Capture

“Well that was awkward” mumbled Neema as they walked down the corridor, Jana in her arms as Caillum lay in Khan’s.

He gave a noncommittal grunt in reply and continued marching down the corridor as if Neema hadn’t said a word, but she was too amped up to remain silent.

“Why do you hate each other?”

The idea that a family could be so divided was something she was unaccustomed to her, her and her siblings loved each other as if they shared the same heart. She would die without them and nearly had when she had lost her parent and then Lara a year later. Family was her life, the notion that they could actually hate each other was something she had never experienced and never wanted to ever again.

“It is the way it has been since he realised I was my fathers heir and not him” It was as simple as that.

Ryan was the first born but he was of another mother one who was not The Alpha’s true mate. She had been a potential mate he had been with until she had found her true mate and him his, Khans mother. It was something many wolves took part in but the issue was that when a child was born from their true mate that child would always be stronger. It was because a true mate was the perfect genetic match and so the children born from such a mating where the epitome of the wolf kind, the strongest of their family. These pairings often bread some type of alpha wolf or beta wolf, wolves who could easily flit between human, wolf and their third form.

Ryan was the eldest but age was a temporal thing, it meant nothing to wolves. What was age when a young alpha could defeat one that had ruled for years. Though Ryan’s mother was the daughter of a sentinel wolf which made her rather high in the wolf hierarchy her genetics paled when compared to the compatibility of Khans civilian wolf mother.

The rest of his sibling’s mothers were civilian wolves but their genetics were so watered down that they were more human than wolf, they also could not shift into the third form which was the hardest to maintain. Some Civilian wolves could not even shift into a wolf form due to too much genetic filtration, though they still had wolf sight, hearing and speed.

In the world Khan had been raised It was all about the bloodlines, the genetics and Khan had the right ones.

Each child, an heir or not was valued but the place of an heir was detrimental to the continuous rule of a family. Khan was the heir apparent and would become the regional Alpha after his father once his ceremony had taken place, Ryan was just another son a spare of sorts though he could never compare to Khan. Ryan would never be alpha, with or without Khan.

“That’s crazy, Caillum’s my fathers heir but that don’t mean I love him any less. He will carry on my family’s legacy with his name.”

“It is not the same.” Of course it wasn’t the same wolves did not know how to be a family, a pack yes but a family was something foreign to them. They engaged well in large groups, well as well as blood hungry beasts can but within the small family unit they struggled.

The rest of the walk was silent, Neema sighing occasionally under the weight of her sister. The little bug was getting heavy, soon she would be too heavy for Neema’s bony arms to carry anymore. The day that happened would be the day she would have to acknowledge that they were growing. Jana would turn 3 just before the baby was born and Caillum would be 7 shortly after.

“When you have finished putting them to bed come to my room, we have somewhere to be in” Khan looked down at his watch to check the time and then looked back at her “20 minutes.”

with Caillum deposited on the bed he turned to his room and left her to her night rituals. She took less than 5 minutes to finish tucking them in and then she was flying down the corridor hot on Khan’s tail. One of his long strides were equal to 3 of hers and by the time they made it outside she felt slightly tire but still they kept going. Torches were lit in the courtyard as they made their way through front door, past the punishing post and straight to the gates that were bared shut. As they got closer the gates began to rise giving her a glimpse to the lit pathway that continued outside of the compound walls.

The rumble pathway led into a dense forest with large trees and shrubbery, the tress looked eyrie as the torch light flickered and created ghosts.

The brown rubble grated against her feet as stones slipped into her standard flat shoes. The plain shoes matching the plain jumpsuit she changed into once she returned to her room. It was too cold for her to be traipsing around in a dress.

The torches became more and more sparse as they reached the end of the trail where the rubble of a city lay. Buildings were decrepit with wildlife creating their homes in the leftovers of the destruction, new life was beginning to take back what the old life had destroyed. The rock and glass buildings had weeds and vines wrapped around them, moss covering their walls. They were ruins now.

A few yards into the old city another torch burned bright, it was bigger then the rest before and was placed in front of a large building, the coliseum style building looked newer than most and seemed to be only a couple hundred years old. It stood taller and stronger than all the ones around it, a testimony to the new generation that had survived through the rubble.

Khan led them inside and up a winding staircase that led to a landing lit by more torches. They had advanced in technology, there was no need to use this primitive form of light but yet everywhere was lit with them as if a reminder of how feral the wolves were.

Foreboding began to fill Neema as they made their way through the last corridor and stepped onto a veranda that overlooked a pit. The crescendo of howls nearly deafened her as wolves began screeching for Khan. She had entered the wolves den.

The moon shone bright as the well lit pit began to make sense to her. The coliseum was filled to the brim with blood thirsty wolves but the pit remained empty and dark. A deep brown spattered with splotches of red.

