Oath Breaker

by Shelley Wilson

  I darted forward and landed a punch on her left shoulder. She yelped and circled towards me, baring her teeth like a rabid dog. She jumped and spun in a full circle, knocking me off my feet with a roundhouse kick. I flew into the referee who managed to stay upright and keep me from hitting the gymnasium floor.

  I steadied myself and nodded my appreciation to the referee, walking back into the arena with purposeful strides. I caught Elizabeth’s eye as she gave me a double thumbs up sign. Sebastian had moved away from Felicity’s father and was now sitting next to Elizabeth and Miss Ross. They looked like a rent-a-crowd and it made me smile.

  ‘Something funny?’ Felicity spat the words at me.

  ‘Not at all, I just hope they’ve kept your bed warm in the nurse’s office.’

  Felicity roared and sprang at me, her anger wiping away all rational thought and training. I punched out in quick succession, left then right, two blows to the chest.

  ‘Eight points to Mia Roberts!’

  Felicity screamed and swung her fist forward, aiming for my head. I lifted my right arm to block her advance, pushing her away and slamming my own fist into her nose. I heard the crunch as I circled away from her.

  The referee blew his whistle and called me over.

  ‘No direct blows to the head, Miss Roberts. Two points will be deducted.’

  I didn’t care. This fight wasn’t about the points any more. I was doing this for Terry, for Cody and my brother. For all the wolves that Felicity and her family had tortured over the years. I was going to win for my mum, for Elizabeth and Miss Ross, for Adam and all the students that ever feared the bully who stood in front of me.

  I nestled the gold medal into the folds of my jumper, feeling the heavy weight of it against my chest. I never wanted to take it off again. I’d beaten Felicity by two points and went on to annihilate Elena by eight points to claim the prize.

  Felicity’s father had stormed out of the gymnasium before the end of his daughter’s fight, and I spotted Sebastian hurry out after him. I’m sure it hadn’t helped his cause that his ‘niece’ had beaten the main benefactor’s only daughter.

  I didn’t have time to think about that now. Darkness blanketed the sky, and I was eager to get to the overhang and speak to Cody. Winning the medal had pushed all my angst and disappointments to the side. I wanted to share my happy news and, somewhere inside me, I hoped that Zak would hear about my win and be proud of his sister. After seeing Felicity’s father at the tournament today, I understood just how dangerous it was for Zak to come anywhere near the academy. I needed to look beyond my own needs and appreciate that being pack leader had its risks. He knew where I was, and I would be waiting when it was safe for us to meet.

  I left the building and walked through the garden towards the patio doors of Adam’s room. I wanted to tell Elizabeth that I was sneaking out again.

  The gravel crunched underfoot as I manoeuvred my way along the path. When I reached the centre of the garden, I heard the low murmuring of voices.

  Through the curtain of leaves, I could see two figures sitting on the old stone bench, beneath the willow tree. The pale light of the bulbous moon glistened off Elizabeth’s long hair. She threw her head back and laughed. The sheer delight at making her happy was evident on Adam’s face. It filled my heart with a warmth that I’d thought was alien to me. Over the past few weeks, Elizabeth had become an important part of my life, like the sister I never had.

  Her happiness meant a lot and I knew that Adam would continue to make her laugh that loud for a long time. Her beautiful face lit up when she smiled at him, and I was genuinely happy for her.

  I let the branches fall back to shield them from my view as Adam leant in and tenderly kissed Elizabeth. They didn’t need an audience.

  The warmth I felt at my friends’ happiness spread through my limbs as I thought about my own private rendezvous. Quickening my pace, I wound through the thicket of trees, eager to see Cody and tell him about winning the tournament.

  As I reached the edge of the academy wall, I surveyed the empty windows of the house. All clear.

  I raced across the lawn at full speed, but before I could reach the shelter of the animal cages, a single figure stepped out from behind the wall and blocked my path.

  I skidded to a halt in front of Felicity, conscious that I was in full view of the academy windows. If anyone spotted me out of the building, I was in deep trouble.

  Shit.

