Help

J’s angry snarling was the first thing I heard as the looming shadow crept into the doorway. The alpha stalked into the room with a mad look in his eyes.

“Move.” Was all he said before marching right up to me. I refused to back away. He may have stood two feet taller than me, but I wasn’t going to be scared of him anymore. Seeing this kid made me realize I’d rather die than give into J’s sadistic version of reality.

His right arm swung up to his left shoulder just as he was about to reach me. I focused on stopping the coming blow, and in almost slow motion, his arm came down at my head. I threw up both arms to stop it. The force shook me a little, but I withstood the first strike. 

Then, as if he had been deliberately moving slow, his motion speed up ten fold. I was watching him move and trying to force my body to block blows that should’ve shattered bones. I was falling behind though, after two strikes at that speed I was off balance and my body couldn’t react to where his next attack came from. 

The blow sent me flying to the other side of the house. The wall stopped me, but barely. It creaked and bowed when I hit it. J sneered and spit at me. Then reached out to grab the little wolf I was protecting. 

Suddenly a rage filled me and I lost control. Just like when the drug they gave me first took over. I launched myself at J. Raking claws across his arm and face. I battered him until he took a step back away from the kid. 

I pushed and fought J until he was almost back at the door way. He let out a bellowing roar that shook everything. Three wolves were waiting outside the door. Ambush, my mind concluded. J swung both arms at me wildly until I was forced to back off. We stood at a stand still for a moment.

For a few heartbeats, all in the world seemed calm. J had backed away and was now standing perfectly still. His eyes fixed on mine. I never looked away, never blinked. The three other wolves all crouched down and slunk back a few feet. They could sense the anger from their leader. J was putting off such a sense of rage. Like he was on the verge of breaking down. 

I had just kept him from having his prize. I had inadvertently challenged his supreme domination over the entire pack. Every shifter saw what I just did, and knew they needed to back away and remain loyal to the victor.

The challenge I had just made, was for more than the child. I was going to protect the pup at all cost. I just wasn’t aware of their hierarchy yet. No, the challenge was from me to him directly. I now wanted to settle once and for all that I will not be his slave. 

I may not have anywhere to go yet, but I will not tolerate his mass murder. How am I supposed to go on living if I just accept what they did without fighting back? My heart finally stopped racing. The adrenaline still coursing through me allowed me to focus.

Deep breath in.

J was watching for the moment I attacked, he knew he had the upper hand in strength and fighting experience. I needed to fake him out and try to be faster than him. Like how I broke out of the medical room. But instead of going out of the door, I needed to get through the other wolves and back to the ships. All while carrying a not exactly small child. I wouldn’t waste the time to make sure he could run before I tried to leave. I would have to knock J down for long enough, that I could grab the kid and make a dash for the trees.

Long breath out.

The camp was back to my right. If I remember correctly we landed on the cliffs straight ahead of where I am now. So I need to bypass J, and get passed those other three. And stay ahead long enough to reach a ship and hopefully manage to take off with it. Just getting it flying and without one of the others on board was the main goal as of now.

“Insolent brat….”

The air around us chilled at his words.

“This will be where you learn.”

The last little bits of light that were left, vanished. The now pitch black area in front of the house was impossible for me to see in. I knew J was still a few feet in front of me by his smell. I could hear the pup whimpering behind me. Maybe if I played this right and stayed silent, I could use this to my advantage. J obviously expected me to fight. But if he blocked out everyone’s vision, then my plan to run worked even better.

I slowly took a step back, gently placing my foot down as to not make a sound. Then another. And a third. 

A fourth.

I slowly turned as I came next to the child, planning to scoop him up and run.

I scented for J to make sure he still hadn’t moved. His scent was feint, but it was still from just a little ways in front of me.

I bent down, reaching for the child. Just before I reached him however, something caught hold of my wrists. I felt myself yanked up and away from the now sobbing child. As my body was thrashed against the ground, I realized that J must’ve beaten me to the child somehow. And I hadn’t ever noticed.