Her focus shifted from the pit to Khan as he made his way off the veranda and down the steps, his body shouldering through the feral wolves as he took his place right by the walls of the pit. The area was cordoned off and only a few others lingered inside the sectioned area, Khans father being the only person she actually knew.

Making her way through the crowd she bared her teeth at any wolves who got too close to her, catching a glimpse of red hair and green eyes among one of the more violent wolves. Khan pulled her through the rest of the crowd and forced her by his side, his red eyes gazing over her body before he released an ear splitting howl. The noise was echoed by the stadium of wolves, their feet stomping and fists thudding as they sung their victory song.

Their voices climaxing as a lone figure appeared inside of the pit, a tall white male whose skin seemed to glisten in the moon light. His hair was shaved close to his head and he seemed as if he had seen better days but still he stood. In his hand he held a long machete, the blade dragging along the floor as his eyes flickered around the pit erratically.

A sharp clanging sound sent the stadium into silence as wolves waited with abated breath, Neema’s brow sweating profusely as she waited for what came next. Before her mind could comprehend what was happening a wolf in his third form came barrelling out of the gates, the crowd roaring as the competitor made himself known. It was over before it had even started. It was a blood bath.

The wolf charged at the male his jaws snapping as he tugged at flesh drawing blood. A leg snapping as white bone poked through the skin, a blanket of red trailing behind.

The male screamed as he swung with his machete but it was too late the wolf had him in his claws. His snout dug deep into his neck as his claws ripped through human stomach and organs. The wolf kept going ripping a whole into his stomach, his canines crunched through flesh and further until he met bone.

A deep gurgling sound fell from the dying humans mouth before his neck and torso was torn completely off, flesh flying to the sound of howls.

The legs flew to one side of the stadium splattering against the walls of the pit as the wolf trotted over to Khan his deep red eyes glazed over. He flung his offering to his Alpha, blood flying in the air and coating their bodies in boiling red. It filled her eyesight as the human blood trickled down her body and seeped into her pores. The smell of metal cloying to her nostrils as the heat of the the human’s life force trailed through her lips, coming to a slow stop under her chest. Flesh coated her skin as the wolf trotted back of to the rest of the body the snout burying deep into the dead body, nothing left to spare as he ate the organs from the body. Thick black coating his mouth.

Her hand rose to try and hold back the vomit as trickles slipped through her fingers, the cold of blue eyes staring back at her as the head lolled on the floor.

The crowd was wild but Neema could not hear anything beyond the vibrating through her skull, she felt weak as if she could faint. She would she could feel it. If this had been a test, then she had failed because she could feel darkness descending over her as the wails of the poor male filled her ears. He was just a boy, a young boy in love.

The darkness Began to recede from her sigh as she came back into focus with her head buried into the depths of Khan chest, his minty scent replacing the acrid smell of death. The blood was still warm on her skin but Khan was taking her mind away from that fact. His thick fingers stroking along her back bringing her back to the world of the living.

“It is okay, don’t faint. Don’t faint, d-ooo” his voice trailed off as her brain shut down and she checked out. Flickering fires of red filling her mind as the wails echoed on and on until the face of the dead human changed to the face of her father. His blue eyes staring lifelessly at her.

“That’s is Neema. drink. Drink” prompted Khan as the cool liquid passed through her lips as she brought back to focus. The blood had been wiped from her skin, but she could still feel it sinking into her bones, tainting her.

“Now look alive, these wolves thrive on weakness don’t show any. That’s it, head high” he mumbled as he petted her head and rubbed his face into her neck. His voice tickled her ear as he took her focus away from the roaring crowd of wild wolves and the head that lay by their feet.

Shuffling her body to the side he forced her back to the wall so all she could see was him. His large paw gripped her face as began wiping her brow. The cool of the wipe soothing away her boiling rage and fear.

The night continued in the same fashion though none were as gruesome as that first fight, the fear Neema had been overshadowed by the pure anger she felt. her nails drew blood as they speared into Khans arms that were wrapped around her waist for stability. Only two other humans had been killed but the sight of so much blood still prevailed. Humans lost limbs, lives and love. They were torn to shreds mentally and physically.

Claws tearing clothes skin and scalps. No one was spared, women and men old and young were forced into the pit with weapons that did little justice.

They were skin and bones which made it easier for the wolves to chew on their carcases when defeat was imminent.

The sky had begun to lighten panting a sharp picture of flames, flesh and boiling blood like lava that scattered across the pit. The ground was no longer brown but a deep red of human suffering. Only one wolf had been defeated and that was by pure luck but still the human had lost so much. Shoulders gnawed and face clawed at, pieces of their body missing.

It was total carnage and it aroused them. sent the wolves into an orgy of sex and violence. Wolves rutted as blood sprayed over their fur and skin. The mixture of the bodies excrements made a tangy smell in the air, there was not one excrement that had not been released this night.

