Of Soot And Cinders

XXV

PRINCEPS

We woke with pain in our head. Our eyes flickered out of our control. They would not listen when we commanded they open. It was silent in our humans cave, but we could hear sounds from around the castle. We could hear mice in the walls, hear armor being polished, stew boiling in the kitchens, we could hear leather against flesh. We heard weak breaths, they steadily grew apart, growing shallower.

We forced our eyes open. But it was not the only part of our body that was resisting. We were in our human's form. Our limbs and chest were naked of hair, our muscles were better formed for brute strength, not for swiftness and hunting.

We smelt blood in the air and tried again to lift our heavy limbs. We were Alpha, we needed to get to the source of the blood.

We felt him next to us in our head. Caspian, he was strong but confused, we would direct him.

His body moved reluctantly against our control, but he was not fighting us. His body was repelling the drug.

We pulled out of his nest, the fabric tangling in our legs. A growl found its way out of his human lips. We could not shift. Our hearts twisted, forcing the poison out of our blood.

With a howl we collapsed to the stone floor of the humans cave. Our second heart stopped pumping, we fought for breath. Our mate was dying. Hot water tumbled down our human cheeks. His body was weakened with only one heart.
We forced our own strength into his limbs, pulling him off the ground. It was time to find our mate. We howled and though his human voice was made for words he echoed our anger with power of a true Alpha.

Guards jumped to position when we tore the doors from the walls, they held spears and sword tips towards our chest. We bared our human teeth.

"Move." We ordered.

"We are under orders from the king—" One of our pack began.
As he spoke more of the drug left our body, we let our claws slide free. The sound of tearing stone stopped his blabbering. We were Alpha, if they did not listen they were no longer pack.

We let our teeth lengthen next. Our mouth was pushed open by the sharp tools, we could feel saliva drip down our chin, soon it would be blood.

We stepped forward, dragging our claws against the stone.  The guards shared looks and when we approached jumped at us. We brought up our claws to catch one across the chest. The other we forced to the ground. We felt our bones shift, our muzzle lengthened and we pressed our teeth to the guards throat.

Submit.

Slowly the guard relaxed, stretching his neck in surrender. We growled in warning and pulled back, his throat was covered in our saliva and his own blood.

Good.

The sound of leather snapping through the air reached our ears again. Our human was built for running, his lungs held more air than our body's, and for that we were thankful. We used our claws, catching onto the walls, pulling ourselves forward and around corners. We moved quickly through the pack cave, following the sounds and smells of torture.

We licked our nose with our lolling tongue, clearing it of distracting scents. Our body was half, slowly hatching from the human. We were close.

The scent led to the large doors. But they were held shut by large logs when we tried to force them apart.

Our second heart stopped again and we collapsed. We roared, the sound tearing from our chest. Our mate was slipping, we were slipping.