Barely Breathing

As soon as I went out of the secret hideout, I smelled...
Blood...
Everywhere...
I felt my heart tearing apart as I recognized our pack members' wolves getting bitten, some torn apart, literally by vicious wolves.
Matt, one of the warriors, was brutally killed by another two wolves. But I can't tear my eyes away from the scene and my feet felt
glued to the ground.
Too much death...
I felt my stomach churned, wanting to vomit. It felt like deja vu. Again.
But when I closed my eyes, flashbacks of my past pushing me to the edge. I can't run away and let them fight alone, not like my
old pack.
I shifted into my wolf, Violet. I attacked a wolf and snapped its neck brutally and jumped into another one killing it as well.
The taste of blood assaulted my senses, yet Violet was as blood-thirsty as I am. We kept on killing and helping other pack
members. I had just finished tossing a lifeless wolf when I heard a growl on my left.
Gabbiel was growling at a black wolf that had its fangs fatally into the neck of another hopeless wolf.
Tash!
It was Tasca...
It felt like everything stopped.
I stop breathing.
Everything went into slow motion.
I can't move.
I can't breathe.

My eyes glued to Tash under the mercy of the black wolf. She whimpered, helpless.
There was a sorrow in Gabbiel's wolf, eyes mirroring mine as I growled at the wolf too, showing my canines.
Tash was whimpering, looking straight at his mate, Gabbiel.
I wanted to cry just by looking at her. She glanced my way and my heart broke.
I growled once again at the wolf when it bit harder, Gabbiel whimpered at Tash's cry of pain.
The black wolf was decisive, I can see right through him he would kill Tash. Yet I prayed for that tiniest hope that he will let her
live.
Please let her live.
Please don't let her die.
When, suddenly, the black wolf fell on the ground with Tash underneath it. Xyrus was standing near, blood on his hands. He
tossed something bloody on the ground. Gabbiel rushed into a crying Tash who already shifted. I felt relieved.
Xyrus eyes were red but somehow my heart knows it was Xyrus, not his wolf who's in control.
He took a step closer, a smile played on his lips as he looked at me with some kind of relief. I hold my breath, taking all of him,
completely bewitched.
Xyrus was wearing pants, topless. What most noticeable was half of his body was fur, his hands were like that of a wolf with big
claws. Like a perfect half transformation a combination of a man and a wolf.
"Princess." He softly spoke. "Never leave my side."
He went beside me, timely killing another wolf who's to attack me.
"Warriors!" He shouted. "Til death will we fight!"
Growls and shouts from the warriors echoed throughout, it was amazing!
It was like magic. We were hopeless but a simple encouragement from the alpha refueled each of us.
I fought beside Xyrus, killing one after another. Soon, our opponents backing out, some running away. We were winning the fight.

But a second I let my guard down, another wolf overpowered me, it had bit its canines into my neck, a little tiny force and I'll be
dead, just like Tash moments ago.
A ferocious growl echoed, it was powerful and terrifying. I look hopelessly at the eyes of the man I love. His were hard yet closely
you can see the fear on its edges.
"Don't you dare Nicolas! I swear I'll get your head and every wolf with you here." Xyrus spat, he was in a rage and his body was
shaking.
"Is that fear... I smell in the so-called most powerful wolf who has ever lived?" A man's voice said, seems old.
I tried to get a proper view of him, I noticed his hair was white of age and a bit wavy, he was wearing a deep blue cloak with a
symbol of a wolf in the center and a circle around it with little colorful crystal on the outside.
"Hang on there Nicolas, Alpha Xyrus might want to entertain us with his cleverness." He taunted. I whimpered in pain as Nicolas
bit harder.
"Henry, fight like a man," Xyrus growled. "Don't hide behind a girl like a coward."
"Is that so." The cloaked man, Henry laughed. "My my my... Look, Nicolas, who's decided to do the right thing here."
"The council asked one favor of you Xyrus, just one," Henry said, getting angrier by the moment. "Tell me, how hard could it be
not to kill?"
"I did that for a reason" Xyrus fired back.
"You break the rule," Henry stated. "That thing living inside of you is a monster. The council can't allow such a threat!"
"It has a name," Xyrus growled. "And I can control it now."
I felt a tingling sensation in my mind, Xyrus wants to mind-linked me.
'Willow, please endure it a little more princess, I will save you I promise.'
'I trust you.' I replied, looking straight through his eyes. 'But whatever happens, do what you must do.'
'You will gonna be safe, you hear me? I can't lose you.' He said softly.

"I see. You have mastered controlling your wolf." Henry keenly observed what look like Xyrus' perfect transformation. It's not
easy for one to transform half of a wolf and half into a man. It was rare and I haven't seen one until this day.
"But you are too late." With that, he gestured to Nicolas as I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I howled as the pain intensified, too
much to bear, until my strength slowly diminished and I can feel myself dying, it was so hard to breathe, I can't breathe.
And the last thing I saw was a pair of red eyes full of hurt and rage combined.