  ‘Going somewhere?’

  Her squad stepped out to stand behind her. Elena grinned insanely, folding her arms across her chest. Goon number two followed suit. They looked like a couple of bizarre statues.

  I couldn’t afford for Sebastian to see me near the forest, not after he had forbidden me to venture into the woods at night, so I edged to my right in a bid to shelter behind the bushes. As if expecting my move, Felicity mirrored my steps, forcing me onto the open lawn.

  ‘I don’t have time for your pathetic games, Felicity.’

  Like a penalty shooter, I had three options: go left, go right or straight down the middle. I chose the last option and was pleased to see the shock register fleetingly on Felicity’s face as I barrelled into her.

  I shoved her hard as I passed, using the full force of my body. She regained her composure quickly and snapped her fingers. The two goons sprang to life and grabbed my arms in a vice-like grip. I flinched and tried to pull myself free, but they were surprisingly strong.

  ‘Not this time, Roberts.’ Felicity’s face twisted into a snarl as she skulked forward, bringing her nose close to mine. ‘You humiliated me today and I’m going to show you what happens to people who get on my bad side. Your uncle can’t save you this time.’

  I launched my head forward in a short, sharp snap and felt the crunch as her nose burst open. Blood spurted over her face, dripping off her chin, as she staggered back with a scream.

  She swung her fist and connected with my left cheek. I felt my lip split and licked the blood away quickly. She could keep punching me all night, but I refused to show her any weakness.

  I braced myself for the next onslaught but it never came. Instead, the girls dragged me down the path behind the animal cages, wrestling my phone out of my jacket pocket as they pushed and shoved me down the path. My first thought was that we were heading to the overhang and I hoped that Cody would be there to help me, but they veered left and worked their way down the path leading straight to the cages.

  One of the iron doors stood ajar. I didn’t register their intent until they shoved me unceremoniously through the opening. I landed heavily on the concrete floor, my hands and knees taking the brunt of the fall. The cage smelt of wet dogs. As I sat back on my legs, the cage door slammed shut behind me.

  I swung around in time to see Felicity click the padlock through the door, locking me in.

  ‘What the hell, Felicity?’ Fuming, I stood and grasped the bars of the cage, pushing my face up close to the metal. ‘Let me out.’

  She pressed her sleeve against her face, trying to stem the flow of blood from her busted nose.

  ‘You’re not going anywhere, wolf girl.’

  ‘What did you call me?’ I could feel the anger stirring deep in my gut.

  ‘Wolf girl! Don’t pretend you’re clueless. You must have worked it all out by now. Your precious mother was a wolf and it drove Sebastian to near madness. Now the academy is at risk again, and it’s all because of you.’

  She stabbed a finger through the bars and I used all my strength to avoid biting it.

  ‘My mum was a good person and she wanted to leave her pack to live a human life,’ I said quietly. ‘When I get out of here, I’m going to do the same.’

  Felicity laughed hysterically. With her face covered in blood, she looked deranged, almost demonic.

  ‘The pack protect their own, so if it’s proof you need that you inherited your mother’s genes then allow me to educate you.’ She moved to the side and Elena stepped closer, holding a small crossbo
w in one hand.

  I didn’t have time to move or cry out as she fired it through the bars, the bolt hitting me hard in my left shoulder. The agony was immediate; a hot, searing scream of pain shot through me as the force of the bolt sent me crashing into the far wall.

  I slid to the floor, tears coursing down my face as I grabbed the shaft and tried to tug it free. Blood poured down my arms and chest.

  Felicity stood close to the locked door and sneered down at me.

  ‘The pack protect their own; you’ll see it soon enough, wolf girl.’

  The three of them walked away as if they’d been on a calm stroll through the grounds.

  I swore as I tugged again at the bolt; it was in deep and every movement caused more blood loss.

  Shit.

  The animal cage was empty aside from an old tin bucket with a hole in the bottom. Dragging myself across the filthy floor, I grasped the handle. Swinging it hard, I smashed it against the iron bars. The vibration shot through my limbs and made my teeth hurt, but the loud clang echoed out into the woods with a satisfying sound.

