Flame in the Ashes

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

Zhagayah stared at her sister in horror as she clung to her slashed neck with a similar expression plastered on her pale face. Her sister's mouth kept moving in a futile attempt to breathe, and blood began to pour in torrents from her lips.

No! No!! No!!!

It's all Zhagayah could think as her sister's brown eyes soon turned black.

"Halena?" Zhagayah was terrified by the sight before her. She stared at her bloodied hands in horror.

"Halena?!" Zhagayah fell on her knees, fearing her sister was already dead.

Cold chills ran down her spine as she stared at her wide, empty eyes.

She shivered from the cold that assaulted her now n***d body—her clothes were now in pieces around her from her first shift. By now, Halena's skin was already turning pale, and her body was cold. She fell to her knees by her sister's cold body.

"I...I don't understand," Zhagayah sobbed, "Halena, please." Zhagayah patted her sister's face in hopes of waking her.

Was she dead? Had she killed her sister?

How had she killed her sister? What was the red she had seen earlier? Had she just shifted, had she really killed her sister?

Was her sister really dead? Was she really...... Zhagayah's hands began to shake uncontrollably as she began to grasp what was really happening around her.

"What happened here? You killed her! You killed your sister!" It was one of the Pack members who looked as dirty and disgusting as the rest of them.

Zhagayah just sat there, unable to fully understand what was truly happening or what had even just happened. Her shock was doing a great job of numbing her pain.

"Murderer! I knew she was bad news. Those eyes and hair color were proof." Someone else said, and Zhagayah could no longer hear anything anymore as the ringing in her ears returned—deafening.

"That's her. Get the chains," some guards said. They must have heard the noise, and since there was no privacy in the town, they rushed into their tiny house.

A small crowd of dirty, poor people had already gathered to watch the scene. Some of the Palace guards quickly joined the crowd and soon began to lead the people. Zhagayah could see pity brewing in some of the Pack members' eyes. They stared at Halena's body in sheer pity.

They all kept their distance, none going anywhere near Zhagayah.

"Get the chains!" One of the guards said, gathering some confidence.

Before long, the chains arrived, and they clipped the heavy iron around a trembling Zhagayah who refused to take her eyes off her sister. The chains were made of silver to prevent her from shifting and breaking out of them.

"Please, help! Call the pack doctor!" Zhagayah screamed as she was pulled away. "She isn't dead. Halena isn't dead! She can't be,"

Zhagayah pleaded while struggling against the guards’ strong hold on her. She twisted her head so she could look at her sister. She watched in bewilderment and disbelief as one of the Pack members covered her sister with a black coat.

"No! Could you not do that to her? She's not dead!! "

"Shut up, you murderer!" One of the guards said, tugging forcefully at the chains binding her and causing her wrists to bruise terribly.

But Zhagayah didn’t mind the bruise or the pain; all she wanted was for Halena to be okay.

Zhagayah struggled against the chains binding her, causing her more injuries.

The guards dragged her to the edge of the town as people quietly watched. Whispers could be heard all around her, but no one was brave enough to stop her execution, even if they wanted to.

"Please, save her. You must!" Zhagayah begged now. "Halena, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She cried even harder in denial.

"I said shut up!" the guard closest to her hit her on the head, and Zhagayah quickly loses consciousness.

While unconscious, the guards tied her to a tree and piled dry twigs and leaves under her. Zhagayah woke up and saw the villagers gathered around her; some looked sorrowful, while others looked smug. She looked around and strained against her bind as reality dawned on her.

Zhagayah groaned at the pain in her heart. She had killed her sister in a fit of rage. The wolf she had been longing to see finally came out but made her a murderer.

"Please, I didn't mean to, please!" She cried, her eyes looking in the crowd for a familiar face to appeal to.

"Murderer!"

"Liar!"

"Burn her!"

"Send the monster to hell!" The crowd hauled insults at her and called for her death.

Zhagayah didn't blame them either because she wished she could die too. She hung her head in defeat and calmly waited for her death. It was the least she deserved for killing her sister so brutally. But every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was Halena's corpse with the throat slit wide open.

"Please," Zhagayah whimpered. She no longer begged for mercy but for death.

How was she to go on living when the only thing keeping her alive was gone? The guards seemed to finally understand her plea as they set the dry leaves ablaze. The people moved backward as the flame burned brighter and higher. Zhagayah screamed at the heat and struggled when the pain became unbearable.

"Help! Help me!" She screamed. Her survival instinct was begging for survival, but her mind told her she deserved all she was getting.

She begged for help as the flames engulfed her legs and burned higher.

Nobody came to her rescue.

Instead, the crowd thinned out, as most people couldn't stomach the sight.

The few remaining people laughed at the sight of her begging.

Just then, a stranger walked out from within the small crowd and stared at Zhagayah. Even in the flames and in pain, she could feel his gaze on her and who he was to her.

As a wolf, every one of them prays and wishes to meet their fated one. That one person that fate had made just for her. That one person that's supposed to complete her and fill in all the missing pieces.

Zhagayah stared at that person from within the flames, her heart rising madly at the sight of him. She never expected to meet him in the course of her life, but now that she stared at him, now that her heart was beating wildly for him, the will to live rose in her. He may stop this.

Maybe he'd save what was left of her.

"Help me, please, help," she cried out to him, her blue eyes locked on his black eyes, hoping to find some sympathy in them.

But what she found in their depths was hatred—deep, burning hatred.

"Help you?" He scoffed. "Help a murderer and wait until she kills me in my sleep?" He moved close to the fire, withstanding the heat of the flame, only to spit on her. "Over my dead body."

With that, he turned his back and walked away, knowing full well that he was leaving his destined mate to die.

His rejection snapped and broke the connection be

tween them.

She found she couldn't blame him. She was a murderer.

A monster

She deserved to die.