His Beastly Finale

Chapter Six: "Apology"

 Chapter Six:

—Apology—

"Durere... am facut poţi îndura, dar din păcate dragoste, m-am gândit să vă lasă-mă dacă nu am...!"

 “Pain ... I made you suffer, but alas love, I thought you would abandon me had I not...!”

February 24th, 1747

(That same night...)

Zackary bounded through the woods, thick wood zipping by with small sounds that could only be heard if you were the hunter’s dog or right where Damien was, on the wulfen’s back, though he was straining to hear what sounds Zackary made anyway.

So, it is safe to say Zackary was trying to hide what he could from the other dogs’ senses.

It was when he felt cold liquid splash his cheek and a small muffled yelp that Damien did open his eyes. Hyacinth eyes widened and tears pricked when he saw a red slowly grow over Zackary’s shoulder and the red drain into the river, turning it pink before fading away.

Zackary had been shot.

It suddenly didn’t matter to Damien, if he slipped and fell into the water. Someone had shot Zackary. Someone had dared to shoot his lover. To dare wound him on his watch.

Damien did not take this fact very well, as he risked his hold slipping as Zackary tore through the water, still braving through the pain as his shoulder tried to heal.

It was with a slow motion, to ensure chances of accuracy, that Damien revealed a small pistol from his pocket. He took aim, extending his arm and trying to lean as far up as he could. He squinted an eye and with a held breath, pressed down on the tiny trigger. Then again, to be sure he had hit something.

He had hoped for a dog.

Zackary howled as the sound scarred his ears.

So it astounded the teen at both Zackary’s sudden leap and the recoil of the gun. It was when he snapped  back to reality that he heard a man’s cry of agony and a dog’s yelp as something fell in the woods.

It was when Damien heard the other hunters call out rounds of , “James! James! James Alexander Moss, don’t you dare die!”

It was then that Damien realized he had shot his father.

“No...” he whispered as tears pricked his eyes. He had meant for a dog, not his! Not him, not his beloved father!

In his fear, Damien released his hold to throw the gun into the water-at the same time, Zackary decided to take another sudden jump. Damien only had mere seconds before his body would, as if hesitant to leave Zackary’s warm fur, be thrown into the air.

It was sometime after the first few that he let out an ear-piercing scream and a moment later, that scream ended in a gurgle as Damien fell into the water of the river.

Frigid water that pierced his unprepared lungs and soft skin like daggers. The cold drilled into his bones, making him ache as the lack oxygen in him made him react and thrash wildly, only succeeding in sending himself deeper underwater and farther from the surface.

It was then that something gripped his hand and pulled. His mouth opened in a silent scream and he struggled, further depleting what oxygen he had. His vision started to grow black at the edges and he grew more terrified. And he grew still as his limbs grew numb.

He thought he felt his eyes close as the darkness completely engulfed. He felt his body drift quickly from a tiny dot frantically moving above his head.