"Hello?" I shout back over the cracking of the hungry pyre.
"Help!" The voices echoes off the chasm of the walls surrounding me, and I spot a log cabin ten meters from where I stand that has only just begun to set alight. My heart speed up with exhilaration, and thumps continuously as I make my way towards the wooden handle. "Someone, please help me!"
I curse when I see that the door is already alight. Taking a deep breath, I open the door, and burst into the room in a shower of sparks and embers. The interior was beautiful: the seats were made of wooden tree trunks, cut horizontally to show the rings captured within the bark. A bed lined the right side of the small cabin, and a rug lay in a large diamond across the wood grain. That was one half of the room. The other half of the room was a cloud of light.
In the middle of the room stands a girl, reaching out into the flames. She screams as she reaches into the yellow glare, but quickly withdraws her arm as the flames lick her skin and leave the organ a melted mess.
"Dad!" The girl cries. I can't see her face, but her posture was small, and her hair was neatly scraped into a dark ponytail. She only looked about nine from the back, and her childish clothes and lack of weapons gave me the impression that my guess was near accurate.
I rush over to her and scoop her up in my arms. Her body jolts with surprise, but her limbs soon relax in my arms.
"Shh.." I whisper tentatively in her ear. "It's ok. You're going to be ok. We just need to get out of here."
The girl turns towards me, and all I can see is an evaporating stream of tears. "My dad was sleeping and- he's still in there," she whines, and begins to thrash against my arms.
Instead of running towards the fire as the girl wishes, I run away from it, and pick up my courage to try and run through the burning doorway. I cover my hair with one hand, and the girl with my over, and surge through the door.
I land the other side unscathed, but it was only the first obstacle of many we had to face. The bonfire around us had since grown, the tents collapsing into heaps of ashes and white-hot remains. I see the outline of a skeleton in one tent, and the burning body of another victim beside it.
And finally, after days of battling the torment, I could no longer take it. We could have saved these people, and instead we let them burn.
Only now did I realise the truth: we weren't werewolves fighting for the right cause. Or people trying to do the best for other people. We were only doing what we had to in order to survive. We were only saving our own skins. And we were all monsters for being so selfish.
I collapse to my knees, too weak to continue. I did not want to emerge a beast from the flames, while other innocent lives had died because of my arrival. So many people had died because of me, and I could no longer bare it.
All this time I had thought that I was the good guy, but in the end, maybe there are no good guys. Maybe there is no right or wrong. But if there's one thing I've learnt, it's that there is greed and the lust for power, and those who fight against it.
"We need to go," the girl in my arms cries, snapping me back to reality. I couldn't leave her with me to die. I had to get through this, for her sake.
I look at her and her darker, unblemished skin. "Are you Harper?"
The girl nods, and I show her my best smile. She raises the corners of her mouth as a response, but no words form on her lips.
"Ok, Harper, I want you to hold onto me as tightly as you can," I say as calmly as I can, even though my organs are gradually shutting down, and all my bodily functions are giving up on me. "Can you do that?"
Harper nods once again, never breaking eye contact. Her orbs held the strange sensation of fear disguised by courage, but her body showed no signs of the torment.
"Good." I state as she tightens her arms around my neck, almost strangling me. And with that, I begin to run into the skyscrapers of light, searching for the safety of the snow, although I know that wherever I go, I will never be safe. None of us will.
11 | Scars
❝Everyone has a breaking point. If you push far enough, you'll find it.❞
Dull cobblestone walls close around me before I can blink. The journey had been short, and I had luckily emerged from the fire unscathed apart from a few minor scratches. Harper, on the other hand, had suffered a severe burn down her whole right arm. Although werewolves saw scars as marks of bravery, Harper saw her burn as a blemish that made her unattractive and unpleasant to look at.
As I continue to confidently stumble forwards, I feel empty, like I'm just wearing my skin but there's nothing inside me. I can't hear my heart, or feel the constant churning of my starving stomach. I feel like a balloon ready to burst. I feel as though my head is about to explode.
The Alpha Trials hadn't been enough to break me on my own, but the burning Scarlet Bone Pack had finally triggered the raw emotions concealed within me.
"Aurora," Alex shakes my arm, but I focus my gaze ahead, piercing through the barricades before me. I had to find Josh and tell Damien the news. We were going to take those bitches down, and I didn't care how. No one left me this vulnerable and got away with it.
"Aurora, please, I need to talk to you," Alex pleads from behind me, but my legs automatically begin to carry me forwards, deeper into the castle confines.
I still refuse to turn around, and decide to wave my hand instead. "Not right now, ok? I need to talk to Damien," I say, my voice letting on that I am on the brink of tears. And for once in my life, it was true: the salty water droplets had rounded up in my eyes, threatening to spill as any moment in the near future.
I climb the steps, up to the throne room. The guards let me past without giving a second glance at my crumpling shape. I didn't want them to see me like this - or anyone, for that matter - but it didn't look like I had a choice. I needed to see Josh so that he could cheer me up with his crappy sense of humour, and although I hated to say it, I needed to talk to Damien as well.
