CHAPTER TWENTY - WAR OF HEARTS

Roarke nipped at my hind leg.

I whimpered, yet managed to swipe at his head. One of my claws connected with his cheek, producing blood. His pack members were cheering and clapping around us, encouraging their Alpha to kill me. However, I noticed that Roarke was dragging my death out - he was only nipping and swatting at me. He could've easily killed me within the first minute, but I was still alive.

Roarke smacked his paw against my head, knocking me to the side. He had kept his claws retracted, so I wasn't sliced.

I stumbled back to my feet, releasing a growl.

He circled me, his eyes demanding for me to submit to him. He didn't understand how important freedom was to me. He didn't understand how much his darkness scared me. I couldn't stay with him - it was time for me to leave. It was time for him to let me go.

I lunged forward, aiming for his leg, but he quickly moved backwards. In that motion, he also wrapped his mouth around the back of my neck. I felt his teeth lightly sink into my skin in warning. His pack members hollered. I couldn't move. He had me - this was it. A growl emitted from his throat, vibrating my neck.

He was communicating to me. He wanted me to submit or else.

I knew he could chomp down, explode one of my arteries. Or, he could've as easily snapped my neck.

Yet, I didn't submit.

I braced myself for death, closing my eyes. I tried to silence the cheers of his pack, but they were so loud. Roarke's mouth lingered too long around my neck. It took me a moment to realize that he was hesitating.

Then, with a surge of anger, he suddenly threw me to the dirt. My body smacked the hard ground, following over, and before I could even get up, Roarke was on top of me. His weight crushed me and his snout lowered until only an inch from mine. He continuously growled in my face, using his Alpha authority to try to get me to submit.

As much as my wolf wanted to submit to him, I wasn't going to. I was fighting him with every bit of strength that I had.

"Just submit!" Josephine cried, from the sidelines. "Chloe! Please!"

She was still hugging Blake, tears rolling down her cheeks. Blake was running his fingers through her hair, trying to soothe her.

I had to ignore her.

I looked straight up into the eyes of Roarke, mentally telling him to just get it over with.

In a split second, his mouth was back on my throat. His teeth punctured my skin and he slowly applied pressure. My whole body stiffened in pain and at the fact that I was going to die in just a few minutes. I could hear his pack cheering, I could hear Josephine crying, I could hear Scarlett screaming for me to get up.

Then, just as I was seeing stars, his weight was gone.

I blinked in confusion, realizing that his whole pack had went silent. I clambered to my feet, glancing over my shoulder to see Roarke standing a few feet from me. There were whispers and hushes. My heart was hammering in my chest. I was starting to think that maybe I was dead; I was currently a spirit watching the aftermath.

I stepped forward with wobbly knees, wondering if I needed to charge at him again.

Yet, I froze when he lowered his head to me.

Gasps of surprise surrounded us. I couldn't believe this. No one could. Roarke Farkas was submitting to me. I had made a Farkas submit to me.

I looked over into the crowd of people. Josephine was covering her mouth with her hand in awe. Blake was staring at his Alpha like he was crazy. Scarlett was wickedly grinning, nodding her head. She had known that this would happen.

I watched in disbelief as Roarke shifted back into his human form. His pack members remained silent, desperately wanting to hear what their Alpha had to say for himself. Roarke rolled his shoulders, then glared at me.

"Go," he growled, taking a step backwards.

My eyes widened.

"Go," he repeated, a little angrier. "Or, I might change my mind." He was letting me go. I was getting my freedom. Relief washed through me. I slowly moved towards the tree-line, his pack members stepping aside for me, when his voice came again. "This will not be the last time you see me."

Chills traveled down my spine at his words.

I disappeared into the trees, just as there was an uproar by his pack. I hadn't jogged too far when a familiar voice called my name. "Chloe!"

Turning around, I recognized the long, red hair blowing with the wind as Scarlett's. She stopped in front of me, watching as I shifted back to my human form to speak. I was naked in front of her, but at this point, I was too overwhelmed with shock to really care.

"You did it," she said, grinning at me. "You made him submit."

I glanced behind her. "You should leave with me. They're onto you, Scarlett. They don't trust you. They're waiting for you to slip."

"Yeah, I know," she said, exhaling. "Don't worry, I can handle myself." I gave her a look of disbelief. Did she not understand how much they hated her? Especially after this, I feared for her. "You need to go to Julius. This is your time."

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "No more Alphas."

She frowned. "Then, where are you going?"

I peered around, squinting through the trees. "Uh, I'm not sure yet." I covered my breasts with my arms, taking a step backwards from her to transition. "Thank you."

A small smile crossed her face as I shifted back into my wolf. I could run longer and farther as my wolf. I turned my back to her, preparing to bolt off into the trees, when Scarlett spoke up, "Chloe?"

I looked at her.

