CLAIMING HIS RELUCTANT LUNA

CHAPTER 2: ANGEL OF DEATH

Savina’s POV

The thought of death made my insides churn.

Death was more than just stillness; it was...nothing.

All around me, people gathered and yelled. They followed the soldiers who led me on, forming a mob just like they had done that very night.

We were headed to the pack square, where I knew subjects served their punishments, a number more than any other pack experienced. Alpha Hensen sentenced trespassers to instant execution and held death duels just for the fun of it.

For a man who betrayed his friend for power, this wasn’t in the least surprising.

He had a lot in common with Leon than I’d realized.

Pleading had become painful now. They tossed me among themselves, their brutal blows constant and random on my body. The taste of my blood filled my mouth, and a nauseous feeling climbed my gut.

I remember the night I first came home to the McCoy family. It was Leon who'd promised to never let me feel like an outcast. But that promise withered in the face of power.

He remained motionless as they marched me towards my end, muttering only a soft apology, as though such a gesture could ease the sting of betrayal—as if it could somehow lessen the harsh reality that he was about to watch me die!

“You thought you could get away with meddling with the witches, eh?” said a soldier. His voice was raggedy, bloodthirsty.

Without knowing why, I resumed my struggles. But it was too late.

The pack square came into full view, soldiers poised all around it. Any plan to escape was futile, not with the entire pack against me, not with Alpha Hensen eager to rid the last of us.

The wooden elevated platform that housed the guillotine stood at the center of the wide space. Standing close to it were Hensen and his newly-appointed gamma.

At the sight of my friend, hope sparked in me. Maybe, just maybe, Leon would think back to the moments we shared and have a change of heart.

As we reached their presence, I swallowed the pain in my throat.

“Leon!”

I was immediately tugged by the soldiers who forced me away.

For a split second, Leon glanced at me, his eyes dented with shame.

Before any words were said, Hensen barked at his men, “Place her under the guillotine along with the traitor family that took her in.”

I froze at those words. Even as I followed the soldiers up the steps, they replayed like a nightmare in my head.

When I was twelve, while I waited alone in the dark confines of the car, my guard fled into the storm. Shivering, I’d watched him converse with a couple at their door.

They were commoners being asked to take in the daughter of an Alpha as their own. Fear was evident on their faces; they knew the risk they were getting into when they said yes to him.

Still, they did. And there, my guard left me.

Ethan and Sully McCoy were cordial enough to give me their last name. They loved me like the family I lost, despite the risks involved in it. If it weren't for them, I'd have been long dead by now.

Watching that very couple get dragged to the guillotine broke the last bit of control in me.

“Mom! Dad!”

My attempt to reach them was cut short by the guard who held me. In my struggles, I sent a punch to his jaw—an action I regretted as soon as I'd done it.

The next thing I felt was a numbing pain as he struck me across my face.

"Get your hands off her, you monster!" The words came from Sully, not as threatening as I'm sure she wanted them to be.

But they were about to be the last words she'd utter.

The man who operated the guillotine was tall and broad. An ugly scar almost cost him his entire left eye. As he walked towards Sully, the floor of the scaffold seemed to vibrate.

Ethan was equally restrained by a guard, so there was little he could do but plead. He watched his wife be effortlessly lifted by the large man and dragged to be beheaded.

The guilt building inside me was inevitable.

Weakly, I looked to where the Alpha stood with his entourage.

"Your Majesty. Please, let them go. I'm the one you want."

When he spoke, authority filled his voice.

"Silence! Your father allied with the witches! He deceived the entire pack because he craved power. Taking you in only meant they supported his actions."

“My father would never have joined hands with witches - he forbade them! You were his friend, so I’m sure you knew this too!”

Alpha Hensen's response was curt, laced with a cold, mocking sincerity.

"Loyalty to the pack overrides friendship, Savina - always. It's a lesson young Leon here has proven to everyone today - a lesson I, too, very well lived. This execution will remind all: never side with evil. Your 'innocent' family's end is a necessary sacrifice to show Morgen Pack what truly matters."

The mob roared in what was supposed to be agreement.

My hope was a deflated tire, waiting to be shredded. Just as I tried to speak again, a sudden sound made me jerk, followed by Ethan's loud cry.

"Sully!"

I spun around.

Rolling easily along the wooden scaffold was a head.

It left a trail of dark red blood that stopped only when it tumbled over the edge. My gut clenched when I followed the blood trail to sight Sully's headless body.

I was too tired to cry, too afraid to make a move towards the corpse.

Aside from the endless screams from Ethan, silence echoed around me. I staggered from the weakness in my knees, stopping only when the guard held me in place.

There was no time to mourn. The scarred man went for Ethan next. For the second time in my life, Hensen would make me watch as he killed those I loved.

Ethan was dragged along the wood while he screamed at the lifeless body of his wife. If his own death was a breath away, he didn't show it.

Helplessly, I watched.

Just when the large man forced his head down, Ethan's sadness transformed into a fiery ball of rage.