I finally reach the throne room, which - to my surprise - is full of other werewolves with a distinctive scent. Looking at the pattern of stern, blank faces and muscular physiques, there was no question as to who these people were: the alphas.
Azra is the one to spot me first through the crowd, and I am the one to spot her azure eyes out of the other dozen. I knew that she was not an alpha, but she was here for Josh. After the Alpha Trials, she had earnt respect from many of the other werewolves stood within this very room, so no one would question her presence either.
Azra runs up to me and stops before she can hug me. She studies my face like it's the most fascinating painting she's ever seen, her orbs burrowing deeper into my soul. I hope that what she sees isn't the cracked remnants of the person who once existed.
"Aurora," she sighs, but then notices the glint of water studding my eyes like jewels. "Are you ok?"
I shake my head, and for the first time in my life, push her away. "I need to talk to Josh," I whisper, and I can feel her body tense from the pure isolation of my words, but I didn't have time to feel bad. Azra was an incredible person, but she was not the werewolf that I needed to talk to at this moment in time.
"I'm here," a voice speaks solemnly from behind me. He must've seen me brush away Azra, and I knew that he was more protective over Azra than anyone else.
Congratulations, Aurora, you just pissed off your only friend.
I turn so slowly it feels like I'm moving through water, the dense and pressurizing liquid forcing my body to take hours just to turn on my heel. An exasperated sigh escapes my mouth as I battle the currents, the water filling my eyes and drowning them with tears.
I don't realise that I'm crying until my legs start running out of the room, into a separate corridor that leads to the King's chambers. I didn't want to go here, but there was nowhere else to flee, and whatever part of my mind had taken over, it was one that willed me to go here.
A hand catches the back of my jacket, pausing my legs in mid stride. My mind is still whirring like the constantly flaring sun, but my
legs have given up.
"Aurora?" He speaks gently, and this time I turn so quickly I almost slip on the polished wooden floors below us - the velvet carpets did not line this corridor.
I jump into Josh's arms before he has a chance to step away from me. I grip my arms behind his back, squeezing so tightly that he lets out a laborious breath, as if I was breaking every bone in his body with just one hug. My legs dangle weakly on the floor, and I bury my head in the side of his neck. Surprisingly, my head fits perfectly into the crook of his neck as if we were two puzzle pieces fitting together.
I can't see Josh's face, but I'm can imagine what it looks like: his deep mocha eyes wide in astonishment, with his eyes watering. He had always had a soft spot when someone else was crying, and he, just like everyone else, had never seen me cry before.
We had been in this position before, and he had told me to draw strength from my heart to keep my blood pumping endlessly around my body. For a time, I had done that. I had looked into the fathomless depth of my soul, only to find my thoughts scattered. Now, there was not heart left for me to turn to. After the horrifying two weeks I had endured here, it had broken me, and soon I wouldn't be able to repair myself.
"I can't do it, Josh," I sob into his shoulder as his arms begin to loosen around my body. "I- I can't. I saw a whole village burned to the ground. I saw people being burnt alive. I saw a child lose her father. I'm a monster, Josh."
Josh rubs a soothing hand down my back, but then thrusts me away from his arms so abruptly that my back hits the wall behind me, creating a loud, echoing thud on the rock. His eyes hold a sympathetic aspect, but he blinks and any sign of sympathy dies with it. His face hardens, his jaw suddenly appearing sharper and his eyes more angular, like slits. He looks slightly monstrous with his dark pigmented eyes and shadowed face in the limited light, but I knew that he did not intend to appear like that. He intended to snap me out of my daze and mould my heart back into the correct shape.
He strides towards me, and I back against the wall. "Aurora, wake up. This is not you," he demands as he snaps his fingers in front of my face. His words are quick and harsh, rattling through my brittle skeleton like a tormented zephyr. "The Aurora I knew was stronger than this. She won the Alpha Trials. She beat Damien, the Alpha King, and came out the other side stronger than ever. She killed a Rogue messenger without batting an eyelash. The Aurora I know is a warrior, and I know that she's still in there."
I gulp, liquid from my nose running into my mouth, mixed with salty tears. "You don't understand, Josh," my tears begin to fall more rapidly, as if five years of not crying had finally caught up with me. "I'm broken."
Josh steps even closer, so close that he is able to grab my hands and hold them in his own. His thumbs draw soothing circles on my scarred skin, but it barely lightens my mood. "No," he speaks more gently, pushing a strand of hair away from my face after releasing one of my hands. It then goes to cup my cheek, running his thumb yet again over the beige organ. "You're not broken. Aura, just because you cry, it doesn't make you weak. In fact, even the strongest warriors cry. Tears are no measurement of your bravery. And your scars, each of them tell a story of how you survived. Of how you were stronger than your opponent."
I wipe away the water from my eyes, the emotions finally ebbing away. Josh was right, I was still here, I just needed to resurface and look at the world with a different perspective. Then, against all odds, I laugh. "Stop giving me a lecture Josh, and get to the point."
