verb ~ to conquer or subdue by superior force

CHARLIE

I distinctly remember falling asleep in the small stream last night. What I don't remember is climbing out of it.

At first, I thought perhaps I had slipped in a drifted down stream, landing on the grass, but I was in the same place. With only my tail swaying in the water, I could've sworn I didn't wake up at all.

After the gentle surprise of warmth and dry fur, the immediate panic came from realising I had slept all night. Jolting up to full height, the lack of aches pleasantly surprised me. My fur bristled, testing out the scrapes from last night's fight as I looked around for Calida.

I expected her to have killed me.

I expected her to have left me for the pack of wolves to abuse.

I expected her to have ran.

I did not expect her to be staring at me from the other side of the tiny clearing.

As we made eye contact, her ears and nose twitched, watching me lower my defences with relief. Her dark eyes peered at me, glancing at my form before huffing at me. Dismissal never came too gratefully; it meant she was back to level-headed rogue wolf Calida, and not the murderous hunt chasing rogue-Calida.

Speaking of.

What the fuck.

What the double fuck.

Last night was fucking mental.

I have no idea what just happened.

No idea how we are still alive after a full night's sleep. Most packs will chase down the murder of two wolves in their own land, but... not this pack.

The terrified man's eyes stared back at me when I glanced at Calida's wolf. Although calm and thoughtful now, the terrifying hunger to her murderous gaze tarnished my memory of her. I feared I'd never be able to purge that from my mind, nor how horrified her father looked. The glimpse of recognition in his eyes, moments before his daughter killed him, would haunt me for a long time.

But how?

Why?

How did Calida's wolf know that was her father? The wolf and human were disconnected. My mate was not there. A brand-new baby soul met one nearly thrice its age and somehow knew who birthed her.

It made me wonder if this was Calida's wolf's plan this whole time.

We have travelled to the east coast the entire time we've been on the run, and the past few days, as we grew closer to this pack, she grew more intense. Did she know we were close? Did her wolf recognise the pack scent?

How did the wolf know?

Turning a human to a wolf is a brand new experience, and for a moment, I wondered if as they connected; if the wolf gained insight into the human's past. It was the only logical explanation, but I suppose it would make transforming a lot easier. But we'd never know, not unless Calida came back. Even then, it's likely any trauma erased her memory.

Damn, the brain was a complicated thing.

Blinking back to the present, I did a small semi-lap around the area we slept in. Keeping my attention on my mate in the background, I wondered what she was doing as she scraped behind a tree. But then the sudden awkward awareness washed over me, and I quickly trotted away to the opposite end to give her some privacy.

I could smell fresh blood nearby, and curiosity ate at me. I felt fitter and healthy enough that if Calida bolted, I could follow, but the reminder that she stayed with me last night was a comfort that she wouldn't today.

Besides, it was her fault I was hungry and nearly fucking got locked in a packs cellar for murder.

To my horror, the fresh blood scent was a maze of fucking bodies.

Death seeped into the earth, permeating the air with its stench. I counted six bodies, all werewolves from the pack we just came from. Some were hours dead, but there was one that still twitched and my stomach tightened at how recent it was.

What had she done?

If they catch us again, we are fucked.

And with that thought in mind, I ran back towards her. She was cleaning her snout and paws in the stream, and I stopped a little way away from her. I barked softly, and when her eyes lazily darted to mine, I nudged my head in the opposite direction. The wolf blinked at me before huffing and dipping its snout back into the water to drink. An impatient whine escaped my throat, one that had me childishly stomping my paws in the dirt.

I barked again, trying to tell her we should really move. The wolf growled, baring its teeth at me as I dared to step closer. I huffed, sitting back on my hind legs to whine softly. Her gums disappeared, face softening to one of indifference. She slowly stepped out of the stream, shaking out her fur. She barely tolerated me, and I winced as she strode closer to me.

My head lowered in submission, giving into my mate's wolf all too easily. My wolf whined, forcing my chin to the ground. Calida's wolf grumbled, shoving me with its back paw as it walked away. I watched, barely registering the sharpness of her claws, as she stood facing toward the open trees.

I held my breath, waiting for someone to appear out of the shadows. For someone to attack, or for a whole group to rain down on us and tear us limb from limb. The wolf was surveying, looking, tracking, waiting... I don't fucking know what for. But then she lowered her ears and snout, growling softly. My attention piqued, I slowly rose to four legs.

Her muscles quivered, her hind legs tensing. I knew she was going to run, and the moment she did, I was right behind her. The wind through our fur, we ran the opposite way of the pack. Relief filled my chest with every mile we left behind, but I had the horrid feeling it wouldn't be the end of this.

Slowly, I gave my wolf more wriggle room, retreating quietly to the sidelines. He was elated to run with his mate, uncaring that she was more animal than werewolf. He was just happy to be near her, and it gave me the relief of not having to focus on surviving for a while. Calida still held our mark, wolf or not, and that's all he cared about.

To be honest, it was all I cared about.

Whatever just happened...

I'd deal with it.

Right now, I had more pressing matters to attend to.

Like catching up to this damn wolf who can run for miles.

***

Our easterly route had turned on its head. We were moving west now, chasing the setting sun as the days passed by. We were still north, that much I was certain. How are you so certain, Charlie? You must be a fantastic tracker. You must have an amazing natural compass.

