Blood of The Beast

viii

Scylla:

    "Scylla stop," he demanded.

    I couldn't help it. That damned mark on his shoulder is bringing this out in me. I didn't plan on challenging his maker as I did. This uncontrollable urge to stake my claim coursed through me in waves of anger and a completely foreign emotion. Jealousy. It had only come over me once before and I killed the woman and rejected that son of a b***h. This is different. Agathos is his sire. He made him into what he is now the mark on his neck is not enough. Alastair has to know that he no longer belongs to that man. He's mine. 

    "I can't allow you to go with him. It's dangerous. I feel it. I can feel your fear," I voiced my body is shaking with anxiety. "It's not like the fear from last night this one is raw. Pure. No, Alastair,"

    "Scylla, come here," he ordered and when I didn't move for him he pulled me to him by linking his fingers in the belt loops of my jeans. Alastair lifted me by grabbing my thighs to settle me on his lap to straddle him.

    "No," I repeated.

    "Then come with me," I pulled away looking down at him.

    "What?" he chuckled.

    "Come with me. She's an old girlfriend. Crazy b***h she is. He loves her and she loves him. They're just a little dysfunctional. I wouldn't invite you if it were dangerous. Yeah, she scares the s**t out of me. That's only because I don't want to lose my sire to a woman who is not his mate,"

    The anxiety in me passed. Should anything happen I'd be there with him. We'd be able to fight together and I'd finally be able to see my long-time wish to see my beast fight and kill. Strikeout the way I've read he has. Those are rumors. I want to know the truth behind the wars. All of it.

    "Are you sure?" I asked. He smiled his hands sliding up my thighs, to my ass, and over my back.

    "Completely," he reassured me.

    "Should we get back to where we were earlier?" his eyes sparked red as he lifted my shirt over my head.

    "Gladly," he whispered against my chest.

    He's been gentle and attentive. This side of him I never expected. It was just the simple taste of what he thought I deserved, sending my body over the edge repeatedly just with his fingers and tongue. He couldn't do it. He can't take me without the monster wanting to tear me apart. I know this restraint. I've practiced it not during i*********e like this but when I tried to tame the aggression of my wolf. Centuries of life and not once did he ever think to control the beast inside of him.

    The slightest movements jolted me awake tonight. He was fast asleep probably calming down from the high my blood had him in and here I am, not tired in the slightest. I sat up and looked around trying to get back to sleep. There's only one reason for this. Something really bad is going to happen and I'm going to be caught in the middle of it. I grabbed my favorite premonition book and started up a cold bath. My body is feeling a bit feverish with the anticipation of a fight. I was three chapters in when he appeared in the doorway.

    "What are you doing?" he asked with a small smile. "That water is ice cold,"

    "My body is preparing," I informed him, flipping the page trying really hard to pay attention to the words on it.

    I found myself shouting each word individually in my head. Not in order either. In an instant, he was next to me taking my book. I reached up annoyed with him as he shut it and put it on the counter. I sighed letting my hands fall into the cold water with a splash. Why does this feel so natural? Why don't I have a problem with the sudden intrusion of my entire existence? I did the last time. I had a really big problem the last time. 

    "Preparing for what?" he asked. I stood up letting the warmth in the air heat my body up again. Steam raised all over my skin and he stepped back with a small smile playing on his lips.

    "It's healing any remnants of weakness for a fight. The only time my body does this is when I'm going to be killing. Nothing you say to me will convince my body of what it naturally does,"

    "You think we're going to fight?" he asked looking me over.

    "No, I believed you when you said we would be fine. My body is in tune with the variations of energy. It's why I can't control my actions at times. My strength doesn't come from me,"

    "It comes from the wolf and the wolf is a spirit," he added and I nodded.

    "Normally a wolf's strength comes from the mentality of the holder. It's why we have ranks. Why some of us are able to be more than what our parents give us," I explained sitting back in the water the sizzle of the cold water parching the heat made him smile. "Whatever the hell I am, it's power is- I don't know, cosmic maybe?"