"Aurora Thompson, you are the strongest person I have even known," His words cause me to smile inwardly, although I doubt my face projects the emotion the way it should. "If anyone can get through this, it's you," and with his final words, he leans in and places his lips on my own.
Startled at his sudden movement, I push him away, his eyes wide in shock. What, so he thought that he could just kiss me and get away with it? No way, arsehole. Maybe I did have feelings for him, but with my messed up past, I constantly found it difficult to differ between friendship and love. But right now, I did not love him. Not like that.
"Aur-" Josh begins, but I cut him off by slapping him hard in the face. I turn so sternly that I almost slip once more, but manage to gain my balance in the fear that I would embarrass myself even more if I fell.
"And she's back," I hear Josh murmur from behind me, and I can sense that he's smiling from the lightened tone of his voice.
Had he just kissed me to snap me out of my daze? Had he stolen my first kiss just to sort out my problems which I had finally figured out how to solve? He was still my best friend, but anyone can admit that that was a dick move.
I feel my chest expand with each huge, angry breath. Fuming from the occurrences, I race out of the corridor, leaving Josh behind to think about his actions. Well, at least I knew how he felt. I also knew that he would leave me room so that I could sort out my own feelings towards him.
I am a warrior. Warriors do not cry. I repeat to myself as I race back out of the narrow walls, back into the huge room where the alphas crowd around a large table in the centre of the cavern. There were fourteen alphas in total, including Damien himself, and two females. I spot Alex on the other side of the huge, oak slab, waving her arms are she effortlessly explains something to the other members surrounding it.
"Aurora," Damien's voice cuts precisely through the air like a dagger. Feeling a growl rip from my vocal chords unwillingly, I indignantly seal my lips shut as quickly as I can before I can embarrass myself further. "Come join us," Damien asks, and I see him signal to the table as I look in his direction. His jawline had gathered a light scattering of stubble in my absence, and his face already looked tired with haunting eye bags and sharper features.
I nod, and walk over the wooden piece of furniture, fitting in next to Damien before he continues to talk about something to do with the Rogues. Only when I'm right in front of the bench do I realise what is on it. Maps from the human world are strewn over the material, concealing the wooden grain. There are a dozen or so blue highlighted areas in different parts of the Alaskan forest, labelling each pack. Towards the North is a huge crimson blotch, as if someone had accidently burst an ink cartridge onto the paper. 'Rogues' in block capitals was scrawled in black across the area, causing me to gulp: the red area was twice the size of the blue area surrounding the kingdom of Arla.
I hold up my hand bravely in front of Damien, pausing his words which I hadn't even bothered to listen to. There was one piece of information he needed to know before we were to attack; one piece of advice which could mean the difference between winning and losing. The difference between life and death.
Damien rolls his eyes, agitated by my hand held in front of his face. "What is it?" He growls at me, but I raise my index finger to shush him and I use my other index finger to study the map in more detail. The rogue territory was surrounded by mountains, near where my own group of 'rogues' had lived.
"Hunter, the leader of the Rogues, has a mate," I state, and for some reason Damien appears to have a blank face. His features drop any sign of human intelligence and emotion. "He has a mate," I repeat in an attempt to make more sense to Damien.
Why was he acting so confused? The advantage was obvious: he didn't have a mate, but Hunter did.
In a blink, the Damien I know is back with his steel gaze and jawline sharp enough to cut through bone. His face snaps to my own, hazel eyes locking on the soft cocoa of my common pigmented orbs. His face lights up as he parts his lips in an attempt to smile, and for the first time ever I see a 'happy' Damien.
Long gone are the prominent eye bags. Long gone are the tense fingers and rugged shoulders. Long gone are the wrinkles of anxiety across his forehead. Instead, his features are replaced by calmness, and in those few seconds he looks like he's about to hug everyone standing in a ten meter radius. I hope he doesn't, because I'd be the first person he would hug.
Damien's smile widens as he opens his mouth to speak, exposing his perfectly lined teeth. "Tomorrow, we tr
ain," he states. Although his face suggested that he was slightly ecstatic, his voice did not hint any sign of emotion. He was like a carnival with an array of bright, luminous lights, but with no sound or fairground music. "On Wednesday, a group of fifteen werewolves led by Aurora will enter the rogue territory and attempt to kidnap Hunter's mate," Damien spoke triumphantly like he had won a participation medal as he pointed to a location on the blue and red studded map. The small area his finger finally came to rest on was a tiny black square on the edge of the rogue territory.
"Aurora, you will take the group through here. It's an old human mine that was shut off years ago, but the other entrance is in the centre of the rogue territory." He gulps, and only then do I get a sense of the danger he was putting us in. I think about the dank coolness and soggy walls of the pitch black mine I had been frequently told about by other werewolves during my upbringing. A shiver runs down my spine like an icy water droplet running down a window pane in the clutches of Winter. "If you navigate the tunnels correctly, you'll end up a mile away from the main rogue campus."
THE ROGUE WOLF Page 14
