This Christmas, I’ll Claim You Again

Chapter#06

ZEV

Christmas morning, and already the world was bleeding in. I stood naked in the cabin's dim glow. My muscles coiled, and my fangs itched to extend.

"Zev, you traitorous f**k!" The voice boomed again. It was Rafe, the newly turned beta.

Anastasia scrambled up behind me. Her eyes were wide with terror as she looked at me. “Are they… are they talking about me?”

I could feel her fear. "Stay back," I snarled at her in a low and rough voice. I extended my claws. "I’ll handle this."

She grabbed my arm so hard her nails dug in. "Please, don’t let them take me."

“I’d rather die.”

Fuck, even now, with enemies at the door, I wanted to pin her down again, bury myself in her heat until the world burned. But rage won out. I shrugged her off gently and stalked to the door, ripping the beam away. Wood splintered as I flung it open.

Rafe stood in the snow, flanked by two hulking wolves in human skin. Snow clung to his dark coat, and his breath puffed white in the freezing air.

"The almighty, Zev," he sarcastically said, as his eyes scanned my naked body. "Two centuries ago, the packs gave a word to stop hunting you if you stay away from our business. We had been patient, Zev. Not killing the monster who turned our packs into ash… we’ve been very… generous and merciful. But you've gone too far this time.”

I took a step closer and tilted my head down to meet his eyes. He looked so tiny in front of me. “If your wolves keep coming in way, I’ll keep taking their blood.”

“Our wolves did not come in your way. Many good wolves died last night, but the Alpha forgave you.” He slightly smirked and then glanced behind me, where Anastasia was standing. “But harboring the sacrifice? The alpha ordered to get her ready for the blood moon sacrifice next year.”

I glanced back at Anastasia, studied her for a moment, and then back at Rafe.

"What the f**k are you talking about?" I growled, stepping into the blizzard as fur prickled along my spine as the shift hovered close. “She’s no wolf!”

Rafe bitterly laughed. "Oh, Zev. You’ve always been blind with rage. Don’t you remember that night when the packs invited you to the grand feast? Do you not remember how brutally and ruthlessly you… killed her parents?”

Lies. Or were they? Memories flickered as guilt slammed into me, and then fury exploded.

"You're dead," I snarled, launching at him.

I shifted mid-leap. Rafe met me halfway, his own form twisting into a gray wolf. We collided in a tangle of claws and teeth, rolling through the snow in a spray of white and red. His enforcers piled on; one raking my flank with talons, tearing muscle deep. Blood poured down my side, steaming in the cold.

I roared, twisting to sink fangs into the first enforcer's shoulder. Cartilage crunched; he yelped, and blood flooded my mouth. I shook him like prey, ripping the arm clean off in a gush of arterial spray. He collapsed, whimpering, shifting back to human as life ebbed. His guts exposed from a secondary s***h I'd opened across his belly.

Rafe's claws gouged my back, peeling fur and flesh in ribbons. Pain lanced white-hot, but the beast thrived on it. I bucked him off, spinning to face him. "The packs set me up for that!" I growled through fangs.

He circled me. "Oh, did they? You exiled cur, you were just blood thirsty… have been for centuries." He let out a low mocking smirk, “What makes you think you’ll be able to keep her safe… from yourself?”

Anastasia's scream cut through the air. I whipped my head. The second enforcer had slipped past, charging her at the doorway. She dodged, grabbing a hunting knife from the table inside.

She lunged, burying it in the enforcer's thigh. He howled, backhanding her hard enough to split her lip. Blood bloomed on her mouth, and rage blinded me.

I tackled Rafe harder, pinning him as my jaws closed on his foreleg.

Rafe thrashed beneath me, shifting back to human form. "You... fool," he wheezed.

I let out a long exhale and then backed off. Killing the Beta meant asking for every wolf to hunt me down, and I didn’t want that. Not that I was scared, but because I wanted to keep Anastasia safe.

The second enforcer rushed to help his Beta get up and support his miserable frame.

“Go tell your Alpha to stop sending dogs my way.” I snarled. “Tell him, if he’s a real wolf, he should come threaten me himself. And if I see more of his dogs near me, I swear I wouldn’t think twice before smashing their heads off.”

Rafe had nothing else to say. He knew he’d said enough. He gave me a hateful, disgusted look and then turned to leave.

As soon as they were out of sight, I turned around to face her. “Anasta—” Her name stopped on my lips as I saw the knife pointed toward me.

"Zev?" Her voice cracked as her eyes locked on mine. Tears froze on her cheeks. "Is it true?"

I shifted back, collapsing to my knees. "Anastasia... I…" I sighed, trying to look for the right words. “It’s not what you think.”

"Did you kill my parents, or not?" She yelled, pushing the knife close to my chest now. "And don’t you dare f*****g lie to me!"

“My lady…” I reached for her, but she backed away.

"Don't f*****g touch me!” She screamed, pulling her face away.

I grabbed both of her hands and pressed the knife into my chest. A low growl rumbled in my throat as the silver burned my flesh, but the pain was not compared to the pain I’d endured for centuries waiting for her to be reborn, only to watch her die again.

“Kill me if you must.” I gently said, locking my eyes with her, and then pressed it further inside my chest. “I can not go back in the past to fix what I broke. But I can make our present so much better, you’ll even forget how to mourn.”

She didn’t say anything. For a moment, she just stood there looking at me. Maybe judging me. Maybe, thinking of trusting me. And then she took a few steps back, leaving the knife stuck in my chest.

My vision started to blur. The silver started to react with my blood. I could barely keep up.

“You really are a monster after all.” She slightly smirked, as if mocking me. I could see a tear roll down her cheek, which she’d been holding back till now.

She pushed me, making me fall on the wooden floor with a thud, and ran into the blizzard.

"No!" I gasped, trying to stagger up, but I was too weak. I managed to take out the knife from my chest and threw it away. I couldn't let her go. I tried to get up, but the sliver’s poison had taken over me as if I was paralyzed and couldn’t even move.

The storm howled louder, as if mocking me. And then her scent started to fade away.

I had to find her before the pack did. But darkness took over, forcing me to let her jump right into their claws.