Taming the Wolf Prince (Re-uploading Edited Chapters)

Chapter 3 Bitten Thirteen Times

Beauty was ripe within the beast. The moonlight made Tamer's skin glow with an angelic etherealism, but the red in his eyes was the most dominant she'd seen all night. He stepped aside, revealing the lines of fire that blazed upon the path before her, and together they began walking what looked like a boulevard straight to Hell.

The sound of the flames crackling rode under the hollow howl of the wind. Smoke consumed the frost-bitten trees and made her lungs, already exhausted from screaming, hack.

"Tamer!" she pleaded, finding herself tumbling to the ground as she resisted his pull. He never even flinched at her cries; her white wedding dress became smeared in dirt as he began dragging her across the forest floor. "Tamer, no! What the hell are you doing?!"

There wasn't any light in Tamer's eyes. They were vacant and soulless as he trudged forward, like a machine obeying orders. Purely a stranger inhabiting her partner's body.

Even if she could free herself from his brutal grip, a crowd of spectators lurked in the shadows to force her back on path. She simply couldn't believe this was real. Tamer, her mother -- everyone was responsible for the part they played in her murder. This was worse than nightmare material; this was a scene that could only be concocted by the devil himself.

"You monsters!" she hissed between sobs. "You fucking monsters! Tamer, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

Her throat hurt from screaming. The journey lasted long enough for her entire soul to be ripped out of her fight, for her eyes to become glassy, deadpan with the consecutive blows that had been dealt upon her heart. She walked like a zombie through the black-heart of the forest, soon exhausting herself. Pain numbed her entire body until she could barely even feel Tamer's trembling grasp around her own.

A ghostly wolf face faded into sight as the black smoke shrouding the trees parted. Her feet stuck to the ground as a quiet gasp of horror escaped her, only for her to then realise it was a mask. The further they ventured, the more common they became. They began to follow like ghosts, clutching their bows tightly, as if itching for to use them the moment Tamer stepped out of line.

Soon, she could hear them whispering. In front of her, Tamer's face hardened. They were but a murmur to her, but his ultra-sensitive hearing most-definitely picked them up.

"I heard she's the wolf boy's... Well, if he's a wolf, does that make her a mate?"

They laughed.

"An hour into his punishment, when the moon began to rise, the boy screamed that everything was a lie. He did it to try and free her from the ceremony."

Winter's wide-eyes flickered to Tamer's back. She could see the wounds on his bare back underneath the cloak he'd pulled on. The blood of the punishment he had taken for her was still sleek and fresh in the hellish glow of the flames.

"Supposedly, they've been friends since they were children. They're so self-absorbed they'd kill us all if it wasn't for the Wolf King's spell."

"How ironic. God really does hate wolves."

A low growl vibrated in Tamer's throat. Those trembles were growing violent. That desperate grip, as if fearful of letting go, nipped into her skin as claws curled like knives from his fingertips.

Tamer stopped dead in his tracks.

"Shut the hell up." His red eyes trailed pointedly across the crowd, lip curling to reveal deadly fangs as he snarled, "if it is a beast you all want, then I'm all too happy to comply!"

His father stepped up behind him, eyes dark like a void.

"Tamer," he warned.

In no circumstances did she think she'd see the day when Tamer retaliated against his Father. But it seemed the sometimes meagre Tamer was at his limit, as if battling a shift at every instance like a wolf within was gnawing at his insides.