Cursed, Loved, Redeemed

Escape

-Dominic’s POV-

“Where are you, you little bastard?!” I hear my adoptive father, Anthony, roar from just outside the tree line. But I don’t stop, I keep running, further into the woods, further away from him.

Ever since my adoptive mother Veronica, passed away, he has consistently gotten angrier and more abusive. Every night he beats me, leaving me bloody and bruised on the floor. Thanks to my werewolf healing, every morning it’s all healed up, there’s almost never been a bruise visible when I wake up. Because of that, nobody knew he was like this, that is until recently. Last week he beat me so badly I ended up in a coma. The pack doctor, Dr. Phillips, asked a lot of questions but didn’t seem to really believe the lies my father told him, however he didn’t dare question my father, due to my father’s size and strength being a pack warrior. He’s roughly 6’7” of solid muscle, and he’s a highly trained warrior for the pack.

Luckily for me, I hadn’t really seen him much since then. But tonight, I heard him stagger in our house, drunk. Something deep inside of me snapped and I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I knew I was no match for him in a fight, I made that mistake last week, and well.. I ultimately decided against another coma, or maybe even worse… So I jumped out my window and ran. I made it to the tree line and paused momentarily, waiting for any sign of him behind me. As soon as I caught his scent, I bolted. Running deep into the forest where it would be almost impossible to scent me. Nobody knows this forest better than me and I knew he wouldn’t be able to catch up with me in the state he was in.

When I got far enough, I realized I needed to find somewhere to camp out for the night. Once I reached the small lake on the far west side of our pack territory, I decided to sit there for a while. I stared at my reflection in the lake, quickly losing myself in my thoughts. I’m not small by any means, standing somewhere around 6’6”, and muscular. It’s lean muscle though, since I’m not allowed to train like the warriors until I turn 16. I have short dark brown, almost black, hair, and light blue-green eyes. My skin is tanned from spending almost all my time outside, even in the winter. I know I’m pretty attractive, as most of the she-wolves in my class stare at me, a few of the braver ones have told me how attractive I am. One even called me “tall, dark, and handsome”. I’ve even gone so far as to take a few to a secluded spot in the forest not far from the school to “get better acquainted with them”… or at least that was the story I told everyone else.

“Calm down there, Narcissus” says a deep voice in my head, catching me off guard and pulling me from my thoughts.

Am I going crazy? I wonder to myself, taken aback by this voice inside my head that doesn’t belong to me.

“No, you aren’t going crazy. Well, maybe you are, but my voice has nothing to do with it. I’m Pyro, it’s nice to finally meet you, pup”

“Whoa, but wait, if I’m hearing you inside my head, that means it’s my 16th birthday! I always wondered when my real birthday was, my mom… she always just celebrated the day she adopted me, April 16th.”

“Yes Dominic. I am your wolf, we are one and the same now. This means I have all your memories, I know of every single thing that has happened until we met. From here on, I feel everything you feel, just as you will feel everything I feel. When we shift to my form I will mostly have control and you’ll feel everything the way I’m feeling everything now.” Pyro said, and I could feel a deep anger begin to rise up in my chest, in response to our current predicament.

“So if you have all my memories, that means you know…”

“I know what happened. Now that I’m here, it’s never going to happen again. We can defend ourselves, and above all, I will protect you in any way I can regardless of the consequences.”

“What makes you so-“ my thought gets cut short as I hear a twig snap about 100 yards away. That’s when it hits me, the scent of sawdust and lemon, almost completely masked by were-whiskey. s**t! He found me!

“SHIFT, NOW” Pyro commanded inside my head.

“I don’t know how” I tell him, as I slowly creep further from my adoptive father, knowing he hasn’t found me just yet.

“It’s probably going to take a couple minutes and be incredibly painful the first time. If you don’t do it now he’s going to catch us mid-shift and we’ll be done for. Completely defenseless. Give into the anger that’s consuming you, focus on me and let go. Trust me, I’ll handle it from here, pup.”

I know he’s right, but I don’t know how I’m going to be able to shift in time. I’ve seen people shift for the first time before, and it always seems to take forever. I’m not worried about the pain, my pain tolerance is incredibly high, even for a werewolf. But I trust my wolf, more than I’ve ever trusted anyone else, including myself.

As soon as I give Pyro control, I feel the changes begin. Claws burst from my fingertips, my body hair becomes thicker and spreads over my entire body, my canines elongate as my nose grows into a long snout. I can feel my bones snapping and moving as I get closer to wolf form. The pain is intense, but not nearly as bad as I expected, and, to my complete surprise, I’ve completely shifted in a matter of seconds, not minutes. I blink a few times as my eyes adjust to my enhanced wolf vision, which is even better than my already excellent vision that I’m used to.

Once the shift is complete and Pyro has full control, I take a second to get used to seeing out of his eyes. It’s like playing a video game through first person. I see everything he sees, but like looking at a screen.

By now, I’ve caught my father’s attention, and it’s clear he is out for blood. I angered him more by running away.

“Shift back NOW Dominic, and get your ass back home! You have a beating waiting for you, you little bastard!” My father screams at me, earning a deep warning growl from my wolf, who is making it clear he will not be doing what he was told.

In response to the growl, my father shifts into his wolf, Felix. Felix is a pretty large wolf, bigger than every other warrior in the pack, almost as big as the beta wolf. He is a dirty gray color, with dull brown eyes like my father’s. An angry growl escapes Felix as he tells my wolf to submit.

Instead, Pyro bares his teeth and takes a step towards Felix. It’s only now that I realize Pyro is much bigger than Felix, and he’s not even fully grown yet! My wolf is absolutely huge. It’s clear Felix realizes this as well as he pauses momentarily before lunging straight at Pyro’s throat.

My wolf is much faster than his, and quickly evades the attack, clearly angering Felix further, and he lunges again. This time he is able to latch on to my shoulder, and tears away a chunk of flesh. I see red and Pyro attacks, jumping on Felix and quickly latching onto his throat. Felix snaps at me again, taking hold of my paw and biting down, crushing it to pieces. This makes Pyro bite down harder on his throat, he lets out a loud howl of pain that quickly turns into a gurgling sound as his windpipe is crushed. Felix drops to the ground as I release my bite. That’s when I realize I’m bleeding out pretty badly. Suddenly, I shift back to my human self, and I’m left laying in the dirt, naked and covered in blood when I see her step out into the clearing, the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on is standing before me, my nostrils filling with the most heavenly scent I have ever smelled. It reminds me of freshly baked peanut butter cookies, and I look up at her as she kneels down beside me, pulling my head onto her lap.

“Are you an angel?” I mumble at her as I slip out of consciousness and everything around me fades to black.