The Wolf Inside

Erin Blackthorne

I didn’t get a chance to move, nor did the shifter snap my neck.

Even when the pain faded, I was too weak to do much of anything.

Then the patrol arrived.

I let out a groan as they yanked my arms behind me and slapped cuffs on my wrists.

To my surprise, they weren’t werewolves; they were humans.

One of them seized my hair and jerked my head back.

“Look at that, another Blackthorne!” he sneered.

I heard the werewolf chuckle. “Not even a Blackthorne can resist a taser!”

A sharp pain jabbed into the side of my neck; seconds later, everything went black.

I remember a day from my childhood, sitting with my brothers.

My father regaling us with tales of spies and resistance fighters from the Second World War.

He told us how they would never talk, even if they were captured.

How some had special cyanide-filled fillings.

They would break them and choose death over betraying their secrets to the enemy.

He then told us that we had to be like them if we were ever caught.

Because they would torture us until we spilled our secrets or until we died.

Then he smiled and quoted Leonardo Da Vinci, ‘Our life is made by the death of others’.

Put your family first; one day you may need to be one of the others.

Today, I realized I was one of the others.

When I woke up, I knew I wasn’t on the forest’s edge anymore.

Whatever the guard had injected into my neck had knocked me out.

Now I was lying on a bed in a small, windowless room.

A cell of some sort: metal door, concrete walls.

My hands were still cuffed behind my back, and my head was pounding like a drum.

By the time I was done, it would pound even more.

There was a sink and a toilet in the corner of the room.

I was only wearing my tee shirt and underwear.

My boots were gone, which meant my silver knife was gone too.

Another reason for them to kill me.

Silver weapons were forbidden.

If you were caught with one, that was it.

Death!

I wondered why they didn’t just shoot me, but they somehow knew I was a Blackthorne.

I’d heard the guard say it before I passed out.

They wanted information first.

Information I would never give them.

I managed to sit up and shuffle over to the door. This was going to hurt, but who said suicide would be easy? I started to bash my head against the metal door.

“I’m gonna make you proud, one last time, Father,” I whispered.

I managed to slam my head against the door a few times before the guards came running in.

I hadn’t noticed the CCTV camera in the cell.

Blood was already trickling down the side of my face when the door burst open.

Two guards rushed in and held me back so I couldn’t hurt myself anymore.

Then I looked up and saw him.

A werewolf.

I could tell by his size and his looks.

They always looked like they had just walked out of a gym.

They always had that confident aura that said ‘look at me, look how perfect I am, look how insignificant you are!'

His dark hair was cropped short, and his brown eyes seemed to pierce my soul.

I gave him a sardonic smile that said, you lost.

He looked at me, sighed, and shook his head. His hand was gentle as it cradled my jaw, and his thumb softly brushed my cheek.

I frowned as my vision started to blur. The last thing I heard before I blacked out was his deep, resonant voice.

“Everything’s going to be okay, little one.”

I’d failed. Failed in my mission to retrieve much-needed supplies. Failed to avoid capture. Failed to kill myself. Worst of all, I’d failed my father.

All I could hear was a beep...beep...beep.

I groaned; my head was throbbing.

By all rights, I should be dead.

I tried to move.

When I realized I couldn’t, I opened my eyes.

There were tubes attached to my arms, and a machine was beeping next to me.

I was strapped to a bed.

Restraints on my wrists and ankles.

I screamed at the top of my lungs and yanked against the restraints.

“Let me go! Let me go right now, you mongrels!”

A woman in a white uniform approached; she looked like a nurse.

“It’s okay, miss. We just don’t want you to hurt yourself,” she said soothingly.

I looked at her; she didn’t look like a werewolf. She wasn’t big enough. In fact, she was quite petite.

“Please...you’ve got to help me. They’re gonna kill me. Torture me. Just let me go!”

She shook her head. “No one is going to hurt you, just lie still,” she coaxed.

I couldn’t believe she was so calm; she would stand by while a fellow human was about to be killed. I started to pull at the restraints again, thrashing my head against the bed.

The nurse now looked slightly panicked; she must have hit an alarm.

The door crashed open.

Two men came running in.

Or rather, one man and a werewolf.

The man was dressed similarly to the woman, all in white.

The werewolf I recognized immediately.

He was the same one who had stood in the doorway of the cell.

“Let me go, you fucking mongrel!” I screamed at him.

His face remained impassive as I pulled at the restraints and continued to thrash my head against the bed.

“Erin!” he began, “I need you to calm down.”

His voice was quiet and calm, which only made me angrier.

“You won’t get anything out of me. It doesn’t matter what you do...you might as well kill me now!” I screamed.

I kept wrenching at the restraints and thrashing my head.

