King of Nothing

II

The ceremony was tomorrow night.

Guilt, anger, and nervousness all gnawed on my stomach like a pack of starved coyotes, eating me from the inside out. It was the dead of night when I finally decided that I couldn't take it anymore. I threw on the first set of clothes I found on the floor and tugged my sneakers on quickly before bundling up in a couple of hoodies. As soon as the front door of the small cabin was open, my cheeks were nipped by the cold wind, but my lungs filled with fresh air. I closed the door behind me and started off into the woods, hoping that a patrol didn't stumble upon me.

The wilderness was peaceful this late at night. Owls hooted above, occasionally screeching when they caught prey. I sighed, leaving a plume of steam in my wake. It was moments like this when I was most at peace, but something strange settled over me the moment I ducked through the treeline. I nervously glanced around, slowing my pace ever so slightly to listen to the environment over the sound of crunching snow.

I stopped altogether ten minutes later, staring straight ahead and into the darkness. Someone was here, I could feel it. I just knew that someone was watching me.

"Hunter?" I called warily, unable to come up with someone else who might be out here so late. "Hunter, is that you?"

The woods of Thorn Creek had become silent. I turned in a slow circle, looking into every little shadow cast by the dying birch trees. I almost skipped right over them.

Two little shimmers of light blinked out of existence as my gaze swept over them. My breath caught slightly in my throat. I didn't know who was watching me, but it unsettled me that whoever it was had placed themselves downwind intentionally. I couldn't smell them, and now, I couldn't see them.

"Hunter, if this is your idea at getting back at me, it isn't a very good one!" I called to the trees, where the eyes had just been. "I will fucking come in there right now and rip you to shreds!" The waver in my voice hadn't gone unnoticed. A wolfy snort came from behind me, and I spun so fast that I fell straight down into the snow.

A great beast towered above me, black eyes glaring down at me. The ginger-tinged wolf before me was the largest I had ever seen, rivaled only by my father. Even he hadn't even been this big. I felt like cowering at first, and then our eyes locked properly. I sucked in a sharp breath, the chill slicing my lungs. His eyes became deadly focussed.

The huge animal took a step toward me, standing directly above me now. My legs were trapped under his huge frame. "You don't belong here," I said breathlessly, my hands fisting nervously into the snow. The cold bit into my fingertips, soon turning them numb. "You need to leave."

Another snort, which was so great that it made my hair flutter loosely around me. The male's muzzle twitched into a small snarl, sending the hair on the back of my neck on edge. Up close, he smelled of spruce and evergreen, with just a vague hint of some sort of mint. This male was from up north.

I shook myself, snapping the trance I had fallen into. Having been so tall and from his place above me, his throat was very vulnerable. Had I been in my wolf form, I could have easily incapacitated him. But I didn't have that luxury at the moment. I settled for slipping under him and out, and then bolting.

I hurtled back toward the house, too panicked to even scream from help. Within my head, a small voice chided me, almost drowned by the sound of my pounding heart.

No, no, no, it whispered. A faint image of my wolf shaking its head surface, but I myself shook it away. What it didn't like, I wasn't sure, but I kept running. My legs pumped vigorously, sending up a spray of snow behind me. I risked turning my head, trying to spot the intruder. I came up empty.

Then I tumbled right over him.

I cried out as I hit the ground, flipping onto my back instinctually to snarl up in his face. The wolf was already there, his own teeth glinting in the moonlight as his hot breath fanned my face. A wild fascination danced in the dark depths of his eyes, eager for the hunt. This was clearly a male who was used to getting what he wanted. But who. . .

"Joshua King," I found myself whispering, the words ghosting over my lips. "You're Joshua King."

The low growl that sounded from him was all that I needed. My heart raced faster, now sure of my fate. I was going to be killed out of his spite for Mason and Hunter. A calmness settled over me for a split second, and I thought that maybe this was my way out of a life of imprisonment. 

The thought was gone in an instant, replaced immediately with the thought that I didn't want to die. I went still beneath him, eyes panicked and wide as I stared up into the snarling face of my undertaker. I had to keep my teeth clenched to save my lip from trembling. He shifted, pushing a massive paw into my collarbone to hold me to the ground as he lowered his head to look at me.

The breath was stolen from me, crushed by his weight.

He clearly wanted to speak, but would not risk offering me a way out of this by shifting. Instead, he kept his weight trained on me, slowly forcing me to pass out. When I realized what he was doing, my eyes became pleading. When that didn't work, I resulted in attempting to scream. But I didn't have the breath to do so. Feebly, I swatted at his snout, my lips working to form words that refused to become vocal.

"Please," I was able to squeeze out before the dots speckling my vision overtook my senses. I fell into a blissful numbness, unaware of the world.