**Aife pov**
When I woke up today with an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, I didn’t think much of it. Even when the feeling intensified and turned into one of dread, looming over me like a dark, dangerous shadow, I still dismissed it.
I should’ve paid attention. I should’ve alerted my dad about something being wrong.
But I didn’t. I let this ‘something wrong’ happen. And it wasn’t just a silly gut feeling. It was the beginning of the inevitable demise of our pack.
Once the screams and growls slowly faded and turned into heavy, deathly silence, I snuck out of the packhouse and ran around it, towards the backyard. Never in my life would I have thought that ignoring a gut feeling would bring consequences near as vile as the massacre I was witnessing.
Bodies, all I could see were bodies, scattered around like broken toys. The once beautiful, lush green grass was turned into an ugly painting of dark red.
My hands shook and bile rose up in my throat as I took the first steps inside the epicenter of the massacre. Somewhere, out of my sight, another fight started, alerting me of the lack of time I had.
Each step felt heavier than the one before, but I pushed myself to move forward. If there were any survivors, they needed immediate medical attention.
Even with a clear goal in my mind, I couldn’t ignore the bodies that were lying in pools in their own blood, now mixing with the blood of their families and friends.
Survivors. There had to be survivors here. No one attacked packs like this, no one went as far as wiping out centuries of continuous bloodlines just because they had the power to do so.
Once I finally stopped, I couldn’t fight off the tears as the realization sunk in. They hadn’t spared anyone, every person, every once skillful warrior was shredded to pieces and left to rot.
Worst of all, while all I could do was stand there and stare at the aftermath of the vicious attack, more of our warriors were slaughtered.
I wanted to help, to do something, anything, but how was I supposed to, if my body refused to move even when I was willing it with all my might?
“Aife! Aife, what are you doing there?” I heard dad shout, but even his voice, the desperation and fear that filled it didn’t help me move.
My eyes were glued on the bodies, on the bloodshed, eyes still wide open, and the look of pure horror on faces of the fallen.
“Get back in the house! Now!” He screamed at the top of his lungs just in time with a ground-shaking growl that tore from the cover of the forest.
I had heard many times before how people described a sensation so terrifying, the only words they could find fitting were ‘blood-freezing’, a feeling I never thought I would experience.
But I did.
The growl held so much power, everyone froze, even the enemies that were ripping and cutting throats just mere moments ago stopped.
Forcing down the lump that formed in my throat, I balled my fists and slowly spun on my heel to look at the forest. Maybe I wouldn’t see anything, perhaps it was an attempt to recall the enemy warriors, but deep down, I knew it couldn’t be the case.
And it wasn’t.
A fully nude, massive, dirty man emerged from the cover of the woods. Even from this far away, I could see he was impressive - hovering over the few that followed after him, his body more defined than those of his followers. He had to be the leader of the monstrous attackers.
The vicious stranger’s eyes were trained on me as he started walking in the direction of the packhouse, refusing to avert his gaze even for a split second while my eyes desperately sought out my father.
Once I noticed him, held down by two men, I wanted to run to his aid, but the attempt was stopped before it happened with one, sharp word.
“Don’t!” The stranger snarled.
As my gaze snapped back to him, I instantly found the strength to back away. He looked murderous. The way he loomed closer to me like a true predator nearly made my heart stop.
He was no further from me than a couple of steps when I slipped on the blood and fell backwards, landing on top of a pile of bodies.
When he got closer, I noticed the man had eyes so black and void, I knew those were the eyes of the killer. The eyes that had seen so much suffering, pain and fear, yet never spared a soul in their way. His stare alone sent shivers down my spine.
And yet, although everyone could see how I struggled to crawl away, he kept closing in.
“Stop!” He growled.
I did. I couldn’t believe it, but I followed his command and completely froze up. I didn’t move even my hand which was now covering the face of one of the fallen warriors.
My heart hammered in my chest so fast, I felt like it was trying to break out and run as far from my body as possible.
“Get away from her! Get away from my daughter! You monster, stay away from my daughter!” I heard my father scream.
I was sure if I dared to look in his direction, I would see him thrash against the men who were holding him down, but I couldn't avert my gaze from the predator in front of me.
“Silence!” Another terrifying snarl left the stranger as he stopped right in front of me.
The longer he stared at me, the smaller I felt. It seemed like he had noticed that because soon, the corner of his lip twitched, as if he was trying to suppress a smile. I, for one, couldn’t imagine a monster like him being capable of smiling. Capable of emotions…
I could still hear dad’s voice in the background until the words turned into a muffed mess. He sounded like someone had forced their hand over his mouth to silence him.
“Another word and I might give into the temptation of doing unspeakable things to your daughter, right in front of your eyes,” the brute announced as his gaze finally tore away from me and focused on my dad.
I wasn’t sure what was worse, but for the split second of freedom, I selfishly enjoyed it.
“Remove your hand, Soren. Old man will have to waste his breath on this,” he spoke again, slowly turning his head and pinning me down with his gaze again.
My bottom lip quivered, so I quickly captured it between my teeth to hide how terrified I was. He most likely could sense my fear from miles away, but I was too stubborn to openly show any.
“What do you want from us? What have we done to deserve this? Why are you slaughtering our people?” Dad’s words rang out but fell on deaf ears.
The stranger pointed his finger at me and snarled. “Her. Give me her and I will let the remaining ones live. Give her willingly or I will take her after I finish slaughtering the few pack members you have left.”