Caged Wolf
Chapter Eighteen: Dusk

Song of the Chapter: Game On by Waka Flocka Flame

I’m about to step forward into Colonel dick’s face as my lip curls up when Penny rests her hand on my shoulder. Out of pure curiosity, I hesitate.

“You see Colonel have access to the fairytale you need to respect it and it will respect you. At this moment you’ve failed the first test and it doesn’t respect you.” Penny states her voice disappointed.

Penny’s words shut the Colonel and his followers me right up as she turns on her heels walking away from them. Noah and I follow behind her in approval that she stood up for us in her way.

“Okay let’s get started, come when your name is called,” Penny calls out her voice a confident echo as she takes the Colonel’s thunder from him.

One by one Wolves are paired up with the people around us. The last fifteen come down to being paired with the majority of the Wolves closest to Noah and me, which I think Penny did on purpose. Eventually, it comes down to Noah and I being the last two Wolves left when the last two humans come forth. I replace it interesting that one is a big stereotypical man while the other is a rather short, thin female.

“Dusk you’ve got Vic short for Victor and Noah you have Diana.” Penny assigns as share a side-long smile before splitting up to join our human partner.

Victor oozes ignorant confidence that instantly has my walls up and Diana glares right through Noah as if he wasn’t there. Clearly, we have the two biggest none-believers.

“I didn’t figure fairytales could be this beautiful,” Victor whispers to me, he’s maybe a year or two older than me so it isn’t a creepy compliment.

I don’t react to it though or say anything as I feel Noah’s eyes burning into Victor. Victor turns to meet Noah’s deadly glare, I can hear him swallow and I know he is intimidated by Noah. I smirk slightly turned on by Noah’s quiet display as I know if it came down to it Noah could utterly destroy Victor, though he would never have any reason to.

“We are going to start simple with a nice long run through the forest, including getting through the river cutting through the middle and meet up at the rocky outcrop on the other side. This will give you a chance to understand the difference in each other’s endurance. Wolves please stay in human form and don’t outpace your partners but push them.” Penny explains before beginning to send pairs off starting with Danny and his human partner Denver.

Penny staggers everyone by five or so minutes hoping that will keep us from running each other over and turning this into an even bigger competition than it already needs to be. I settle on the grass stretching as Victor and I wait our turn to leave. Victor follows my lead with the stretching and I watch him trying to assess him. He’s a well-built human, his shoulders are wide and he has strong physic. His hair is dirty-blond and cropped on his head. His eyes are a hazel brown as he focuses on stretching. He seems overly confident in himself, probably a legacy meaning he has moved up in the ranks fast without much work making him think he’s a hot-shot.

“Can you stop trying to read me. If you want to know something about me just ask, I don’t bite.” Victor states his eyes meeting mine, his tone is cold as he isn’t happy with me for assessing him.

“Why are you here?” I ask straight to the point, this is the first question that’s been bugging my mind.

Why would humans suddenly want to try and work with us if they didn’t want to before? Why attempt this when originally they just kept us away? I don’t fully understand the thought process. I know we make good, durable weapons but are we that sought after that they would risk upsetting the world to try and keep us alive?

“There is a bit of hype about your kind. I mean most of the world knows that Wolves have been round up and kept here to keep humanity safe but we don’t know much past that. We didn’t even know you existed so how badly did this need to be done to you? Are you that dangerous? Those are things I’m here to learn, plus I wanted to know if you truly existed. Besides, right now you don’t seem any different than me, you could just be human for all I know.” Victor explains to me, surprisingly he is honest.

“I guess you’ll replace out won’t you?” I reply to my tone teasing, I already feel slightly better about all this because if I can be stuck with the biggest gong here and he still wants to try and make it work than maybe the world truly does too.

“Ah, you can do something other than be serious.” Victor smiles his eyes meeting mine, a small side-long grin touches my lips.

Penny sends Victor and me off last, Victor picks a fast pace that causes me to let out an annoyed sigh. At this pace Victor will soon tire and need to rest, I don’t want to have to stop.

“You should slow down, at this pace you will tire too quickly and we will need to stop for a break,” I state as I easily keep pace with Victor.

“Don’t you fret yourself, I know my limits,” Victor replies his tone thick with his confidence causing me to simply let out another sigh.

…

An hour later we’ve just barely made it to the river, Victor is sweating badly as he drags in deep breaths trying to keep up with his original pace. I stop at the edge of the river to peer down at the quick running waters. A deep sigh leaves me because either I swim across holding onto Victor or we wait for him to regain some energy, at this pace the current will carry him away.

“Either you hold onto my back to cross or we wait until you’ve got some energy back. The current is strong today, the river is swollen.” I explain as I squat down sticking my hand into the water to feel just how badly the pull is here.