    He climbed in with me without saying a word. We're passed the awkwardness of nudity and shame. When I was a pup I always asked myself what it would be like to be mated and loved unconditionally. To be claimed and finally belong to someone who wouldn't be afraid of me. Someone who would never see passed who I am into the monster inside or at the very least. Someone who would be able to understand. 

    I had always pictured another wolf. A wolf who would run along the side of mine in sync like others in my pack. Yet here is this man before me. Our relationship so far based on the physical attraction we feel. There is no question in whether we belong to each other or not. The answer is yes. This body belongs to him. His body belongs to me. The question at hand is, does my soul meet his?

    An ancient soul, a soul older than the religion that had been taught in the pack I had started to rise in. Older than the illusion of the civilization that has transpired now. Something about his history called out to me. From the moment I had a vampire mentor alongside my wolf mentor, this man's story had called out to me from all the others. I had fallen in love with the idea of a man who had nothing to lose in becoming what he had. A man who had no reason to fight. A man who fought like the universe had willed him to.

    "What are you thinking about?" he asked.

    "I'm thinking about you," I answered truthfully. There is no s****l tension right now. This is just us two sitting here. The two of us wondering what we did to deserve this.

    "Ask me anything and I will answer," he offered.

    "What was her name?" I asked.

    "You're going to have to be more specific than that, little wolf,"

    "The woman you chose this life for," he took a deep breath and smiled. His eyes hooded over with surprise.

    "What makes you think it was a woman?" I smiled at him.

    "Last night. You gave me something you've never given anyone else. The way you caressed me, how you were so intent on showing me what this bond between us is and the open potential to it. It was the release of a reservation. Something special. It meant the world to you," his smile returned. His eyes looked into mine as if he were looking for something.

    "Her name was Alkatherine," he answered with a deep sadness. He looked away, his eyes scanned the room like he was remembering something about her. He looked back up at me. I wanted to tell him that it was a stupid name. Anything to shame her, but that would be wrong of me. "We grew up together. I had been in love with her since we were kids.

    "Something in me snapped when she chose another. When she gave him what I thought was rightfully mine. She was with child when her body was found in the river. He had rejected her love. He had chosen another and it destroyed her,"

    "Did you kill him?" I asked.

    "No," he smiled relaxing back. "I killed her. The woman he chose over Alkatherine. Two years had passed after I was turned. I went home to see my sisters. This woman had taken everything from Alkatherine and she walked around like she was the greatest thing.

    "It boiled in my blood to see her so happy. It was so easy to take her then. I had no attachment to the emotions I once carried. She was pregnant about the amount of time Alkatherine had been. I can remember the feel of her blood in my veins for months after I took her life.

    "His pain alone when he found her lifeless body made it all worth it. I saw my own pain reflected in his eyes and I knew he understood what he was paying for then. It was an amazing feeling to be able to show him exactly what he had done,"

    "You feel good about it?" I asked goosebumps breaking out over my skin, not because of the cold water. The fear his words ignited in me. 

    "Ye,s I do," he confirmed with that dark gleam shining in his eyes. "I will never regret it. I've taken lives for many meaningless reasons. This is one that will never be taken from me,"

    I lied back onto the tub sinking down into the cold comfort of the water. I didn't say anything there's nothing I can really say to let him know that I didn't blame him for it. No one really could. This is how he dealt with his pain. I'd be hypocritical to tell him he's wrong. I've done things that are just as bad. I can still hear their screaming in my head sometimes.

    "I know about the rejection," he informed me and I sighed wishing my dad would just keep his trap shut and mind his own business.

    "Ask and I'll answer," I quoted making him smirk.

    "Why did you reject him?" he asked.

    "You mean aside from the fact that I had killed his father in front of the entire pack?" he chuckled the sound coming from deep in his throat.

