Imprint of Mate

Chapter 6

But the darkness was an impenetrable fog. The small fragments of light that filtered through the dense trees only illuminated the forest around me, as if spotlighting the depths of the ocean.

The branches felt like angry nails trying to catch me as I pushed them aside to move forward, gasping for unsatisfying sips of the cold, thin night air. I would get out of here. I would find that old man. I had to keep telling myself that as my feet pounded the forest floor.

My foot stumbled upon something. As I fell into the darkness, my arms cushioned the impact with the ground, knocking the breath out of my lungs. Something sharp throbbed in my shoulder and something warm and wet dripped from my knee. I tried to look, but the moonlight barely illuminated what I had to assume was blood.

I breathed again; I heard movement around me but didn't dare to look behind. I covered my mouth with my hand. A loud crunch resonated through the forest, followed by another.

Something was approaching stealthily.

There was no path in sight. Only darkness and what seemed like a labyrinth of trees, until I saw the faint reflection of the moon on the main road.

I got up and ran towards the road. Sweat trickled down my neck as my fingers dug into my clenched fists, pumping through the intriguing night.

I was just a few meters away, almost free, when something wrapped around my waist and pulled me to the ground. My hip took the brutal first hit before my arm was crushed by the weight on top of me. The taste of copper filled my mouth as stars flickered in my vision.

I raised my arm to get up, but brutal hands yanked me back. A flash of gold met my gaze. Golden eyes with red veins crisscrossing around them. I blinked, hoping that when I opened my eyes the man on top of me would be gone, but instead, I was met with a horrible gaze that I recognized immediately. It was the man from the café. But now that he was closer, I realized his golden eyes were not bathed in sunlight, they looked sickly. Bloodshot. As if he had a severe case of conjunctivitis.

I did the only thing that came to mind while his rancid breath fanned my face. I kicked between his legs, landing it squarely on the testicles. As he doubled over, I ran.

A deep, guttural sound emerged from the darkness to my right, and a large brown mass lunged at me again. I fell hard onto the cold ground, my knees scraping the gravel before I steadied myself on a patch of leaves.

Another growl pierced the shadows.

I looked up and found myself staring into golden eyes again, but that was impossible. Completely impossible. Because the eyes were attached to a huge, growling wolf that was stalking towards me. An animal that was licking its chops at its next meal. Me.

The snap of its teeth echoed through the forest. My own mouth closed and then opened in a scream. I had to pray that the old man, or someone, heard me. But the wolf shook its head with a strange, almost maniacal laugh, as it approached me.

Damn it.

I pushed myself back up until I was shakily on my feet.

I turned to run, but I stopped before taking another step.

Another mangy, brown wolf with mud on its paws was slinking forward. I turned again, but now the man with the madness in his eyes was back, walking towards me as if I were the lottery ticket he had come to claim.

—I always enjoy a good chase—.

A sharp sigh escaped my mouth. I looked for an exit, my brain trying to imagine all the possible ways this could end. —Let me go, I won't tell anyone!

I swear—.

I turned again and my stomach dropped. The wolf had disappeared, but in its place was another man from the café.

—What the hell...?

Crash.

The man with madness in his eyes slammed me into the ground and took advantage of my disorientation to strike me.

I tried to fight back, scratching at his arms, kicking, screaming, and hitting him with everything I had.

He didn't budge. He simply shook his head with a laugh. For him, it was a nice game, letting me defend myself just before he struck me in the face. My ears filled with growls around me. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

The soft sound of a belt buckle was heard. The pants opened.

And then the man was on top of me again, tearing at my leggings, pulling them down.

I couldn't let this happen. I couldn't. I didn't come here to be r***d and killed in the forest.

Rage took over me. I scratched his face. I bit the forearm that was crushing my chest. He shifted his weight and forced me to put my hands on my head with a bear-like paw, immobilizing me with the full weight of his hips. Defenseless.

He laughed with a rotten smile and slapped me again.

—I also like it a bit rough—, he said, with bloodshot eyes drinking me in like a prize he knew he would end up winning.

He grabbed my jaw with one rough hand and then slid it over my mouth to muffle my scream. I was filled with tears as he aligned himself.

And suddenly, he disappeared, yanked backward into the darkness, his nails cutting my face as he was pulled away.

It took me a second to realize he was no longer there. I rolled to the side and pulled up my leggings with trembling hands. A sharp pain shot through my ribs; white spots danced in my vision.

I could hear growls approaching me, but I didn't know where they were coming from. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. I turned my head, trying to locate it in the darkness. And then I saw it: a tall, dark blur tearing the golden man limb from limb, while another grayish-black blur fought its own battle against the other two wolves.

I didn't wait to see what happened next.

I got up and ran, completely blind with terror, until a sharp pain and a strong jolt made me fall to the ground.

The brown wolf had my leg in its mouth.

An agony so raw, wet and sticky tore through me as it clamped down harder, sinking its jaws into the flesh over my knee. It savagely shook its head, flinging my entire body with it. I could feel every centimeter of its teeth destroying muscles and bones.

I kept screaming as the beast released my leg. It took a step towards me, over me, my own blood dripping from its furry chin and onto my chest. It licked its lips. It brushed the side of my throat with its foul breath.

And then everything cooled. I didn't feel anything. Maybe I was losing more blood than I thought. I opened my eyes suddenly and saw only darkness.

The beast was gone. I didn't know how. Maybe I was already dead. Thinking was becoming too exhausting.

I rolled to the side, with the useless leg as pain slithered through my veins. It was an animal in itself, like claws that slowly extended through every part of me. The Fates were coming for me.

I blinked hard, just in time to see a large grayish-black wolf dance around the one that had just bitten me. It growled and lunged at the brown wolf with a ferocity that made me vomit. The sandy brown wolf didn't stand a chance and its neck bled out onto the forest floor.

I looked at my own bleeding leg. I could see the bone.

A torrent of blood gushed out beside it, following the rhythm of my pulse, snaking through the destroyed flesh and falling to the ground.

I blinked again and my vision swirled. Sleep was calling me again, but the black spots blinking in my sight told me it wasn't sleep. I wanted to resist, but every breath I took made my body lighter and my mind heavier.

It was impossible to resist the lure of the darkness. It was the whisper of a lover calling me to bed. Like the first days with John, when he would whisper sweet nothings into my ear that I could never contain.

My eyes closed and I sank a little deeper.

Something was talking to me. A robotic voice in the darkness saying things I was too tired to understand. It made the tranquility seem like a trap.

The voice spoke again. Curiosity and fear invaded me. I needed to open my eyes. I needed to run. To keep going. To rise from the heaviness before it swallowed me whole.