Sins Among Royals

After she’d finished with Raif, Ebony had worked herself into such a frenzy that she was barely recognisable. It was time to head towards her final goal, her final destination and one of her last steps to bringing an end to both her parents and younger brother. Something she could only dream till recently.

Standing in front of a small grimy mirror in the old, damp bathroom of the cabin Ebony held the knife in her hands as the thick smell of blood kept her in a constant state of blood lust.

Twisting the handle in her grasp she soon took hold of a large clump of her long dark hair and soon began cutting it roughly from her head. She let her long locks fall to the tiled floor beneath her as she sliced through it easily.

Once she’d finished she let the knife tumble from her hands and with a clang it too hit the floor. Standing silently she stared, unblinking at herself. There was nothing reflected in her eyes. She was empty. Soulless. Lost.

Turning from the tiny room Ebony returned to where Raif body lay. She stared down at him, once upon a time she had loved him, once upon a time she would have done anything for him and anything to get him up now, as she stepped over his lifeless corpse she felt nothing. Everything was empty as she began removing her clothing carefully. By the time she reached the door and took a step outside she was completely naked.

Taking a step off of the porch she soon broke out running at high speed. In human form she was much slower than her wolf could ever be but she couldn’t achieve what she wanted until the night of the full moon. She had to pace herself and get to her destination slowly. If she ran in wolf form she would arrive days early.

Meanwhile in Blackwood, Indie and Wade had resumed training but this time they had Amber and Fletcher join them. To say Indie was intimidated was an understatement. Watching Amber and Fletcher trade blows in practice left her in awe of their power.

With each blow she could feel energy radiating from them. In the days that had followed them moving into the building they’d found the largest room and turned it into a makeshift gym. They needed to fast track Indie to shifting.

“Your turn princess!” Amber challenged her quickly as she defeated Fletcher and recovered quickly.

Indie stepped forward reluctantly. She felt so weak, so useless in comparison. “I’m not ready,” she muttered quickly as Amber squared off against her.

Both girls wore boxing gloves and Indie had a padded head set on, just in case. She had never been in a fight before and was completely unsure of herself.

“You have no choice but to be ready. If you can’t shift for your mating ceremony then you might miss your chance,” Wade commented as he approached Indie with a mouth guard.

“What?” She couldn’t help but question him with a slight tone on confusion. “We mate in wolf form?” The thought alone sent a cold shiver down her spine. Yuck!

Both Amber and Fletcher broke out into fits of giggles. Her question was full of innocence but it wasn’t one any of them were expecting.

“No you weirdo,” Amber clutched her stomach as a slight pain formed. She had never laughed so hard in her life till she’d met Indie. “You shift when you mark each other. The bite is something that’ll remain in wolf and human form.” Amber and her mate Ryder had barely claimed each other before his untimely death and the scar on her shoulder was a constant reminder of what she’d lost. She wasn’t quick enough or smart enough to realise the lengths her parents would go through to keep her from being with someone they deemed unworthy.

“Oh,” Indie responded still a little confused, “but how will that work? I claimed Poppy already?”

The smiled instantly disappeared from Amber and Fletcher’s faces as the information sunk in. “Oh that’s right I forgot that.” Amber responded as she shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s true but as long as she hasn’t marked you then you should be fine.” Wade interrupted the quickly. “It is my understanding that the bond claim can work with just one of you being marked. So because Poppy has been claimed by you she would have to claim Leo,” he paused for a second and thought about what he was saying further, “and because Master Noah has been claimed by Medea it would be him that has to claim you.” Wade looked thoughtful for a minute till he saw the look of shock on Indies face.

“He let Medea claim him?” She asked, bewildered. Very quickly that bewilderment turned to anger and anger soon turned to rage as Wade slipped the mouth guard to Indie and got out of the way.

“Why did you have to tell her that?!” Amber shrieked loudly as Indie became lost in a cloud of hate.

Everything around her became lost as she looked to vent her anger.

Shrugging his shoulders lazily Wade couldn’t help but grin, “Just wanted to see what she’d do,” he turned to Amber and winked. “Looks like it worked.”

It was then that they heard a completely unexpected noise. To mere humans it was an incomprehensible noise that many would think sounded like the cracks of thunder.

“What!” Amber shrieked as she began removing her protective gear. “Is she shifting?!” Had it really been that easy to get under Indies skin?

“What’s happening to me?!” Indie shrieked as she felt a dark feeling seep into her bones. “My body feels weird,” she threw her head back and screamed as an all consuming pain and anger coursed through her body, through every vein and cell.

“Yeah I’m outta here,” Fletcher turned and ran from the room. He’d been training hard with the other guards and he didn’t much feel like getting used as a rag doll. He ran straight for the gun case Wade and the others had installed the day after they’d picked up the keys. Inside was a miss mash of training guns with live rounds and blanks. Taking a handgun he loaded it full of tranquilisers. He had seen just one other person shift after being in human form for years and it wasn’t pretty. Not in the slightest.

