In The Beginning, Chapter 3 - Make a Beast of Myself
Daniel POV
I was stood on the rocks of a cliff not far from the prison, but closer to town, below me were every adult pack member. My brother and Maria were to my right, my mother and father to my left and slightly below me. And on, and on it went, the elders and rank leaders all had some form of elevation, while the rest of the pack seemed to be arranged by rank, the lowest at the front, the strongest at the back. The last thing I remember was Charlie, in bed, then I was here, why couldn’t I remember? I wondered, before I addressed the pack, but with no memory, I had nothing to say, so I linked Ben.
“What the fuck are we doing here?” I asked him slightly agitated.
“No fucking clue, Alpha. I was about to ask you the same question.” He shrugged.
“Applewood pack!” I interrupted everyone’s private links with my pack wide announcement. Only an Alpha or a Beta with Alpha blood can link the entire pack at the same time. “I know you are scared, and confused. I promise to explain everything to you very soon, but as I’m sure you can understand, certain things must be kept protected by our silence.” I let my aura wash over them, forcing all to submit. That should be enough to keep people calm for a couple of hours, I thought to myself. “Return to your homes and duties, and I shall hold another pack meeting in a few days to update you.” I added, before realising, if the pack was here, who was guarding the prison? “With me NOW!” I roared into a link for only those I wanted, before taking off for the prison, the other wolves hot on my heels as I pushed myself harder, faster. I reached the prison quickly, but when I turned around, the other wolves were nowhere to be seen. I listened carefully, and let out a howl, a less than a mile back down the road, they howled back. I shifted back to my human form, and despite being naked, ducked inside, I knew I could find some spare clothes somewhere, but I had to check there had been no escape attempts first. I used my thumbprint and passcode to access the security system, all cells were locked, and all prisoners accounted for. I released a sigh of relief, taking my first deep breath for a while, and noticed Owen acting up. I used the non-violent systems to release a mild sedative gas into his room, I noticed Matthew Pratt was also agitated, but he looked livid, glaring at the camera. I didn’t bother with the clothes. I headed back out and shifted as the wolves approached, ready to give them an earful for not keeping up, but stopped short on them arriving, had my wolf grown? I irrationally thought. Our wolves stop growing in our early twenties, we can bulk up with training, but we don’t randomly get taller. Except that I was definitely taller than I was before I left, the next largest wolf there, his ears didn’t even reach my jaw. I explained what I had done, and what I wanted done before morning, by which time I should have a report on my desk. Once my orders were received, and the wolves acknowledged them, I left to return to my mate. I ran even faster to get to her, and I had somehow managed to run to the house in half my usual time. But as I got to the house, I knew something was wrong, there was glass on the ground. I looked up and saw the smashed window, but I couldn’t smell another wolf here, had I done that? I wondered, moving closer to examine the scene. It must have been me; I saw a wolf’s paw prints in the snow, running in the direction of the cliff I had woken up on. I gave it another sniff, but still only smelt me, so I wasn’t chasing someone, at least not here. I thought about doubling back and looking for another scent, but Charlie’s pull was too strong, and I wanted to hold my mate, and continue what was interrupted. I shifted to my human form, linked the patrol team to check it out, and walked inside the semi-dark house. There were still a few lamps Kathy must have turned on that I had failed to notice in my eagerness to get Charlie upstairs. I closed the door behind me, and caught a whiff of her scent, I smiled before I realised something was wrong. My head span as images flashed into my mind, images from my wolf, I think. I saw Charlie terrified as I growled and rejected her. “What did you DO?” I screamed internally at my wolf in outrage. That’s when I heard it, a barely audible click, a human would have missed it. I moved over to my office, even through the door I could hear her heart beating a mile a minute, her blood pressure must have been sky high, the way it was hammering in her chest. And then I saw the blood, had my wolf attacked her? I felt sick at the thought of ever hurting her. “Charlie?” I called through the door, praying she wasn’t too badly injured. “Are you hurt?” If she didn’t answer me soon, I was going to break the door, again. I tried to reach out to her with the link but she had her defences up, I could force her, but without the power distributed throughout the pack, I could hurt her, so I resigned myself to waiting, but not for much longer. I could feel the fear coming off her in waves, she was terrified of me. “Charlie? Please?” I begged; pride be damned. “Just tell me you’re safe, please?” I tried to sort through the images my wolf had shown me, but they were incomplete and jumbled, I couldn’t tell if I had hurt her or not.