“And don’t you dare fucking tell me to calm down. How calm would you be if you were tied to a fucking bed!” I growled.

He walked over and put his hand on my head, holding it still.

The pressure on my head wound was excruciating. I couldn’t help but cry out.

“Nobody’s going to kill you. I don’t want to hurt you, Erin, but I can’t let you hurt yourself either. If you keep your head still, I’ll let go...if not...,” he cautioned.

I shut my eyes and stilled my head. He was too powerful for me. If I kept struggling, I knew it would only bring me more pain.

He finally released me, and I clenched my eyes shut, waiting for the throbbing in my head to subside.

Then it hit me. How on earth did he know my name?

“How the hell do you know my name?” I grumbled.

He took a deep breath.

“As Alpha, it’s my responsibility to know all the wolves in my territory,” he paused, “even the hybrids!”

I tugged at my restraints again. “I’m no damn wolf,” I snarled. “I’m a hunter, and I kill your kind...for fun!” I spat.

He smiled at me. “You carry the scent of a wolf, Erin. It’s faint, but it’s there. Mostly I can smell your fear!”

He extended his hand, and the woman handed him a clipboard.

He hummed, “you have a lot of Wolfsbane in your blood. It’s masking your scent, as well as your wolf. If you were a full wolf, you’d probably be dead, so you must be a hybrid.”

He glanced back at the sheet on the clipboard.

“When was your last dose? Clever of you to try and hide that from us. Not clever enough, though!”

I glared at him. “What the hell are you talking about? You’re a damn fool!” I spat.

He hummed again, and handed the clipboard back to the woman. He walked to the wall, and picked up a phone receiver. I watched as he dialed a few numbers, then spoke into it.

“I’m with the Blackthorne, I need your help.”

He paused, listening to whoever was on the other end of the line.

“As soon as you can!” He ended the call and hung up the phone.

I stared at him. What was he up to, who was he calling for.

“I won’t tell you anything, I don’t care what you do!” I spat.

He smiled at me again, “Don’t worry, Erin. No one’s going to hurt you!”

I tugged at the restraints again, whenever someone said that, it usually meant the exact opposite. I wasn’t going to beg, but I wasn’t going down without a fight either.

The human man who had come in looked nervously at the restraints. This made me struggle even harder.

The werewolf glanced over at him, he could probably smell his fear. Fear that I was going to break free, and when I did they would all regret it.

I glared at the man.

“How can you just stand there and watch a fellow human being suffer like this? When I get free, you’re gonna regret it!” I spat.

“Don’t worry, James, she won’t break free, and she won’t hurt anyone,” the alpha reassured.

The man nodded back at the werewolf.

How could they be so weak? I kept pulling at the restraints. Then the door opened, and in walked another werewolf; he was blond.

He came straight over to the side of the bed.

“Stay away from me, you damn mutt!” I screamed.

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow, then turned to the alpha wolf.

He shook his head. “Sorry, Alpha Marcus, just fear and human.”

Alpha Marcus smiled. “Thank you, Stephen.”

The werewolf, Stephen, turned and left the room. What the hell was that all about?

I smirked at him. “What’s it like to make a fool of yourself, oh mighty alpha wolf? Guess you’re wrong!”

Alpha Marcus slowly walked towards me, grinning and showing his teeth.

Shit, he was going to kill me now. I just hoped it would be quick.

I closed my eyes, waiting, but all I felt was his hand slide under my neck.

The hairs immediately stood on end, like someone had put something cold there, but his fingers were warm.

He started to massage the back of my neck with his fingers.

I tried to move away from his hand, but he held it firm.

I moaned as a wave of pleasure went down my spine. From the back of my throat, I let out a small growl. I had no idea where it came from.

My eyes widened.

The more he massaged, the more pleasure surged through my body.

I was feeling things I’d never felt before.

If it had been anyone else, I suppose I wouldn’t have minded as much, but he was a werewolf!

My sworn enemy!

“Please...please don’t!” I moaned, as another wave of pleasure made me shiver.

My resolve to not beg quickly faded. I had only prepared myself for pain, not the sensations I was currently feeling.

Then he whispered in my ear.

“You see, my little wolf, I’m never wrong!”

He pressed his nose against my neck as he sniffed.

“Hmm,” he growled with pleasure.

I shuddered, this time not with pleasure, but with disgust.

My brain finally kicked in, against my rebelling body.

I tried to pull away, but he still held my neck firmly.

The thought of a werewolf this close disgusted me.

“Don’t worry, little one, all will become clear very soon,” he whispered.

His fingers pressed gently on my temple.

“Sleep, little wolf,” he whispered.

As much as I tried to fight it, I felt myself once more drifting into oblivion.