My Cursed Mate's Revenge

Trigger & Content Warning for My Cursed Mate's Revenge: Mature Content and Themes, Descriptive s**x & Torture Scenes, Mentions of S.A., & Torture Present: Freya My limbs are heavy, my face is numb, and my feet ache from the constant pounding against the hard, frozen ground of the forest floor they have endured for weeks. My heartbeat sounds like the drums of war my father used to speak of in bedtime stories years ago, and my breaths are more short gasps driving a spike of pain into my exhausted and overworked lungs. My mind begs for it all to end, for a few moments of rest, for the sounds of the wolves chasing me to vanish, but I know I cannot stop. If I want to survive, I have to keep up my punishing pace through the woods, dodging the branches that gouge deep scratches on my arms and face, the roots like the frantic hands of an overzealous crowd trying to trip me at every opportunity. The moon shines bright overhead and gives me just enough light to see a few feet ahead at a time. The last two weeks have pushed my mind and body to the brink but the wolves behind me show no signs of tiring. I fight back the tears that once again threaten to spill over, knowing they are useless. Two weeks ago, I had my 22nd birthday and for the fourth and final year, my wolf has failed to appear. Time, patience, and countless reassurances that everyone’s wolf appears by 21 years of age have all failed to bring my wolf forward, these tears will make no difference and serve no purpose. I have begged, pleaded, and even prayed to the Moon Goddess, but still the day came and passed without my wolf. My mind has started to betray me, bringing visions forward of the woods parting, the full moon shining down and hitting my face, calling to my slumbering wolf just in time to save me from the three relentlessly pursuing me. I have no time to dwell on what should be, or fantasies of what I wish my reality were, only what is. Then, suddenly- the trees part. The moon shines, illuminating a large clearing, the forest ending in patches of rocks and eventually, a cliff. My heart squeezes and a single tear falls down my cheek, knowing that as much as my heart aches, it is not enough to change destiny. I was always destined to fail, to be a disappointment, a freak. I was never meant to lead my people alongside a wolf, like my father and his father before him. I stop in the rocky clearing and see that to my right and left is open space, with the cliff and open space before me. There is nowhere for me to run or hide. Through the pounding of my heart, I hear water faintly rushing in the distance, somewhere far away and down below, over the edge of the cliff. My mind races and I turn frantically, hoping I missed something, desperate to find some answer, any way out of this deadend that I have run myself into. Just as I turn back to face the woods, three wolves step from the edge of the treeline and into the moonlight. They advance slowly, and for every step forward they take, I match by taking one back towards the cliff. Too soon, I feel my foot step back into near empty space, and quickly pull it back onto solid ground. The wind is pulling at my hair and clothes, a playful tug that would feel friendlier if I weren’t facing near certain death at my front and back. I find that my mind has calmed and cleared completely, focusing on nothing but the wind, the water below, the scents on the air, and the three warriors before me. If only they were in their two legged form, I would stand a chance. I have faced worse odds before and succeeded. But three fully grown and trained wolves against an exhausted woman without her own wolf? I felt my hand reach behind me and into my pack, pulling one of the daggers from inside. I felt myself raise the knife to my throat and in a voice that sounded strange to my own ears spoke, “I will kill myself before I let you drag me back. I will never give them what they want. I will never be a prisoner in my own home again.” My voice and hand were steady despite the bone deep ache in my body and the rawness I felt in my throat. I had hardly slept, ate, or drank, but I had never felt stronger in that moment, with a knife pressed firmly to my neck. The knife had been given to me by my father on my 18th birthday as I had laid in my bed sobbing, back at the beginning of my heartbreak and despair. “What is wrong, darling?” “I don’t understand, she was supposed to be here.” I couldn’t even lift my head from my pillow, the shame causing a fresh wave of tears to pour into my already soaked pillow. “Not everyone receives their wolf on their 18th birthday, you know this. And having to wait will teach you the patience that every leader must possess.” I felt his hand rub soothing circles on my back, matching the cadence of his voice as he comforted me. For the first time in my life, my father’s voice failed to relieve the pain in my heart. “Godric came to you when you turned 18. Mama’s candles had barely been lit on her snow cake when Isadora announced herself in a ‘blaze of fiery glory’...I’ve heard the stories a hundred times but I’m not supposed to be angry when my wolf doesn’t even make a peep?” I hadn’t even bothered to raise my head from my pillow while quoting his own words back to him. “My darling, there are other ways for you to lead. Your wolf will come one day and she will be a fearsome thing to behold, I am sure.” I suddenly felt the most disorienting sensation, a forceful tug on my mind. As loud as if I had opened my mouth and shouted it into his face, I somehow heard the words thrown into his mind, ‘I can’t bear how much I have disappointed you…’ As quickly as it occurred, the connection faded and left me feeling sick and disoriented. “Father? What happened?” “You mindlinked with me, Freya! Your wolf will be here any day, I know it. Until then, here.” The smile on his face is carved into my mind, as he reached over to my nightstand for the present he had placed there upon entering. “The knife my father gave me when I became Alpha of our pack. You must remember: there are other ways for you to help our family. Your wolf will come one day, I am sure. But there are other ways that we must learn to lead, other strengths and abilities that are important beyond simply having a great and powerful wolf to lean on. It will only hurt your wolf to punish yourself this way. Work every day to learn and grow, and always remember that your wolf is a part of you: you cannot hate yourself into shifting, and hatred will warp your heart long before it shifts you into the wolf you want to become.” The memory fades from my mind as the wolves advanced. A drop of blood inches its way down my neck, the wind robbing it of heat and chilling my body further. I stare at each of the wolves, memorizing their features so I could beg the Moon Goddess to let me return as a spirit and haunt them. The leader was a sandy color with specks of brown around his eyes, matching the coloring on his feet. The one on his left was the smallest of the three but easily the most beautiful, with longer, wavy gray hair and bright green eyes. Perhaps it was this wolf’s coloring and the knife in my hand that brought forth thoughts of my father, or maybe it was my mind attempting to comfort me in my last moments. The third wolf was so dark, nearly black but it was nearly impossible to see in the light. Bright eyes were a stark contrast against the dark coat, a feature I likely would have admired in other circumstances. The wolves made a final step forward, passing the line I had drawn in my mind as the closest I would allow them to come before acting. The strange voice again spoke, and my mind wondered briefly if it only sounded strange to my ears because it has been weeks since I had spoken. “Clearly they did not warn you. I do not make idle threats, only promises.” Suddenly, I feel my mindlink with theirs, forcefully grabbing hold with mental claws and teeth. A wolf’s howl of rage filled their joined minds for a split second, ending as quickly as it had started. The wolves chasing me were too disoriented by the sudden connection to realize what I was doing. Before they can recover, I turn and leap from the cliff, throwing myself to the mercy of the river below.