I am Wolf

WOLF

Five days.

That’s what I’ve got; only five days until the life Sasha knows will be ripped away from her, and all hell will break loose under a full moon where Caius expects to mark her and use her for god knows what.

I’ve been spending every waking moment out in the forest, training and running alone, not with Caius’s rogues. Fuck that; I don’t want to train with them. My beast wants out; he’s clawing at me from the inside, growling for freedom, which I can’t give him now. My wolf feels trapped, like a caged wild animal, and it doesn’t help that he constantly wants to lead me back to Erebus, back to Sasha.

It doesn’t matter how often I go for a run to blow off steam; I always end up close to the Erebus pack, having to force myself to stop and turn back.

I can’t give in to his needs, and it’s got both of us fucking losing our minds; his carnal instincts are to protect what’s his, and Sasha is our mate. I’m so torn between what I have to do and what I should do. If it wasn’t for this fucking curse hanging around my neck and that moldavite stone Caius has connected to Sasha, I would have left and gone back to Erebus, handed back the bike, the phone, and the backpack. I would have told the alpha what Caius’s plans were with his daughter, and I would have left, ensuring that Sasha would have an actual future with a man who deserves to have her. That thought alone agitates me, and as much as I want to do the right thing, it won’t happen. I have to follow Caius’s fucked up plan because, at the end of the day, Sasha is mine, and I will protect her with my life; if she dies, then I might as well be dead, too.

As much as I want to call bullshit on the whole stone being tied to Sasha thing, after what I went through with this chain around my neck, I’m not willing to take the chance with Sasha’s life, so doing the right thing goes right out the window, I have to help capture Sasha, I don’t have a choice; and once she’s with me, then I can figure out how to get that moldavite stone away from Caius, at least that way, we’ll be able to run without the fear of what Caius could do to her.

I’ve been avoiding Don’s messages; he wants answers, and I don’t know what the fuck to tell him. I’ve had two messages and three missed calls from Sasha. I wanted to talk to her so bad, but I didn’t know what to say. How do I tell the girl I’m willing to die for, that I can’t protect her from what’s coming because if I do, she dies too?

I feel so fucking frustrated that the second I’m standing in front of a big tree on my way back to the mine shaft, I suddenly punch into the hard bark of the tree with one solid blow; a sharp shooting pain pierces through my hand. Still, the adrenaline coursing through my veins is too high for me to care.

I land another blow, then another, and another, and before I know it, I’m beating the shit out of some tree like it’s Caius’s fucking face right in front of me. My knuckles are raw and open to the bone when I look down at my hands, a gruesome, bloody mess dripping down against the ground below. I can’t help feeling slightly satisfied when I smirk at all the blood.

Breathing heavily as I finally flop down, resting my back against the tree I just fucked up, I look up over my shoulder at the bloodstains against the bark, scoffing,

“Yeah, you probably think you won this round, huh?” I shake my head at my silent opponent. The tree remains unmoved, and I find comfort in the silence as I continue picking splinters from between my knuckles.

By the time I get back to my rendition of hell on Earth, I notice Mason leaning up against the entrance to the mineshaft, arms crossed and with that same cocky expression back on her face; I guess she got over being shit scared of me. However, the cocky smile she’s sporting seems forced, not genuine like usual.

It’s like she’s trying to act tough in front of me but, at the same time, finds me intimidating. It’s comical to watch, and if things weren’t so fucked up, it would have probably made my day. But things are fucked up, and she’s on the devil’s team, so I want nothing to do with her.

I walk past her, keeping my eyes trained in front of me, blatantly ignoring her when she suddenly steps out in front of me. Looking up at me, she’s trying to intimidate me; it’s fucking laughable, but my body tenses in response as my jaw clenches.

“Move.”

My voice is deep and commanding, and she should listen and get out of my way, but this is Mason we’re talking about; the girl has never done as she’s told.

She tries to test me when she assesses my bloody fists, which have already healed up, the only trace left behind being the dry blood against my hands.

