Born of Blood

Chapter 13

Sabina had seen his Alpha in battle.

The ancient wolf was, for lack of better words, absolutely terrifying. As a man, Orion was intimidating, frightening even. Standing at seven feet tall, two-point-one meters, the man was a giant. Then add to him muscles that showed only pure power, an incessant need to dominate and destroy. He was built for the hunt, and built for the kill all at the same time. Scars gathered across his tan body half hazard, covered by tattoos spreading over his back and arms, it was impossible not to stare.

His teeth were sharper than normal wolves, his human canines almost to a full point.

His hands always ready to fight, tensed in wait.

His eyes, a physically moving blue that twisted in a battle between his wolf and his mind- was there even a difference anymore? Or were they so entwined they were one entity rather than two?

In human form he was intimidating, in his Beast's skin he was death.

Black as the shadows between the trees, glowing blue eyes filled with hellfire, Sabina had only ever had nightmares of hellhounds but he knew they looked like Orion. He was different from the traditional evolution of the werewolves of today. His shoulders were more cat-like, bunched high with muscle, ready for pouncing and climbing more than that of the werewolf of the twenty-first century. His teeth were long, keeping his mouth from closing all the way, but perfect for peeling meat from the bone.

And hearing his roar as that frail woman was dumped, screaming long wailing cries into the snow, Sabinas worst fear had come true.

He had always prayed for the best for his Alpha. The Goddess would bless him, he knew it would happen, she would never curse a man to a life alone for eternity. He had just prayed, when he did find his mate, it was peaceful. Sabina was certain if he had found his mate, and any harm had come to her, it would send him into a killing spree that nobody would be able to pull him out of, at least not until everyone was dead.

In a simple breath, in a simple blink, time had stood still, the Earth had stopped its rotation. As Apollo had whispered to that woman, it was as if the planet held her breath, her heart had skipped an ancient beat.

Then exploded into life.

Orion was free from the confines of human skin in an instant, flying down the mountainside he had perched himself on in the shadows of the tree line. Sabina was hot on his trail, ready to defend his Alpha and his- he assumed- Luna, after all, a man such as Orion did not have uncalculated outbursts of this magnitude. Not that Sabina had been alive to witness, not that those before him had ever spoke about, Orion was a silent man by nature.

The Malkún pack huddled close in fear, the roar startling the the people into surrounding their young and elderly. Apollo grabbed Adrienne and forced her behind him while Augustus did the same with his mate, nobody moved to protect the screaming woman writhing in pain, fighting to crawl away from the man who whispered so softly in her ear. Her legs wouldn't work, Scarlets legs wouldn't work. Her head was cloudy, and her heart hammered so hard in her body she could only hear blood pumping in her ears and the world moved on its axis. But she could smell him, Orange Blossoms, and she could feel his breath in her ear as he whispered those words, as she had delirious dreams while her skull and brain slowly healed itself from his assault. A high pitched ringing was loud in her brain. Her left arm wasn't working, her legs weren't working, but she was dragging herself through the snow she had been so used to working in, feeling the hail and heavy, heavy, sleet pounding into her back and head as she screamed, but she wasn't sure anyone was listening.