A King with No Crown

1

A/N
Whenever Mazikeen shifts into her form this song plays in my head.
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Mazikeen's POV

I sink further into my leather jacket and the now familiar scent of leather and vanilla encompasses me. I walk out of the diner into the cool crisp October air with the bag of food in my hand. I get to my car and set it on the floor on the passenger side. I stand and am stretching when I hear cries of fear. I shut and lock my car as my hunter instincts take over.

I quickly take off into the woods surrounding the little shopping plaza. I feel myself partially shift as I hear more cries and the thudding sound of footsteps. I follow the sound til I come across a group of teenagers. I take a deep breath in and their scents register....werewolves. They scream when they see me and I hold my hands up.

My voice comes out in a breathy slightly British lilt,"Get behind me!"

I take a deep breath in and a new scent registers....Hi no Haka. Fuck. This is gonna hurt.

I hiss,"Hi no Haka."

My fangs descend and my claws come out. My eyes shift fully and I can see it coming straight at me. I look behind me at the cowering pups and feel my protective side come out.

I shift fully and my claws slam against the damp forest floor. The hi no Haka comes into view. They're disturbing looking creatures. And that's coming from me. They look like a lizard facial feature wise and have a forked tongue and have claws instead of hands. They're a crossbreed of demon and a race of lava dragons.

I stand as the wolf pups cry out.  The Hi no Haka stops and looks at me. I get in a fighting stance as my tail whips around me. The Hi no Haka gives a low pitched screech as it charges at me. I give a high pitched clicking screech as I charge to meet it. I block several hits but I look back to check on the kids and tell them to run.

It's claws sink into my side and I give a clicking roar of pain and turn shoving my claws into the back of its neck. My paralytic toxin sweeps into the blood stream and I shove my other hand into its stomach releasing more toxins.

I jump up kicking it square in the stomach and it goes flying several feet into a tree trunk where it goes into unconsciousness. I feel the pain from my wound start to take over as I slowly clam down as I check on the pups since they didn't listen. I slowly begin to shift back and I'm at my half shift point when I collapse onto the ground.

The Hi no Haka appears above me and I yell at the pups to run once more. I fight to keep its claws from reaching my throat. I see it's throat begin o glow and I curse it into the next millennium. It opens its mouth when it gets ripped off of me. I hear a crack and I can't move. It hurts to move. It hurts to breathe. The wolf pups come to me and I tell them to stay away.

A deep voice asks,"Is she alive?"

One of the pups says,"Yes but she's badly injured, Judas, sir."

I say,"Just, Just get me to, to my car."

The man appears above me and he's breathtaking. Piercing ice blue eyes stare down at me assessing my injuries and I am filled with shame. I never want anyone to see me like this. My eyes begin to close and I feel him pick me up. I hiss in pain as the movement makes my wound throb.

Judas says,"I'm going to fix you up my dear. Come along pups."

He begins running and we soon stop. I can't even open my eyes so I'm relying on scent and sound. It smells of pure werewolf but with a hint of something I can't quite place. I can smell humans as well. Werewolves smell of nature, true nature. Humans...they smell of gasoline, cigarettes, and coffee. I can't quite place the other smell though.

I get laid on something cold and metallic. A table? I get the energy to open my eyes and see a light above me and I whimper at the brightness. It dims slightly and I relax. I look around and see I'm in an infirmary type of room....if you could call it that.

The beautiful man, Judas, appears with a bag of what looks like medical supplies and some blood bags.

He says,"It's Type O. Universal donor."

My head drops back onto the table as he begins working on me. I hiss whenever my hw wound stings and he calms me down again. I don't really have too much of a choice. It's either let him patch me up or die.

He says,"That tuugamau afi got you good. But you will recover."

I look at him and he has angular cheekbones, long curly dark hair, piercing ice blue, eyes a slim nose, and not too thin but not too full lips. I notice his ears are pointed and he is determined.

He says,"I need to shift fully back."

My voice comes out half distorted as if I'm echoing myself,"I can't. My clothes ripped when I shifted. I'll be nude."

He says,"I've got a sheet right here for you. The pups also picked up your keys, phone, and wallet."

He covers me with it and I focus. The pain helps and I shift fully back. I'm panting and he gets to work sewing me up. The rhythmic tug of skin being pulled together gives me something to focus on.

Judas says,"You can't move very fast or very far for a week."

I nod and say,"My healing isn't the fastest. I'm in my beta form still. Haven't achieved alpha form yet."

He nods and ask,"What are you exactly?"

I reply,"I'm a Kanima."

He replies "Interesting."

I nod and he covers the stitches up wound with a gauze pad covered in some antibiotic ointment. He calls for a female and one of the wolf pups comes in and helps me get dressed as Judas cleans up.

He asks,"What's your name, sweetheart?"

I reply,"Mazikeen."

He replies,"You got a last name, Mazikeen?"

I reply,"Hale. What about you?"

He shakes his head and says,"Everyone calls me Judas as that is all I am."

I nod and he comes over and asks,"Can you lift the shirt for me?"

I do and he wraps my midsection in an ace bandage. I lower the shirt and he helps me off table. I half to walk half crouched over and he picks me up. Carrying up a flight of stairs I take in more things. Like Judas. He's tall, he's built but slim. He's got slightly tanned skin but he's quite pale for a werewolf but he's really quite warm like a werewolf. We enter a room and he sets me on the bed.

He says,"You'll be sleeping here tonight. I will go fetch your car and bring it here."

He disappears and I thankfully fall asleep. I'm exhausted.