Victor doesn’t say anything as he continues to try and catch his breath behind me. I keep squatting but I’m suddenly distracted, my nose is working as an out of place scent drifts our way. I turn my head this way and that trying to pick up exactly where it’s coming from. When I catch a good scent I move quickly following it not giving Victor much of a choice but to follow me.

“Dusk, where are you going?” Victor huffs out confused.

I don’t reply I just keep going picking up the pace until I come across a ravine where the earth dips down sharply and the river swells into a small deep pool before swirling on through a cut out in the earth. Here the river is moving very fast as the current cuts through the earth pulling debris along with it. Suddenly the temperature drops and raindrops begin to slip from the sky. Sliding down the steep incline I reach the bottom coming across what I was searching for.

“Dusk, what are you doing?” Victor asks gruffly behind me, now annoyed that I’ve dragged him down here.

I don’t reply to Victor as he comes up beside me, I can’t believe he can’t smell what’s before us. A strangled gasp leaves his lips when he sees what I’ve found. Before us, two mangled bodies lay torn open and half-buried in the undergrowth. Blood and gore spill out across the ravine.

“These shouldn’t be here,” I say quietly trying to piece this out in my mind, a Wolf did this, but why?

“An animal did this, Dusk we need to go it isn’t safe,” Victor says behind me as he backs away his eyes scanning our surroundings.

“A Wolf did this, why would a Wolf do this it doesn’t make sense,” I reply to him.

Victor has backed away to the ravine’s edge that we slid down, the ground is becoming slick with fatter and fatter raindrops. I remain where I am desperately trying to figure it out. Suddenly a scent drifts down from above and it makes sense, this was a trap. A trap I walked right into.

“I knew your curiosity would get the better of you, I told you she would come,” Kiki calls down before she turns to someone I can’t see as she appears at the top of the ravine.

The air suddenly crackles as this situation becomes dangerous. I’m at a disadvantage for a fight being at the bottom of the ravine and having this human with me.

“Dusk what’s going on?” Victor asks behind me, his tone lacks it’s usual confidence and I know he can sense how dangerous this situation is.

“Leave the human out of this Kiki, it’s my blood you want,” I call out to Kiki above and she lets out a laugh.

“We will kill human Dusk. Then we’ll beat you so that I can finally have you and Kiki can have Noah. Nothing will stand in our way anymore.” A voice I haven’t heard in a long time speaks sending chills down my spine.

Perry appears beside Kiki at the top of the ravine where they take each other’s hands and laugh psycho laughs down at us. My blood runs cold, the rain turns into a downpour making it hard to see. I could use my powers on them and end them right now but there is no guarantee that one of them won’t get to Victor in the process. It’s been a while since I’ve properly used my powers and they are not back to their full strength yet, I’m not back to my full control. I back up getting Victor behind me putting him between myself and them.

“They are about to attack us, Victor, I will do my best to protect you but be ready to fight. Two against one are bad odds.” I tell Victor quickly, he goes stiff behind me and I can feel him fighting to pull on his army face.

This is a new situation for him, he is weaponless and stuck down here with a person he doesn’t know up against two very dangerous people. I stiff my resolve, they will not kill us. This will not end with our blood being spilt. Closing my eyes I dig into myself searching for that monster that Jack made of me when I replace it I let it come to the surface. I can feel my eyes narrowing in as I become half-feral my claws bursting out as my eyes begin to glow furiously. I bare my canines at Perry and Kiki as a challenge. They shift and I prepare myself as they come crashing down the ravine and into me. This battle is fierce as teeth snap and flesh tears, growls ring out as we take chunks out of each other. I keep them both at bay as Victor begins to scramble up the slippery slope using my back as leverage to push himself higher. Blood drips above my one eye as Kiki lands a scratch and Perry lunges to get over me and at Victor. I grip him by the front leg dragging him down using his body weight to swipe Kiki’s legs out from under her. Victor kicks off replaceing a good spot and getting some leverage as he continues to climb above us. Perry and Kiki use their combined weight to bowl me over sending me crashing hard towards the river. I let out a frustrated growl as I quickly right myself and launch myself at Perry who digs his claws in trying to reach Victor. Perry’s weight is too much for the softening earth and he comes crashing back down with my help. Kiki’s teeth sink deep into my hind flank causing me to let out an angry growl as I turn loosing myself from her and bare my fangs. Perry and Kiki both face me eyes ablaze as I face them my anger threatening to take over, the need to kill them threatens to take over. The monster fully threatens to take over. If I let it I will revert to that state Jack put me in, if I let it have me I will turn feral and could become a threat to everyone. If I don’t this could be the end, I am strong but I would be crazy to think I could win against two determined Wolves and come out with Victor alive. If I had my full strength with my powers I could do this but I don’t, healing Hayley drained me. I take a deep breath, I think about Noah and I apologize to him in my mind than I let go. I let my anger consume me like a dark cloud, everything around me fades away as I am filled with the need to kill. I will kill.