CHAPTER 8: CLAIMED
1547 Words
The roar didn’t fade.
It multiplied.
One became many.
And then they were there.
Krackans.
They didn’t charge like wolves or Lycans. They arrived, emerging from the tree line like something the forest itself had decided to release. Massive and grotesque, their movements heavy yet unnervingly fast, their presence swallowing the battlefield whole.
For a heartbeat.
Everything stopped.
Then they struck.
The first wave crashed into us without warning. A Lycan was lifted clean off the ground, his body torn apart before he could even react. Another was dragged screaming into the shadows, the sound cut short in a way that made my stomach twist.
“Hold your ground!” I shouted, even though I could hear the strain in my voice.
This wasn’t a fight we had prepared for.
This was survival against something no one truly understood.
And then—
He was beside me.
Meka
No hesitation.
No command.
Just movement.
A Krackan lunged toward me from the side. I barely had time to turn before Meka intercepted it, his claws tearing through its neck with brutal efficiency. Blackened blood sprayed across the ground as the creature collapsed.
I didn’t thank him.
There was no time.
Because another came.
And another.
We moved together without speaking.
Instinct.
Timing.
I struck low, drawing one’s attention while he came from above, ripping through its spine. He forced one back, and I stepped in to finish it, driving my blade deep into its chest.
It was… seamless.
Like we had done this before.
Like we understood each other.
Around us, the Lycans fought like beasts unchained.
They didn’t retreat.
Didn’t hesitate.
They met the Krackans head-on, tearing, clawing, dying—but taking the creatures down with them. It wasn’t strategy.
It was dominance.
And it was working.
My eyes flickered across the battlefield.
And then I saw them.
The Whitewolf warriors.
Falling back. Retreating and running.
Not all of them, but enough.
Enough to shift the fight.
Enough to matter.
And where were they going?
To him.
Cally stood at the edge of the chaos, untouched.
The Therians circled him, forming a grotesque barrier, their presence thick with that same stench that had drawn the Krackans in the first place. The creatures swarmed toward them, drawn by instinct, by hunger—
But the Therians held them back.
And Cally?
He stayed behind them.
Safe and watching as both beasts feast on each other.
Something cold settled in my chest.
Not anger.
Not anymore.
Just… clarity.
“Left!” Meka’s voice cut through my thoughts.
I turned just in time, ducking as a Krackan’s massive limb swept over me. I rolled, came up behind it, and drove my blade into the base of its skull while Meka tore into its exposed side.
It fell hard.
Another.
Then another.
Time blurred.
Pain blurred.
All that remained was movement.
Strike, dodge, kill and survive.
Somewhere in the chaos, I saw Pink.
She was still fighting.
Still standing.
Until she wasn’t.
A Krackan’s blow caught her off guard, sending her crashing to the ground with a force that made my heart lurch.
“Pink!” I shouted, but she didn’t rise.
She moved, but slowly.
Injured very badly.
Rage surged through me, sharp and sudden.
I cut down the nearest Krackan with a force I didn’t realize I had left, my breath ragged now, my body screaming with every movement.
But I didn’t stop.
Couldn’t stop.
Because if we stopped—
We died.
And then…
It began to shift.
Not suddenly.
But steadily.
The Krackans were falling.
One by one.
Their numbers were thinning.
Their movements were slowing.
The Lycans, what remained of them, fought harder, more viciously, as if sensing the end. And I matched them, my strikes growing sharper, more precise, every movement fueled by something deeper than instinct.
Until finally—
The last one fell.
There was silence.
Not complete.
Not peaceful.
But enough.
Enough for the battlefield to breathe again.
Bodies littered the ground.
Krackans.
Lycans.
Therians.
Wolves.
Blood soaked into the earth like it had always belonged there.
And standing in the middle of it—
Were us.
I straightened slowly, my chest rising and falling as I looked around.
We had done it.
We had survived.
Together.
And that was when I felt it.
The shift.
Not on the battlefield.
In the people.
Shock.
That was the first thing.
It was clear and undeniable.
Because they had seen it.
All of them.
