Bound To The Ruthless Lycan

Chapter 11 : Night of the Mad Wolf

"Lock the door! Lock it from the outside! Don't let that monster out!" Lord Vane shrieked in a high pitched, terrified voice.

A heavy thud echoed as the thick wooden door of the Grand Council Chamber was slammed shut from the outside. Massive iron chains were yanked roughly, clanking loudly against the door, followed by the hurried click of a heavy padlock. The footsteps of dozens of guards and council members could be heard sprinting away in panic down the corridor, leaving the two of us locked inside this ruined room.

"Lord Vane! Open the door!" screamed a young servant who had been left behind, pounding on the wooden door with trembling palms. "Please open it! I'm still inside!"

There was no answer from the outside. The sound of their footsteps faded further away, completely sacrificing anyone left in the room.

In the center of the chamber, a low, heavy growl vibrated from Damon's throat. The vibration was so intense that the stone floor beneath my feet trembled. The black clothes he wore tore to shreds as his body enlarged brutally. His ribs shifted with a sickening crunch. Thick, coarse black fur sprouted across his skin in a matter of seconds.

The young servant near the door turned, staring at Damon with eyes wide with horror. "Alpha...King..."

Before the servant could finish his sentence, Damon's muscular arm, which had transformed into a long black claw, swiped to the side. A nearby stone pillar shattered in two under the impact of the claw. Massive stone debris flew through the air, hitting the servant and knocking him unconscious near the corner of the wall.

I stood frozen amid the scattered wood splinters of the shattered table. My breathing came in heavy gasps, the air inside the room suffocatingly hot with the stench of poison and blood.

Damon had completely transformed. The tall, stoic man with a cold face whom I knew had turned into a giant wolf over seven feet tall. Rows of long, razor sharp black fangs dripped thick saliva onto the floor. His eyes were no longer clear gold, but a glowing blood-red, void of any remaining human consciousness.

The beast slowly turned his head, staring straight at me.

"Damon..." I called out, my voice trembling as I tried to suppress the terror gripping my chest.

He didn't respond. He let out a long growl, lowering his massive chest to the stone floor, positioning himself to strike. His hind thigh muscles coiled tight.

I took a step forward, staring directly into his blood red eyes. "Damon! Look at me! You are not the wild beast they created!"

The giant wolf slammed his front claw onto the stone floor, cracking the carved tiles in a wide circle. He stepped closer to me slowly, his strides heavy and deliberate.

"Listen to my voice, Damon!" I shouted louder, my voice bouncing off the cracked stone walls. "I know you're in there! Don't let this mad blood curse win and destroy your mind!"

The monster answered my words with an ear-splitting, high-pitched roar. The acoustic shockwave made my ears ring painfully. Shards of glass falling from what remained of the dome ceiling pelted my shoulders. I flinched, but forgot the pain as terror eclipsed everything else.

"You were the one who brought me out of that murder room!" I yelled, pointing at him with a tightly clenched fist. "You hid my father's letter for three years! You promised to stand with me against those bastard councilmen!"

The black wolf stopped two meters in front of me. His massive head tilted slightly, his eyes blinking rapidly, as if the words "my father" had triggered something deep inside his head.

However, that whisper of humanity vanished in an instant. The crimson light in his eyes flared brighter and wilder. The searing heat spilling from his breath burned against my skin. The Frenzy swept away his human memories once again.

To the monster before me right now, I wasn't Seraphine. I was merely a living, breathing creature inside his territory—a threat that had to be eliminated.

"Damon, don't do this!" I shrieked.

Before the words could fully leave my mouth, the giant wolf lunged into the air.

His speed crossed the distance between us so fast my eyes could barely track him. The rush of air driven by his massive frame slammed into my face.

CRASH!

The giant wolf's body struck my chest dead on.

The immense momentum threw me backward ten feet. I slammed hard onto the filthy stone floor covered in wooden debris. The back of my head hit the floor, causing my vision to flash white and blur instantly. All the air was knocked violently from my lungs, leaving a burning pain across my entire chest and back.

