Huntress or Mate?

Chapter 4 - Mercy

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Warning: The following chapter contains violence and might be too much for some to read.

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Zane

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I open my eyes and immediately glance at the clock, and it’s 5:30 a.m, which means I only slept for about an hour. I groan, stretching before getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom. After relieving myself, I decide to head downstairs to check on Arlo. Arlo and I aren’t best friends. We used to be, but we drifted apart right around the time that I lost my way. It was my fault, and I still respect him as my future alpha and care for him.

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I get downstairs, and my brows furrow in question, not finding him on the couch where we left him last night. There’s also no sign of the blanket he had on or the IV drip that was attached to his arm. I’m still standing next to the couch, staring at it like he’s going to appear out of nowhere, when I hear the front door opening, causing me to look in the direction of it. “Dad?” I mutter, my brow raised in question looking at my father as he quietly enters the house with his car keys in his hand, still wearing his pajamas.

“You are up,” he guiltily states, stopping for a moment before walking toward the kitchen, and I follow him.

“I couldn’t sleep. I was worried about Arlo. Where is he?” I ask as he opens the fridge and takes out a bottle of water.

“He’s gone.”

“Gone? Where? How? I don’t understand.”

“Look, I would love to tell you, but I’d rather not. After you went to bed last night, I heard some noises, and I went out the back to investigate, and it was the hunters-”

“-What? You saw them?”

“No, I couldn’t see them as the cars were already pulling out, but I think it was them. I think they kept Arlo to torture him and find out where and who the other wolves were. I mean, they must have figured his family was not the only werewolf family in town. They know there’s more of us out here, hiding in plain sight. It’s the reason they exist.”

“So, you think they know about us?”

“I don’t know, but I think they would have attacked already if they did, especially since Arlo escaped. They would have known he would warn us and that we would shelter him. I don’t think he gave us up, but I think it’s safer for you and your mother if you don’t know where he is-”

“-How is that going to work? She’s going to ask you where you were last night.”

“She was too upset at me for helping Arlo to notice I left the house. I’ll tell her I slept in the guest room. You can be my alibi,” he says before gulping the remaining water from the bottle and heading towards the exit, like my mother would believe me. I sigh, sitting on one of the stools by the island, hoping Arlo's going to be alright where ever he is. I have to try and get in touch with Harlow.

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Harlow

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“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I repeat, pleading; even though my father has left the room, the look he had in his eyes, still cutting through me like a thousand knives. I feel blood trickling down my face from my head, and I start to feel dizzy, causing me to fall back, my back hitting the wall, and I helplessly lean against it, too weak to sit upright on my own. The chains also do not leave too much room for movement. It hurts so bad, but the physical pain pales compared to the pain I feel in my heart. It feels like it’s been ripped out of my chest and left in front of me to watch it bleed out, and I want to lie down, close my eyes and die.

Why did God do this to me? To my father? Haven’t we lost enough? Haven’t we suffered enough? Why turn me into the thing that caused us so much pain? Why make him hate me when I’m all he’s got? He hasn’t been back in the cell since this morning. No one has, and I wish he would come back. I wish he would come back, so I can tell him how sorry I am, how much I love him, and beg him to find a way, a way to fix me. There has to be a way.

More tears flow, burning my raw eyes as they escape. When will they stop? Don’t they ever end? I cried all day and night, but they keep on coming; they keep on flowing. Just then, I hear the cell door open, and I slowly raise my head, but a sob escapes me, realizing God heard me.

“I’m sorry, father-” I speak before he even closes the cell door, crawling towards him, the chains the last thing on my mind as I plead to the one person I love more than anything in this world, desperate.

“-I’m not your father,” he coldly spits, slowly advancing to me before stopping in front of me and squatting to my level with nothing but disgust in his eyes. “You are not my daughter,” he repeats, his voice eerily low as he roughly grabs my chin, causing me to hiss in pain, looking into his eyes. “You are the evil spawn of the traitorous w***e that got my family killed,” he spits with venom, and for the second time since I’ve been alive, everything stands still. My aching heart ceases in my chest as my swollen eyes scan his, looking for any signs that he didn’t mean what he just said.

“I’m your daughter,” my trembling voice comes out as a whisper. “No, you’re not,” his voice also comes out as a whisper, his eyes cutting through my soul like cold glass, and more tears flow as I shake my head. This can't be true. It has to be a nightmare; I have to be asleep. “Please,” I whisper, my lips quivering too badly to say anything further as I grab onto his arms, desperate for him to say it’s not true; that he’s angry but will fix me. Desperate to hear him tell me that he loves me and that he will not give up on me; that we will get through this. But he removes my hands from him, like my touch disgusts him, and lets me go with a shove before standing upright.