What had just happened?
Who had fought?
Who had stood?
And who had not?
My gaze moved.
Found him, Cally.
He wasn’t relieved.
Wasn’t grateful.
Wasn’t even angry.
He was afraid.
Not of the Krackans.
Not of the loss.
Of him.
Of what this meant.
Of what came next.
And then—
Meka moved.
Before I could react—
Chains, locked around my wrists.
The sound echoed louder than the battle had.
For a second, I didn’t even understand.
Didn’t process.
Until I looked at him.
Really looked.
“This changes nothing,” he said calmly, as if we hadn’t just fought side by side, as if blood hadn’t been shared, as if something hadn’t shifted between us.
“You’re mine.”
The words settled like iron.
Final and unyielding.
A murmur spread through the pack.
Shock turning into something else.
Something louder.
More dangerous.
Meka turned.
Not to me.
To Cally.
“You have no territory,” he said, his voice carrying easily across the field. “No pack.”
Silence fell again.
“She belongs to me now,” Meka continued, his gaze sharp, unwavering. “And I will be back for what remains.”
The meaning was clear.
Not a threat.
A promise.
Cally didn’t respond.
Couldn’t.
Because for the first time since I had known him—
He had nothing to say.
And I…
I stood there.
Chained.
Bloodied.
Exhausted.
And somehow—
Understanding more than I ever had before.
This wasn’t the end.
It was the beginning of something far worse.
The chains bit into my wrists, cold and heavy, a constant reminder that the battle was over… and I had not won.
Not really.
The field was quiet now, too quiet for a place that had just tasted that much blood. Bodies lay scattered, the air thick with iron and smoke, and yet all I could hear—
Was the question echoing in my mind.
Why didn’t he fight for me?
My eyes found Cally.
He stood where I had last seen him—untouched, shielded, whole. The Therians still lingered around him, restless, as if waiting for another command. But he didn’t look at them.
He was looking at me.
And there was something in his gaze I had never seen before.
Fear.
Not for me.
For what I now stood beside.
A movement caught my attention.
Pink.
She was hurt, I could see it in the way she struggled forward, each step uneven, her body still recovering from the blow the Krackans had dealt her. But she came anyway.
Toward me.
Always toward me.
My chest tightened slightly.
“Emily…” her voice was strained, but determined.
She reached out—
And stopped.
Not by choice.
By command.
“Stand down.”
Cally’s voice cut through the silence, sharp and final.
Pink froze.
I felt it more than I saw it—the hesitation, the conflict in her stance. Her loyalty was torn in two directions.
Toward her Alpha.
Toward me.
My fingers curled slightly against the chains.
That answered it.
Without words.
Without excuses.
He wasn’t going to fight for me.
I turned my gaze away from him.
From all of them.
And faced Meka instead.
He stood close, too close, like the space between us no longer belonged to me.
“You think this changes anything?” I said, my voice quieter now, but steadier than I felt. “You think chains mean I’ll bow to you?”
His eyes didn’t leave mine.
Unshaken.
Unmoved.
“I will never submit to you.”
The words came out stronger than I expected.
Clear and certain.
The last piece of myself I refused to give.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Just watched me.
Studied me.
Like I was something he hadn’t quite decided how to handle.
Then—
A faint shift.
Not a smile.
Not quite.
Something darker.
Something knowing.
“I know,” Meka said.
Like it wasn’t a challenge.
Like it wasn’t even a surprise.
“You’re still my enemy.”
The words should have felt like a threat.
But they didn’t.
Not entirely.
Because there was something else beneath them.
Something unspoken.
Something that lingered in the space between us.
I held his gaze.
Didn’t look away.
Didn’t lower my head.
Because if there was one thing I still had—
It was that.
“I always will be,” I replied.
And this time—
There was no hesitation in my voice.
Behind me, the pack remained silent.
Watching.
Waiting.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Not Cally.
Not the pack.
Not even the chains.
Because in that moment, one truth settled deep within me.
I hadn’t been taken.
I hadn’t been saved.
I had been chosen.
And whatever that meant…
I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
- Writer