He returned to the room quickly and saw Indie on the ground. She was screaming out in pain as they heard loud cracks and pops ring out through the silence.

Wade looked far too happy to be witnessing such an event and Amber looked absolutely petrified. She removed her boxing gloves and let them fall to the floor. “What is that for?!” She shrieked at Fletcher as she pointed at the gun.

“It’s only tranqs, trust me if she completes her shift were going to need all we can get.” Fletcher couldn’t help but tremble. The last person he had seen in such a state had so much rage pent up that they almost destroyed a two storied building. The group had just moved into their new home and the last thing he wanted was for someone to destroy it.

Hearing a deep rumbling growl they all returned their attention to Indie as she knelt, hunched over on the floor. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her gaze was fixed on the floor. Wade knew what was coming and he turned to smile at them, “if things get out of hand try to dart her then head for the roof. Keep her contained in this building for as long as you can. We don’t want the humans in town to know what’s going on.”

Blackwood was mostly populated by werewolves but the humans that chose to remain were troublesome to say the least and would take any chance they could to expose all werewolves to the rest of the world.

Both Amber and Fletcher were left speechless when Wade began to shift. He removed his clothing and set it all aside along with the weapons he carried. He stood there in the buff and tilted his head from side to side, each swing growing larger and larger till the bones in his neck cracked. It was then that he hunched his shoulders and held his hands together in front of his body. Though he had shift many, many times the process was still as painful as the first but he had learned how to manage it. Before long he felt the familiar searing pain shoot through his body, it started near his heart and quickly spread throughout. His bones cracked and broke and his skin bristled with coarse fur as it pushed through the pores of his human skin. His fingers twisted and turned till claws sprouted from the ends. His body physically morphed into a gigantic wolf as he stood between his two guards and Indie.

Amber and Fletcher looked at each other hesitantly. It looked like Indie was having trouble shifting. “What’s happening? It’s taking her a long time.” Amber cried out in concern. In the time it took for Wade to shift and transform Indie had barely moved. Something was happening as they all heard the groan of pain, they all heard the pop and crack of her bones. So why wasn’t she shifting?

“Maybe we have to say mean shit to her like Wade did. Maybe she’s gotta get angrier before she shifts?” Fletcher offered quickly. It was a thought. Not a very good one but it was something.

“You get started!” Amber growled. “I’m not saying anything.” She didn’t want to insult Indie by saying something she didn’t mean.

“You’re weak!” Fletcher blurted out as Amber growled at him for his choice of words, “what?” he glanced towards her innocently, “It’s easy for me to take back later.” He responded clueless.

Amber stooped down and knelt against the floor trying to make eye contact with Indie but her friend would not lift her head at all. Crawling a little closer Amber soon heard Wade growl in a threatening tone. He was telling her to stay back.

When Amber finally tore her gaze from Wade, she glanced back to Indie and was greeted by a set of glowing red eyes. It was enough to make her fall on her behind and scurry backwards, “what the hell!” She cried out as Indie lunged forwards. “Tranqs! Tranqs!” She screamed at Fletcher as he pointed the gun.

Wade soon got in the way and tried to stop Indie but she let out a gigantic howl that seemed to shake every brick in the building. As she did so her human form slowly slipped away only to be replaced by a gigantic monster. While everyone in their pack transformed into animals that looked like large wolves Indie was different.

Her inner beast stood on two legs, it’s fur was patchy and uneven, like the beast had mange. Her arms her muscular and long and her claws were long and curled in towards her palms. She had many characteristics of a wolf but she also somehow kept many of her human features.

Amber gasped, “what the hell is that!” She shrieked as she tried and failed to get to her feet. Skidding against the concrete floor she huddled against the wall like it would have saved her.

In one fowl swoop Indie knocked Wade off of his feet and sent him flying into the nearest wall. His lupine body crumpled and lay motionless against the far side of the room.

Fletcher cocked his gun while Indie was distracted and fired every, single bullet he had. Five rounds landed in the beast’s hide while one missed. He had hoped for an instant effect but it only seemed to enrage the beast as it howled and began ambling towards the pair quickly.

It had been so long since Indie shifted that it had reappeared in a different manner. Fletcher, with his empty gun, threw it at Indie and it seemed to knock her sideways. Thankfully she wasn’t completely used to her wolf for and she stumbled sideways.

Fletcher returned to Amber to make sure she was alright and soon they heard a massive thud against the floor. “Are you alright?” Fletcher asked as he helped her up off of the floor.

Turning towards Indie they both saw her lupine form out cold on the floor. With a sigh of relief they both chuckled nervously.

“What the hell is going on here!” A voice rang out through the silence suddenly. They turned and saw Master Noah standing at the main entrance looking upon them furiously.

All Amber and Fletcher could manage was a shrug of the shoulders as Amber’s legs gave way beneath her. She had never been so terrified in her life.