Sabina had seen his Alpha in battle.
The ancient wolf was, for lack of better words, absolutely terrifying. As a man, Orion was intimidating, frightening even. Standing at seven feet tall, two-point-one meters, the man was a giant. Then add to him muscles that showed only pure power, an incessant need to dominate and destroy. He was built for the hunt, and built for the kill all at the same time. Scars gathered across his tan body half hazard, covered by tattoos spreading over his back and arms, it was impossible not to stare.
His teeth were sharper than normal wolves, his human canines almost to a full point.
His hands always ready to fight, tensed in wait.
His eyes, a physically moving blue that twisted in a battle between his wolf and his mind- was there even a difference anymore? Or were they so entwined they were one entity rather than two?
In human form he was intimidating, in his Beast's skin he was death.
Black as the shadows between the trees, glowing blue eyes filled with hellfire, Sabina had only ever had nightmares of hellhounds but he knew they looked like Orion. He was different from the traditional evolution of the werewolves of today. His shoulders were more cat-like, bunched high with muscle, ready for pouncing and climbing more than that of the werewolf of the twenty-first century. His teeth were long, keeping his mouth from closing all the way, but perfect for peeling meat from the bone.
And hearing his roar as that frail woman was dumped, screaming long wailing cries into the snow, Sabinas worst fear had come true.
He had always prayed for the best for his Alpha. The Goddess would bless him, he knew it would happen, she would never curse a man to a life alone for eternity. He had just prayed, when he did find his mate, it was peaceful. Sabina was certain if he had found his mate, and any harm had come to her, it would send him into a killing spree that nobody would be able to pull him out of, at least not until everyone was dead.
In a simple breath, in a simple blink, time had stood still, the Earth had stopped its rotation. As Apollo had whispered to that woman, it was as if the planet held her breath, her heart had skipped an ancient beat.
Then exploded into life.
Orion was free from the confines of human skin in an instant, flying down the mountainside he had perched himself on in the shadows of the tree line. Sabina was hot on his trail, ready to defend his Alpha and his- he assumed- Luna, after all, a man such as Orion did not have uncalculated outbursts of this magnitude. Not that Sabina had been alive to witness, not that those before him had ever spoke about, Orion was a silent man by nature.
The Malkún pack huddled close in fear, the roar startling the the people into surrounding their young and elderly. Apollo grabbed Adrienne and forced her behind him while Augustus did the same with his mate, nobody moved to protect the screaming woman writhing in pain, fighting to crawl away from the man who whispered so softly in her ear. Her legs wouldn't work, Scarlets legs wouldn't work. Her head was cloudy, and her heart hammered so hard in her body she could only hear blood pumping in her ears and the world moved on its axis. But she could smell him, Orange Blossoms, and she could feel his breath in her ear as he whispered those words, as she had delirious dreams while her skull and brain slowly healed itself from his assault. A high pitched ringing was loud in her brain. Her left arm wasn't working, her legs weren't working, but she was dragging herself through the snow she had been so used to working in, feeling the hail and heavy, heavy, sleet pounding into her back and head as she screamed, but she wasn't sure anyone was listening.
"But you're here alone- nobody cares about you. Nobody cares to come and see you. To save you. Nobody would know if you died, nobody would care!" He laughed, stumbling on his tips of his feet.
Scarlets brain was stuck in the cells.
Her lungs throbbed with the lack of oxygen, her screams dying on her trembling lips as saliva pooled over them and dribbled into the snow. Her head hurt so terribly, she could feel his foot stepping on her skull heavier and heavier each time, until it broke. It caved in, it squished as her blood squirted from her scalp where he had just pulled her hair from minutes before. She gasped for air, finally feeling her lungs expanding with the sweet taste of winter air, before a fresh wave of agony rolled through her flesh and bones, and a new scream pulled itself from the pits of her stomach.
Orange blossoms.
The world rolled on its axis.
Orange blossoms.
Was she up, or down? On her stomach or back? Agony boiled through her body enough that bile fell from her lips. Where was she looking, she reached her working arm forward trying to drag herself away, far far away from here, when she felt it. The presence of the animal, standing over her body. The fur was warm against her flesh as she lay in the deep snow, its stance over her keeping her from the hail that fell so heavily to the ground.
Panic was a hard rock in her abdomen, fear froze her heart. She had witnessed an exile before, just once. The young lady did not make it to the tree line, let alone the border, and she was ripped apart. Her blood pooled in the fresh grass, and Scarlett had to wash it down with a garden hose. The earth had sucked it into her soil after the next full day of rain.
Scarlet would now be that girl.
Her blood would stain the snow until it melted and she became the soil. The large beast she could not see through her blackened eyes released a roar that forced another scream from her damaged throat. The beast lowered its body on top of hers and the pressure on her badly broken arm forced tears from her sealed eyes and quiet screams from her burning throat.
"I think it would be in everyone's best interests if we took the rogue." A stranger mumbled.
The pain burned brighter and brighter, blooming into agony as the beast lowered itself further with a deep grumble in its chest, pressing against Scarlets arm. The agony boiled and bubbled, building and building, until her heart galloped like a racehorse and her breaths wheezed through her tight throat.
"Take the rogue? You're impeding on my sons first act as Alpha! This is treason!" Scarlets Alpha screamed, she could just imagine his face burning red, veins popping out of his neck.
Was she near the rogue? Was that why this beast was hurting her?
"Alpha Augustus, I cannot guarantee you that he will not attack if you do not allow us to take her, now." The man was stern, but his voice trembled as though he was fighting to keep his tone minimal.
It was silent, except for Scarlets sobbing from the pain radiating from her head and broken arm, vicious snarls echoed in the belly of the beast above her.
"Take her." Augustus commanded.
"Thank you, Alpha." Sabina answered, as he slowly creeped forward.
"Orion. You must let me take her. We can bring her back with us." He said lowly.
The beast roared at the foreign being coming close to his possession. He settled himself farther into the young girls arm, and Scarlets brain shut down.
"Orion, if I can't carry her, then you must. Shift, take her. Or let me carry her, so you may guard and protect her." A gruff noise came from the wolf's throat, before he slowly lifted his rib cage from the young woman, quiet beneath him.
Sabina waited for the Beast to be completely off of the young lady, before looking in his battling eyes for consent to step forward and carry his Luna. Once he had given it, with a huff and snap of his teeth, he stepped forward and almost immediately stopped. The long flowing sleeves that had once been covering the girls arms to her wrists had moved up her thin bones to her shoulders.
Bruises blooming the color of blackberries under her skin were violent in appearance, when next to the stark white snow. Obvious compound fractures were below her skin, bones protruding just under the flesh that Orion had just rested his stomach against. Whip trauma, long and angry, bubbling along her tanned- but sickly looking, skin were raised and a violent purple of fresh scars. Her long chocolate brown hair had moved away from her face. Horror gripped Sabina by his stomach, he was quick to lift her and to cover it from Orion's view, tucking it into his chest.
Sabina followed his Alpha that snapped and growled his way through the rows of Malkún pack members. His shoulders bunched and curled as he readied himself to launch at these people should any of them make a move for his mate. Though, none moved. They stood solemn, their eyes shining with fear as they held each other, though they didn't look at Orion's impressive Beast, they stared at the girl. They stared at her wrists, the dried blood in her hair, the way she stayed limp and unmoving in Sabinas arms. They stared with recognition, they stared with fear, they stared like they knew something. She was no Rogue. He would come back and slaughter these people.
Sabina would be right behind him.
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