The Heat #WATTYS2019

Chapter 14

I reacted in an instant, dodging to the side before coming back in for the kill. However, the Feral had already reestablished himself and was flying at me. I didn't have time to sidestep as his sharp claws ripped at the fine skin of my face. I felt a blinding—quite literally—pain around my right eye and I cried out in agony. Rage filled me as I snarled out viciously. Yes, I had probably just lost an eye. Would that make me give up? No. I was an Alpha and an Alpha never gave up.

Ignoring the fire that was ravaging all the right side of my face, I leapt at the Feral, my jaws latching onto his throat. He was significantly bigger than I was. After all, the desert Wolves living in the southern-most parts of the Southern Lands were also the smallest. However, I didn't let it deter me as I ripped into my kill. He howled out in pain and tore himself from my grip, sauntering away. I bounded after him, nipping at his hind legs until I caught the right one in my mouth. He reacted quick as lightning, turning on his haunches and brutally swiping at the right side of my head. Unable to see the attack coming, I couldn't duck in time and I was hit full force. I tumbled to the side and rolled in the snow before coming to an abrupt stop when the Feral grabbed me by the scruff. I bit back the whimper threatening to escape, and rather concentrated my efforts on undoing myself from his strong grip.

I struggled, panic tearing at my mind as I felt air leak out of my body at an alarming rate. For the first time in my life, I was well and truly scared I would die. The realization made me scrape up the last of my strength and I scrambled at the Feral, my movements weakening as black spots danced in my line of vision. A couple seconds after, darkness splashed into the world and I lost consciousness.

•••

My eyelids fluttered open to reveal one golden iris and one milky white as I struggled to wake up. I was lying on a hard stone ground and, surprisingly, it was warm. For a few moments I just lay there, letting myself bask in the dream that it was just another morning with Fenris curled around me. However I knew better. I knew Fenris was most likely dead and in a couple days tops I would be forcefully mated.

The mere thought of the matter made my hackles stand to attention as a low growl slipped through my clenched teeth. I rose up on my legs and fell right back down again as they buckled under my weight. I was weak right now, and my vision only extended to half of what it previously was before blurring into gray and black smudges. I hadn't lost my eye, but the lack of sight was still there. I could feel blood coating every inch of me, thick and uncomfotable.

I tried to rise again, and had to sidestep a couple times to get balanced. When I finally managed to stay upright, my legs were splayed wide, like those of a newborn sand giraffe attempting to drink, and all the strength had been drained from me. I closed my eyes for a second and inhaled deeply, the prominent stench of mold, humidity and decay assailing my nostrils with so much force I dry-heaved. The faint smell of arousal and mating could be caught as well, and I wrinkled my nose.

     The movement ignited a burning pain on the top of my muzzle, as well as the whole right side of my face. I knew what had happened to cause the latter, but the reason of the former hadn't come back to me yet. I wrinkled my nose in a certain way and the pain was set ablaze again. The Feral must have roughed my face up even more than just slicing half of my vision away. Realizing that I didn't know the full extent of my injuries, I took the time to check what I could of my body and assess my condition. I had wounds all over, including what I thought to be a slightly torn ear, a dozen bite marks and many invisible bruises. No bones were broken, which was certainly a plus. My escape would have been much more complicated.

     And so my quest began. On trembling legs, I wobbled around the cell. It was large—so large that the moldy walls spread on either side of me into darkness, and I couldn't see the far one—and disgusting. Small puddles of stale water lay here and there, resounding 'plock's reverberating as it steadily dripped from the ceiling. When I'd gone farther, to a part that was bathed in darkness, my eye had caught a small depression in the rock ground that had filled with a suspicious white and creamy liquid. The smell of arousal and mating was stronger here, almost suffocating.

     The sound of a whimper broke the eerie silence and I almost jumped. I caught myself in time and cautiously wandered to the direction the noise had come from. My trembling legs took brought me up to a place of nightmares. A long, silver pole was attached to two walls, and silver hooks had been screwed onto them. The silver hooks led to silver chains, and the silver chains led to silver collars, which were clasped around the necks of a couple dozen females. The whimper had come from a small black one that was sprawled in human form not that far from me.

The stench of mating was so strong here I thought I was about to retch, and I would have if I'd had anything in my stomach. The bodies of the females were covered in blood and marks for those in human form, though I was sure they were present on the wolves too, even if they were invisible. A sudden noise of boots on stone shattered the silence of the cell, and all the females recoiled into themselves, despite the burn of the silver. I shivered in slight fear at the eerie atmosphere and turned around, ready to take on the new arrival.

The first thing that came in view was a black combat boot splattered in white and crimson. Then the male advanced, revealing black jeans and a naked, rather well-built torso. The last part to enter my vision was a terribly scarred face. A long white line crossed his face from the right temple to the left side of the jaw, narrowly missing the orange eye and splitting the left corner of his lip like lightning. The rest of his face was slashed with equally stark lines that accentuated every angle.

"Sleeping Beauty finally woke up, didn't she?" his voice was smooth like honey and sent tremors of unpleasantness rattling my spine. "Bardou roughed you up a bit, but it won't alter your heat when it's back in place," then, shaking his head, he added, "What was that Rogue thinking, taking you up in the mountains and not mating you right then and there?"

I growled low, ignoring the pain that ravaged my muzzle.

"Oh, Bardou was right. You are feisty," he smiled, but it was more like he was baring his teeth, "but nothing your future mate won't be able to fix. I'm up for the challenge."

I snarled louder still and my hackles raised high like the Wulf Fang mountains. However, I was so concentrated on the male before me that the two that leapt at me from the sides managed to tackle me to the hard stone ground. I was dragged, growling and snarling to an empty place on the pole and the collar was clasped onto me. A padding covered some of the inside part, but if I moved a certain way, the pain burned at my skin.

I was trapped.

A/N) Well shit.
I think I failed my math test today, and half failed the physics yesterday, and did pretty well for the history one... Usually I'm good at math but I suck at equations though...
Anyway! Have fun with chapter while I run away and hide in a hole!
- Lexie

Question: What's your favorite song?

Answer: It varies. Right now I can't stop listening to Memories by Shawn Mendes