Frost

four

f o u r

d e s o l a t e

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TIA RAN UNTIL her legs began to ache. Her vision was blurred, poisoned with exhaustion and the strain with every beat of her heart. She couldn't hear anything except for the rush of blood pumping through her veins. Everything was gone; it was just her and her laboured breaths as she sprinted from the other pack's territory. She had to make her brother's Alpha Ceremony in time, despite her resent at the idea.

She didn't know how long she had been running for until she eventually stopped. At some point, she had lost Colton. As her eyes scoured the woods closing around her, their wooden limbs casting stretched shadows across the ground at her feet, she was met with the absence of her best friend. He was nowhere in sight.

"Colton!" Tia shouted at the top her lungs. A bird perched on one of the trees took the sky, screeching as it flew into the blue.

There was no response.

Tia sighed. Wherever he was, she knew he was safe, and that's all that mattered.

Tia couldn't remember a time when Colton hadn't been her friend. He had always been there, his handsome face in the majority of her childhood memories. A long time ago, she thought that she would be married to him one day. She wasn't aware of the arranged marriage she had been born into, being the Alpha's Daughter. Not that she'd ever go through with it.

The girl continued forwards, jogging at a reasonable pace through the familiar woodland. The trees here grew tall and dense; an epiphany of emerald leaves and entwined branches, laced together like an intricate lattice. But, despite the shaded sunlight and darkness, the most eerie thing about the forest was that it was silent. Not a single bird call. Not a single rustle of leaves, displaced by an organism.

And when she finally reached the pack house, she knew why.

Any alpha ceremony would simultaneously result in loud music and werewolves celebrating collectively. Given the early evening status of the day, she had expected the ceremony - which would take place in the main hall - to have finished. But what Tia didn't see before her was celebrating wolves. Instead, everything was silent. Not a single light shone from the windows of the grand house.

Tia felt something rise up her throat, taken over by an all-consuming fear. She tried to shallow the lump, but her throat refused to contract.

The woman took a tentative step forward, slowly making her way towards the back door. She didn't have a key, but it appeared that she didn't need one; the wooden barricade was slightly ajar. Darkness snaked through the c***k, twisting around the she-wolf's legs.

Tia gulped once more. Maybe she was being paranoid. Maybe the ceremony was still taking place? Eretria doubted it.

She pushed the door open cautiously, allowing it to swing on its hinges. A resounding, rusted squeak echoed through the empty hallway before her.

Tia stepped into the building, leaving the door open to allow light to flood into the dwelling. The familiar, wide passage way had never felt so lonely. But the most peculiar thing was that every single object, every painting hanging off the wall, was in its general place. All doors in the corridor were shut.

As Tia continued walking forwards, her boots making the oak flooring creak, she felt her stomach begin to swim with nerves. Something definitely wasn't right.

She continued to walk, speeding up her pace, as she got closer and closer to the communal area of the pack house. She was on the first floor - the same floor as the hall - but the winding corridors suddenly felt like a maze to navigate.

"Hello?" Tia's voice tremoured as her hand slid along the varnished wooden banister of the grand stairs in the front hall. The material was smooth under her fingers, be she couldn't feel relaxed.

Finally, after five minutes of procrastination and no one answering her calls, she found the door to the main hall. The door was ajar, leading into light. Eretria nudged it open with her toe.

The stench of poison wafted thick into her nostrils, threatening to suffocate her. But it wasn't nearly as overpowering as the rich scent of death and decay.

Horrified, Tia placed a hand over her mouth. For the sight before her was something she had never expected to met with.

Werewolves laid slumped on the ground at irregular angles and distances. The oak boards were covered in smashed glass, transparent liquid seeping into blood, creating a crimson concoction. Even werewolves around the multiple white-draped tables had fallen flat on their faces, rich into their meal. One man's mouth was still bubbling saliva.

Everyone was dead. Everyone was gone.

Tia couldn't hold back her emotions. Her back found the wall, just as her legs gave out. She sank to the ground, curling up into a tight ball, vowing to destroy the very person who did this to her pack.

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COLTON APPEARED MINUTES later, his tanned forehead beaded with translucent sweat. He was red, face flushed, breathing heavy, limbs exhausted.

"What..." He whispered, hands sliding along the frame of the door as his knees buckled. His cobalt eyes widened, unable to comprehend the sight before him. He could feel his heart shudder in his chest, so quickly all of the separate beats merged into one.

His voice broke Tia out of her trance, rushing to wipe the wet tears from her face with the sleeve of her black dress. She stood up, and was pleasantly surprised when her legs supported her. But she felt empty, and so light that even a breeze could sweep her away into fathomless darkness.

Colton's blurry eyes wavered when they glanced at Eretria's short figure. "What happened?" The boy's voice cracked, allowing his tears to slide from the crooks of his eyes.

Tia furiously shook her head. "I don't know," she sighed, pressing her palms to her temple. She had grown up with these people — some had even raised her. Now all she could see was death, her pack killed in cold blood. And there was no evidence of a killer — not even the faintest scent of foreign pelt. "My father, my bother..." The brunette trailed off, smudged lipstick cast across her cheek in a scarlet array. Her eyebrows furrowed. "They're not here."