“I cut my foot on the glass.” She reluctantly admitted, and I felt relief and then guilt hit me one after the other. My wolf may not have physically hurt her, but he had caused her physical and mental harm. I pushed the door open slowly, the smell of fear hit me hard, the room was saturated with it, but I couldn’t get a good look at her without actually entering, due to the long narrow shape of the room. I edged a little further inside, she was as far away as she could physically get from me. The chair pushed right up to the bookshelves, and she was practically in the foetal position, her mind was telling her to make herself as small as possible. I hated that I had scared her this much, I could feel her instincts telling her to run, flee, and I silently cursed my wolf for everything he had done.
“Is there any glass in the wound?” I managed to ask, my mouth filling with saliva at her now overpowering scent, forcing me to swallow it and the urge to run to her. She must have picked up on something because she tried backing away again, bumping the bookcase. I pointed towards the couch, hoping it was far enough away from the door she would regain her ability to talk, because right now she felt too terrified to string a sentence together. I sat down and forced myself to stay calm and not upset her. “You really need to check that out. It won’t stop bleeding until the glass is removed.” I tried to get her to focus on her wound instead of me. She slowly lowered her knees from her chest and lifted her foot to look at the cut. I couldn’t see it, but her face said it wasn’t pretty, I desperately wanted to check it for myself. My wolf was whining in apology almost constantly, and her scent was even stronger and more complex than before. I got distracted trying to identify each element, honey, vanilla, maybe cinnamon or cloves, it reminded me a little of baklava, I stood up suddenly when her hiss of pain broke through the fog. Unfortunately, it scared the shit out of her and she crashed into the bookcase. I felt like I was wrestling my wolf for my mind, my every instinct and urge trying to force my body forward towards my mate, but I knew that would do more damage than good. I prayed silently to the goddess for the strength to stay away and that she wouldn’t reject me like I had to her.
“I can’t get the glass out.” She whispered, but there was a hint of anger there that broke my heart.
“I could try-” Idiot, she is terrified of you, of course she doesn’t want you touching her, I thought to myself as she told me directly, and coldly.
“No, I want Maria or Kathy.” It was resolute, but without thinking, my fear escaped my lips.
“You could lose a lot of blood waiting for one of them.” I didn’t have to feel her emotions to know I fucked up, her face was a mask of anger, despite her fear still clouding her other emotions from me.
“Maria or Kathy.” She almost growled, and I saw her aura for the first time, she wasn’t trying to make me submit, it was more a show of force. I was mesmerised, it was strong, almost as strong as mine, and I don’t think she knew she was doing it. Whatever happened when she confronted my mother was a drop in the ocean compared to what she was capable of, or would be. I had to tear my eyes away to link Maria, I knew Ben would be arriving soon, it made sense for her to be the one to take care of Charlie. I linked my father also, and decided to go get some pants, give her a moment to calm down. I didn’t even make it to the stairs before I heard her little sob. Her feelings came crashing through the bond a moment later, and they felt like a gut punch. What the fuck did I do? I asked myself as I slowly climbed the stairs. I wish I hadn’t, I wish I had just grabbed something from my luggage. As I stepped into the bedroom, I saw the carnage I had created clearly, and I understood her fear, it must have been terrifying for her. The sheets were almost completely off the bed, just clinging to the edge closest to the broken window. The armchair was shredded, the wall had two massive claw marks down it, like I had lost my mind. There was glass everywhere and overturned and broken furniture. I could see where she had cut herself, the first drops of blood on the wood by the end of the bed, next to a shattered glass. She was never going to stop being afraid of me after this, I thought as I tried to reconcile the damage done with my fragmented memories, and the realisation that I was a beast.
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