Shadows of the Woods

Chapter 12

Tether ventured further into the room, his hands out cautiously. "How long have you been sick, mate? You shouldn't have come back to the city, you'll infect more people."

"Don't worry, I met no one on my way to die."  The werewolf flinched as Tether drew closer, and he flapped a hand weakly at the approaching shifter. "Not too close, friend! Don't you have a silver bullet?" He joked, his voice floundering.

"Sorry." Astera said frankly, pulling a silver knife from her side. She looked down at the werewolf, her face stony and her eyes cold. She couldn't let Tether see how much this was affecting her; he was already miserable, and she needed to be his rock. "We're too old-fashioned to use guns."

The werewolf nodded, his bright eyes locking on to the knife as if it was a lifeboat. "Make it quick." He whispered. "I don't want anyone to die because of me."

Tether crouched beside the werewolf and looked at Astera. "Here, it's my turn." He held his hand out.

"I got it." Astera told him gently, crouching beside him. "You can wait in the hall."

Tether made no move to leave, and his lovely eyes watched as she adjusted her grip on the dagger.

"Wait!" The werewolf cried out suddenly. He turned his head so he could cough away from them, and Astera waited patiently as he finished. "Let me die in my true form, please." His bright, shiny eyes pleaded with her.

Astera nodded, and she and Tether obligingly backed away. When they were against the wall, the werewolf moaned and began to shudder. Light blonde fur began to bloom on his body , patched around the rotting spots, and there were quiet cracks and creaks as his bones rearranged themselves. The young man's face grew longer sprouted a snout, and his eyes lengthened and melted into a beautiful yellow. A long furry tail sprouted from his tailbone, and a few moments later, a massive, shaggy wolf laid where the young man had been. He looked at them, and his yellow eyes looked mournful.

Astera came forward quietly and crouched next to the werewolf. Slim, pale fingers reached out and stroked the soft fur on the wolf's head, and it howled quietly in sorrow.

"Your pain is over now, brave one." She whispered, uncharacteristically tender. She looked a lot like her twin, Apollo, in that moment, and Tether looked down at the floor, his hands clenched into fists beside him. "Go in peace."

The werewolf's sad yellow eyes were still on her green ones when she pulled the silver knife deftly across the wolf's throat.

Astera and Tether were silent and still as the wolf's bright red blood slowly pooled on the bare white mattress. When the wolf's yellow eyes looked as cold and still as gems, she slowly wiped her blade off on a clean section of the mattress and stood up. She rose gracefully and turned to look at Tether.

"Love?" She asked softly.

He bit his lip and looked away from her and the body behind her, his eyes bright. "Apollo better find a cure for this fast." His voice was anguished.

Astera went to him and pulled his arms around her waist. She touched his face with blazing hands and looked tenderly into his beautiful eyes. He'd always hated the killing of the innocent, and here they were, doing exactly that for about a week now ever since she'd received Apollo's butterfly. Tether was the one who suggested they go kill the infected ones before they could spread it, and although she knew he knew it was necessary - there were no survivors they knew of, so definitely no cure - she knew it was killing him.

"This is my brother we're talking about." She smiled beautifully at her lover. "He'll find a way to stop this, I promise."

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