ALPHA: Heir Of The Four

Chapter Ten | Part I

Chapter Notes: Ava-Rain's POV

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- 'Come raise the dead, I'm dreaming of the end. . .' -

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It's dark and I'm terrified, running through the forest and not daring to look behind me. The adrenaline burning through my veins is greatly aiding in my escape, pushing me to run faster and harder. I can't remember how long I have been running, when I had started or what I'm even running from. I only know that I can't stop.

     All around me, the trees are nothing more than a blur as I pass them by. The sounds of breaking branches beneath my feet along with my heavy breaths fill my ears. I want to stop, the burning sensation in my chest should have been enough to stop me in my tracks, but I don't. My legs are threatening to give out, but still I run.

     I can't stop. I can't because I'm not in control of myself. Something else is leading me. Pulling me. Guiding me.

     I'm being called. Summoned.

     And so I continue to run. I run until the pain is non-existent. Until silence fills the air around me. Until the chase comes to an end. Until the hunt is over.

     I stop right inside the clearing in the middle of the forest where he is waiting for me. The wolf. Bathed in moonlight, he stands rooted in the grass. His amber eyes are focused solely on me, his glossy, black fur rustling in the wind that I cannot feel.

     I go to him, only this time my feet move by my own will. He doesn't move, he simply waits for me to come to him. But when I am half way there, he releases a threatening growl that stills me in my tracks. His tail begins to thrash around violently, his mouth curls back into a snarl. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as a shiver runs down my spine. My heart begins to pound furiously as I stare directly at the big black wolf that looks seconds away from tearing me apart.

     I take a step closer. Then another. And another. Even as the growls become louder, even as the rage radiates off of the wolf, I continue to approach.

     One cannot evade death. And death is summoning me. So, I go.

     The wolf lets out a mighty howl and all around us the forest erupts into fire.

     'Wake!' A voice deep inside of me shouts.

     I'm forced down onto my knees by an invisible force. The earth beneath me is rough and beginning to split as if to swallow me whole. I can feel the almost unbearable heat radiating from the burning trees all over my skin. My nose fills with the scent of smoke, of burning wood and grass.

     'Wake!' The voice shouts again.

     I look up to find my wolf circling me, its amber eyes glowing as bright as the fire around us. He doesn't care that I am struggling to breathe or that my body is shutting down second by second as the smoke invades my lungs. He watches me as I am dying. Waiting for my death. Anticipating it. Expecting it.

     'Wake!' The voice roars. Demands.

     Inside of me, I feel something trying to claw its way out, but when I scream out in pain there is no sound. My insides are being torn apart. Underneath my skin, I feel it crawling. Searching. Tears blur my vision, but when they fall, it is not drops of water that soak the splitting earth beneath me but drops of blood. Another jolt of pain soars through me, robbing what little air I have left right out of my lungs.