  Someone would hear. Someone would come.

  I lifted the bucket again and swung it repeatedly until my arm grew tired.

  THERE WAS A definite chill in the air, or perhaps my limbs were numb from the loss of blood. Either way, I was freezing. Felicity hadn’t returned and so far my lame attempts to call for help had remained unanswered. Part of me hoped that Elizabeth and Adam would take a romantic amble through the woods and find my crumpled form, but no such luck.

  The bolt from the crossbow, still embedded in my shoulder, hurt like hell. I’d ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of my T-shirt and tried to bind the wound as best I could to stem the flow of blood.

  I felt light-headed. I was cold to my bones. I was alone.

  As if in answer to my prayers, I heard a rustle in the distant forest: the unmistakable crunch of boots on the ground.

  ‘Help!’ My voice cracked slightly and I coughed to try to loosen up my vocal chords before trying again. ‘Please, help me!’

  Like a vision sent by the angels, Cody stepped out of the treeline and stopped short. His obvious shock at seeing me locked in a cage and covered in blood subsided fairly quickly, and he cleared the space between us in a couple of strides.

  ‘What the hell happened?’

  ‘Long story,’ I said, threading my arm through the bars so I could hold his hand.

  ‘You’re like ice, Mia.’

  He examined the bolt and wound in my shoulder with a grim set to his jaw.

  ‘Who did this to you?’

  ‘There’s a girl with an inherent hatred of wolves, and as my mother was one, she’s taken it upon herself to make my life a living hell.’

  I shuffled towards the door, and it took all my strength to pull myself up to standing. I grabbed the padlock and wiggled it.

  ‘Have you got a penknife or anything that will break the lock open?’

  Cody felt in his pockets and then began searching the compressed soil outside the animal cages looking for any kind of tool that would suffice. There was nothing and I felt the wave of Cody’s anger and fear hit me as he raised his eyes to mine.

  ‘I need to go get help,’ he said, taking a step backwards.

  ‘No! Please, Cody, don’t leave me.’

  ‘I have to, Mia. You’ve lost so much blood and you need medical help. I’ll go get my brothers. They’ll know what to do.’

  I flinched away from the cage door as he stepped forward and took hold of my hands through the bars. As situations went, this one sucked, but I didn’t want to sit in the dark on my own for a moment longer.

  ‘I’ll fetch Zak.’

  ‘No! It’s dangerous for him to come here. If Sebastian sees Zak, he’ll try to capture him and inject that horrible serum into him.’

  ‘Sebastian won’t find out. I’ll run fast and be back before you know it. Zak’s your brother, Mia. He’ll want to help.’

  I felt a rush of heat flood through my system and even though I knew it came from Cody and his wolf genes, I couldn’t help but associate the warmth with the prospect of seeing my brother again.

  ‘I’ll be fast. Tomorrow is a full moon so my senses and reactions are already heightened.’

  He leant close to the bars and pulled me gently forward, kissing me lightly on my split and bloody lips.

  ‘I’ll be back soon,’ he whispered.

  Cody shrugged out of his jacket and passed it through the cage bars, helping me slip it around my shoulders. His scent wrapped itself around me and calmed my frayed nerves.

  ‘I’ll see you soon.’ I said it more to convince myself than as a goodbye.

  He nodded and turned towards the treeline, releasing my hand only an inch at a time as if it hurt him as much as it pained me to lose that physical contact.

  I watched him walk away across the dirt track heading to the bushes and waited for him to turn around one last time. I knew he would because it was the kind of thing I’d do. We were more alike than either of us would let on.

  As his shoulders shifted in my direction, there was a blur of movement followed by a feral cry. I shouted out in warning but it was too late. Felicity pushed through the branches and swung her staff at Cody, beating him square on the back and knocking him off his feet.

  Felicity and her two goons towered over Cody, hitting him repeatedly with their staffs. The sound of wood on flesh filled the air and a wave of nausea rushed over me.

  ‘Cody!’ I screamed his name and rattled at the cage door, desperate to get to him.

