*WARNING: The chapter that you're about to read contains content that you may find unpleasant or troubling. Please read with care.*
“I’ve already told you, Keane, you and your posse should really leave now,” Alex growled, the moon and the treehouse casting down a bathe of light around them and on his face that was almost predatorial.
But Keane didn’t move an inch. Instead, a smirk lit up his face, thrilled as he made direct eye contact with Alex with his pitch-black eyes.
“Feeling cozy up there?” Keane smiled, glancing at the treehouse above them, then at Harper. “Your smell, human, is intoxicating. No wonder he didn’t show any mercy when he killed my baby sister.”
When Harper heard Keane’s mocking voice, she felt like a cold bucket of water washed over her. She quickly rose from Alex’s lap and grabbed her bra and shirt. In less than a minute, she and Alex had come down and met Keane and two of his loyal companions.
"The black wolf was Sheila?” she huffed in shock.
“Don’t speak her name with your filthy mouth!” Keane bellowed.
“Well, she almost killed us. She’s a monster," she snarled without thinking about her words.
“You’ve really impressed me with your feistiness, human. I would love to have you as my pet. But be it as it may, even though you’ve dazzled me with your stupid bravery, talk about my sister that way again and I will snap your pretty neck with my bare hand in front of your loverboy right here.” Keane smiled in such a mocking manner.
Hearing the threat on Harper, Alex felt his body shook in anger. Over the past days, his wolf had gotten powerful and dominant over him. And now, he could almost feel the tips of his fingers itching and his skin burning. His wolf was about to retake control when Harper placed a hand on his shoulder all of a sudden.
He looked at her, and she slowly shook her head from side to side. He could almost hear her saying to him that Keane was not worth the trouble. But it was the worry in her eyes that really stalled him.
They were still mourning Mrs. Fritz, and the last thing Harper would want was a brutal fight between Alex’s beast and Keane’s. The fact that her dad could be there any time concerned her so much too, and another fight between them could only end up viciously bloody.
“What say you, pup? Do you want to take this *conversation* somewhere else?”
Alex looked away from Harper to where Keane was waiting for his response. He nodded at her to let her know he understood and that he had his beast in check while trying to ignore the provocation radiating from Keane.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. And I’m going to say this as a final warning to you. Go away. Leave us the fuck alone, or I will rip all of your bones off your body,” he calmly threatened.
Harper, at once, shivered at his words. She had never heard him make such a spine-chilling threat before, and listening to those words straight from his mouth for the first time had cast a different light on him. He made killing Keane and his men in such a violent and ruthless way sound so simple.
Keane smirked, then briefly glanced at the two men standing on either side. “All right then. Have it your way, pup. We’re going to kill you now. But, unlike what you did to my sister, I’m going to give you fifteen seconds to say goodbye to each other. Make it quick.” He made a hand gesture between Alex and Harper.
“Alex…” Harper’s voice broke. All words were abandoning her in an instant. It was true that Alex’s gray wolf was powerful and had easily beaten Sheila. But right now, he was up against three.
And yet, it was to her utter surprise when Alex only smiled at her, looking completely unfazed. “Don’t worry, I got this, *cuddle bear,*” he muttered softly to her.
Harper frowned. No matter the situation, she still hated the nickname Alex had given her. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’m sorry, but I have to do this,” Alex whispered.
“Do what?”
“Okay, pup, time’s ―!”
But before Keane could even finish his sentence, Alex growled and, almost immediately, gray fur forced its way out of his skin, followed by a sound of bones snapping – from his fingers down to his toes. His human form slipping as his face grew into a snout, his teeth extended. And in just a matter of seconds, standing next to Harper was the massive gray wolf.
The wolf form straightened to its full height growled at Keane and the other two men who just shifted into big, red wolves. But their size was still no match with Alex’s majestic form. He stood tall, proud, and strong. He didn’t seem to be gripped by fear as other wolves would have been in the situation.
Keane stared at Alex from across. “Alright then. If that’s what you want, pup, we play.” He too then shifted; his fur just as black as his sister Sheila’s wolf.
As soon as Alex leaped at Keane, Harper immediately turned around and ran as fast as she could, but the two red wolves bolted out of nowhere, catching her before her feet could take her far enough.
She stepped back. It was evident that she was at a disadvantage ― they were too powerful to fight, and she was only human.