Before I could regain enough consciousness to move or crawl, Damon's immense weight pinned my stomach and chest to the ground.

His two giant, black furred claws dug firmly into both my shoulders, pinning me flat against the stone floor. His sharp black talons tore through the red velvet fabric of my gown, piercing the skin of my shoulders without resistance. Warm blood spurting out, soaking the fabric and the stone tiles beneath my head.

"Aghh!" I screamed against the excruciating pain in my shoulders. The burning sensation from his claws and wounds brought tears to my eyes.

The grip of his claws on my shoulders was so tight I couldn't move my upper body at all. My legs were trapped beneath the wolf's heavy lower body. I was completely locked under the monster.

Damon lowered his massive head, hovering directly over my face.

His scorching breath, thick with the metallic stench of blood, blasted against the skin of my neck and face. A low, threatening growl sent a chill racing through my nerves.

The beast opened his wide jaws. Rows of long, tapering black fangs glisten under the moonlight filtering from the shattered dome. Drops of thick saliva mixed with specks of blood fell onto my cheek, cold and sticky.

The tip of his longest black fang lowered, pressing gently against the left side of my neck. It was barely an inch away from my carotid artery.

A single twitch from his jaw, a single spontaneous bite without hesitation, and my throat would be ripped apart in the blink of an eye.

"Damon..." I whispered hoarsely. My voice was almost swallowed by the rough growl in his throat.

The blood red eyes above my face stared at me with a savage, cold gaze. There was no pity, no regret, no love. All that remained in those eyes was the pure instinct of a mad wolf about to snap its prey's neck.

My heart pounded so violently it shook inside my chest. I could feel my pulse in my neck pressing directly against the tip of his black fang.

My right hand, lying beside my body, was still gripping the small, sharp scalpel I had taken from the infirmary earlier. It lay against the stone, hidden beneath the folds of my torn dress.

Slowly, my fingers tightened around the metal handle.

It would be so easy for me to drive this blade home right now. The way Damon pinned me left his lower ribs wide open and unprotected. I could plunge this scalpel straight between his fifth and sixth ribs, piercing his heart or lung to save my own life from this deadly bite.

My fingers tensed on the handle.

Yet, the image of Damon tending to my wound in the vault flashed rapidly through my mind. I remembered the look in his golden eyes when he kissed my bleeding finger. I remembered his agony in enduring excruciating pain for three years just to uncover my family's killers.

If I stabbed him tonight, if I hurt him to save myself, I would be no different from Lord Vane and the men who called him a mad monster. I would prove the council right—that he was nothing more than a beast that had to be put down.

"No..." I whispered to myself. "I won't kill you, Damon."

I loosened my grip on the scalpel, then reversed my hold.

I held the handle backward, aiming the sharp blade toward my left palm.

The monster above me tensed. His jaw muscles clenched hard, his black fang pressing deeper into the skin of my neck, ready to sink in and tear open my artery.

"Look at me, Damon!" I screamed right beneath his face.

With that scream, I dragged the scalpel in my right hand across my left palm in a fast, powerful stroke.

The sharp steel blade sliced deep into the skin and flesh of my palm. A searing pain instantly flooded my hand, forcing my eyes shut for a moment against the sting. Fresh, bright red blood gushed from my palm, soaking my fingers and wrist in a heartbeat.

The potent scent of pure Silverwood blood suddenly filled the tight air between our faces.

The giant wolf above me jolted at the smell of blood so close. His wild instincts reacted on pure reflex.

Damon opened his jaws as wide as possible into the air, preparing to let out a deafening roar and tear my neck open in a single bite.

Before his black fangs could slide down into my throat, I gathered every remaining ounce of strength in my left arm.

I raised my profusely bleeding left hand and jammed my cut palm deep into Damon's wide open mouth.

My blood slick fingers pressed against the giant wolf's tongue and inner mouth. Fresh Silverwood blood flooded his tongue, teeth, and throat in a forceful rush.