Animal Instinct

by Noelle N

  Malthus watched the scene unfold with a sadistic smile on his face and gestured towards the other guards remaining. Two of them began to shift, and I tensed when I realised that they were about to join in the fight. But before they could, someone made the first move.

  The brown wolf form of Lance unexpectedly spun around so that he was standing next to Jed.

  For a moment, everyone froze in surprise. It took me a few seconds to figure out what had happened, but I felt relief sweep through me when I realised that Lance was no longer growling at Jed. His eyes were far more alert than they'd been mere seconds ago, and he gave a warning snap when one of the guards lunged too close to him.

  Animal, human. I could remember everything that Jed had mentioned perfectly, and it all made sense now when I saw it happen. If you pushed your mind hard enough, you could overcome even your animal instincts.

  Malthus, on the other hand, looked furious. "Useless," was all he said, his words spitting like venom from his lips. He watched, bored, as Lance growled up at him, and raised a hand to signal the last two guards who stood by his side. "Kill them all."

  The guards nodded, and I froze when I realised that one of them was headed towards me. One of the wolves suddenly pounced on Jed, and I quickly took a step forward, just as Lance and the remaining two wolves joined in the scuffle. Giles, on the other hand, veered towards me as well, and my heart leapt to my throat when I realised that they were corralling me away from the fight, and into a new one where I was all on my own. Through it all, Malthus watched with steady, almost unblinking dark eyes.

  My fingers tightened around the knife in my hand, keeping the weapon hidden behind my back. And when the final guard tried to grab me into a headlock, I didn't hesitate. With an upward slash, I ripped a thin line through his arm and felt the blood splatter across my face as he yelled in pain and twisted away. But Giles snapped his jaw threateningly at me and I yelped, taking a horrified step away from him, just as he lunged at me.

  The nails along his paws were sharp and all but dug into my shoulders when we tumbled to the ground. I spliced the knife blindly up, felt him duck and there came another snap of his jaw that I barely evaded. Tears of sheer hysteria were leaking from the corners of my eyelids now, blurring my vision but all I could focus on was the pounding in my head, the looping mantra of stay alive, stay alive, stay alive, even as the other guard reached out to grab me again.

  Before he could, there was an agonising crunch as a familiar dark mass of fur lunged at him. The black wolf sunk its jaws into his leg before pulling him away from me. Jed viciously tugged the man aside, forcing the man engage in a fight that the others were already up to their necks in – a mess of howling and scuffling and growls until I couldn't tell one apart from the other.

  That left me with Giles. And I didn't want to kill him, really I didn't, but I was acting on instinct right now. He snapped at my wrist before I could slash the knife at him, his sharp teeth coming so close to my skin that I was forced the drop the knife, where it clattered far out of my reach. With one large paw pressed against my chest, he had me pinned down and was just about to sink his jaws into my throat when I caught a glimpse of onyx in the corner of my eye.

  I didn't even think. I reached a hand up to my pendant, twisted the silver blade out, and rammed it straight into Giles's left shoulder.

  With a wretched howl, he yanked himself away from me as though he'd touched an open flame, collapsing heavily on his side. He fell half over me and I hastily pushed him aside. Feeling rather disoriented, I fought to catch my breath for a few moments before pushing myself up.

  "I'm sorry, Giles," I whispered, quickly dislodging the blade from his shoulder and trying not to wince when I felt a gush of steady blood flow from his wound. Without the silver in his blood, I knew that this would just scar, as it had when I first stabbed Jed. "But stay down."

  Ignoring my bloody palms and scrapped knees, I scrambled to my feet. But just as I straightened, a large arm hooked around my neck in a vice-like grip that left me floundering, a terrified shriek escaping my lips when I realised that it was Malthus who'd finally joined in the fight.

  "You're a feisty little thing, aren't you?" He mused, as he dragged me to the balcony, his breath hot against my ear in a way that made me shiver out of sheer terror.

