Howling Fury (Book 1) (Being Edited)

Chapter 15

My dreams are stuck on a loop, playing over the events in the clearing. All thoughts of the sky beast leave me as I fly forward, fully intent on killing the one who hurt Mark. My mind does nothing to suppress the absolute rage roaring through my body. In fact, I embrace it with open arms. Anyone who hurt the pack deserves to feel the full wrath of my wolf.

My eyes remain glued on the small man with the gun, who hastily levels it at me. I hear a shot echo and the earth in front of me explodes, but I ignore it, still rushing forward. The other wolves back off, leaving the man, the human, unprotected. Unfortunately, he noticed and was now trying to back off as well. I dig my claws into the earth and, before the human can react, I am upon him.

A scream escapes between his teeth as we collide and he raises his arm to punch me. Bad move. I growl, taking his arm between my teeth. The gun lies on the floor beside us; it must have fallen after I collided with him. The human screams again as I tear my head backwards, taking his arm with me. His arm rips out of his socket in a shower of blood.

A blood curdling scream fills the area around me as the pain registers in his mind. He tries desperately to escape from beneath me, his body slipping over the blood-stained grass. The bloody stump where his arm once was bleeding freely and, in a matter of moments, he is dead.

Feeling eyes watching me, I look up, only to see all the wolves staring at me. Peeling my lips over my teeth, I snarl at them. They only stare at me, their inhuman eyes seeming to observe my every move. Just as I step forward, challenging them, the thudding returns. A split moment later, a huge wall of fire erupts in front of me, blocking my path to the wolves. The fingers of the flames seem to reach up to the sky, absolutely blocking my view of them.

The ground begins to shake. Wait. This isn't what happened. I left the wolves because they were already gone, and I choose instead to protect Mark. And yet, the ground continues its tremble. A massive shadow land on the ground before me with a massive thud, huge wings folding back onto its back. I can't see it properly, as the surroundings seem to have darkened to the point in which even I can't see properly. All I see is a pair of glowing red eyes staring at me.

"Ester Flinch," a voice rings out from the shadow. "You will join me or I will kill those closest to your heart. I will obliterate you, your soul and will, and use you as the weapon you where created to be." Oh no he didn't. He did not just threaten my family. And what's this whole thing about a weapon? Me? Ok. Even if I were some kind of weapon, no one uses me.

I raise myself to my full height, baring my teeth at the creature that is around five times the size of myself. Growling, I step forward slightly. The voice only chuckles darkly at me. "You will obey me. One way, or another," the voice whispers.

Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet erupts and I am falling into complete darkness. The glowing eyes are the last thing I see before the darkness overcomes my body.

<*>

My eyes snap open and I lunge to my feet, still in my wolf form and ready for a fight. A pair of arms encircles my neck and I growl a warning, still half in my dream. "Ester? It's only me. What's wrong?" My body instantly relaxes as I hear Mark's voice and breath in his familiar scent. I allow my body to flop back down onto the bed and thump my tail against it.

"Sorry if I woke you," I grunt. I still have a nagging feeling about that clearing. That lycan. That scent. So familiar and yet I can't place it. I'm sure I have smelt it before somewhere, but I have no idea where. "It's ok," he murmurs into my neck. "Isn't it about time we get ready for "school?"

I only roll my eyes at him. I'm thirty five, and yet I still have to go to school. To be fair, Mark only convinced me to actually start attending the school two years ago, so I'm basically only a second year. Though I do learn very fast and am now sitting at around fourth year level. But still, I mean, the only reason I agreed was to keep up the facade to the humans. They don't know about the whole "stop aging" thing, and we don't rely want to make it public knowledge. So, we attend school and learn things.

There are even some humans at this school, so we actually have to be taught stuff and yes, we have to sit exams. Oh joy. Mark teaches a variety of subjects, most of which I take; Physics, Biology, P.E and Maths. I know. Fun right. There are only around thirty teachers in the school, all of which are either werewolf or Lycan. With only two hundred students, we a very small school, yet one of the largest packs ever heard of.

"Ester? Come on, get up." He playfully shoves me, trying to throw me out of the bed. I growl playfully and suddenly leap out of the bed, causing Mark to topple out after me. He hits the floor and a cry of pain rings throughout the room, and I instantly regret my decision.

"Mark? Are you ok?" He only whimpers softly and I take a step closer. His body lunges forward instantly as he attempts to tackle me, but I sprint out of his reach and towards the door. Stretching my body, I reach the handle easily and open the door with my paw. I then sprint to my own room and push it open, the wedge still in place. Running in, I pick up the wedge as I pass and kick the door closed behind me. I hear Mark stop outside, listening.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for school, Mr Alpha?" I ask in a totally innocent voice. He growls playfully, but he doesn't enter. He knows I have to get ready, but he still stands at the door. I shake my head, looking over at the clock. Ten past eight. Ok. I have around fifty minutes to have a shower and get dressed.

" Mark. I need a shower and stuff." He doesn't respond. "So do you by the way. You stink." He makes a very strange noise, but I hear him retreating to his office. Well, I say office. It is a room like mine, with its own shower and stuff, but he puts his desk and that in and calls it his office. Don't ask me why, I don't know.

I quickly shift back into my human form, standing and stretching my body. The clothes I laid out are still lying on the bed, so I grab a towel and head in for a nice, relaxing shower.

<*>

My body relaxes as the warm water hits me. I run my finger over the red scar on my shoulder, thinking. The ghouls wound had almost healed, but of course, I went and got shot. Luckily, we heal fast.

"Yes. Luckily for you Ester," I hear Mark laugh. I only shake my head at his comment as I wash my hair. "You can hardly talk. You where shot as well. In fact, you were shot worse than me," I snort at him, as I begin to wash my body. He chuckles at me and then goes silent.

"What do you think those wolves wanted," he asks after a moment. I only shake my head. They didn't actually say what they wanted, but I have a feeling it is something to do with me. And then there was that darn scent. I still can't work out how I recognise it.

"I don't know Mark. Hopefully they won't come back again." I hear him agree before he too, goes silent. I do the same as I rinse myself off and wrap a towel around myself. Even if it was me they were after, why shoot Mark? Shaking my head, I begin to dry myself off. Who knows how rogues think. They take pleasure in killing and are bloodthirsty. Packs tend to avoid them at all costs, because if we collide, people die.

I quickly finish drying myself off and throw in my clothes. Looking over at the clock, I groan. Half past eight. I still have half an hour to kill before school starts, so, of course, my thoughts drift back to the clearing and that damn scent. Suddenly, I'm back to the night my parents died, watching the Lycan hit my mother. Raking my claws over his face. Hearing my mother yell at me to run as I do as I am told.

One of the Lycan in the clearing had a set of scars down his face. Those eyes. That scent. My heart stops and my legs disappear from under me. I don't even react when my body hits the floor because I have now realised who that scent belongs to. Valentine.