Discovery
1018 Words
Kara POV
As the sky darkened with the approaching storm, my eyes scanned the area before me, enhanced by my wolf, Annysia.
I could feel her how on edge she was, but she was also drained. We had been running for days now, maybe even weeks, and it felt almost odd to be back in my human body rather than in my huge wolf form, but she had needed to rest.
A fork of lightning lit up the sky, illuminating the valley below and the village that was nestled between the large hills. I could see the lights flickering on in the windows of the houses, prompted by the gloomy clouds that now filled the sky. I didn’t recognise anything about the location we were in, nor the smells of the forest that we hung along the threshold of.
Thunder boomed around us, rolling through the night and putting me on edge. With all the extra noise, it would make it harder to hear anyone coming close.
As another bolt of lightning streaked across the darkening sky, I glanced back at the sleeping form of Piper behind me. I could hear the subtle huff of her breath as she took long deep breaths in her sleep. She was utterly exhausted. Her wolf had only just emerged in the last month and I had run her ragged during that time, but her wolf was tough. She had to be.
I cringed as the ever-present thought crept its way unbiddenly into my mind.
It wasn’t your fault, Kara, Annysia whispered to me, whining at the depth of my own hatred for myself.
She remembered that day as well as I did, the day everything changed, but I refused to acknowledge her viewpoint. I knew what had happened, and I knew who was to blame.
I blinked away the memories as another peal of thunder echoed through the night, making Piper shift suddenly in her sleep.
Her hand curled around the thin worn blanket, and a frown appeared between her brows, making her appear older than her 17 years. She didn’t deserve this life, but we were being hunted now, and she was all I had left of my family.
Piper wasn’t exactly my sister, but she ought as well to have been. With her large green eyes, olive complexion and sun-kissed hair we looked nothing alike, but it was within that we were the same. We were both wolf-witch hybrids, hunted almost to extinction by every faction of species. We were hated my all due to their belief of our superior powers.
Annysia huffed in my mind, clearly unimpressed with their ideals and I had to agree, but I also saw how their fear wasn’t exactly unfounded.
Piper and I were powerful, our witch blood merging with our wolves and strengthening them. Annysia was proof of that with her immense size almost that of a pure-blooded alpha. Summer, Piper’s wolf was almost as large but with her golden coat she didn’t look half as foreboding as my dark red colouring with my jet-black snout
.I glanced back at the village in the distance that looked like tiny little pinpricks of light in the darkness.
Where have you brought us Annysia?
She remained quiet, but thoughtful. I had let her guide us, allowing and trusting her to get us somewhere safe, but the bubble of worry in my chest didn’t seem to ease as I surveyed the area.
If I didn’t recognise anything, we were far out of the bounds of werewolf territory.
I’m not sure, Annysia answered slowly. I could feel her anxiety as she paced back and forward in my mind. I followed the pull.
Pull?
Lightning flashed through the sky again, the world brightening, and a tingle of awareness pressed against my skin, distracting me.
Do you feel that? I asked Annysia, hoping I could use her heightened senses.
The storm is making it hard for me to pick anything up she replied as thunder boomed even louder around us.
Behind me, Piper sat up, gasping.
“It’s okay,” I muttered, moving over to her and soothing her hair back from her face.
Her green eyes were wide with fear as she met my gaze. Her whole body was rigid and I could feel the goosebumps along her arms as I steadied her.
“Do you feel that?” Piper asked softly. I saw her flex her fingers as she tapped into her magic instinctively.
I followed suit, pressing my awareness out into the forest behind us. My magic flowed through my body, enhancing Annysia’s senses and adding to her strength.
It poured from my body and snaked it’s way around us, spreading out as far as my strength would allow.
Another gasp left Piper’s mouth as she pounced upward, a growl ripping through her chest just as my magic touched the edge of something cold, dark and carnal.
Shit!
A whoosh met my ears as I watched a metal bullet pierce Piper’s arm, and her whole body began to ripple as she fought her wolf from taking over.
“It’s too late for that,” I rushed out in a whisper. “Conceal.”
The black gaze of her wolf met mine as another three shots sounded, two hitting me in the leg and another hitting Piper.
I glanced down at the tranquiliser darts that stuck from my skin and ripped them roughly from my body. The metal stunk like leeches.
Annysia growled, but I forced her down and pulled my magic back in to blanket my body and in turn my scent as I felt Piper do the same.
My body tried to move, to run, but whatever they had put in the tranquiliser must have been enough to take down a pure-blood wolf.
The world spun and tilted as my body gave my beneath me, blurring and finally fading to black.
- Writer