  Despite my efforts in struggling, his grip was vice-like. He was a snake and I was the prey he was slowly squeezing the life out of with one arm. I bit back a whimper when he yanked the pendant away from my neck, snapping the chain violently and tossing it onto the ground.

  When he saw the horrified look on my face, he smirked. "Almost regret not playing with you when you were in my little den – "

  The words had barely left his lips when a heavy force rammed against him. He toppled right off balance, dragging me down with him onto the floor with one arm still tight around my neck. I heard a sharp snap, a crunch of teeth against fragile skin, then jagged teeth against crumbled bones just right by my ear that left me paralysed for a moment in horror.

  It wasn't until I heard Malthus's yell, and felt his arm loosen around my neck when I realised that Jed had been the one to intervene. Blood gushed forth from the wound that Jed had inflicted on him, a clean chunk bitten off Malthus's arm to save my life, and I hastily scrambled away, feeling Jed push me aside as he placed a firm distance between Malthus and me. A dead wolf's body was barely a few feet away from us, another one near the stairs, while Giles lay in a motionless heap by the corner of the room.

  Pushing myself up, I took a step forward to help Jed, only to be deterred when one of the remaining wolves blocked my line of vision, snarling and growling lowly at me. Lance was by my side in a flash, but so was the other wolf, and the two of us were being slowly but steadily backed into a corner.

  I kept one eye fixed on the snarling wolves, who didn't seem to want to attack us. Not yet, at least, just to hold us at bay so that Malthus and Jed could have their fight. And Jed was circling the man he once feared. He seemed to fear him even now, keeping a wary distance from him, ears pricked and eyes sharp as he calculated Malthus's every move.

  Because Malthus wasn't anything to take lightly. Human instinct, Jed had told me, and he was right. Instead of shifting into his wolf the way the others did in a fight, he chose instead to stay as he was, brandishing a silver knife of his own in his good hand as he faced Jed. He fought not merely with his instincts but with his head, and he faked several moves that left Jed faltering, almost getting a quick stab in on two opportune moments when he took Jed by surprise.

  "Do you remember this knife?" Malthus said to Jed, a sinister chuckle slipping past his lips as he easily evaded one of Jed's attacks. "Our father would use this on you on multiple occasions and as long as we were patient enough – you'd cave."

  Jed stilled. I could see all the way from here that Malthus's words had instilled even more fear in him, see the way his green eyes wavered, his paw track a step back as he faltered.

  Malthus shook his head, and the look on his face was grave now, the shadows encasing him within until he was a perfect blend with them. "You always fought so hard, Jedediah, and that was what made you our favourite toy. You could even say that in our own twisted way, we loved you – "

  The sentence froze on his tongue when Jed suddenly lunged forward without any warning. Locking his jaws around Malthus's wrist, he snapped down on it so hard that I heard a terrible crack. Malthus dropped the knife with a yell and hit out at Jed with the other hand, but Jed easily evaded and rammed against him, knocking him right off balance.

  In the blink of an eye, Jed had Malthus pinned to the ground, razor-sharp teeth inches away from his neck as he growled down at him, one paw pressed tightly against his throat and the other pushing down on his chest.

  A blend of resignation and malevolence flitted across Malthus's face as he stared up at Jed. "Go ahead." Malthus spat out a mouthful of blood and directed his gaze at me. "Kill me just like you did to our father right in front of her."
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  The words made Jed falter and he threw me a quick glance over his shoulder. He looked remarkably like when I first met him – bloodlust warring within him as he stood over Claudius's dead body, with me just barely a few feet away. Even in his wolf form, his eyes conveyed the same emotions.

  "Not going to make a move?" The smirk on Malthus's face stretched. "Fine. My turn, then."

  All I caught was a flash of onyx and silver.

  And Malthus buried the knife of my pendant into Jed's chest.

  For a moment, everything seemed to come to a complete standstill. Every second seemed to take an eternity to tick by, and I could see it all in slow motion – Jed's involuntary lurch backward, the echo of his tortured howl ringing in the silence, the crimson blood gushing from the fatal stab.