“I hope that’s your blood and not some poor fucker out in the woods?” She scoffs as she rolls her eyes, the sarcasm in that little comment having my wolf rumbling behind my chest.

I slowly tilt my head down to look at her, my eyes narrowing in response as I stare her down.

“I’m not you.”

My comment must agitate her, but the look in her eyes gives me the impression that my words hurt her. Smirking at the thought, I can’t help finding that fucking laughable. You would have to have a heart for something like that to happen, and I don’t think Mason actually has one.

I slowly take a deep breath to calm my beast when she mutters,

“Just for the record, I had nothing to do with the whole dog tag thing, the stone, curse, or any of that shit.”

Narrowing my eyes, a low growl reverberates through my chest, and it’s directed straight at her, instantly having her flinch as she bows her head, almost like she’s submitting to me.

Frowning in response, I instantly straighten up when I grumble,

“What are you doing?”

She swallows hard, her eyes slowly trailing up to meet mine when she mumbles,

“How is it that you haven’t figured it out yet?”

Her question instantly confuses me, and I’m about to ask her what the fuck she’s talking about when Damien suddenly appears by her side,

“Mason, get inside. Caius called us all for an urgent meeting,” Her eyes are still locked on mine, and she wants to say something; I can see it, but the second Damien barks,

“Now!” She breaks eye contact with me and looks down before turning away and heading into the mine shaft.

What the hell was that all about, I wonder to myself, but I don’t have any time to dwell on it the second Damien turns his head to stare me down as he cocks a brow and mutters,

“That means you too.”

Tilting my head in his direction, I narrow my eyes challengingly, my beast contemplating whether or not to snap his scrawny neck when I grumble,

“I see you’ve finally come out of hiding,” His jaw tightens, and it looks like he’s about to snap at any second when he mutters,

“I wasn’t hiding, more like avoiding you.”

“There’s a difference?” My question has my beast pushing up behind my eyes; he’s in a fucking mood today, so any sudden movements from Damien could be his last.

Not being able to shift into my beast would do that to a guy.

“I’m not scared of you, Wolf.” He suddenly snaps, and just that one action has my beast pushing me forward with a threatening growl. Damien immediately stumbles back, almost falling over his feet as he tries to steady himself against the side of the wooden entrance sleeper.

Smirking, a satisfying grin creeps up at the corners of my mouth as I nod,

“Yeah, you’re right. You’re not scared of me.” And with that, I don’t pay him any more attention as I start making my way past him, leisurely patting him against the shoulder as I do, having him flinch back in response when I mutter,

“Not at all,” as I continue heading down into the mine shaft.

I don’t even bother washing the blood from my fists as I head for the hole. The moment I step into a rowdy bunch of rogues, everyone instantly goes silent as they turn to stare at me with wary suspicion; I don’t give them a second glance as I continue past them. Caius can take his rogues and shove them right up his ass; better yet, I’ll do it for him because they are a bunch of useless fuckers, and I know I shouldn’t be here.

The second Caius looks up from a map set out on a large wooden table, he raises a brow at me as he eyes the dried blood on my hands with keen interest when he grumbles,

“If you start killing off my rogues, you and I will have a problem, boy.” But I don’t pay him any attention as I come to stand a foot away from him, shoving my hands into the side pockets of my camo slacks,

“You wanted to see me?” I grumble with a nonchalant shrug as I level him with my stare, narrowing his eyes in response to the fact that I won’t show any signs of submitting to him. He finally loses interest when he turns to look back down at a map of what seems to look like Erebus’s territory. My jaw instantly clenches as I stare down at it, knowing all too well that whatever Caius is planning will undoubtedly end badly.

“I’ve received word that Fenris plans on moving his daughter into hiding; we have a window of opportunity before he does. It’s not much, but we’ll have to make it work,” He shrugs with a sigh as he continues staring down at the map while rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

My brows instantly furrow as my brain starts processing what he just said, and I swallow at a lump forming in my throat when I grumble,

“Are you sure your sources are correct?”