"You are about to change everything," she said, softly. "You might start the revolution that Luna fought so hard for." I was startled by her words. So many emotions were running through me as I scampered off into the trees, not looking back. I was finally free, yet I couldn't help but still feel trapped.

-

My freedom didn't last long.

It was raining when everything went to shit. . .again.

I was rummaging through a dumpster in search of food. Of course, by now, all of the rats and savages like me had devoured everything. I crawled out, reeking of rotten food, and paced in the alleyway. I wasn't getting much luck with food - I had captured a rabbit the day before, but it didn't satisfy me. Now that I was a werewolf, my appetite was even bigger.

My mind traveled to Roarke who had an endless supply of food at his house. I shook my head, reminding myself not to think about him.

With my heightened hearing, I was able to hear the approaching footsteps. I looked over my shoulder, just as a squad of armed men turned the corner into the alleyway. All of them were wearing protective padding with guns in their hands. They paused, staring at me in question, and I slowly backed away.

One of them raised his weapon.

My instincts kicked in - my wolf took over.

I snarled at them, then took off running down the alleyway, not having enough time to shift. I wasn't very fast in my human form, but they were human. Maybe I had a chance.

My feet smacked against the pavement. My arms pumped at my sides. My breathing was uneven. I could hear them behind me, alarmingly close, and shouting commands. "Get her!"

Rain pelted against me, soaking me. I had to squint against the raindrops to see where I was going.

You've probably already guessed it, but they caught me.

One of them had lifted his weapon and pulled the trigger, except it wasn't a bullet. It was a dart. As soon as it struck me in the back, a liquid was injected into my system and I crumbled to the ground. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak. It was as if I was paralyzed.

All of them swarmed around me in cheerful hollers.

"We caught another one, boys!"

I remember being lifted from the ground, then easily being carried down the street. My vision was spinning. I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't help but blame myself for this.

As if it couldn't get any crazier, I was placed on a school bus. Yes, one of those yellow, ugly elementary buses. My cheek rested against the cold window as they locked my wrists behind my back with silver chains - it stung badly. My dignity was gone when they muzzled me, like a dog.

The bus started moving and I just watched the raindrops stream down the window until I built enough strength to move.

I lifted my head, peering around.

There were other people on the school bus with me. Other werewolves. All of them were chained and muzzled, just like me.

What was this?

Many of them locked eyes with me, obviously scared. If I had to guess what was happening, humans were starting to fight back. They were capturing lone werewolves. I had a feeling this wasn't going to end pretty for any of us.

A tear rolled down my cheek as an armed man came walking down the aisle.

I jumped in my seat when he randomly smacked the side of a young werewolf's head with the end of his gun. As he made his way to the back, he bullied several of us with an evil smirk. I kept my chin up, squaring my shoulders. The silver chains were burning my skin and it was taking everything in me not to show my pain.

When he reached me, he placed the tip of his gun under my chin, forcing me to keep his gaze. "Well, aren't you a pretty thing?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"The prettiest things are usually the deadliest," he commented, before getting too close to me. "Just how deadly are you?"

I was muzzled, but I wanted to respond with a sarcastic answer. He laughed to himself, then pulled away. I was taken by surprise when he rammed the end of his gun into my jaw. My yelp of pain was muffled and he only laughed louder, continuing his way down the aisle.

I blinked away my tears, looking around the school bus.

My eyes locked with a pair of brown ones - I was startled by the calmness in them. They belonged to a young man, perhaps my age, with black hair and a scar above his left eyebrow. He dwarfed the bus seat, his knees pushed up against the seat in front of him. I noticed that there were an extra set of chains locked around his ankles.

His eyes skimmed me up and down, assessing me.

The moment ended when the armed man suddenly grabbed a handful of my hair from behind, yanking my head upwards. I grunted as he spat out, "What'cha think you're doing, girl?"

I glanced back at the calm werewolf who was glaring at the armed man. There wasn't much any of us could do. We had to endure this harshness. The man slammed my face into the seat in front of me, then pulled a chunk of my hair out. Despite the muzzler on my face, blood trickled from my nose and down my chin.

"Pathetic," the man grumbled, walking off.

I inhaled deeply, trying to remain calm. I looked back at the werewolf with the scar. He was squinting at me. It was as if he was trying to figure out who I was.

The bus jerked forward, almost sending me into the seat in front of me. Confusion and fear washed through me as the armed men began yelling at the driver. Panic filled the bus and werewolves hollered into their muzzlers. I peered out the window, seeing a dark figure dart through the fog.

The bus was being attacked.

My first thought was that it was Roarke. I screamed into my muzzler, thrashing around in my silver chains. I couldn't go back. I hadn't even experienced freedom. I didn't want him to save me.