  "Jed – "

  His name left my lips in a terrified scream when I saw him collapse, the onyx of the crescent pendant still buried deep into his chest, the silver blade sunk all the way in. Lance lunged forward immediately and so did I, but we were both held back by the wolves in front of us, still snarling and keeping us at bay, away from him.

  I could feel everything he felt flooding through me – a drowning blend of agonising pain that scorched every single inch of my body until my mind was nothing but numbed. This had to be what the monsters winning felt like. This had to be what dying felt like. This had to be what losing the one person who meant the world to you felt like. It didn't feel like sadness, or pain, or anger – no, it felt like breaking, every part of you felt shattered into a million fragments until you knew you could never, ever piece yourself back together again.

  Malthus mercilessly shoved Jed aside, leaving him in his wolf form lying in a pool of crimson blood, blood that was still gushing forth in torrents from his chest. Picking up his own knife that he'd dropped earlier, Malthus strode towards us with nothing but lethal intent on his face, eyes cold and glinting with amusement as he saw the look of utter devastation on my face as I stared at Jed.

  Lance lunged forward in a defensive stance when Malthus reached for me, but he was promptly dragged off by the two wolves. When I twisted out of the way, he didn't blink, simply reaching a hand out with his swift reflexes to latch around my arm, before dragging me outside so that I was mere feet away from Jed.

  "Say hello to my brother for me wherever you end up in," Malthus said lightly, and yanked my head back, the silver blade in his hand mere inches away from my neck. Heart pounding in fear and eyes wide open, I struggled futilely against him and felt myself drag in that last few terrified gasps of air.

  Then there was a gunshot.

  For a moment, I froze, my breath catching in my throat as I wondered if the bullet had hit me and I was treading somewhere along that fragile line between life and death.

  But I felt no pain and instead, it was Malthus who wavered. His arm loosened around me as he went stock still after the impact had thrown him off course. Then the next two gunshots rang out in quick succession, and he stumbled, the knife slipping from his hand and clattering onto the ground. When I followed the direction of his gaze, I saw what he had seen – the three silver bullets that had buried themselves along the surface of his shoulder.

  I turned around, and so did Malthus, even though his actions were jerky as he did. Only to come face to face with an emotionless Bianca, who held a gun in her hands, the barrel levelled right at him.

  "I did promise you this, darling," She said to Malthus, her voice entirely cool as she surveyed him with a slight tilt of her head. "Remember?"

  Horror flickered across his hard features when realisation dawned on him. But he had barely the chance to react before Bianca pulled the trigger on him again.

  Four, five, six.

  Again and again and again; and I quickly stumbled away from him as Malthus began to stumble back from the torrent of bullets. Bianca's aim was on point but never lethal, strategically directed at specific parts of his body where it was never along an important artery or vein. It was clear she wanted a slow, painful death in retribution for everything he'd done to her, every second of every minute of torture that he'd inflicted upon her, and so much more.

  I'd already averted my eyes even though I flinched every time a gunshot rang out above the sound of the crashing waves; and focused my attention instead on Jed as I collapsed to the ground beside him. I didn't waste a moment pulling out the knife – sometimes, you didn't in order to keep from aggravating the wound further; but Jed was vulnerable to silver and the longer it stayed in him, the worse things got. He was still bleeding profusely, losing far too much blood that the feeling of sinking dread within me grew with every second that passed.

  But when the gunshots began to slow, I glanced up. With a calm look on her face, Bianca took her time firing the last few bullets.

  Twenty. Twenty-one. Twenty-two.

  "And twenty-three," She finished evenly, firing that last shot before the corners of her lips tugged up in a cold smirk. Malthus was a bloodied, grotesque mess that was crumbling, quivering as he tried to hold himself up. But with several quick strides, Bianca stood in front of him, her posture straight and head held high as she regarded him with the coldest blue eyes. "I counted."