“Father-” I breathlessly say, but he cuts me off, he's back towards me now as he starts walking towards the wall.

“I spent all night trying to understand, asking God why he would do this to me—asking if my life was just a big joke to him, what I did to deserve this. Why would he take my family only to have me raise the monster that took them from me?

“Daddy, please don’t say that. Please-”

“-Your traitor mother betrayed us. She betrayed all humankind by lying with a filthy dog, and you are the result of that betrayal. You are the abomination her treachery created. A painful reminder of how she sacrificed her own kind, how she cost me everything I ever loved, my wife, my children!” he spits, stopping but not turning to look at me as he delivers the soul-wrenching revelation. I start audibly crying, feeling the little strength I had managed to gather leaving my body.

“I’m your daughter. I know I am,” I plead, unable to comprehend what he just told me. “Please, father-”

“-Stop calling me that!” he roars, turning to look at me with a familiar look in his eyes. A look I’ve seen on him so many times when about to execute a beast. “You are not my daughter! You are a curse!” he adds, walking up to me before grabbing my face again. “For years, I wondered how you survived. Why you survived when my children didn't? But then I started believing you were my miracle, my lifeline, but I was wrong. You were the devil's seed, a spy. They wanted me to find you. They set me up,” he says, still grabbing onto my face, and I keep shaking my head, trembling under his death grip. “I hope they are watching,” he continues, now standing upright, talking like someone is watching us. “I am The Shadow, and no family will die under my watch. No daughter will betray their father. I will wipe this plague from the face of the earth,” he pauses after that, breathing heavily before advancing to me again. He squats in front of me and cups my face, causing me to let out a whimper. “Tonight, you will meet your end, but I will show you one last mercy. You tell me where Arlo is, and I will grant you a quick death,” he lets me go after saying that and stands upright before turning around and heading to the exit while I continue audibly crying, calling after him.

“Father! Please don’t leave me! Please!” I beg, trying to crawl after him, but the chains hold me back, and just then, I feel something rising in my chest, and it’s not long before it blocks my airway, causing me to gasp for air desperately. “I don't know where he is,” I breathlessly whisper, feeling myself slowly slip into unconsciousnesses, and it’s not long before darkness takes over.

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“Wake up!” I hear a voice say, but it’s faint. “Wake up, you filthy dog!” The voice comes again, and I try to open my eyes but groan as I suddenly land face-first on the floor. I open my eyes to see stars from the impact of the fall, but they clear after a moment, and I stare into the hateful eyes of Hudson as he squats in front of me. There are others standing behind him. I can see their boots, but I have no strength to look up at their faces.

My eyes start to droop close again, too exhausted to keep open. “Wake it up,” I hear him give the order, and just then, I feel something pierce the skin of my neck, just above the collar, and my eyes shoot open as I let out a scream, writhing in pain, my blood suddenly feeling like hot lava running through my veins.

“I told you that would wake it up,” I hear someone say while the others laugh before being grabbed by the hair and dragged up to my knees.

“I said wake up, you disgusting beast!” Hudson roars, and my trembling hands go to his, trying to get him to loosen his grip on my hair. But I’m too weak from the pain.

“Where is it? Where is that piece of s**t?” he yells in my face, and I try to tell him I don’t know but don’t get to finish as he connects my face with the hard floor.

“Please, I swear. I don’t know,” I beg, spitting out blood, but Hudson tells me to shut up. “Take her to the pit,” he says, and someone grabs a fistful of my hair again and starts dragging me out. I scream, begging them for mercy, feeling things cutting into my bare skin as I’m dragged on the ground naked, and it’s not long before I hear the pit doors opening.

The fire pit is inside a silo. It’s where we burn wolves that we manage to capture alive. They are tied to a metal pole in the middle, and a fire is lit. The fire burns in a circle and will spread towards the middle, closing in on them ever so slowly until it reaches the center where the pole is, and the beast will burn alive. They bind me to the metal pole and remove the collar before lighting the fire.

“Please, I’m sorry!” I beg, calling them by their names, trembling against the chains as they walk towards the exit, but my pleas fall on deaf ears, and they shut the door and lock it. “Father! Please, I’m sorry! Father!” I scream, feeling the heat as the silo fills with smoke, and it’s not long before it starts getting into my lungs, making it hard to breathe. I start coughing badly, choking before I suddenly become numb, and just then, I feel it, an overwhelming sense of calm that I can not explain, and right at that moment, the voice comes.

