A Lone Wolf • Mark Tuan

{Fourteen}

You clutched you side, eyes squeezed shut. You tried to keep as silent as possible, because the last thing you wanted was for the others to come find you. As much as you wanted to get out of this situation, you would rather die than put the others at risk for death themselves. You could feel warm liquid seeping out of your side and in between your fingers, and despite all of your effort, little whimpers passed your lips.

You were feeling faint and weak, and your body pulsed with pain. You just wanted it to stop, but the pain seemed to get worse and worse until you couldn't think. Your mind was numb, but your body was on fire. It would've felt a little better to scream out your pain, to release a touch of anguish, even if it didn't stop the physical sensations, but you had to stay as quiet as possible. For the sake of the others, you had to stay quiet.

Namjoon stroked his finger under your chin. "Come on, princess. You don't have to fight it. The sooner you give in, the sooner this can all be over with."

You opened your eyes, trying to rebel in any way possible. "I'm not going... to let you... hurt my friends."

"You won't have a choice," Namjoon growled in your ear before sticking the knife in your leg.

Your chest tightened, and you could barely breathe as you fought against the pain. There was so much pain, and your thoughts seemed to throb with it. You weren't sure how much longer you could fight against it, but you had to try. You weren't sure how much longer your body would survive, but you had to fight against it. You weren't sure if you'd get out of this alive, but all be damned if you were going to give up before you took your last breath.

"Is it even working?" V asked, nervously standing by the side as Namjoon tortured you. "I mean, no one is coming."

"It will work." Namjoon was gritting his teeth, and for the first time you saw his nervousness. Was your resistance that much stronger than he had expected? This gave you a bit of resolve to keep you going.

You craned your head to make eye contact with Namjoon. "You're not going to beat me."

Namjoon snapped his head towards you, surprised by your low, commanding voice. He twisted the knife in your leg, making you hiss in pain. "What makes you think you can actually beat me."

Your labored breathing made it difficult to respond, but you couldn't let him know you were fading. "Because... I'm stronger than I look. As you know, I am a female alpha. Have you ever come across someone like me before?"

Namjoon's eyes flickered, and you were sure you sensed fear in him. Maybe he didn't know that much about female alphas after all. "Oh we know about you."

"But we haven't dealt with a female alpha before," V said, visibly shaking. "I mean, the text said they only appeared once in a blue moon. Not literally though, because that's not a long time."

Your ears perked at the word "text." Someone somewhere out there knew more about you than you did, and they wrote about it. If only you could get your hands on that text, you wondered what kind of things you would find out.

"Shut up," Namjoon snapped, seeing the realization in your eyes. "We don't want to give her any information."

"Why not?" you said. The pain started to subside a little, but you weren't sure if that was a good sign or not. "What are you so afraid of? In fact, why are you so afraid of werewolves in general?"

"I'm not afraid of werewolves." Namjoon twisted the knife again, but this time he did it to lash out at you. You were definitely hitting a nerve. "I just think they're dangerous creatures that should be eliminated everywhere."

You closed your eyes for a moment, starting to feel sleepy. No that wasn't a good sign. You forced your eyelids open, despite every inch of your body wanting to rest. "You've hurt more than I ever had, so in my eyes you're the dangerous one."

Namjoon curled his fingers into a fist. "I don't have to explain my reasoning. I have proof enough."

"What proof?" you muttered against the pain. The world around you started spinning. How much blood had you lost exactly? You weren't sure, but it had to be reaching a dangerous point. Namjoon and V had to know this. They wouldn't accidentally kill you, when they clearly needed you so badly, right?

Namjoon didn't respond for a moment. His eyes wandered off to the sky, and he seemed to be lost among the stars. "Maybe next time, princess." His voice was strangely soft, and it made you wonder what his past is exactly. Then the moment was lost and his eyes darkened once again. "Now, if you want to stay in one piece, why don't you howl for me with the pretty little mouth?"

"Never." You spat in his face. Suddenly you didn't care about what his past was, because there was no reason to treat anyone this poorly.

Namjoon growled, and he'd had enough of you. He pulled the knife out slowly, twisting it in the process and making you whimper once again. Then he stabbed the knife back into your leg again, and your whole body shook. Something seemed to snap inside of you, and you weren't sure what was happening. You slapped Namjoon across the face with a force you had no idea you had, especially not with how weak you felt.

Namjoon fell to the ground, his eyes wide. He clearly hadn't been expecting that either. "Restrain her!" he yelled, but his voice was high pitched and nonthreatening in the slightest. V looked at you, unsure if he should follow the orders or not.

With a snarl, your body begun to transform into the beast you were vaguely familiar with. The contortion of your bones and veins was even more painful with the wound inflicted all over your body, but the agony seemed to give you extra vigor. As you stood on all four paws, your heart raced. Your attention quickly turned to V as he held up his crossbow, debating whether he should shoot you or not. You made the decision for him by swiping the device out of his hands and crushing it into little bits.

Then you knocked him to the ground. You stood there, staring at your kidnappers on the ground, terrified of you, and for a moment you just wanted to destroy them completely. It wouldn't have been that difficult, but at the same time you knew your body was under a lot of stress, and you had no idea what kind of tricks they had up their sleeves. Instead, you turned on your heels and ran through the forest, running for safety.

It took all of your energy to keep moving, but you knew that if you didn't get away, didn't get any help, you would surely perish. You ran for as long as you possibly could, but the world started to darken, and you couldn't focus on anything anymore. Your body collapsed to the ground, and all at once everything gave into what you had been fighting this entire time. As your body morphed back into human form, too weak to stay in wolf form, ululating cries and howls spilled out of your mouth.

Help, you thought, unable to form words. Please, someone help me. You could hear your screams surrounding you, but you no longer felt like you were the one screaming. You felt detached to your body and wondered if this was the end. Would you die all alone in the middle of the forest all alone? At least the others would be safe. Surely they could fend against werewolf hunters better than you could.

You closed your eyes, at peace with the thought of the others being safe. You could still hear all of the shrieking around you, and you just wanted it to stop. You just wanted to sleep. You had no more energy left, and you just wanted to rest, but why wouldn't that screaming just stop? Your body started to feel cold, so you wondered if your body was giving up, but that was a fleeting thought. You just wanted to feel relaxed and safe again.

You felt your back warm and then you were floating. You wondered if that was how it felt at the end, but then something touched your face, moving your hair out of your eyes.

"Shhh," a familiar voice said. "It's all right. It'll be okay. I have you now."