IT'S A DEAD END
CHAPTER ONE
SLOANE'S POV
"Let go of me!"
I screamed until my throat felt like it had been scraped with a rusty blade. I was currently pinned to the dirt by a man who smelled like a combination of stale ale and weeks of unwashed sweat.
It was a suffocating kind of stink that made my eyes water more than the actual fear did. I thrashed under him, trying to find some leverage, but he was a solid wall of muscle and dirt.
I gathered every bit of saliva in my mouth and spat directly into his greasy face. The laughter from the men standing around us died for a second, before they laughed harder this time, but the man above me did not laugh.
His face twisted into ugly and he backhanded me so hard my head snapped to the side and I saw stars. The world went blurry for a heartbeat as I felt my cheek burn with a heat that felt like it was melting the skin right off the bone.
He still held me down, his fingers digging into my shoulders, "You will not get away with this," I managed to choke out, sounding so pathetic. "The King will have your heads for this!"
"The King is miles away and right now? You are just a girl in the dirt," he mocked, "You think that title protects you? You are the Princess of Vesperia and you cannot even defend your own self. You are nothing out here."
I kept screaming for them to let me go, but my voice was just a small sound against the vastness of the woods. One of the men standing over us leaned in, his eyes roaming over me in a way that made my skin crawl.
"Maybe we should have some fun with her first," he suggested. "It is not every day we get a maiden this beautiful. We should make the most of it."
My heart started racing so fast I thought it might actually burst through my ribs. The panic clawing its way, quickly usurped my anger.
If I had known this was the price of a little fresh air I would have stayed in the palace and let the stone walls of my room consume me.
I would have just sat there and listened to mother talk about how women are not supposed to rule but follow. Even now, with a man's weight crushing the air out of my lungs, that thought felt bizarre.
What a strange thing to say. Follow who? Men like this? The logic was as rotten as the man's teeth. How was I supposed to follow while they did whatever they wanted? It was a ridiculous notion, even if it was the last thing I ever thought.
Suddenly, the man on top of me started ruffling the leather straps of my armor, his fingers trying to get to the laces of my tunic. I started desperately kicking him, my boots finding nothing but air and the occasional bit of his shin, but he was too heavy.
I pushed and pounded at his chest, when a growl echoed from somewhere deep in the trees, a vibrating sound that seemed to shake the very ground beneath us.
The laughter died in their throats as everyone, including me, went unnervingly still as we all tilted our heads to listen. The woods went silent for a long moment.
And when the noise did not come again, the man let out a shaky breath and went back to his work. The others started undressing themselves, clapping and whistling happily.
I closed my eyes, wondering if this was really how it was going to end, when the growl came again and this time it was much closer.
The man on top of me did not just stop this time. He let out a small, pathetic whimper, like the sound a dog makes when it knows it is about to be kicked.
That's when I realized…these were not just men.
They were wolves. Oh dear…what have I gotten myself into?
My heart rate picked up, a sudden surge of adrenaline giving me a strength I did not know I had as I managed to shove the man away from my body, my hands hitting his chest with enough force to send him falling into the dirt.
I didn't wait to see if he would get back up. I scrambled back on my elbows, my eyes darting around the dark for anything I could use to defend myself. My hand brushed my hip, finding the hilt of my dagger and drew it out.
I held the dagger out in front of me, my hand shaking so badly I thought the dagger might just fly out of my grip and disappear into the dark. "If anyone dares to near me, I will fucking kill you!" I screamed it with every bit of breath I had left.
But it was a lie, I was fucking surrounded by wolves! And God knows what else is crawling out of that shadow.
I was one girl on the ground with a bleeding leg and a tiny knife against four monsters who didn't seem to care about human laws or royal bloodlines.
Then a big black figure appeared from the edge of the woods. It moved with grace that made the air feel hard to breathe.
As it approached with its head bowed, the men around me started to change. The sound was the worst part of it all, listening to their bones cracking must've been a nightmare.
I watched their bodies distort and stretch, their skin tearing as fur pushed through, and the noise of their joints resetting was so disgusting I felt the bile rise in my throat.
I actually gagged, I had never witnessed these creatures transform before and the reality of it was a thousand times worse than the stories.
I was so scared I couldn't even stand. I just kept crawling backward, my fingernails digging into the dirt and my palms stinging as I pushed myself away from the carnage.
My back finally came in contact with the rough bark of an old tree. There was no way out. I was pinned between the wood and the nightmare.
The big black figure finally stepped into the faint light and revealed itself to be a massive black wolf. It was larger than any animal had a right to be, its fur was so dark one would think it was ink.
Then it raised its head and its eyes literally flared open. There was a clear difference, its eyes were not amber or yellow like the others…they were red. Flaming red, like fire.
And that's when I realized it was the Red Wolf. The monster from the legends. The same thing that had haunted my dreams since the night my brother died.
Suddenly the other wolves rushed to attack it and within seconds the woods were filled with the sounds of tearing flesh.
I watched, paralyzed, as the Red Wolf tore them apart effortlessly. Blood sprayed across the leaves and the whimpers of the dying men-turned-beasts filled the air.
Tears started flowing freely from my eyes now as I gripped my dagger tighter until my knuckles were white, but I knew it was useless.
I was trapped, I was alone, and the most dangerous creature in Vesperia was standing right in front of me.
This is where it ends...