  Felicity moved away from her friends and smirked at me. The silvery light cast from the moon high up in the sky highlighted the evil glint in her eyes.

  ‘Wolf for a mother and wolf for a boyfriend. I shouldn’t have expected anything less.’

  ‘Leave him alone, Felicity. It’s me you’ve got the issue with, not him.’

  She laughed, a high-pitched hysterical laugh that stopped her goons in their tracks. The three of them circled towards me. I glanced over their shoulder to where Cody lay still on the ground. Elena prodded her stick through the bars, taunting me.

  ‘My mother was murdered by a wolf,’ Felicity said, her voice dripping with venom. ‘I watched it happen right in front of me.’

  ‘Yeah, well, both my parents were murdered by wolves and yet I’ve learned to forgive.’

  ‘Forgive scum like that?’ She pointed her staff in Cody’s direction. His shoulders were hunched over, but he was trying to push himself up. I looked back at Felicity, eager to keep her eyes on me and not on Cody.

  ‘They deserve to die,’ she shouted through the iron bars at me.

  I needed to stall and give Cody time to recover. He could still get away and fetch help.

  ‘Where would you be if there were no werewolves, Felicity?’ I stepped backwards and held my hands out palms facing upwards, the action causing pain to flare through my shoulder. I winced but continued, ‘You’d be out of a job, attending a normal school where the popular kids would kick your ass. You’d be a nobody.’

  Felicity’s cheek twitched in the moonlight and I knew I’d struck a nerve. I pushed a little more, digging at her with my words, hoping for a reaction. It was a trick I’d picked up from my father.

  ‘Of course, you already know what it’s like to be a nobody, don’t you? I bet Daddy thinks you’re a waste of space after losing the tournament to a wolf girl.’

  The taunting worked and Felicity launched herself at the cage, flinging her arms through the bars in an attempt to scratch my eyes out. I grabbed her wrists and bent them backwards so she couldn’t back up and get away. She screamed and kicked out at the bars.

  The pain in my shoulder was almost too much to bear, but I couldn’t lose my advantage over the redhead.

  ‘Open the gate and I’ll let her go,’ I shouted at Elena who stood open-mouthed watching events unfold.

  She fumbled for the key to the padlock and rushed to the door. Her ha
nds were shaking so much that she dropped the key twice until I finally heard the clunk of the lock.

  ‘Throw the padlock into the woods, open the door and then step back, both of you.’

  Elena and minion number two did as I asked, moving away from where I held Felicity, who was still spitting and swearing at me.

  When they were far enough away, I released Felicity’s hands and made a run for the open doorway. Stepping out into the clearing, I took in a lungful of the forest air, a welcome relief after the wet-dog smell mingled with my blood.

  Felicity threw herself at me, grabbing the bolt in my shoulder and twisting. I screamed and fell to my knees, taking her down with me.

  ‘I’m going to kill you,’ she cried.

  At that moment, when I looked into her eyes, I believed that she would indeed kill me. I’d seen loathing, hatred and wickedness in my father’s eyes on numerous occasions, so I recognised it when I saw it. Felicity wasn’t just a nasty school bully, she was evil incarnate, and if I was going to get out of this situation alive, I would have to fight dirty.

  I grabbed a handful of her long red hair, and using my good arm I swung my fist up, connecting with the underside of Felicity’s chin. Her head snapped backwards, giving me the space I needed to wriggle out from under her.

  Leaping to my feet, I moved out of her reach. With the woods behind me, I faced the animal cages and could just make out the twinkling lights from the academy in the distance. I momentarily wished that Sebastian would come looking for me, but then I remembered Cody and thought better of it.

  As if reading my mind, Felicity grabbed her staff from the floor and sprinted across the clearing to where Cody was crouched, rocking on his hands and knees.

  She swung the stick and I heard the sickening crack as it collided with his head. He pitched onto his side and started twitching and shaking all over. Felicity held the staff above her head. She was ready to continue with her barrage of abuse but stopped in mid-swing to observe Cody’s strange movements.