Wham!

But I checked for his scent.

Crash!

There wasn’t ever a noise.

Three solid punches to my ribs.

Just a sudden vice like grip on my wrist. And now this. Getting slammed from one side of the ground, into the house. Then getting used as a punching bag. 

The hits kept raining down on me. I felt like I was trapped outside in a hail storm. He had me held up in one hand, the other was like a power hammer. Landing blows to my stomach, chest, head. 

Soon all I could see was a blurry black shape repeatedly getting closer, then moving away, and then getting closer again. I went numb just before I was tossed back to the ground. Then another weight fell onto me. The cries of a young pup reached my ears. 

Then a heavy foot reached my stomach, sending me and the pup into the air. I turned just in time to see the small fuzzy shape flop against the ground a few feet away from me. A cold wetness touched my cheek. It was the only thing I felt before everything faded away.

“What did you do to her!” A female voice was screaming. It soundly kind of familiar. Was this the Charleston’s? Or maybe the Maywheather’s. Yea that’s right. They had a foster son that picked on their natural daughter. She was younger and more open. The boy, not so much. I only ever got to play with them when the care takers unlocked my room.

“Educating.” A deep growl rumbled his reply.

“You did more than that.” Another softer, but just as baritone male said.

“Indeed. Leave. Now, Master.” The master was added almost as an appeal to just make him do it and not get her in trouble.

“I have much work to do and it will take her time to recover. And leave the keys. I won’t have her bound up like that the whole time.”

A few metal clinks, then a soft thud.

I was starting to think this wasn’t the Maywheathers. Until they passed keys around. But they never called it ‘being bound up’ before. I tried to sit up on my bed. And couldn’t. I couldn’t turn my head. I couldn’t lift my arms or legs. This was definitely not the Maywheathers.

A soft light was glowing above me, the voices had died away. A few soft footsteps were the only warning before seeing a shadow in the light. An almost human shaped one.

“Are you awake?” The female voice asked.

“Can you hear me at all?”

I tried to answer. But my throat wouldn’t work. I could hardly take in enough breath to move my lungs. One after another the memories came flooding back into me. The kid. The beta I had sent running. J. Oh shit, J had beaten me mercilessly. The pup…. The pup was, the pup was…… No, I wouldn’t think about that right now.

“Can you move any part of your body to tell me that you can hear me?” The voice asked. I must be in really bad shape if the lady was that concerned. I tried, fingers, toes, even a little shoulder twitch. Lastly I tried to flip my tail over, and it twitched. The tips of the hair bobbed up and down when I tried to move it. How broken do you have to be for your tail to not even work. I felt completely beaten and lost. How would I ever get away from a wolf that could do this to me?

I never would. I felt nothing but defeat.

“Just lie still, I’m here to help. Alpha J, can be a bit of a monster sometimes, but you have to look past that and see what the true goal is. We all follow him because he’s the only chance we have at freedom. Even if I don’t agree with some of the things he does, I’m committed to serving him.” Her voice was melodious. Her pitch rising and failing with the emotion in her words. 

But how could she willing follow that beast? For freedom? What were they enslaved by? Everything I could figure said they had free reign of where ever they went. They didn’t seem to care about local laws, they just pillaged and raped their way from planet to planet. Who could ever go along with that unless they agreed with such low morals?

“You have twelve broken bones. Your left radius and carpus have been shattered. The humerus in your right arm is split in two length wise. Your collar bone has several fractures and a clean break just above your sternum. Three broken ribs, one seems to have punctured a lung. Your pelvis bone is cracked in two, as well as a vertebrae in your tail bone. Your tibia in your right leg has two different breaks, and the fibula and tarsal bones of your left leg are shattered into a dozen small pieces.” As she listed off all the bones, she moved a hand slowly over each area she was describing. 

