Unresponsive
I touch my hand to my side and feel the stickiness of my own blood now dripping down my side, as my T-shirt mops it up.
Everything around me seems to move in slow motion the woman comes in closer the wolves around her charging Ryan and me.
I Search for Sekreta and I spot her now stood by the woman the knife she stabbed me within her hand, smirking at me. Ryans hand reaches around for my own and he gives it a reassuring squeeze, I don’t know how or why we have gotten to this point but I know he will fight with me.
Sekreta screams out to us, as the others circle round.
“This doesn’t have to be like this if you just come with me Artemis, I won’t hurt Ryan ill let him go with his life”
They walk towards us, breaking the circle to be encompassed with us inside.
“Sekreta why are you doing this “
She laughs and turns to the woman beside her taking her hand as a red glow surrounds them both.
“I’m doing this because after years or running, after years of being helpless and being captured I ventured out here and I found the family I was looking for all this time. It just wasn’t you”
Looking between the two of them I realise why I felt like I knew her, shes looks exactly like Sekreta with darker hair.
“Oh it looks like the penny had just dropped”
The other woman’s voice is harsher and more dominant the Sekreta her presents is domineering and as she speaks I notice the wolves around her bow their heads.
“I’m guessing now you’ve realised Sekreta here is my sister “
“I found my long lost sister Salvi and her pack. Now all we need is you”
I feel Ryans handshaking in my own as he tries to control his shift.
“Why do you need me, what could I possibly have to offer you?”
Salvi moves closer to me.
*“You see Artemis is it?. When Sekreta found me she told me of a pack that had powers like ours she thought we had a family. I put her straight through, I put her right though” *
She walks around us and I make sure I have an eye on her at all times, her Auror is not nice.
“I told her they can’t be family if they were they would have looked for us. They would have looked for you when that monster had you tied down on a table. They would have bought you back home to their families pack”
“What do you mean families pack, you know nothing about my sisters and me “
“I mean the pack of the first, The pack were these powers come from. You are not from there you took your power”
I can feel her anger radiating and now Aria as is pushing forward wanting to defend us, What is the woman on how would she know what pack we are from and why is she acting like she is part of my mother pack.
“I didn’t take anything. My sisters and I were born with these gifts and we have done nothing but use them to help. You think if we knew there were more of our family out there we wouldn’t have come for them, the way I came for her”
“I think you came for her because you know what she can do and you wanted to take it from her”
“You’re wrong I don’t know what she is, My father told me about her when he was captured my that maniac Arlo, he said out mother had a sister called Sekreta and he recognised the name I came all the way out here to help her “
As I’m speaking I notice the wolves around us move in close, Ryan’s back tenses even more so behind me.
I feel Aria push to the surface both of us now losing our patience with this crap.
“Look I don’t know what you want from me but you’re not going to get it, I would never hurt her I came here to help but if Sekreta has found help, that’s great because I’m really starting to lose my temper with all this crap”
She moves close to my face and her eyes flash red as she whispers in my ear.
“Oh, purple eyes as if it were that simple, I’m not letting you go. That little power of yours is mine, I’m going to rip it out of you and take it as my own”
She pulls back snaps her fingers and the wolves around us pounce, Ryan and I shift and begin to fight them off one by one as Salvi wraps her arms around Sekreta and the walk back to the tree line she whispers in her ear as they do and Sekreta seems to not in agreement with whatever she said.
I dodge bites and scratches and I snap the necks of the ones that get to close, I can feel Ryan beside me both of us fighting as one.
That is until my worse fears are realised four of the wolves have pinned Ryan to the ground and now a few more have come between us so I cannot get to him.
I watch helplessly as they claw at him, he tries desperately to get out from underneath him but there are too many of them, I continue to fight my way through to him I’m inches away until Salvi’s face is in front of my own.
“Hmm, Your a lot more resilient than you look”
She turns her head to look at Ryan.
“I’ll stop all this you know if you just come with me “
I don’t say anything just growl at her, warning her to back away.
“It’s simple really if you think about it, you come with me and lover boy lives “
She walks over to him, pulling something out of her jacket pocket. She leans down to Ryan who is now pinned to the floor by 6 wolves and touches the sharp metal to his skin.
He cries out in pain as she slashes his leg, the blood coagulates as it mixes with whatever is on the knife. She does it a second time and I lunge forward struggling to break free from this hold, watching as she mutilates my mate.
“STOP “
Her head whips around to meet my gaze.
“I’ll go with you. Just please stop. Stop hurting him, your going to kill him”
I keep my eyes on Ryan the gentle rising and falling of his back letting me know he is still alive. Looking back at Salvi, I know I have one shot to do what I’m about to and she can’t suspect it or both of us will die.
She once again stands, the wolves around Ryan let go and back off leaving him a bloodied mess on the floor, the ones holding me allow me to push through and go to him.
I shift back and caress his fur sticky and cold with his blood, the slashes in his body deeper than any I’ve seen before and I’ve never wished more to have Cynthia’s power over my own.
Aria is raging inside me, how could this lunatic do this to our mate, how could she do this to us we have done nothing to her.
Instead of suppressing it, I let the rage build up and run at Salvi, intent on giving her the full force of my fighting abilities. My fist meets her face and it sends shock waves out into the forest the branches of the trees now shaking at the force.
I expect my punch to land and for her to fly back into the tree line however she is merely forced back on her heels facing me again not even a drop of blood coming from her lip where I hit her, there is barely even a mark.
No one has ever been able to match me in a fight particularly not when I’ve allowed my wolf and gift to take over, but Salvi seems to be enjoying the confusion on my face, the perplexity of the situation not seeming to stick in my mind.
I sense she is about to hit me back so I again throw my fist back, ours meet in the middle and once again a thunderous clash resonates, her eyes now glowing red her smile ominous like she knows something I don’t, I use my power to move quickly behind her but when I stop she is now facing me like she knows my moves even before I do.
*“Artemis, I could do this all day. I have to admit its nice to finally meet someone who is my equal but alas I don’t have all day “ *
With that, she nods and 4 wolves pin me to the ground, I start to panic so I do the only thing I know can think of I link Ryan.
” Ryan I love you. I love you Ryan so much and you are going to be okay, you need to get to the edge of the lands someone will find you.”
He seems unresponsive to my links so I instead call out to him.
“Ryan please... Please get up Ryan, please. Please don’t leave him like that he’s going to die “
I look up at my captors gripping me tightly, none of them showing any interest in me, they are simply doing as they have been instructed.
I can feel the cold salty tears falling thick and fast down my face as I’m dragged further and further away from his already dimming light.
I break away once more and run toward him only to stop again and wrestled to the ground as I am once again dragged back into the uncharted lands.
Still Calling for Ryan, begging him to get up and get to safety, as we get further away from a loose sight of him, the flashing images of him covered in blood on the floor replaying in my mind over and over.
Ryans present weaken from me with every step, being dragged along the ground, surrounded by wolves with no way to break free. My eyelids feel heavy and the pain in my side begins to throb once more, each beat from the wound causing more blood to pump put and drip down my side.
Eventually, the feeling of tiredness overtakes me I close my eyes as my arms and legs go limp. The dragging seems to stop and I’m lifted off the ground too tired to fight back against the hold as we begin moving once more.
I drift off into oblivion wondering what the hell just happened, wondering how I got to this point and praying to the moon-goddess that Ryan is going to be okay, My vision goes completely black as I succumb to the emptiness I now feel.