IN FULL COLOUR - Dark Fantasy
Chapter 26

Axel

It has been almost two weeks and still no word from Hollow Stone. Cassius had truly left me here to rot for three months with these demented wolves. I wasn’t exaggerating when I called them demented, because Dire Mountain was in full swing, getting ready for their imaginary fairy festival, which I was apparently supposed to attend as an honoured guest.

How I would be able to keep a straight face through all of it was beyond me. At least I had another week or so to practise numbing my features so I wouldn’t look smug in front of their pack.

Shadow Creek, on the other hand, had informed me that Lily and Ray would be coming within the next few days for a short visit to share some important news with us. I didn’t believe for a second that they truly had any news to share. They were obviously just looking for an excuse to come and check up on me. Find out if I haven’t fallen in love yet, AND to make sure I was behaving.

After our little ‘incident’ in my room, almost two weeks ago, Gabrielle has tried to converse with me during dinner numerous times, although I had found that giving her a short, dead-end answer to all of her questions seems to shut her up. She was still cautious around me, and I guess both of us tried to avoid each other as much as possible.

Her dad would have skinned me already if he had found out that I had laid my hand on his precious little angel, which could only mean one thing; she never told him about our intense encounter. Probably because she knew she was in the wrong in the first place. She shouldn’t have entered my room without permission, and she definitely shouldn’t have crept up on me. Sure, in her mind she wasn’t creeping, a true wolf would have heard her moving around in the hallway already let alone the room. A true wolf would have smelled her before she even set foot inside. A true Alpha. But I wasn’t that. Looked like it maybe, acted like it, but didn’t have the abilities. Not anymore though. Not since my wolf has retreated.

To my disappointment, even my healing had slowed down. To be honest, if it weren’t for the redhead's herbs and voodoo shit in the bath that first day, I would probably still be sporting an angry-looking purple bruise over the left side of my face. It has disappeared completely now, along with the tenderness in my abdomen. I also didn’t need the hand splint anymore, although I tried not to use my hand too much, since it still hurt from time to time, which wasn’t a good sign.

I have been getting along with the boys in the arena quite well and even made a few friends if I could call it that. Jarryd, Beast and a few of the others had invited me to join them for drinks a few times now, but I had always refused.

John, the prick, has made a nasty habit of coming to the arena from time to time, mainly to bully some of the warriors. Usually, Jarryd. I still didn’t know why and never bothered to ask either. He hadn’t tried his luck with me yet, although I had a feeling it wasn’t too far off, since he had been pressing the boundaries of respect more and more lately. Secretly I hoped he would take the leap soon because my fists had been itching to taste some of his too perfect, well-pampered skin.

Letting out a deep sigh, I leaned back into my desk chair and took the last sip of coffee from the already chilled cup. Groaning as the cold slid down my throat, I set the cup back down on the white wooden surface, in the middle of all the scatterings of paper I had been working through. It was a Friday night and every wolf had somewhere to be. Everyone except for me. They had invited me though, Jarryd and the guys, but I refused yet again.

I had kept myself busy, working on new sparing routines, training formations and endurance exercises for the last three hours and my body had gone stiff from prolonged sitting. I needed to get up and stretch my limbs out.

Dropping the a few papers onto the desk, I stood up and stretched my arms high above my head, twisting and turning slowly so that the stretch would pull into my back muscles as well. After a few moments, I turned towards the desk again, eyeing the heaps of work that still awaited me and decided to go out for a short walk instead. I couldn’t think clearly anymore and needed to take a decent break before continuing.

So, I stepped out of my room and into the hall, pulling my bedroom door shut behind me. With the second step I took, something dark moved in the corner of my eye, disappearing out of my peripheral sight. Instantly, I swung around and felt the blood drain away from my face.

Right there, in the hall, about six feet away stood a creature, almost the size of a large-breed dog. When it sensed my distress, it stopped dead in its tracks and stared at me with what I believed to be the thing’s face.

The creature was covered in dark, unruly brown fur, which appeared to be thick and incredibly dirty. Its hind legs were very muscular and bent in such a way, it looked like a frog’s hind legs, although it didn’t end in webbed feet, instead, it had flat, almost human-like feet with four toes at the end.

The body was short and stubby, and the head sat on the shoulders, with a shield of scaly armour protruding from above the shoulder bones and ending on top of the head, almost like a biological helmet to protect the back of the creature’s neck. The ears perked up like two round ceramic cups and swivelled around like radars, focusing entirely on me.

Where there should have been eyes, there were none. Where there should have been a mouth, there were none. Simply more dark fur.

The only visible thing on the front part of its head was two round, blackened nostrils, covered with delicate tympanic membranes which opened and closed as the creature inhaled and exhaled.

Within seconds, it had spun its entire body around to face me, putting all its weight on its front legs, which were similar to a chimpanzee’s front limbs. I guess arms would be a better description than front legs. The muscles in its arms flexed as the membranes started opening and closing at a quickened pace.

Something told me the creature was getting nervous, or angry, I couldn’t really tell, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

“What the f-?” I found myself saying out loud and taking a careful step back.

The creatures’ nostrils flared, and it took a threatening step towards me.

This was it, that last, silent breath before disaster struck. I took it. The final calculated breath, and then the creature struck, launching itself at me with such swiftness and violence, I barely had time to sidestep its attack.

Its hind legs kicked the body up towards me, while the face turned downwards like it wanted to ram into me with the armoured top part of the head where the scales were thickest. The creature’s ears were pulled back, flattened against the sides of its head and from the muscled hands, long claws similar to talons appeared.

Everything happened so fast. Without thinking, relying only on muscle memory and instinct, I sidestepped the creature and quickly turned on my heels, crouching down into a fighting stance. As the creature slid to a stop mere feet away, it swung around and made a deep, unearthly roaring sound, nostrils flaring aggressively.

It lunged at me again, but this time I was more prepared and predicted its move. The creature did exactly as I had anticipated and as it leapt into the air, I moved out of the way and picked my right knee up, slamming it hard into the unprotected underbelly of the disgusting being. An unearthly, ear-piercing sound escaped the creature somehow and it slammed its sharp talon-like claws into my thighs, digging it deep into layers of flesh while my fist connected harshly with its back.

Just then, the red-headed female came sprinting up the stairs and yelled from the top of her lungs, “NOOOOO! STOP! DON’T HURT HIM!”