Chapter 1
Death stood over my body, his scythe glistening under the moonlight. My pulse started to slow down, while the stench of dead bodies suffocated me. Bile rose up my throat. There are two bodies on top of me, their dead gazes fixated at my direction. I gulped.
I couldn’t bring myself to move them off me. My arms had been rendered useless. Wolfsbane, they used wolfsbane. I gritted my teeth, nearly shattering them in the process. The pain only grew worse every passing second, and I begged the moon to take me with her. To take me alongside my fallen pack.
I had no intention of surviving.
But the moon hid behind gray clouds that scattered the night sky. Leaving me behind in the aftermath of this war.
And just as death had leaned closer to my face, a voice scared him away.
" Take any remaining survivors as captives ”
And just like that, I got upgraded from a dying soldier to a captive. Though I suppose that wasn’t exactly an upgrade, the afterlife seems to be the better option. But I understand that under a pile of bodies, with my own limbs broken I had little to no choice.
Curiosity had me peering at the soldiers who marched this way. Even as I lay dying, I couldn’t help but steal a couple glances. I had a bad habit of sticking my nose in places it didn’t belong. The soldiers wore shining black armor, engraved with a raven on their armbands.
The Nox pack.
I held back the urge to spit at their laced boots as they walked past me. It was hard to act dead. Every fiber of my being wanted to cuss at the enemies which stood only inches from me. My wolf wanted to fight back, to tear their limbs apart. I must admit, the thought of taking down one or even two wolves down with me to the grave had my lips twitching.
But I was no fool.
There were hundreds of them, scattered across the field, holding their wavering banners. I would be restrained in mere seconds, captives were worth more than gold in the aftermath of a won war. Captives with bent backs were the foundation of every conquering Pack. There was no one else at the bottom of the food chain.
So I bit my sharp tongue and closed my eyes. It was hard to not stick my tongue out as well. In fact it took everything in me to fight that urge. Humor was the only painkiller I had to ignore the fact that we lost.
We lost the war.
And I lost my parents, my friends, & my pack. I lost everything. Which is exactly why I stayed hidden, not even breathing too loudly in case they hear. My ticket to the afterlife was not a cheap one, I had to throw away my dignity. If I got taken alive, if I got captured I’d be a coward by wolf law. A sentence worse than death. Shame flushed over me, as sweat trickled down my temple. The truth was by using bodies of my fallen pack members as a shield, that made me a coward.
" How many casualties?” asked the black haired soldier to my right, his voice husky.
" Four hundred casualties”
" I meant our pack” snapped the soldier, wiping crimson off his knuckles.
“Sixty, Sir”
I fought off a shudder. Blood rushed to my face, while salt laced my parted lips. Nox had only lost sixty members while my pack lost four hundred. Tears broke the dam at the brim of my eyes, sliding down my sunken cheeks. It hit me then, the realization slapped me across my face almost knocking the air out of my lungs. My whole pack had only four hundred and ten members.
Ten survived. Nine excluding me.
A knot twisted in the pit of my stomach. My heart dropped to my numb feet. I think I was going to be sick. I think I was already sick. And dying at that too. I could no longer heal myself from the wolfsbane Nox used in their cruel tactics.
I never knew wolves would be so cruel to one another. Then again I had never gone to war till now. Definitely not worth it.
And perhaps the fates despised me, because taking away my parents, friends and pack wasn’t enough. Because just as those nearby soldiers turn on their heels, i fucking sneezed.
My loud sneeze was the cherry on top.
They stopped in their tracks, slowly turning their heads in my direction.
Great.
Authors note:
Any feedback and support would be the world to me!! Stay tuned for chapter 2