"Maybe they did it," Colton attempted to say, words choked by grief. Although the male had no remaining family members in their pack, he regarded his pack as the closest thing to family. Mourning them wasn't a choice — he needed to be drenched in tears, no matter if they drowned him or not.

Eretria shook her head again. "They would never," she stayed defiantly. "I know my brother. Better than anyone."

Tia's hands scrunched into fists as she came to a conclusion. "They must've been taken," her words were harsh. "Whoever did this didn't just want our pack to perish. They wanted a precious hostage. Or hostages.

"And I will make them pay for what they have done."

Eyes red and puffy, Tia avoided Colton's gaze as she rushed past and started to mount the mahogany stairs. The stench of wolf's bane had been enough to make her vision sway.

"Tia!" Colton called after the she-wolf, but she had already disappeared.

Unlike the downstairs, all of the rooms on the next two floors were untouched. Tia swiftly made it back to hers, changing into a pair of leggings, plain white tank top, and navy sweatshirt. She slipped her aching feet out of her boots, sighing in the process.

Tia didn't have time to shower. The water would only reduce her back to tears, and she had been taught to be strong. She had been taught not to cry.

She hated the emotionless woman she had become in preparation for becoming Alpha one day.

Now she was. Or at least, she had to presume she was.

In a spur of the moment decision, Tia grabbed her navy rucksack from a nearby bed, stuffing it with essentials. She threw in multiple pairs of leggings, tampons, and made sure not to forget her throwing knives: a female werewolf had to look out for herself when she couldn't shift.

Leaving her room untouched, knowing that it was unlikely she would return, Eretria made her way back down the stairs where Colton was waiting for her. His cheeks were an alien shade of crimson.

Colton raised a slack eyebrow at the rucksack.

"We're leaving." Tia announced.

She endearingly strutted past Colton without the faintest bat of her black eyelashes. Every footfall sent a shudder up her spine.

"What?" Colton shouted after her, jogging through the wide corridor to catch up with the teen. All traces of despair had been cleared from his face, but Tia knew that they would both be broken internally for the rest of their lives. When a werewolf died, other pack members were told to move on. The pair had to do that now, just on mass. "Where will we go?"

"For a start, we could warn the other packs that there's a psychotic pack murderer on the loose," Tia retorted with a bite of her lip. "And work out who the hell did this."

Tia kicked open the front doors, sunlight streaming into the dwelling. Dust motes danced eerily in the air like ghosts. Her foot throbbed from the blow - not that she cared. Her body was numb. Not tingling like she had anticipated from the shock - painstakingly numb.

"Yeah, and how are we going to do that?" Colton argued immediately. His dirty blonde hair was tousled, face appeared a more vivid ruby in the daylight. "Go back to the pack that was holding us captive?

"And in case you haven't noticed, you are theoretically the Alpha," Colton murmured. Tia shuddered at the word. She hated power, and the urge for it that drove men to the brink. She, however, did love being able to do as she pleased.

Eretria furiously shook her head from side to side. "Don't you dare say that," she warned. "My father might still be alive yet."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Tia stopped. She had been so engrossed in conversation and her folding soul, her senses were diminished. She hadn't heard the rough breathing emanating from behind her, nor had she smelt the stench of sweat and wet fur. Until now.

Tia only had time to think s**t before spinning around in one swift motion, pulling a small blade from the side pocket of her rucksack.

The girl held the knife out in front of her chest, in a bid to protect herself. Her hands slackened when she noticed the face of an Alpha staring back at her. The Alpha.

"Oh," she couldn't help sounding disappointed. Tia attempted to push all of her emotions from her voice, but failed miserably. "It's you."

The man before her with piercing blue eyes smirked. He was still wearing an immaculate suit, the black material fitted perfectly to his strong build.

"I'd prefer Alpha Connor," the man jeered, a sideways smile edging onto the corners of his lips. "And I'm afraid that you're going to have to come with me."

Tia sneered. Her pack had just been slaughtered mercilessly: surely she was allowed even one day of grief?

The girl scrunched her nose, fury coiling through her veins like a serpent. Indignantly, she struck out with her knife as quickly as she could. It skimmed the Alpha's suit, creating a huge hole in the material.

Brunette tresses fell into Eretria's face as she completed the action. Angry that the knife didn't make direct contact, she swiped once more with the inanimate metal object, only from Connor to take a relaxed step back.

Tia hated how powerless she was against shifting males, let alone Alphas. She hadn't quite been able to adapt to the abnormal speed they were able to replicate.

The next attempt to protect herself ended up with Connor grabbing her wrist and forcefully removing the blade from Tia's sweating palms.

The girl attempted to pull away, but it was useless. Connor dragged her closer, ignoring the other four pack wolves in her peripheral vision, and Colton who was restrained by a pair of them.

"Like I said," Connor growled, tightening his fingers around Tia's wrists. She could already feel the skin bruising under his touch. "You're coming with me."

Eretria gritted her teeth through the pain. "If you think I'm going anywhere with you, then you're wrong." She jerked her head back to her old home. "Half my pack has just been murdered, and I want to grieve them. Also, I would mind that you don't hold too tight. I'm an Alpha too, and won't hesitate to rip out your throat."

Connor didn't appear bewildered by the brunette's remarks. Instead he released her hands, pulling down on the sleeves of his ruined suit. "In fact, that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."