Chapter Four

Selene

He is coming. His growl rumbles ominously like thunder around me and his feet crash to a stop just in front of my nose. The thick cream carpet under my bed tickles my nostrils, making me nearly sneeze, and I bury my face down into my shoulder to stop the noise escaping me. If he finds me he will slaughter me too. Just like my mother and sister. I hold my breath and fight the urge to not mess myself. He hasn’t moved. My heart hammers in my chest when he breathes in deeply. He has caught my scent, my fear has led him directly to me. I have two choices. I can stay here and hide and hope that by some miracle he doesn’t find me, or I can run and try and fight my way free.

                The choice is ripped from my hands as the bed is flipped easily from above me. I’m exposed, cowering in my hiding place. The bed crashes violently into the wall behind me and it smashes into a million pieces and bits of hard wood fly around the room like arrows. The ear-splitting smash almost covers my scream as I jump up from my hiding spot. The murderous Lycan before me snarls and swipes the air with his blood covered claws, sending drops sailing through the air and all over me. His muzzle drips with the blood of my family, and thick coagulated chunks hit the floor. I can see a clump of my mums scalp stuck between two of his talons and bile rises in my throat at the sight.

                His swipe lands just short again as this time I duck, just before he can take my head clean off. Looks like I’m going with the running and fighting option! I step back and brace myself for his next move. He opens his mouth and his white teeth gleam between the flesh that has lodged between them. He snarls again which sends a shiver down my spine. His aura is all around me, pushing down on me and I feel like I’m suffocating. I’m ready for him this time and anticipate his swing, which comes faster and with more power this time. The air whips past my shoulder as I slide between his huge legs. My body slams into the blood sodden floor and my hips smashes down hard taking the brunt of the fall, but I manage to slide through quickly. ‘Argh’ Shit! Pain shoots through my upper arm that has been ripped open on one of his razor-sharp toes. Blood instantly gushes from the slash deep in my flesh. Now my scent will be even stronger for him to follow if I manage to get out of here.

                I stumble up from the blood-soaked floor while my hip screams out in protest at my weight being put fully on it. He is only a second behind me and his shout of frustration is like nails on a chalk board, and my body shivers in absolute horror. My mother’s body lies decapitated and bloody at the bottom of the stairs. I hold back the bile that is in my throat and blink back the tears that threaten to blind me. I need to escape, I can mourn my family if I live through this nightmare. The wound in my arm leaks my warm blood in a fast flow down my arm and on to the floor, huge splatters leave a trail right to me. Huge claw marks run the length of the wall up the stairs, at least three inches deep and an inch wide. Cold hard wood hits the soles of my bare feet as I leap towards the stairs and take them two at a time. The smell of blood is heavy in the air and all I can taste is the coppery flavour in the back of my mouth. I hit the bottom stair where mum’s lifeless body is in a heap, her pretty dress shredded along with her pink skin underneath it. The tears I have been blinking back start to fall at the sight of her. The door is off its hinges and lays across the welcome foyer in two pieces, from where it was smashed through by this murdering beast.

                I feel his eyes on me. The amusement he feels that I have chosen to run rings through my body from his aura. No one has ever out run a Lycan but damn it, I have no choice but to try. I grab the pretty, silk scarf that floats in the breeze near the demolished doorway, to tie around my arm. Shockwaves vibrate through my bare feet and up my wobbly legs when his huge, black body slams into the marble floor. A huge crack and splits the floor right down the middle and I stumble, desperately trying to stay on my feet. I scream again, which sends his lips up in a menacing smile. The air hits me hard as I throw myself, almost blinded from my tears, out of the door. His cry of rage when he slips in the blood that has soaked the hard floor bellows loudly through the night. He crashes through the huge window at the side of the destroyed door way and he lands as an enraged mess at the bottom of the stairs.

                The driveway is well lit with spotlights that encircle the huge fountain at the centre of the ring road. Where are all the guards? One Lycan cannot have killed ten werewolves, surely? I leave the stairs and run as fast as I can towards the trees as my legs burn from the strain and cramp threatens to take over my thighs. I pump on regardless of the screaming agony that radiates from my hip, and my feet hammer into the soft, thick grass. I turn my attention away from the floor to my arm. I need to stop the blood before the substantial loss weakens me further. I put one end of the material in my mouth and wrap the length tightly around my upper arm. I yank my head back to pull it as tight as I can and secure it in place with a crude knot.

