Daughter Dearest...Why Is There A Werewolf In Your Bed...?

I peeked around Noah’s legs to see the translucent green eyes I had learned to hate. Or be scared of. Hate and fear go hand in hand in my mind. I didn’t see any tools or knives in his hands. That was a good sign. Or maybe it wasn’t.

He smiled that twisted smile he could do so well, I didn’t like it.

“Well, now that we have the final piece I’m sure it will be no problem.” I looked up at him, carefully disguising the horror that thrashed in my chest, trying to escape in a scream.

Final piece of what? Am I a sacrifice?

The thought echoed through my mind as I stared at James. He flipped a switch near the wall and light flooded the room.

I hadn’t even realized the lights had been off. Side effects of a blow to the skull I guess. I looked around the room and took in the newly lit surroundings.

The carpet on the floor wasn’t a carpet, it was a mat that had intricate designs swirling and knotting everywhere in the room. The support pole I had been leaning on wasn’t supporting the room, it stopped a foot above my head.

I was in the middle of an incantation for a powerful spell. From what I could tell I wouldn’t be sacrificed. The ancient writing just told me that it would be very painful if the drawing was activated. James reached behind his back and pulled out a vial of blood.

They couldn’t be thinking of...

I began to fight against the ropes fiercely, staring at the vial with wide eyes. That blood, this arcane circle. I couldn’t believe that they were thinking of doing that.

James’ smile widened as he walked closer. He shook the corked vial near my face and I spat at him. He laughed as he dodged it easily.

“So you’ve been brushing up on your ancient symbols and arcane ceremonies, huh?” he chuckled. Noah stood behind him, not even looking at me. He seemed like he was going to be sick. James, however, kept right on laughing as he kneeled in front of me. I struck out with my good leg and caught him in his no-no place.

He let out a grunt of pain and grabbed me by my hair. I was all smiles now as he whispered threateningly,

“You little bitch. I was thinking of saving you for myself after this, but let’s see how you fair with someone else...”

James stood up with some difficulty and I noticed that Noah was rubbing his upper lip to hide a smile. He caught my eye and shook his head, coughing to cover his laughter. It stuck me as odd that he would begin to laugh at his superior getting hit in the balls, but at least he wasn’t another ass like James. I would count the blessings that I have now. No questions.

James walked past Noah to the outside of the arcane circle and popped out the stopper in the vial. I quickly sobered up as I stared at the open vial. James held my gaze as he tipped the vial over and I tensed. Every muscle in my body was screaming for me to tackle him, to stop him from letting the blood touch the circle.

But I was tied up, with a broken leg that I had been too naive to heal all the way. I watched and struggled as the blood began to run to the open mouth of the vial. Time froze. The first drop left the safety of the glass tube that had kept it for 17 years or so.

It hit the outer line of the circle and I forgot how to breathe. The air was ripped from my lungs, yet somehow I was still able to scream as the pain entered my veins, lighting them on fire from the inside.

The arcane symbol lit up in a sinister red glow, morphing James’ face into a more malicious mask than ever before. He was standing just beyond the reach of the circle, just beyond the pain that thudded in my head.

Noah looked out of place in the red glow. The color didn’t suit him, like he wasn’t meant to be in this bloody business. He had just gotten with the wrong crowd or he was being pushed into this situation.

I let out another scream as a new wave of pain washed through me. Every cut, every scrape, every break pulsed in a pain a thousand times worse than before. I felt the break in my leg clearly, every separation of bone was vivid in my mind. I felt my painful heartbeat magnified in my throat as the scream left my voice raw.

I twitched, I screamed again, I struggled, I wept, but I could not make the pain disappear. I could not make it go away. It was there, ripping me apart from the inside.

A pool of black light appeared before me. I watched as my screams lessened into feral growls behind clenched teeth, my voice was beginning to fade in my exhaustion. Something began to surface from the black light and I tried to blink away the tears that blurred my vision. They rolled down my cheeks, but the attempt was in vain, the pain made them spring up faster than I could blink.

All I saw was a tan figure that seemed like it was floating on the black pool. The red light faded as the figure completely surfaced and the black liquid light dissipated too. The figure moved in jerking motions before the motions smoothed out.

James ran into the circle as my head lolled. I had no energy left to care what happened now. The pain was still causing occasional involuntary twitches. Out of my peripheral vision I saw James throw a blanket over the figure as it began to rise.

It pulled the blanket around itself and turned toward me as it seemed to notice me; it moved closer.

I was still in my semi-catatonic demeanor except for the gasps of air trying desperately to fill my lungs and cool the burning sensation in my chest. It reached over to me and I was too weak to flinch away.

A soft hand wiped away the tears that blurred my vision.

I looked up at it.

It looked human, but then again you never know what anything could be. A man. One that seemed vaguely familiar.

The eyes. His eyes reminded me of Miles’. So grey that they looked silver.

The man smiled softly as he used his index finger and thumb to grab my chin lightly, pulling my chin up enough to look at him.

Through half-lidded eyes I observed that James and Noah were down on one knee, heads bowed in this man’s direction. I looked back at the man.

He looked like he was in his early twenties. His grey eyes peeked through his hair as they twinkled with complex thoughts, that fact made me uncomfortable.

He blinked and his eyelashes caught on a few strands of his shockingly red hair.

James laughed softly as he spoke, “Princess, meet Cian Flint, The alpha of our pack.”

My life as I knew it was over.