Thrashing around in my chains only caused them to burn me more. The smell of my burning flesh overwhelmed the noses around me. My eyes locked with the werewolf with the scar - he shook his head at me. He didn't understand.

The bus jerked to a complete stop and I rammed into the seat in front of me. I grunted, squeezing my eyes shut in pain. It was only seconds later that guns were being fired. The men had rolled down some windows and were firing out at the quick wolves. The driver was struggling to get the bus to start again.

As the armed men shouted commands at each other, I looked at the dark-haired werewolf.

I watched in awe and confusion as he popped his wrists and fingers out of place. He showed no pain as he managed to pull his hands free of the silver chains. Then, he bent down and performed a quick maneuver to get out of the ankle chains as well.

He ripped the muzzler off his face, then lunged at the nearest man. He didn't see him coming - the werewolf snapped his neck from behind. The other men were too occupied to notice, so he was able to snap another's neck a few seconds later.

One armed man finally saw him and shouted at the others. He raised his weapon, his finger on the trigger, and the werewolf appeared in front of him in seconds. He grabbed the barrel of the gun, but the shot still fired, shattering the back window of the bus.

The werewolf remained calm as he ripped the gun from the man's hands, then slammed it back into his nose. The man crumbled to the ground with a groan and I gasped when the werewolf shot him in the head at his feet.

Another man swiveled around, raising his gun.

He fired at the werewolf, but missed.

The werewolf stomped forward, knocking his gun out of his hands. His hand encircled the man's throat, lifting him from the ground. There was no emotion on the werewolf's face. He was nothing, but calm as he sunk his claws into the man's neck, slicing an artery.

Tears threatened to pour down my face as the man collapsed to the ground, holding his profusely bleeding neck. Seconds later, he wasn't moving at all.

The driver leaped from his seat, charging at him.

The werewolf easily grabbed him by his shirt and threw him into the side of the bus. Werewolves were hollering into their muzzlers in victory. I, however, stared at the werewolf with a look of disbelief. He slowly turned around, his gaze meeting mine once again. Blood splattered his face and his claws were still extended.

I started panicking when he walked down the aisle to me. I thought that he was going to hurt me.

I was surprised when he removed the cuffs from my wrists, then pulled the muzzler off my face. He roughly grabbed my arms and yanked me out into the aisle to stand. He brushed my hair aside, peering at my neck - where Julius Monclaw had bitten me.

"You're why they're here," he said, looking me up and down. "I saved you, now you save me, sweetheart."

I was confused, yet I couldn't utter any words. I was still in shock. The bus doors were kicked open, followed by two unfamiliar werewolves stomping inside. They skimmed us, then nodded at someone lingering outside.

I felt his power before he entered the bus.

Julius Monclaw appeared at the front of the bus, a frown on his face. His blond hair was damp from the rain and his gleaming blue eyes instantly found me. Relief filled them, followed by anger when he noticed who was holding me.

"Weylyn," Julius growled, glaring at him. "I suggest you remove your hands from her."

"I saved her," he responded, calmly. "Ask her yourself."

Julius was focused on me. "Give her to me." The werewolf, Weylyn, looked at me with his brown eyes. He pinched his lips together, then lifted his hands off me. I stepped away from him, almost tripping over a dead body. "Chloe, come here."

I hesitated, looking back and forth between them. Julius was the man who had turned me. He made me a werewolf. I was still angry at him, but I thought back to Scarlett's words. He wasn't my enemy. He wanted to protect me. And, I was in a terrible situation, trapped on a bus - I had no choice but to go to him.

I slowly walked to him, my heart racing.

When I reached him, he tucked me safely behind him, narrowing his eyes at Weylyn. "The humans captured you, huh?"

Weylyn didn't blink. "I was just having some fun."

Julius huffed, then skimmed the dead bodies on the floor, ignoring the several werewolves watching the moment. "Well, you certainly haven't lost your touch."

Weylyn's lips quirked upwards at the compliment, yet he didn't respond. Julius glanced over his shoulder at me, content in his eyes, then looked back at him. "What do you want?"

"I want back into the pack," he stated, wiping his bloody hands together. "Being rogue has been pretty boring lately." I noticed the stiffening of Julius's shoulders, right before Weylyn tilted his head and added, "Don't pretend I wasn't the best killer you had. You could use me right now."

Julius narrowed his eyes. "Think again."

"I noticed that's your bite on her neck, meaning there is probably a bond between you two," Weylen said, raising an eyebrow. "But, I also noticed the familiar scent of the Farkas Pack on her."

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"You need me," Weylyn continued, his eyes meeting mine. "You won't find or train a better killer than me."

A long moment of silence drifted between us.

"We will discuss this more," Julius said, then skimmed the muzzled werewolves. "Release them."

I was trembling as I looked at Weylyn who nodded once at me. Then, I was led off the bus in the hands of another Alpha.