you can get away and warn your father. Stop thinking you are a hero. The only way you'll be leaving is as a corpse," the skinnier man said.

Then why was he here? Why was he held captive down her for so long? There had to be a reason as to why they kept him alive for as long as they did. Right?

"Then why? Why keep me alive for so long if you're just going to kill me?" he asked.

The skinny man smiled a crooked smile. "Simple," he said, "we needed her."

Two more men came into the cell dragging a battered woman in. Her hair was matted to blood and her skin was pale. Her green eyes were dull but when they gazed up at him they brightened.

"Luca," she breathed.

His eyes widened. He couldn't believe she was here. No, this wasn't happening. How was she here? She should be back home with father?

"Mother? But how?" he questioned. The skinny man responded.

"Quite easily actually. Did you know that you've been down here for well over two months? In that time your father and mother have gone mad with worry. So much so that your dear old mother would do anything to get you back. By anything, I mean leaving your fathers protection and traveling into the woods to find you. Isn't that just the sweetest thing. I mean it gives me a toothache just thinking about it," he said with a smile.

"Let her go. I'll do anything you want, just let her go."

"That's what we want to hear. There is only one thing you can do for us."

"Anything, I'll do anything." The man smiled.

"We want you to go Primal."

"What!?" What did he mean by go primal?

"What I said. Go Primal. Not the regular form, the one that made your blood special. The beast form if you would. We want to see it," he said with a gleam in his eyes. Luca understood now, he wanted the deadly beast form but no one has been able to phase into that form for over three hundred years.

"I ... I can't. No one has been able to phase into that form for the last couple of centuries," he said.

"Then she dies," he pointed to his mother. The scarred man walked up behind her and held a knife to her throat. He pulled against his restraints.

"Please. She has nothing to do with this. Let her go. I can't go primal, no one can," he begged.

"She had you which makes her a threat. If you cannot go primal you do not deserve the title of your blood. Now transform or she dies," he spat.

"I can't. Please."

The man shook his head and with a signal of his hand, the knife slid across his mother's throat and with a gurgle of blood and a scream the body slumped to the floor. He screamed as his mother's blood stained the ground and her lifeless eyes looked up at him. Tears were streaming down his face as his shoulders sagged.

"Why?" he moaned, "Why are you doing this?"

The scarred man grabbed a hold of his mother's corpse and stripped the remaining scraps of clothing off. No. He pulled against the restraints. The cold metal biting into his hands as the man slowly undressed himself.

"No, no, no. Stop, please. She's already dead," he begged. The scarred man smiled.

"Even after death they're still warm and my colleague here likes the feeling as the body goes cold," said the skinnier man.

He started thrashing around in the chair, the chains drawing blood as the scarred man lined himself up and thrust. His mother's body jolted forward, her lifeless eyes looking up at him with every thrust of the scarred man's body into hers.

"Does this make you angry. Furious even. If you go Primal I'll get him to stop but if you don't you watch every man in here have his way with your dead mother's body. Then they'll tear her apart right here and bathe you in her blood. Just go Primal and it'll all stop," the skinny man said as he walked around him.

Tears were pouring out of him and he hung his head to try and look away, but the man was behind him and pulled his head up by the roots of his hair.

"Oh no. You've got a front-row seat just for this show."

"Please, I'm begging you. No one can go Primal. No one. Please stop."

"Quit whining and enjoy. Don't you know this show is to die for."

He watched as his mother's body was violated repeatedly by different men. Just to torment him even more, more men kept coming into the room and leaving after they were done. He was already broken when the men finally started ripping into her flesh. Chewing chunks of her now pale skin and throwing strips of flesh at him. Broken and distraught he couldn't help but hang his head as the man let go of his hair, as piece by piece of his mother's flesh was thrown onto his body. He should've been stronger. He should've been able to protect her. Why was he so weak? He couldn't do anything.

Tears trains adorned his cheeks as his head slumped into his chest. He was worthless. He was weak.

"Well, how disappointing. It seems that no one from your family deserves their title. Not even your younger sibling."

His head snapped up to see the scarred man holding up a wrangled piece of flesh. A thin pink tube was hanging from its midsection.

"What do you reckon friend? Ten weeks or less?"

The scarred man just grunted as he flung the small barely formed body around.

"Well, if seeing your mother killed, raped and eaten wasn't enough, how about watching the sibling that you'd always wanted be eaten?"

She was pregnant. Mother was pregnant. Why? Why did he have to fail so massively in not only failing to protect mother but the unborn child in her womb. Why, why, why?

A wolf walked into the room when he remained silent. It stalked up to the side of the scarred man and sat down obediently.

"No response. Okay."

"No wai-."

The dead infant's body was thrown towards the wolf and in one swooping gulf, devoured. Now no one would know it existed. That he had a brother or sister. Like they were never to be. He was useless.

The skinny man smiled. "Now, your turn."

He didn't see the scarred man walking up to him with a knife. He didn't see the wolf stalking around the room. He didn't feel the knife cut into his flesh but what he did se was the skinny man leave and the echo of his words as his world went black.

"Long live the King."