Chapter Six
1307 Words
Rune's POV
Before I could react to his pleas, I felt a quick blow at my left side, sending me a few feet away from my poor prey.
“Who do you think you are to think you can pick up a fight with one of us?” The one who delivered the blow snarled.
He took heavy steps in my direction and his gaze never left my aching body. Gosh! I wished I had seen the blow coming.
I clutched my side, silently praying for a healing miracle because if I failed to stand on both feet any moment soon, I was surely going to be the dead prey.
“You can't hurt her, please,” I heard Ivy beg.
Through my blurry vision, I saw her kneel, grasping the feet of one of the men in a coat. Some didn't budge while some just stepped away as though her touch was infectious.
I stole a glance at Alaric, but he was numb now. Completely immobile. Just then, the pang in my chest intensified. Whatever had drawn me to him in the first place had taken over my senses again.
My eyes darted towards the tall figure taking his time to approach me, then back to Alaric. I calculated the right distance to sprint towards Alaric's side without encountering the infuriated beast in any way.
“Please, please, please. She has never witnessed this before—she—” she gulped. “That's the reason she thought she could interfere,” Ivy kept pleading.
However, she was wrong.
My parents’ deaths were more than enough sight for what a bloody execution meant. I let out a dry laugh, feeling only pain at the back of my throat.
I let my hand continue clutching my side, waiting for the right moment to take off. I could see clearer now and my vision had also improved, but acting all fine would only signal him to hit me more. I didn't want that, so I let my body lie completely on the floor.
Eyes gazing up, body twisting in pain, and lips cursing. I caused everyone to think I was still weak.
One. Two—
“Please!” Ivy stepped between me and the tall figure with her claws baring out. “I'd be dead if anything happened to her!”
“Move,” his voice was low enough to reduce the temperature of the room instantly.
I watched the power dynamics amongst them and how only one— quiet and just like me, calculating, dared meet his gaze when he spoke like that. In the instant, I knew those were the two that needed tackling the most.
“Don't worry, Ivy. I'm okay,” I shouted, though through a few winces to keep the act going.
“You're not! Leave now and I'll handle the rest!”
“You?” The figure mocked, smirking at her audacity. Very ugly audacity if she really thought she could handle him alone. “You smell like the worst breed to ever exist and you dare challenge one of us here?!”
His brows were knitted together and the wrinkles on his forehead became more visible. His fist was wrapped around Ivy's neck in a second. In the blink of an eye, he yanked her to the nearest pillar and dug his claws into her pale skin.
That was all I could take before charging at him. Firstly, I took in his current angle, and without thinking, took off to reappear next to him.
I delivered a kick at the back of his knees, weakening his stance, then to the side, just as he did to me. That was enough for him to let Ivy go, but not enough for him to back down.
“You—”
Before he could finish cursing, I ran fast towards another pillar which I used to dodge his attacks. I figured he was too strong for a direct attack, but if I could get him to crash into these strong walls and pillars… he'd wear himself out before he even knew it.
I was right.
Frustration and exhaustion hit him in no time. I took the opportunity and attacked from behind, slashing the back of his head and neck with my claws.
His agonising scream made me satisfied, but one glance at Alaric's still numb and battered body ignited something primal and foreign in me.
‘They did it to him,’ my wolf reminded me. ‘Just like someone did to our parents.’
I stumbled backwards, struggling to keep this new feeling from consuming me.
‘Fight, Rune!’ She urged.
‘Stop! ‘I yelled back, internally.
Hands over my ears and eyes squeezed shut, I kept yelling for whatever was going on to stop until I fell to the ground.
“Seize her!” The tall figure ordered, but the other powerful yet quiet one countered.
“We just sat back and let you assault a female, Luca. She beat you to the fight, so let her be,” his words held finality in them.
“She's weak and destroyed the Alpha's sacred rites,” he spat. “Sure you could do better by not letting her go, Beta. Seize her!”
The air shifted and I felt a string snap in me.
They had already encircled me and were closing in on me. Except Ivy, Alaric, and the quiet one.
One more look at each of them and I could see their weak spots like a bright, burning star. Without thinking, I gave in to that primal urge, running through them in a split second and doing the most with all their weaknesses until all I could see was red.
“Rune?” Ivy called like the most terrified thing on the planet. “H-how d-did you?” She swallowed while looking at the pile of groaning bodies on the ground.
I ignored her and ran straight to Alaric.
“Are you okay?” I whispered, turning him so he wouldn't lie on his back.
My hands were shaking from the very contact of his skin and the sight of him up close began to twist my heart even more.
I leaned in to hear his heartbeat, then began to tear the hem of my clothes to wrap his wounds. It didn't feel foreign at all, if anything it felt like I was the battered only tending my wounds.
Still seeing images of my parents’ death, tears filled my eyes at how I had almost watched it happen again with Alaric. I didn't mind that the tears fell on him, nor could I stop them, so I just wrapped the wounds either way.
“What are you?” The persistent figure, Luca, snarled behind me. “How could you have handled us without a single scratch?” His hot breath burned my ear.
I could not just hear but feel his displeasure.
Still, I focused on Alaric and the other figure who was now kneeling on his other side.
“He's losing a lot of blood,” I whispered in fear.
Would he even make it past these walls?
“Rune—”
“Ivy, I need you to return to the pack. I'll be back once he's okay,” I announced without thinking the words through.
Her eyes were wide open in disbelief and the others… Well, they looked frozen. I reflected on what I had just said, but realised that it was the first time throughout the night that I felt peace. I lowered my gaze back to Alaric, hoping for a little miracle.
“He-hea-ler,” he struggled to say. “Your-a—”
“It's fine, Alaric,” the quiet one soothed him.
“I'll be back once he's okay,” I repeated more firmly and urgently than ever.
- Writer
