When it rains

Chapter 2: When Flight Doesn't Work

She ignored the aching in her muscles, the bruises she felt forming from her fall, snapping her own teeth at the nearest wolf, the one with black face markings. Blackie backed off, clearly surprised as she twisted off the floor, back on her feet.

Two sets of teeth on either side of her flank bit down, attempting to force her back down. She jerked out of the way, her fur tearing out of their mouths before they reached her skin. She snarled in warning, backing as the three enemy wolves crowded her.

White Paws gnashed its teeth, moving forward. She slashed her claws in his direction, keeping her eyes on the other two. White Paws moved backward, howling in pain from where she scratched his nose.

She dodged the next snap towards her and pounced at the nearest one, Brown Eyes, tackling him down. The other two wolves latched onto her back, teeth and claws tearing into her as one set of teeth gnashed upwards to her throat.

She ignored the pain, playing limp instead as she rolled her entire body to the left, Brown Eyes coming with her as she forced his body on top of her with her momentum. Now Blackie and White Paws backed off, not willing to attack their teammate. This left Brown Eyes above her, clearly heavier and stronger than her as he thrashed his teeth towards her throat. She kept her paws in his way, dodging his attempts. He succeeded in only biting at the extra fur around her throat.

He used his weight to pin her down but she thrust her back paws into his vulnerable stomach. He howled, curling to protect her stomach. This left her an opening as she went for his throat. He moved at the last second and she latched onto the corner of his face. He growled, attempting to shake her off but she bit down and did not release.

Brown Eyes howled in pain and she felt White Paws and Blackie attempting to help him, one bitting down onto her exposed tail and the other biting onto her right paw.

She only a bit down harder, red in her eyes, as she made what she knew, was her last stand.

“ENOUGH!"

The booming voice traveled through the tree, alerting the sleeping birds as they took off in a hurry.

It was also enough for White Paws and Blackie to release her own limbs. Surprised, She ultimately did as well.

Brown Eyes scrambled off her, blood dripping from the side of his mouth she had ripped through.

All she knew was pain. She scrambled to her feet once more but her right paw failed her, she collapsed onto her stomach.

She was nothing but dead weight now. A crippled wolf was a dead wolf.

Panicked, she looked up and she half expected to see more wolves.

These weren't wolves. They were fully clothed men. In front, a man with bright electric blue eyes, like the kind she'd seen on billboards back in the city stood.

She heard the sound of cracking bonds and knew the three wolves who had attacked her had shifted back.

“Alpha," One gasped out.

A shiver ran down her spine as she heard the word slip from his mouth. Compared to White Paws, the biggest of the three wolves, he was nothing compared to this monster of a man. This was a man-made of pure steel, a creature born to rule over others. The pressure he exerted from every pore of his body was enough to flatten her to the ground.

Enough that she couldn't even think of running away even if she was able to. Behind him, more wolves snarled, baring their fangs at her. She was heavily outnumbered. There would be no getting away.

The Alpha's blue eyes moved from Blackie's human form to her crippled one on the floor. Her white paws were covered in mud and blood, her right one twisted at an odd angle.

His eyes stared into her own with an intensity she had never seen before. She almost looked away but something in her refused. Something about this wolf was different from the rest. Perhaps, it was the stubborn streak in her that had gotten her in this mess in the first place but something, some sort of string tied around her heart pulled to him.

“What's going on?" The Unknown Man demanded. It wasn't directed at her but instead, one of the wolves behind her. Despite that, he never took his electric eyes from her own. He bore holes into her own. Perhaps, he felt the same connection to her as she did to him.

“We caught this rogue," White Paw spat out from behind her, cursing it like a filthy taste in his mouth, “trespassing on our territory."

Her fur raised at the ends. It was hard not to feel prickly hearing her entire existence spat on by their privilege.

The Alpha's eyes narrowed, seemingly displeased but not at her. He sent a cross look to White Paw, who she could hear shuffling behind her.

The Alpha frowned, his beautiful face marred by the expression. Something in her wanted to smooth it away.

What a ridiculous thought. She was fighting for her life, on the edge of being killed and she wanted to smooth the wrinkles of her enemy's face?

The Alpha locked eyes with her again and this time she could see the conflict in them clearly. Like she often did when she wanted to pretend she was anyone else but herself.

“Shift," The Alpha ordered, nearly barking it at her.

She'd heard a long time ago that shifting from human to wolf was painful.

For people like her, it was as easy as breathing. The sound of her cracking bones was half an instant but twice as uncomfortable.

She wasn't entirely sure it even worked, not sure the last time she had used this form. But the meaty finger sticks instead of paws was a sure enough sign. One hand, where her paw had been twisted, was not a darkened purple and red, swollen around the wrist.

The Alpha's pretty blue eyes were even more striking in this form, full color instead of the muted of her wolf form.

When her eyes met him, though, that pull she felt in her chest increased tenfold. That stranglehold on her heart tightened until her heartbeat erratically like it was dying. She clutched a hand to her chest, frowning at the feeling.

It was like fireworks in her heart, a celebration of reunited with something she hadn't known she was missing. By the look on the Alpha's face, he felt it too though she still wasn't sure what exactly it was.

“What's your name?" The Alpha asked, looking as shaken as she.

“Rain."

“Why can't I connect to you? What pack were you from?" The Alpha frowned, wondering aloud.

Her eyes widened in panic just as the answer clicked with the wolves around them. It was the man beside the Alpha, his right-hand man who realized it first, eyes going wide. She heard her secret fall from his lips before she could do anything to stop him.

Murmurs of disgust fell from the pack wolves surrounding her, enemies turned hostile as they realized how much of a threat she truly was. Chaos with a single word.

“Rogue-born."