“I’m sorry, Harlow. I’m sorry, this is all I can do for you. I was supposed to be strong. I failed you. I'm sorry, I couldn’t save us,” it speaks for the first time since the collar's been taken off, and for the first time, I don't resist the voice; I let it in.

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Elora

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“What are you doing here? I told you to go home.”

“I told her to stay. She needs to see this,” The Shadow, whom Hudson didn’t see coming up behind me, speaks, causing him to swallow hard before giving him a soft nod. Hudson and I haven’t spoken since yesterday. We don’t discuss hunter business at home, and tonight he told me to leave when they were going to get Harlow. I’ve broken the trust between us, and as much as it hurts that he no longer trusts me, I was glad to sit this one out.

I haven't been able to sleep since discovering that Arlo was a wolf: since his family and Enya's death. It made me question everything, and I don’t know if I can do this anymore.

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I'm brought out of my thoughts by Harlow’s muffled screams as she starts calling out for the shadow, begging him for mercy, and I feel tears pooling in my eyes. I glance at him to find him staring at the silo, his jaw clenched and fist balled as he looks on, watching the black smoke as it makes its way out. I find myself pleading to God, asking for forgiveness as a tear escapes me, and I quickly turn my face to the side and wipe it off, but we all startle as a painful howl cuts through the night sky. How is that possible? The silo walls are eighty percent soundproof. The walls muffle the sound, causing it to travel a short distance. This place is on a farm outside the city, so there are no houses around, but I’m sure the whole town heard that howl.

After that, it goes quiet, and we all start looking at each other, but just then, the moon disappears, and the skies suddenly turn black. “What the hell?” Varn mumbles, but before anyone can say anything, heavy raindrops fall on our heads, followed by a lightning bolt before the skies crap open, drenching us where we stand.

We all turn to The Shadow, waiting for his instructions as thick black smoke, that's now hardly visible as it blends with the black stormy clouds, comes out of the silo, the fire clearly dying.

He orders us to take her out, and we proceed to the silo. My hands start to tremble as the guys open it, unsure of what to expect. This has never happened before. We have never had to take someone out. The guys open, and I’m unable to hold back a gasp as my eyes land on her, still tied up on the pole with her head hanging low, unconscious. The fire has completely gone out, so we quickly proceed to her, stepping on the ash that has quickly turned into mud.

The fire hadn’t reached her yet, but she’s red and black from the heat and the smoke. The rain continues to drench us, thunder now rambling as the guys untie her. “Put the collar on,” Hudson instructs, looking at Varn, but he cusses before running out of the silo.

She looks dead as we take her out, and Varn returns and places the collar around her neck, but her eyes snap open just as he secures it, and she lets out a growl, sending the guys on their backs. The collar drops, and I fall on my ass before hearing a groan as Hudson lands miserably on his side. Everyone starts yelling, and an ear-deafening growl causes me to snap my head back to find a red wolf standing on all fours. I scramble for Hudson’s crossbow, some of the guys shining some light on it while continuing to yell orders, and everything is happening too fast for my brain to comprehend.

The Shadow gets to the crossbow before I do, and I watch in horror as the red wolf leaps in the air, aiming for him. Arrows are deployed, and I scream, but the shadow slides on his knees, causing the beast only to graze his shoulder. And unlike the red wolf, The Shadow doesn’t miss. His arrows hit the mark, causing the beast to fall and hit a tree stump with its back. It quickly makes its way back up and lets out a vicious growl as the arrows hit it from every direction, but the growl dies in its throat as a spear coming from Hudson, who I didn’t even see get up, crushes its left rib, causing it to stagger like it's going to fall. I finally find a way back to my feet, but my eyes widen as it suddenly charges in my direction. “Get out of the way!” I hear Hudson's voice, and I make a last-minute dive to the side, and it just misses me. The guys continue, raining their arrows down on it, but it makes it over the high wall and runs into the forest.

The wall is too high, and I have no idea how she did that. We aren't able to jump over it as fast, and by the time we get to the other side, we've lost it. The shadow roars out orders, and we run after it, tracking it, but after running for miles with no sign of it, we give up.

“She'll bleed out,” he says and orders us to go back, but I stand for a moment, looking back before glancing up at the sky, knowing her pleas were heard. She was granted the mercy she pled for.