Chapter 3 The Second Chance

Akira

The pain returned. I regretted letting her return me but I wasn't given a choice. I stood up and dusted the rusted leaves off my body. I was under the shelter of a tall blue gum tree. My hands itched from weird insect bites. They were mosquitoes but mosquitoes only existed in the South-East part of Lunagron.

Was I taken so far?

I walked out and there was a path leading to only the goddess knows where. I looked up to the sky, wondering if she was watching me.

For the first time in two years, I breathed fresh air. Freedom felt amazing but I didn't know what to do with it and I was terrified. I didn't know where I was and what I was meant to do.

But under that fear, there was an undying rage for the dragons. I despised those fire-breathing reptiles. I couldn't let them go after what they had done to me. They've given me horrible memories that'll stay with me for the rest of my life.

I had to find somewhere to settle down so I could start scheming against them. But I had no clear plan. Anyway, I had to take a step at a time.

I laid my palm on my chest. Something inside me was even more irritated and angered at the thought of them... no, us. I closed my eyes to feel it and saw a golden dragon. Far behind the dragon was a white wolf with crystal blue eyes. Terrified, I opened up my eyes.

Were they in me?

I looked at my hands, wondering what I could do with them. I was a hybrid. The only thing I've ever heard about hybrids was that they were a danger to Lunagron. If one was ever found, 'it' was to be killed.

But who would know? My powers weren't even working.

When I said that, a ball of fire appeared on my hand.

"Holy goddess!" I screamed in horror, trying to blow the fire off my hand.

Eventually, I found a stream and put my hand in the water.

"That was terrifying," I said to myself, recovering from the incident.

But like the goddess said, I had to challenge myself.

"You can do this, Akira."

I closed my eyes, hoping I wasn't making a mistake and imagined red-hot orbs of fire on my two hands. To my greatest surprise, two balls of fire appeared.

"Unbelievable."

I shot a ball of fire towards a tree and it caught it, then started to burn. Why did this never happen before? My wolf senses caught the sound of running paws heading in my direction. I had never been able to do that. I used to be just human.

I couldn't think about that now, I had to hide. My instincts made me climb up a tree.

I was amazed I could because normal wolves can't climb. And it was a 50m tall tree. I stayed hidden on the branch of the tree, camouflaging among its leaves. A small group of wolves appeared. I thought they were rogues but rogues were never this many in groups.

Unexpectedly, they stopped right under the tree I hid on and seemed to be sniffing something out. The wolves looked up at me and suddenly, I lost balance. I fell, screaming to the top of my voice, and landed right on the back of a wolf. The wolf snarled and I jumped off him.

I faced the angry wolves. One of them shifted to human and looked at me.

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?" I asked back.

"We asked you a question first." The wolves shifted to human and walked closer to me.

"Stay back, don't come near me."

But they surrounded me. Out of fear, I shot fireballs at them. The wolves escaped it, like smart warriors and looked at me in surprise.

"What are you?" the wolverine with long black hair among them said.

Did they know I was a wolf too? I never had a scent before.

I wasn't safe with wolves or dragons, so I turned around and ran. The wolves shifted and ran after me. I did my very best to get them off my tail but they outnumbered me. Besides, they could shift and I couldn't. I didn't even have complete control over my fire powers so I was an easy catch.

"What should we do with her?" the wolf that asked me the first question said.

Three wolves pinned me down to the ground.

She eyed me. "We'll take her to the Alpha. Put her to sleep, she shouldn't know the way," the wolverine, who was apparently the leader said.

Some powder was put over my nose and I blacked out.

***

Ralph

A wolf was brought to me. He was badly beaten up and was dragged in with clothes turned rags. His short brown hair was scruffy and there were wounds all over his body. One of his eyes was purple and swollen.

"Alpha, we found him snooping around. We think they're looking for us," Cayden, my Beta, concluded while holding the neck of the wolf.

"Someone must have sent him," a Sigma among the small crowd spoke.

I wouldn't allow any ordinary wolf enter my den, thoughtless of my chamber, but every wolf that lived in the den was honorable and had done something to prove himself.

"What should we do with him, Alpha?" Cayden finally asked.

I stood from my leather seat that rested on the walls of my chamber.

I cracked my knuckles and neck. "What do you say, Ryder?"

Ryder was my Zeta. He was the most intelligent wolf in the pack and I never did a thing without his advice but I could be stubborn at times.

"We don't know who he is or where he came from and more of him have been appearing lately. We must get that information first, Alpha."

My smirk grew larger. "I'm glad you said so. Take him to the torture room. I'll deal with him myself."

The wolf looked at me, hate seared in his eyes. I would have a fun time breaking this one.

***

A loud deafening slap landed on his face. He screamed. His cheeks flamed in pain. "Who sent you?! Tell me!" I slapped him on the other side and his scream grew louder.

"I don't know anything!"

"We'll see about that."

I took an ax. Before he could think, I cut all the toes off his right leg. His yell was so loud that everyone in the pack heard him. Cayden was behind me, watching us like a scene from a movie that he had seen many times.

"Please, I don't know anything!"

I grabbed his head and turned it to the left. "Look there! That's what he said," I said, showing him the body of a wolf that had been shredded to pieces like a stuffed animal. His eyes widened and his lips trembled.

"And there!" I turned his head to the right. "He said the same thing as well!"

His eyes became unsteady when he saw a body that had many pieces of broken bottles stuck into it which held him to the wall like a display of art.

"Please..."

"Alright, let's do it your way." I raised my ax and cut the toes off his left leg. Blood spilled on my leather boots for the second time. He bit his lip, trying to hold his scream as his face turned red. "Tell me now. Who sent you?!"

He stared into my cold emerald eyes. "I can't!"

"Why not?" I chopped his fingers on his left hand at once. "Why not?!" I punched his only good eye and it instantly became swollen.

"He'll kill me!"

"But you're already a dead man!"

I chopped his head off and kicked his dead body to the ground along with the iron chair he was still tied to.

"You shouldn't have killed him, Alpha."

I spat and picked up a towel, cleaning the blood off my face. "We'll find out who's looking for us either way."

I threw the towel to Cayden and he caught it.

Cayden sighed and walked up to me but didn't move too close. I was dangerous and could lash out at anyone at any time.

"When we find the next one, Alpha, I think I should take care of it."

I shrugged and stormed out of the torture room. I walked to my chamber to carry on with my official work but my nose caught a scent. I stopped dead in my tracks. It smelt like dead leaves and dirt, but under that smell, I could perceive daises and coconut.

It was coming from my chamber. I rushed into my chamber. There were a few of my trusted wolves there but what caught my eyes was what was in the hands of Daphne. In her hands, there was a blonde... no golden-haired wolverine with piercing sapphire eyes.