Little Red (✅ COMPLETED)

CHAPTER [ 8 1 ]

 'Andrew, you need to stay out of this,' Rick choked, struggling to stand straight. 'I need to win this... You don't understand.'

Andrew stared back at him, an emotion swirling in the depths of his blue eyes. Pity. Mixed with understanding. Something had definitely changed, Rick could sense it. But what?

Rick looked at Ray, the gash on his torso had already stopped bleeding. He was regenerating at an exceptional speed too, just like Rick was able to. He had that ability, it was how he overpowered Ray and Andrew and anyone for that matter. Faster regeneration meant immense power. To him, it was like having all of the power in the universe crackling in the palms of his hands, pulsing under his skin. Why didn't he feel that anymore?

He looked at Ray again, taking in his features. There was an edge to him, an otherworldly aura radiating off him. It made the wolves around them wild with excitement. And it awakened a slumbering part in him too which Rick couldn't pinpoint exactly. The words Ray had spoken earlier echoed in his mind. All I need is someone willing to fight.

Suddenly the air around him shifted. Heat. So much heat. Rick looked around frantically, knowing Ray was readying another blow. He anticipated it, bracing himself, closing his eyes so he could sense better. In quick succession he blocked Ray's hard and fast strikes with his forearm, ducking and rolling, mud and grass rising in a flurry around them. Rick growled, fatigue creeping up in his limbs. If he kept defending all his energy will be spent. He needed to attack. Now or else--

A snarl ripped between them. Andrew blocked Ray's blow with his body. The sound of bones breaking had Rick take a few steps back to regain his bearings. Ray retreated too, catching his breath. Looking as devilish as ever.

'He's using you,' Andrew spat, anger laced in every word. He clutched his side, taking long, laboured breaths. It was directed at Ray. Or was it towards him?

Somewhere in the crowd behind them a series of gasps and shouts spewed.

'No!' Andrew yelled, 'don't break the circle.' He wheezed. Rick could tell he had broken a few ribs from blocking Ray's assault. For him. What was going on?

As if reading his mind, Andrew spoke again.

'He preys on your weakness. He doesn't care about you, or your reason for fighting. He uses your pain against you to fulfil his own agenda.'

Ray chuckled low in his throat, sounding nothing like himself. Looking nothing like himself. Unrecognisable. Was that what Rick had been too? He'd been willing to throw off all order in their werewolf society all for... What?

'All it wants is to be whole again. And it tried to accomplish that decades ago!' Andrew's voice swept over the grounds. He had everyone's undivided attention.

Rick felt like a tonne of bricks had landed on his chest. He exhaled in a rush. Memories of that night came flooding back. Andrew wasn't trying to kill the entire Emerald pack. He was unwillingly, unconsciously trying to kill only Rick.

'Just like it used me to accomplish its agenda it's using you now, son,' Andrew's voice went low and thin, 'snap out of it. Fight it! Don't fight us, your pack, your family.' He took a tentative step towards Ray. For a brief, fleeting moment Rick felt the need to stand in front of Andrew.

'Are you sure about that?' Ray spoke. Only then did Rick notice his eyes were no longer the sky blue he was used to seeing. They were the colour of the night, like a suffocating darkness. 'You're all nothing without me.' He emphasised nothing, like the word was dirt he was spitting from the tip of his tongue.

'Do you feel this?' Ray raised his hands like a madman, the veins in his arms and neck bulging to the surface of his skin. A current of electricity zapped through the air, rousing a deep buried desire, an inexplicable urge. The howl bubbled in Rick's chest, erupting out of his mouth in a rush. He emptied his lungs into it, his voice carrying a centuries old bite to it. All around him howls broke loose. With each new breath a surge of energy washed over him. From a distance he heard Andrew's voice yelling something about keeping it together, regain control... Maintain order... They seemed like words that belonged in a courtroom, spoken by meek little humans who tried to hide behind the fake exterior of 'being civilised'. If any one of them had the chance to feel the euphoria Rick was feeling in that moment they would trade their souls in an instant.