    "Now you have to tell me from the beginning," he mused.

    I scooted further down dipping my body low in the water so only my face peeked through the surface. His legs are to the sides of me under the water. His body in between my bent knees. My intimates pressed against his.

    "My mother's name is Aphrodite Asmodeus. She and my dad kind of grew up together with Alpha Felipe Wright. Luna Abigail and my mother, my dad said they never really got along. There was a fight for land. Felipe had the upper hand. Alpha Kane knew that the only way to flip the odds was to take Luna Abigail.

    "My mom had been with her. She hid her in my room. I was four months old. Luna Abigail was very pregnant at the time. In order to save her, my mother took a nitrate grenade and killed all the wolves in the house, including Alpha Kane, and herself giving my dad and Felipe enough time to come to rescue us.

    "Growing up with others was hard for me. Even when my wolf wasn't in the picture yet. I had panic attacks when I felt like I was being crowded. Sometimes it would happen for no reason. It was like the walls were closing in on me all the time.

    "The only thing that helped was reading. I started with classics. Those are my favorite. Getting lost in a different world helped me take control of my world. I started with wanting to know more about everything and anything. Building things, creating, strengthening. Doctor Peters took an interest in me and he challenged me. He helped me take things further.

    "By the time I was ten I knew more about the flawed system of the pack than the alpha. I went to him and told him he could have so much more than he was settling for.

    "No one ever listened to me. The other pups started to hate me. Annie, she was the worst. Always some crude remark. She would take my books and hide them. When I turned twelve F.J. invited me to his birthday party. My dad helped me with his gift and I went despite my knowing the outcome.

    "He never once told me I was weird. I remember him always trying to stop his sister. Always trying to keep them away from me. I just wanted the rest of them to see me as a part of them. She attacked me. So I kicked her ass and when he tried to stop me I hurt him. I didn't mean to.

    "The alpha didn't like it. He was always evaluating me looking for any reason to throw me out and he finally found one. My dad was livid. I had never seen him so angry and since then I've never seen it again.

    "The year after, when he started to build our pack my wolf came in. I had no control. The vampire Cornelius Michaels was brought in. He said that my shift was similar to being awakened. He taught me how to channel the energy. I was fifteen when I was finally able to incorporate it into civil stability. Even with Constance. I'd still fight this darkness inside of me.

    "Doctor Peters called me one night. He was panicked. He said that the alpha allegiance was sending in a team to try and kill me. That it was Alpha Felipe who had suggested it. He convinced the allegiance that I was a threat to every wolf.

    "A lot of wolves died in that battle. In a way, I'm thankful he did it. It expanded our pack. We were able to bring in those who were coven less because of the vampires that were here already training me. When it was over, they stayed.

    "I felt this anger in me in knowing that all of this had happened because this mother fucker didn't want me to make it. So, I crossed into his territory. He tried to stand up to me. It was just me. A fair challenge. Me against him. It was too easy for me. I didn't even have to shift.

    "F.J. he had this smell to him. Another she-wolf. It wasn't even close to the connection I felt when I saw you walk into that classroom. I hated the feeling of it. It was repulsion. When the girl showed up. I killed her. Ripped her head right off her body and gave her to him as a tribute.

    "I told him I didn't want the pack. All I had wanted was his father's life. When he asked me about us. I told him there was no us. I told him if he pushed it I'd kill everyone. Then I rejected him and he accepted," I sat up without pulling away from him. "That's the grand story. There is no pain. There was just the anger I felt for the pain they had caused my dad. The anger in all of the lives that were sacrificed because that man was jealous of me,"

    "Is that what he was?" he smiled moving me up so I could kneel over him. I growled lowly in my throat pushing him back enough to assert a bit of dominance. Not enough to challenge him.

    "I think he was jealous he'd never be this special,"

    "I think you're right," he empathized with a little-wicked smirk on his lips.