Suddenly, he morphed into a magnificent gray Eta - one of the lower ranked wolves above the status of an Omega. The size of his wolf form cast shadows over the largeness of the guillotine operator.

He flung the executioner over the scaffold with a swift movement of his jaws, growling afterward with a stance of readiness.

Except he wasn't ready for what came next.

The soldiers made a move to attack, but Hensen quickly waved them off with his hand. Placing his scepter in Leon's care, he morphed into a night-black Theta.

His kind was famous for their brutality; their strength surpassed most other breeds. The mob immediately dispersed. This wasn't a duel they were willing to risk watching.

With an effortless jump, the Alpha was on the scaffold.

My heart drummed loudly in my chest, feet scaling backwards. I looked from his claws to the canines hanging over his jaw, arms perfect for any duel.

Hensen might have sensed my fear because he glanced at me.

Something in me broke while his amber eyes took me in. Even if I turned, I was no match for him. Death was coming; I could sense it.

But then, Ethan surged at him and sent him toppling down below. I had expected him to hate me for bringing such a fate to them, for Sully’s death.

Instead, while waiting for Hensen to recover, he sent me a quiet growl. It was an order to flee.

“No, I can’t leave y...” I was mid-sentence when his wolf growled deeper, angrier.

Running away at the sight of danger was nothing short of cowardice, a trait Ethan had taught me to rebuke, even in death.

Holding his gaze now, though, I saw he wasn’t asking me to be a coward. There was pain in it, but also hope. He knew he would die, but at the same time, he didn't want it to end that way.

There was little time for sentiments if I was to make it out here alive. I dashed down the steps, slipping through the unready hands of the soldiers who guarded it. Even as I sped past Leon, I didn't stop.

Hensen and Ethan were caught up in their war, leaving me alone with the soldiers who closed in on me from every angle. Escaping them on two feet would be impossible.

They weren't expecting my shift. I burst out of my clothing as my wolf took over. Ginger wolves weren't famous for strength, unlike the others. Speed, however, gave us an upper hand.

My paws slammed against the tarmac, propelling me forward between the soldiers. We were on the outskirts, so it was easier to reach the borders where I could lose them.

A howl from behind me was followed by many others.

The guards had shifted, their numerous strides thunderous. It was one thing to have a wolf quicker than all of theirs, but something else with that number against me.

Their howling echoed on until we reached the borders. Pine trees stretched on for many acres, causing the sounds to echo. Either that or they were closing in.

Instinctively, I picked up the pace and fled towards the lower foliage, where my small size would give me an upper hand. It was easy to navigate through the spaces formed by the trees.

Soon, their howling started to go faint. My limbs ached from the prolonged race, but I forced them on to widen our gap.

Hope sparked in the void I had. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance I could make it out of the borders. The spaces in the foliage only got smaller in the distance, and soon, even the smallest of them couldn't follow through.

I had no idea where I was nor where I'd be going, but it certainly wasn't going to be anywhere close to the Morgen pack.

After several minutes of random turns, the air was void of their howls. Even then, I didn't dare to stop.

The foliage gradually ended after the borders. A rich scent of salty air filled my nose—the scent of hope, freedom. Not far ahead, a still lake stretched for some distance.

My wolf retreated at the sight, causing me to slide violently along the forest floor. It sent a numbing pain through every inch of me.

There I lay, naked and alone, in the middle of nowhere. I didn't even have a mind link with my wolf. I had nothing!

Ethan and Sully came to mind again, an innocent couple who bore the weight of my sins. I'd let Leon in on what was supposed to be my life's only secret. And what did he do? He tossed me to the dogs for a seat in Hensen’s court.

There were no tears left to cry.

My body shivered for want of shelter, bruised and battered. My heart was shattered and torn apart beyond repair, and physically, it ripped through every fibre of my being.

I stared at the beauty of the still lake for moments. There was nothing to go back to and nowhere to run. My body moved, almost of its own will.

I reached for the lake. There was only one thing on my mind as I let the water engulf me: the truth that I had nothing to live for.

The coldness of it spiked my skin, but I didn't care. I sank into the dark depths and waited for death. Except…death didn't come as quickly as I had hoped.

Lungs clenching, I gasped for air.

Fear took over.

Panic, then regret.

Moving my limbs only made me go deeper. I didn't know what it was like to swim, nor did I know I would regret this.

Things started to slow down around me. I reached towards the ray of the sun through the water, hopeful.

Maybe this was for the best?

My eyes were half-closed when a shadow blocked the brightness. It looked down at me from outside the lake, just before a strong hand dug deep and clutched mine.

I wasn't sure what happened afterward.

I only remember the weakness as I was pulled out from the claws of death and out of the water. I lay naked in the warmth of a man's arms. His image was a blur.

Long, dark hair fell over his sculptured face. Cold eyes bore into mine.

He held me to himself - almost protectively.

An order was tossed out to someone.

I didn't catch who or what it was about, my mind too fuzzy for details. But one thing stood out, clear even in my groggy state—this man, maybe my angel of death or a god of the afterlife, was undeniably gorgeous.

Consciousness was leaving me, and I obediently shut it out.