Well, let me tell you.

No.

I do not.

We passed an all too familiar tree a day ago, one that was carved with a letter that belonged to a friend. I never wanted to never come up here and see what they left behind. Calida never wanted to come back; she never wanted me to see where she was trapped for over a decade.

And yet, as we woke on the next day, we were up and moving without stopping for food. The dirt beneath my paws hummed with an energy I didn't like, and I kept myself alert. My wolf bristled beneath our fur, our senses in overdrive as we grew closer to the hellhole.

Phoenix had said that he had the cages of this camp destroyed, and that both Steven and his sidekick, Maxwell, were burnt to ash. But even then, I could feel the darkness that lingered.

You couldn't bury angry ghosts.

Stepping through the shrubbery into the clearing, my body tensed with every step. What once had been a wide-open patch of land had become overrun with grass and plants. Patches of them grew where people once lost their lives, curling around the bent heap of metal to my left. There were a few wooden huts left. One destroyed and barely held the remnants of itself up.

Vines and ivy climbed around it, gripping it and suffocating it until it crumbled.

For once, nature was winning. It was taking back everything that had been here, destroyed it all until it was buried and suffocating without daylight. Animals were too cautious to come here, to approach the place where magic and pain once ruled. It left the greenery to grow and seek its revenge.

There was another home, partly hidden beneath ivy. This one was more solid. Half-stone, half brick, it stood proudly between two large trees. The front door had been knocked down, the wood splintered and rotten on the floor. The two windows at the front were shattered, glass shards glittering on the decking.

That was where Calida was heading. I knew it had to be the place she was held because her eager attitude changed. Her head hung low, shoulders bunching with every slow, deliberate step. Her ears and nose twitched, scouring the surrounding area before she climbed the front step. I watched her, sat on the sidelines to not be an intrusion. Her fur rippled with a shudder, and soon all four of her legs were inside the house.

It was silent.

Her breaths were quick and even, her footsteps light. Glass and wood cracked beneath her paws as she explored the home, and my head cocked when she stopped. She must've found something because she growled lowly. My ears twitched, and I rose to all fours, ready to aid her if she needed it.

Inhaling sharply, I knew there was nobody there. There was a scuttling of feet before a few rats scurried through a hole in the bordered up window, squeaking loudly as they hurried into the bushes. Calida's growls turned to a soft rumble, and I had a hard time in forcing myself to stay where I was. I wanted to go in there and be supportive, to help her if she needed it.

I'd destroy the entire house if I had to. I'd turn it to rubble with my bare hands!

But I couldn't.

I had to stay here.

I had to be nonchalant.

I had to be dismissive.

I had to let her be in control of this situation.

She was not the Calida who wanted my affection.

A while passed before I heard movement. My ears swung like radars, noting every clatter, scrape and crunching sound. She was destroying something, and I wanted to know what it was. Desperately.

But I stayed.

I fucking stayed.

May as well give me a treat or bone for being a good boy because I did not move until she came out of the house. She was unscathed, surviving the wrath of any angry rats or mice. Her shoulders hunched like a lion as she dismissed the house, skulking toward another building. I watched her go from where I sat, not wanting to interrupt.

We stayed in this place until the sun was in the western sky, and I waited as she destroyed anything she came across. The first house that was held together by ivy had tumbled to the ground after the wolf's teeth tore through every piece it found. I winced at the large clatter that came with its downfall, the puff of dust and air making my nose twitch.

After the house was destroyed, everything else became just a game. She came back to the stone house three times in the hours that passed, knocking down walls with her shoulders and tearing into the kitchen counters and window panes.

We left this place in worse condition than we found it.

I'm sure if we had matches, it would be up in flames.

After all her work was done, Calida chased down some prey and ate. I rose to my feet at that point, using her appetite as a perfect distraction. My feet padded softly into the home that she destroyed, avoiding stepping in any particularly dagger shaped shards. She had ransacked the kitchen. She basically pulled out all the cupboards and chewed through the wooden countertops.

What had been a dining table was now firewood, and what had been an armchair was now a pile of foam and fabric. My paws led me back toward the rat room, hesitant with my approach.

My spine tensed when I realised that all of this had once been a bedroom.

The double bedframe was bent at odd angles, and the mattress had all of its springs and foam torn from inside of it. The drawers full of clothes also got destroyed and torn to tatters. But that wasn't what made my body fill with anguish.

It was the bloodstains on the mattress.

The rope that hung frayed around the bedposts.

It was the lack of blankets or thick clothes.

The vacancy of natural light from the covered-up room.

And it was the lock on the outside of the crumpled door and its frame.

I was glad Calida's wolf tore this place to shreds, because if I saw it in its so-called prime, I would've done it myself until I passed out.

I wish Maxwell was alive.

I wish I could be the one to tear him limb from limb.

My canines ached with the thought, my wolf rumbling with fury.

Kill him for everything he has done.

For harming my mate.

For killing Nova's parents.

For hurting all of those innocent women.

Murderer.

Rapist.

Sadist.

Hell-hound.

His death should've been long and slow.

I only wish I could turn back time and be the one to do it.

My wolf preened at the thought.

If we were to follow Calida around the world destroying everything that ever hurt her... Then, we are in.