Chapter 3 The Intentional Accident

Asher's POV

"Go, Asher!" Females scream but I pay them no attention.

I dash into the forest, my eyes scanning the forest as I move. I hear the deers moving but at a distance. They must have sensed our presence and know that we mean nothing but trouble. I hear fast movement and smile, my fangs baring in ferocious brutality. They can't escape us. Wrong. They can't escape me.

I see a wolf run past me and wait for few seconds before overtaking him. His silver fur isn't hard to miss and I smile at the hiss emanating from the chest of the wolf as I run past him.

Sorry, Bino. I say in my head to the son of the alpha of the Vava pack.

I know he isn't mad at me and will try to overtake me again but I don't mind. We have been friends for the past two days and will go back to being buddies once this hunt is over. We are both heirs and competitive. It's not surprising that we fight hard to win.

I can't let him win though.

I relax my ears, listening to the sounds in the air as birds fly away in fright and leaves rustle on the ground as the other wolves tramp through the woods.

I know exactly where everyone is and try my best to keep my tracks hidden. I have superior hearing abilities than the rest of my pack but that doesn't mean they don't have good hearing. If I don't try to be silent, they will know where I am.

I frown, pausing in my tracks as I wonder where Lucas is. I haven't seen him and I wonder if he opted out of the game. The red tints at the ears of his wolf aren't hard to miss and Lucas enjoys trailing behind me and being a pest.

I don't feel comfortable that he has changed his tactics and I remember his words.

Make sure you don't get hunted.

It leaves an ominous feeling in my heart. Lucas doesn't give warnings unless he has planned or has something a scheme planned against me.

There was a time he told me to shower as soon as I woke up but I showered in the afternoon as I always did only to have slime running out of my bathroom tap. We were ten at that time.

Father had beaten the hell out of him that day but that didn't stop me from finding a snake coiled between my sheets that night. I had been lucky that I had decided to adjust the bed before laying in it.

Father hadn't believed he did it, insisting that the snake crawled through my open windows but I knew Lucas did it. It was that day I moved to a bedroom on the fourth floor.

I feel alarm skittering down my spine and turn, looking around for where the danger is lying in wait for me. I see a deer running before me and get distracted with the thought of winning, the danger forgotten and my mouth getting wet with the taste of victory.

I realize my mistake when I run into a trap, howling as my paw catch into the metal. I fall, having the common sense to quickly shift into human form before I touch the ground.

Just before I make contact with the rotten leaves, I see Lucas walking out from behind a tree in his human form, a wooden spear in his hand and his eyes shining with malice.

How foolish I was. I should have known Lucas was up to no good when he warned me to be careful of getting hunted.

"I'm sorry I'm not going to win this game, father." I mutter while fighting back tears, hating the thought of disappointing father more than being at Lucas' mercy.

"Hold on tight. This is going to hurt a bit." Daya, the healer of the pack, warns as she bends over me.

I suck in a breath as I lie wounded and bleeding on a mat in my bedroom, wishing that it won't hurt at all.

As much as we've allowed civilization, we don't have hospitals because we heal on our own as werewolves. When there are cases like I am where a wolf can't heal without help, we have healers who use herbs and potions to quicken the healing process.

"Grit your teeth together." She commands, tipping the content of a small brown glass on my wound.

I scream, as loud as I can, my face going red as I realize how embarrassing that it is.

"You lied to me." I hiss at her.

"I told you it would hurt." She smiles, enjoying my pain far too much.

She is a weird healer. Aren't they meant to be kind and compassionate? If I wasn't in dire need of her help, I would have told her to go have fun by herself.

"A bit. That wasn't any bit." I glare at her.

"Quit whining, son, and be a man." Father scoffs at me. "How did you get yourself in a trap with a spear lodged in your belly?"

Ask your bastard son. I want to snap at him.

Lucas had thrown the spear in my belly and it was only by luck that it missed my vital organs. I didn't have the energy to pull out the spear on my own and he knew that as he stalked towards me, maybe to cut off my head.

Fortunately, some wolves were nearby and had heard my scream. Lucas had run away before they got to me, my life saved at that moment. The men had freed me from the trap, pulled out the sword but I was unable to heal on my own because the trap and the spear had been coated with a mild dose of silver, weakening me.

It was indeed a miracle the spear didn't touch the vital organs in my belly.

I don't know much what happened after that as I slipped off into unconsciousness, driven crazy with pain. I woke up to seeing a crowd in my space, Daya hovering over me and getting high from my pain.

"He must have missed the trap in his haste to win."

I turn my head at the sound of that voice, shooting nasty glares at Lucas. I can't believe he is here, pretending to be concerned about me when he almost sent me to meet our forefathers.

I want to curse at him for his sly heart but at that moment, Daya pours another potion on my open wound, making me scream with pain and a mix of rage and embarrassment.

How can my enemy be here to watch me cry?