Looking up at me, he smirks when he shakes his head mockingly,

“My sources come from the inside, so yeah, I’m fucking sure.” He mutters before looking back down at the map.

My beast suddenly stirs, on edge as Caius’s words run through my mind, so there’s a traitor in Erebus; someone is feeding Caius information from the inside; who the fuck would be that spineless?

Before I can give it any more thought, Caius suddenly barks,

“Did you hear a fucking thing I just said?!”

Looking up at him, my jaw clenches as I narrow my eyes in response; when I grit out,

“Sorry, I got distracted; I’ve got a thing against traitors.” Scoffing, Caius nods when he grumbles,

“Well, so do I, unless they work for me, then I don’t mind; now fucking pay attention when talking to you.”

And with that, he picked up a red marker pen off the table and began circling a specific area on the map,

“This is where we’ll enter tonight; a gate will be unlocked. I know exactly where everyone should be, including Fenris’s precious daughter; it should be a simple snatch-and-grab operation.”

Blinking twice, my jaw goes slack when I mutter,

“Tonight!?”

Sighing, Caius scrubs a hand over his face when he growls,

“Pay fucking attention.”

I’m just staring at the red circle on the map in disbelief; wait, no, is he serious right now? Are we doing this tonight?

“We only have tonight before he moves her, so as I was saying, we go around the back of the property; the small gate will be unlocked; once inside, we will secure the perimeter while Wolf goes upstairs to her bedroom and fetches me my prize.”

I feel like I’m about to be sick; this will all happen in a few hours. How am I meant to warn them?

If I do and Fenris manages to hide Sasha somewhere, come the full moon, she’ll be dead. But if I do nothing, she’ll be captured and brought back here to be used as Caius’s key to his master plan.

I’m instantly pissed off with whomever this traitor is working on the inside, passing information onto Caius like a rogue mutt.

It’s one thing for rogues to be this spineless but not pack; they are meant to always have each other’s backs.

I’m suddenly feeling utterly sick to my stomach, almost as if the betrayal of this pack member directly affects me because it does; now, because of this asshole, I have no time to try and think of a way out of this. If it comes to it, I might rip his throat out myself.

Fuck.

Twenty minutes later, I find myself pacing up and down in my room, digging my hands into my hair as I pull back hard.

What am I meant to do?

How do I stop this from happening?

I should warn them; I know I should do the right thing and tell them, but if I do, then Sasha’s as good as dead.

Looking down at my phone peeking out from inside my bag, I grab it instantly. And the first message I see has my fucking chest contracting and aching in response.

It’s one of the many messages Sasha sent early this morning,

Sasha:Hey.

Two minutes later...

Sasha:I just wanted to check that you’re okay?

Ten minutes after that...

Sasha:I know the plan is to sever the bond between us, but until we do, the mate bond is kind of driving my anxieties insane. Please let me know if you’re okay?

Five minutes later...

Sasha: Wolf, my dad has decided to take me underground, into hiding somewhere; he won’t tell me where. He doesn’t trust the whole thing with Caius; he says it’s better this way. I don’t know if I’ll see you again and... Please just get out of there; I have a bad feeling about you being there, and when you do, please let me know you’re safe.

Swallowing a hard lump in my throat, I feel like I can’t breathe suddenly; she knows something terrible is about to happen; it’s like she can sense it.

My beast begins to ripple through my veins, aching to be released; he’s feeling the anguish in my mate’s last message; it’s entirely out of my control now. I toss the phone aside as I stare at my reflection in the mirror,

“Fuck.”

The reality hits me harder than a loaded gun, the trigger pulled, and the heat burns into me like the blistering heat of the sun; it echoes in my head, and I can’t deny it any longer; I would sacrifice anything, burn the world to the ground to keep her alive.

When I go through with this, will she be able to forgive me for what I’m about to do?