Jade's World
1190 Words
LUNA
I don’t even have time to breathe before the world breaks inside me.
Bones crack—slow, torturous cracks that travel from my toes to my spine, each snap like lightning ripping muscle and marrow apart. I scream, but it doesn’t help. Nothing helps. I’m being rebuilt, broken, reshaped into something monstrous.
It feels endless.
Like time is elastic and agony is immortal.
Then—silence.
Pain drains, leaving a raw emptiness behind. I’m conscious, but I’m not driving. I’m a spectator in my own body as my eyes open, and Jade takes the wheel.
She scans the room—hunting.
She’s searching for him.
Her single obsession.
Her mate. Our mate.
He’s not here, and I feel the fury sharpen inside her.
She tries to rise, but Selena rushes forward, placing a firm hand on our fur, trying to ground us like she has any right to touch us.
“Jade, she wasn’t ready yet. It’s only been a week. You’re both extremely weak.”
Jade growls low, primal disappointment vibrating through my bones.
"I need to be free. Shadow calls us."
Shadow?
What the hell is—
Selena’s face freezes, eyes wide. She knows. She understands something I don’t. And she looks scared.
“Mal is trying to calm him,” she says gently. “I need you to shift back so Luna can heal.”
"She can’t. She’s pathetic right now."
Jade smirks, cruel and satisfied.
My chest burns with anger.
I may be weak, but she didn’t keep me alive all those years.
I did.
Selena’s tone tightens. “If that’s the case, then I need to sedate you—”
"Where is mate?"
“You can’t see him. He’s unstable.”
"I need my mate."
You don’t get to demand things! I snap internally, trying to push back. We’re not just muscle. You can’t treat our survival like a damn mating schedule.
She slams me with a surge of dominance so fast I choke.
You don’t lead. You can’t even protect yourself. So shut up.
I hate her.
I hate how easily she can silence me.
I hate how powerless I feel in my own body.
"We’re in danger," Jade spits, pacing in our mind, claws clicking against imaginary floors. "We need him."
I don’t even know what you’re talking about!
Exactly. You don’t know anything. You never learned. You never fought back. You survived by hiding, by obeying, by praying someone stronger would rescue you.
Her disgust guts me deeper than the shift.
And I don’t have a comeback.
---------------
JADE
They don’t move fast enough.
They don’t smell the threat in the air.
They don’t taste the hunters closing in.
I do.
I bolt upright, ready, coiled, furious, and every wolf in the room freaks out—stupid defensive stances, like cardboard shields against bullets.
Then—gunfire.
Glass explodes. Screams become howls.
I move before Luna can even think. I duck low, using speed and instinct, while bodies crumple around us. She flinches at every wounded voice; I block it out.
A helicopter roars overhead—leaving.
Mate! I need you! I call into the mind-link, but nothing comes back. Panic hits—a feral, unwanted weakness.
I’m sure he’s fine, Luna tries to reassure.
Shut up!
I don't need comfort. I need action.
Her softness is a liability.
I sprint into the hall, ignoring her protests, ignoring the bodies, ignoring the humans screaming. She hates the c*****e; I thrive in it.
I find a room—an office—and slam the door behind us.
Jade, we should wait. Plan. Think—
You think too slowly.
I run to the window and take in hell—wolves tearing each other apart, red-eyed freaks ripping through trained fighters like chew toys. I whimper despite myself, not from fear but because I know we should be out there fighting.
You’re injured, Luna whispers.
And you’re useless.
She flinches.
Good.
Maybe she’ll finally understand her place.
Then footsteps outside.
Many. Heavy. Focused.
We’re trapped.
Humans storm the room, followed by wolves with glowing red eyes. Teeth bared. Weapons raised. Death in every scent.
But then—he steps in.
Tall, lean, lethal. Beauty carved from violence. His smirk is pure arrogance, confidence born from knowing no one survives him unless he wants them to.
“Well, aren’t you breathtaking,” he says, voice a lazy purr that curls around my spine like smoke. “A rare specimen.”
Luna recoils with disgust.
Shut up, I snap before she even speaks. We can’t afford to show fear.
He approaches, slow, savoring every second like I’m dessert.
He doesn’t smell like a normal wolf. He smells engineered. Enhanced. Designed to dominate.
“You’ll fetch a high price,” he says, voice dripping with businesslike calculation. “If you behave.”
Kill him, Luna whispers suddenly, surprising me.
We can’t.
Not weak, not cornered.
Even I know that.
Men leave the room at his signal. He stays long enough to grin like the devil himself.
“We’ll take excellent care of you, Princess.”
He winks, playful and wicked.
Luna shudders.
I file away every detail of his face.
The lock clicks shut.
---
DAYS LATER
We don’t die.
That feels like the only achievement.
Luna wants to shift back; I refuse.
If we become human, we lose speed, scent, and power.
If we don’t escape, they’ll sell us, she pushes.
And if we rush out there, we die.
I swing my tail with annoyance. I’m not dying because you panic.
You think being a wolf makes us invincible?
I think being you makes us pathetic.
I let the insult land.
She snaps back, louder than before: I kept us alive for seven years!
Barely.
I pause.
Then, softer. And hiding isn’t living.
That shuts her up.
Good. She needs to hear that.
But she surprises me.
We can’t keep fighting each other, she says. If I’m weak, help me. Train me. Don’t tear me down and then complain I can’t stand.
Her words hit harder than bullets.
Because she’s right.
And I hate that she’s right.
Fine.
I spit it out like venom.
We train.
We shift. Again. Again. Again.
Luna messes up constantly.
I yell constantly.
She glares back more often now.
Progress.
We sprint. Shift mid-motion. Dodge obstacles.
The pain is brutal, but necessary.
We’re getting faster, she pants.
Barely.
She rolls her eyes.
I fight the urge to respect her.
Between training, she reads books—magic, lore, strategy. She tries to learn power instead of waiting to be saved. I hate how proud that makes me.
Days blur into exhaustion and blood.
Then—
The door handle jiggles.
My body goes rigid.
Luna sucks in a breath.
Oh God, she whispers.
Don’t pray. Fight.
The lock clicks.
I crouch low, ready to leap, kill, and tear through anything.
Luna trembles.
We do this together, I growl.
She nods.
For once—
We’re aligned.
And death waits on the other side of the door.
- Writer