It was inhumane but they were wolves. They lived for the hunt, for the feeing of their claws sinking into supple flesh, their teeth into bone. They were predators who loved the blood, were sexually stimulated by it. Even now she could feel the thick throbbing of Khan nestled against her bum as he he squeezed her body tight. His laboured breaths heating her skin from the inside out. He made her hot and it repulsed her because in a sick and twisted way she was becoming aroused by human suffering. The blood fed Khan and that fire kindled into a burning ember through her body, she hated it.

So did those poor mates. The punishment was twofold for those who human who now had wolf mates, not only did they bear witness to the murder of their husbands and wives, but they were forced into a mating with the very people. The women and men brutalised by their vicious mates, biting and plundering into supple flesh while the blood of their deceased and incapacitated husbands and wives clung to them. The wolves cared not of the sexuality of their mate, men were sodomised by men and women by women. It was a frenzy and the blood lust only heightened the craze.

The atmosphere was charged with debauchery and violence and then it changed, the tension grew as wolves became quiet. The rutting slowing to a gentle rock as they waited. The torches were no longer the vibrant orange flames as the sun began its ascent across the sky signalling change. A change in Khan was notices ad his body rippled with supressed excitement and energy, but it was not sexual. No, the lust that had thrummed between them was mollified by this new energy. It was darker, like bittersweet revenge. Like meeting a long lost friend but knowing You would bring their demise, the air was charged as Khan made his move.

His large bulky body released Neema as he side stepped away from her and propelled himself over the wall and deep down into the pit. His boots thudded against the earh, kicking up dirt and flesh as he squelched through the carnage until he reached the centre. The coliseum was silent as all focus remained on him, hands twitching, feet tapping waiting for Khan to speak.

There was one last event.

“It is dawn and so I will give you your promise. You will see my claws my jaws tear apart this human who dared to challenge me. Verum Resistentiam will not win back power, these humans will be crushed,” his voice echoed throughout the coliseum, the daunting call only intensified by the whistle of the early morning wind. “We will annihilate these resistant humans until they realise that they are at the bottom of the food chain and that we wolves love the taste of human flesh.” Echoes erupted as their frenzy picked up again, their chants for their alpha ringing on and on.

The ominous sound of the gates clanging open caused a hush as a large human male stepped out. Though he was nowhere near as large as Khan he was the largest human they had seen all night. His dark auburn hair was wayward and and his blue eyes looked disorientated but the way he held his axe spoke of familiarity, it spoke or awareness. His clear blue met her muddy brown eyes and she knew, Neema knew she had to stop this. She could not watch Khan kill him it was to much.

“Khan,” she screamed, her voice ricocheting across the stadium and into the pit, her eyes were alight with rage as she lent over the wall. Her feet dangling as she tried to look in, it would take was one push and she would be toppled inside along with them.

Khan turned his back to his weary opponent and made his way over to where his erratic made clung to the railing.

“Don’t you dare kill him? Don’t you do it,” she gritted, her voice hushed as she tried to convey a loving emotion when all she felt was anger and Khan revelled in her plight. His eyes sparkling with mirth and a dark emotion that she tried not to dwell on.

His head tilted to the side as if he were considering her threat, his pearly white canines gleaming wide as he regarded her with a menacing look on his face.

His body whooshed around as his forearm met the attack of the axe, his foot reaching out and booting the man back a few steps. The axe clanged to the floor a few steps away from the male, his eyes twitching to the weapon. Their bodies clashed together as brute human strength met pure brawn of a wolf and Khan had not shifted.

Claws and fists struck out pulling that liquid ambrosia from the human male but Khan remained human. He uppercut the human and sent the man flying his body quickly following as he pounced on hi prey. His body swayed as he missed the swing of the axe, his nail slicing in response cutting wrists, cutting tendons.

The axe clambered on the ground a second time but this time it was final. Sharp claws sharpened as the index nail poked into the hard flesh of the male’s chest, carving along the skin as the spare arm clenched the neck tightly. Blood flowed profusely as the scar began to take shape amongst the pooling liquid. Seven lines but a brandishing of the worst kind, one that was embedded so deeply into the skin it would scar for life, no machine would fix what was done and no wolf would wish to. Seven lines right across his heart bled red, seven lines.

K M. two initials that would brand this male, but the scar was small compared to the mate mark that he fought against. By the end of the night he would have two scars and would be bested by two wolves.

Releasing the males neck the blood rushed back to his head as he sputtered for air, sending the male a last kick as he got to his feet Khan made his way back to the wall and climbed his way back out of his own den. The pit was a wolfs home.

“You owe me,” he grinned as he bit into his shocked mates neck, his tongue flickering as he tasted her essence,

“You owe me a lot.”