                Just as I look back where I’m going my legs hits the branch of a fallen tree and I am aware of my body gliding effortlessly through the air. I see the stars above me in the dark night sky as my body twists mid-flight. I only come to a stop when I smash into the ripped apart trunk of the fallen tree. The head of a wolf lies just a couple of feet away with wide staring eyes now devoid of the life that once filled them. I can’t stop the bile that has risen in my throat and I vomit in the grass next to me. I heave and try and bring some air into my lungs. I feel like I’m going to pass out.

                He doesn’t run because he can sense he doesn’t need to. My energy is all but spent. I feel him move closer over the dewy grass. His shadow falls over me as he reaches the fallen tree. Slowly he drags his claws along the thick, hard, trunk and shreds it into ribbons. I push myself from the floor still trying to fill my lungs with air. The wind whips my red hair into my eyes, and I use my blood covered hand to swipe it away, leaving a thick smear of almost dry blood across my cheek and forehead. Running has not worked, and If I try to run now in the open, he will be on me in less than a second. The last option is all I have left. I will fight to my death. I will not spend my last minutes on this earth crying and begging for help like my mother. I will never forget her fearful screams pleading for his non-existent mercy. They haunt me even now. If now is my time, then I will go down fighting.

                ‘What do you want beast?’ I scream at him. ‘I will not give up as easily as the others. If you want me, you will fight to kill me.’ I am ready for him. The adrenaline pumps through my body makes me shake and I can feel my heart beats so hard it feels like it is in my throat. ‘Enough!’ Out of the shadows a tall, slim man emerges. His slicked back, black hair looks like an oil spill that passes over his narrow set shoulders. ‘Elijah, down.’ He commands, and the monster takes a step back and retracts his claws. ‘Selene, I must say I am impressed. No one else has shown the balls you have. Facing up to Elijah in such an idiotic manner.’ He tips his head back slightly and laughs, mocking my attempt at survival. His voice fills the air and I am more scared of this psycho than the blood covered monster under his command. He stops and looks me dead in my eyes. ‘Kneel child. Were you not taught any manners?’ He pushes all his power down on top of me. My knees buckle at his order and I fall to my knees with a groan of agony. I try and push myself back up from the cold, blood saturated ground, willing myself to be stronger, but he pushes me down harder. His aura is too strong and he easily over powers me.

                ‘Do you know who I am mutt?’ He moves rapidly and silently over the expanse of grass between us and stops with only an inch between my bent head and his knee. I shudder at the closeness of him. His scent is one of death and pure evil, and his reek floods my senses and terror invades the core of my being. ‘No, I don’t know who you are. Should I?’ Me and my goddamn, smart-arse mouth is going to get me killed. I internally shake my head. Now is not the time to play games Selene. With one hand he reaches down and places his index finger under my chin. He slips his claw out just enough for the scalpel sharp tip to penetrate my delicate skin. He makes me rise from the floor slowly. My hip protests the whole time but I refuse to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

                Once I am on my feet he continues to move my head until it is tilted back painfully. I feel his claw slide further into my skin when I try and resist him. The pain makes me want to cry out but that is a pleasure I will not give him, ever. My eyes move from the middle of his chest up to his neck then onto his angry face. ‘I am Lord Alpha Lucius of the Blood Moon Pack and we are here to extract revenge for your fathers crimes against us and our King. You will all pay the price in blood.’ His venomous words drip from his thin-lipped mouth. ‘You have already murdered my mother and sister. Surely that is revenge enough for any crime you perceive my father has committed.’ His face twists into menacing smile. ‘We are a long way from satisfied child.’ His hand comes from nowhere and there is no time for me to react. Great, dead before I even turn eighteen and get my wolf! My world turns to blackness and my last thought is of my mother’s body at the bottom of the stairs. She would kill me for making such a mess in her pristine house.