I looked into her eyes as she talked, and they seemed to focus in and out. As if she was seeing inside my body to exam each injury in complete detail. I didn’t know which bones she was talking about exactly, but both arms and legs being broken would explain my inability to move. And, I broke my tail bone?! No wonder even flicking my tail was so painful and ineffectual.

It wasn’t I who broke the bones in my body though. It was J. He broke me, he’s the reason I’m here, he’s the reason I don’t have a home anymore. Not that it was much of a home, but being so close to finally being free made me so upset. 

I was starting to get angry again. Remembering everything that had happened over the past…..how long had it even been? How many days passed while I was unconscious? How many times had I been knocked out and left to sit, locked in a cage, since he took me? The thoughts raced through my mind as I tried to answer how long it had been. Had my eighteenth birthday already passed?

“I need to set your bones.” The women had finished looking over my body and was now staring directly into my eyes. The soft brown of her irises seemed to fade as she continued, “It will be extremely painful.”

I winced a little, my body screaming in pain at the slight movement.

“It’s already….pain….ful..” I managed to croak out. The rasping growl of a voice sounded wrong to my ears. Was this always how I talked?

“Can you shift?” Her question caught me off guard. Blinking I tried to calm myself. I could feel nothing but the searing pain everywhere in my body. I don’t even remembering shifting out of my human form. It must’ve been when I was protecting the pup. Who’s name I’ll never know…..

“Just lie still. And please try to stay calm. Your beast form might be helping to dull the pain now, but if I begin and your body isn’t relaxed, I could accidentally kill you.”

The words reminded me to focus on the now. The pup was gone and I could mourn him later, I could think about what to do next time I get away later. For now, let’s try not to die while this she wolf heals me.

I simply grunted and closed my eyes. Taking in deep breaths, trying to slow my heart rate. I still wasn’t ready when she began. The blueish light that shone was bright enough I could see it even with my eyes shut tight. And the pain, what I thought was unbearable before, was now torture. 

I felt as if hot magma were coursing into my bones. The sledgehammer beating down on my head as if I were a watermelon, waiting to be smashed. I could feel fire bursting out from in between my toes. 

I opened my mouth to scream, but I couldn’t make any noise, my throat was completely clamped shut. As I tried to suck in air, my eyes flew open. 

She was killing me! 

The rouse of healing me and helping me, was all just so she could torture my broken body some more. Before I finally died of the pain. I had to try and break free, I couldn’t just lay here to die.

But the pain kept my body from moving the way I ordered it. A spasm coursed from my neck down my spine and shook itself out of my tail. Then I could feel it again. 

The flicking of the tail tip and the subtle way it moved at the base, right above my butt. I could feel it. And not the pain, but the normal and natural movement. 

Then as if someone took my voice off mute, I was bellowing a dark, angry roar. I could feel my own voice reverberating in my body. Against the table I was laying on. And even in the shock I saw reflecting out of the women’s eyes. 

And as quick as a flash, the pain all fell away. As if it had been nothing more than a small sliver that needed pulling, and I was a five year old who threw a tantrum over a minor cut. I felt ridiculous.

“Are you ok?” The soft question was almost whispered to me. I could tell she had taken a step away when I bellowed out. 

Reaching upward, the chain around my wrist caught and left me awkwardly reaching towards the ceiling. I simply looked at the chain for a moment. Then yanked it free of the holding. 

It popped and I was left with it dangling three feet down to the floor. My arm fully outstretched, my blue fur matted red with blood. My hands were giant compared to my arms. The fur there also matted and blood stained. But the claws I had unsheathed were shiny black. 

I sat up, popping the chain that held my other wrist down as I did. I looked up and down my body, nothing seemed to hurt anymore. In fact, I felt better and more relaxed than I had in a very long time. I turned my gaze back to the women whom had been so kind as to heal me.

“I’ve never felt so, alive.”