The tallest of the two red wolves growled from behind her. Her heart quickened. But with Alex fighting Keane, she was left without a choice. If she was destined to die and join her mother that night, then she thought she wouldn’t go down without a fight. And with a loud cry, she charged at the shorter wolf in front of her.
“See you soon, Mom!”
But the moment she leaped at the wolf, the other wolf from behind jumped at her. She wheezed as soon as she felt the wolf sink its teeth on her shoulder. She fell forward on top of the shorter and smaller wolf. As she yelled at the top of her lungs, she gathered her strength and shook off the wolf while using its weight to pin the other wolf. Then with adrenalin coursing through her body, she punched the wolf under her with her knuckles, screaming at the pain every time her bones hit the beast’s solid frame.
“I’m no longer scared of you!”
When she finally almost ran out of breath, and her fists were already too painful and too swollen to carry on, she stopped. Then, she remembered the other wolf that had bitten her.
Had she really shaken it off her?
But her stopping only allowed the other wolf beneath her to stand up and throw her off easily.
She yelped in pain and scurried on the ground in a pile of mud. Her heart pounded as soon as she felt the hot liquid spreading on her back.
“Alex!” Her mouth went agape as she saw the gray wolf lunged at the shorter red wolf, grabbed it by the neck before smashing it, head first, into the ground. The taller red wolf, whose fur was now covered in its own blood, snarled.
Alex wasted no time and jumped over him when Keane’s black wolf came barreling and rocketed down on top of him. He growled as soon as his back hit the ground with a painful sound. The red wolf tried to pounce him, but his hind legs kicked it in the belly and sent it flying right over him.
The second Keane looked up, Alex saw this as an opening to free himself. He jumped up, and as he landed neatly on the ground, he grabbed and sunk his sharp teeth around Keane’s neck.
The two red wolves watched in shock as he bit down as hard as he could until Keane’s neck snapped in half. He growled fiercely at them, blood dripping from his muzzle.
Harper covered her eyes before she heard what could have only been the black wolf’s spinal cord being ripped out. She wrapped her arms tight around her knees and buried her face in her arms as she started to shake. Everything was just too much for her to take, and she couldn’t just wrap her head around the savagery. No matter how much he tried.
Dazed by the blood loss, she soon felt herself falling to her side.
Consumed by his anger, Alex didn’t notice Harper and pounced forward instead, landing right on top of the two red wolves, crushing them between his feet and the ground. When his wolf was finally satisfied and certain that he had destroyed all three of his enemies, Alex slowly shifted back into his human form.
“Oh, what have you done now, my love?”
His head snapped, and he quickly turned around to see who it was that had just spoken.
Hips swaying, a redhead walked over to him, her heels digging into the muddy ground.
“Hello there, Alex.”
His eyes narrowed, and his forehead furrowed. “Do I know you?”
The woman gasped. “Don’t you?”
“I don’t remember ever remembering you.”
She grinned. “So, they actually really did it.”
“They? What are you talking about? Who are you?”
Staring into his blue eyes, she cupped his face gently in her hands. “Alex, it’s me…Mira.”
But the name didn’t ring any bell with him, nor did it conjure up even a faint memory in his mind—just like everyone else in his past.
He shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t…” his voice trailed off as his eyes tried to look for Harper. Quickly enough, he found her curled up in the mud, unmoving. “Oh no! Harper!”
He quickly scooped her in his arms and swallowed hard when he saw the pool of blood around her.
“She’s already been bitten, Alex.”
He looked up at Mira. “Well, can you help her? We’ve got to help her!”
Mira made a face then hissed. “She’s already lost so much blood. I’m sorry.”
Alex pressed his ear firmly on Harper’s chest. “I can still hear her heart beating. We’ve got to help her. Please, Mira, she’s all I have left.”
“She’s all you have left? What the fuck? I can’t believe you just said that right in front of my face!”
“Look, we don’t have much time. We can deal with whatever it is that you and I need to deal with, but first, we have to help Harper.”
But Mira stood her ground and refused to move.
Alex’s wolf didn’t like it.
“Listen, Mira, why don’t you look around you,” Alex muttered between his gritted teeth. “I’ve just killed three wolves tonight, and you just popped out of nowhere. So, you’re either with them or with us. And if you’re the former, you better start running now.”
Mira’s eyes flickered. “Alex, I’m not with them.”
“Then you better help or fuck off.”