CHAPTER 27

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My eyes erupted in shock, pupils dilating as the acrid stench of rotting flesh invaded my senses. In an instant, a vortex of memories, as vivid as they were tormenting, spiraled back to that fateful moment when this wretched villain had orchestrated the annihilation of my future...

My wolf, a relentless force of primal fury, unleashed a thunderous growl that sent shockwaves trembling through the very bedrock of the forest, a visceral reminder of the pent-up rage that surged within me. Feeling me spiralling into a pit of unknown darkness within, she turned protective ready to guard me with her life.

Amidst the desolation of this forest, a dissonant, nasal voice sliced through the air. "Behold, the Ikanir wolf," he intoned, his words dripping with venom. He punctuated this macabre declaration with a disconcerting applause, his head gyrating in a grotesque, hypnotic rhythm.

With trepidation clawing at my chest, I turned to face him, every fiber of my being on edge. Abruptly, the sinister applause ceased, and he descended to one knee in a grotesque genuflection, a nightmarish sight that left the survivors who cowered behind him gasping in disbelief. Some of the children, their innocence irrevocably tainted, broke into inconsolable sobs. All the helpless, children, women, and old alike huddle together in the hope of being parted from any sinful unfortunate consequences. All shivering expectedly waiting for the mere seconds of unknown sin, awaiting their end. Just as I stand between their eminent death a foot apart.

His dead, hollow eyes bore into me with a predatory intensity, akin to a ravenous hawk locking onto its prey. That deathly glimmer in his gaze summoned forth the chilling memories of the day he had cruelly extinguished my brother's life. My wolf's growl deepened, a primal echo of the agony I felt when he had plunged a dagger into my brother's heart.

A malicious grin stretched across his pallid face, revealing a grotesque array of yellowed, decaying teeth that gleamed malevolently in the feeble light. He remained an eerie mirror image of the monster in my memories, his ashen visage crowned by a mop of greasy hair, and those abyssal eyes, brimming with a darkness so profound it seemed to originate from the very depths of his corrupted soul.

Abigor's lecherous gaze, like a snake slithering over my form, sent shivers cascading down my spine. The sound of his tongue clicking, reminiscent of a serpent's hiss, was enough to curdle the blood in my veins. His voice, a raspy and malevolent whisper, scraped against my ears like sandpaper. "Oh, look, the pup has grown," he mused, a sinister smirk tainting his cracked lips.

Rising languidly, he circled me with an unsettling nonchalance, his eyes raking over me in a way that made my skin crawl. "A beautiful one at that," he cooed, and a disquieting sensation nestled itself in the pit of my heart, trailing along the same path his eerie eyes had taken.

His laughter reverberated through the lifeless forest, a chilling symphony that sent a shudder through the pack members who watched in tense silence. He continued to circle, his movements predatory and unhurried, causing a ripple of unease to wash over the onlookers.

My focus remained locked on him, an unyielding vigilance like that of a hawk tracking its prey. When his vile intentions turned toward a defenseless child, as his snake-like eyes slithered over a child whom her mother tried to hide unfruitfully, my heart hammered against my chest. The child's mother, gripped by fear, instinctively pulled her offspring closer, a desperate act of maternal protection.

"Pity you will die just like you killed my nephew," he sneered, his words dripping with sadistic intent. "I will peel your skin and gonna enjoy doing it." His gaze, however, remained fixated on the child and its trembling mother. Fearful glances from the pack members conveyed their desperation, but they were paralyzed by their own terror.

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