  Without warning, she swept up one foot in a high kick that landed square in his chest, knocking the wind right out of his lungs. The monster looked truly terrified now, eyes wide with fear as he realised that he was about to meet his demise. Malthus flailed for a second, before he toppled over the railing, hands grasping out for nothing but air as he fell over the balcony.

  At that moment, it didn't even occur to me to save him. The notion never even came to mind. Bianca and I watched as Malthus plummeted down, until he finally disappeared into nothingness in the black waters below.

  For a while, neither of us spoke. Then I blinked, and that movement alone was enough to trigger the both of us back into action. She spun on her heel and fluidly loaded her gun again, leaving to help Lance fight off the other two wolves, while I remained by Jed's side.

  The moment I laid a shaking hand on his head, he opened his eyes. A flicker of recognition pulsed within them when his gaze latched on me, and before I knew it, he was shifting back. It seemed to take him a tremendous effort, the change happening far slower than it usually did, until his black fur had faded to smooth skin stained with crimson blood.

  "Jed." My voice was barely a whisper as I stared at him. There was just so, so much blood. Everywhere. Until it was all that I could see apart from him. "Jed, Jed, stay with me."

  Haphazardly, I shrugged off my coat and draped it over his body to cover him, before sidling closer and tugging the sleeve of my jumper over the palm of my hand. I was just about to add pressure to the open, gaping wound in his chest when his hand caught mine, long bloodied fingers looping around my wrist as he brushed his thumb gently against my skin.

  "Quinn," He breathed, his voice a tired rasp that was barely audible to my ears.

  "You're going to fine, okay?" The words tumbled out of my lips in a haphazard, almost incoherent flurry and I pressed the other sleeve of my jumper to his wound. He didn't even seem to care; either that or he was so numbed with pain that he no longer felt it. "Just stay with me, I'll get you out of here and everything will be okay, I promise, just stay with me – "

  "Alpha." The familiar voice sounded worried and Lance was suddenly by Jed's other side. He'd shifted back and had already pulled on his jeans, but it was impossible to miss the bruises smattering across his torso. He took one look at Jed's bleeding chest, then at the bloodied silver knife sticking out of the onyx pendant on the floor, and his face went ashen. "Shit."

  In the background, I could hear the occasional howl echoing in the distance, as well as Bianca's voice telling us that she was going to get help, and then her rapid footsteps as she disappeared, but I could hardly care less. Instead, I focused on Jed, letting Lance take over from me as he reached for his jacket and pulled it up over Jed's chest, hands pressed steadily over his wound to stop the bl
eeding. Jed didn't seem to notice. Instead, he simply stared at me, his green eyes clearly laced with pain and becoming duller by the second, but he kept his gaze fixed on me and nothing else.

  "Don't leave me, okay?" I was sobbing openly now, but I hardly cared, especially when he began to drift off, fighting to keep his eyes from closing. "You can't find me and then leave me so soon after. You can't make me fall in love with you and then leave before I've even loved you enough – "

  A flicker of apology crossed his eyes. His fingers were still looped loosely around one of my wrists, and he tugged my hand up. With an infinite amount of gentleness, he brushed his pale lips across my skin and sponged a soft kiss against the back of my hand.

  It was the last thing he did before his grip loosened around mine, his eyes finally falling shut.

  29

  REIGN

  Flowers looked their prettiest in the graveyards.

  It was something that I came to realise in the aftermath. Rows upon rows of graveyards. Bouquets after bouquets of flowers. The idea of it seemed almost sickening, but when you saw it, there was an unexpected semblance of calmness. Flowers bloomed where life could not. There had to be some sort of poetry in that.

  Placing a fresh white daisy on the grave I was standing in front of, I pressed my fingers to my lips, then pressed my fingers to the grave. A stray tear slipped past my cheek but I brushed it off, before straightening and tucking my hands into the pocket of my coat. After casting one final glance at the grave, I let out a quiet breath and turned to leave.

  The trek back to the road took me several minutes and by the time I got there, almost everyone was gathered by their respective cars. I headed straight to the first, which Lance was leaning against. The sombre expression on his face gave way to a slightly worried look when he saw me.