DONOVAN

 

A throbbing pain in my head woke me from my involuntary slumber. I knew I was awake. I’d never had a nightmare where I felt this much pain.

I had trouble opening my eyes. The rest of me was sore and bruised.

The light on me came from a small fire that burned just a meter away from me.

I looked down and saw that I was naked, my clothes ripped from the last time I’d shifted.  My injuries were more than apparent. Fresh cuts from the claw of a wolf would have made a weaker man wince. Most of the blood seemed to have dried up. But I couldn’t stay where I was forever. It would only be a matter of time until the deeper cuts drained me completely.

I tried to move but I couldn’t. I was on my knees with my wrists tied behind me. I was bound to a stake that was dug into the ground. The thick binding ropes would have been too much for even someone like Goro to break free from.

My head started to clear. The memories of what just happened returned to me. Now I remembered why my thoughts were so foggy in the first place.

He struck me. The silver wolf grabbed me by the throat and hit me harder than anybody ever had before.

I observed my surroundings. The fire next to me cast my shadow on the cavernous walls. There wasn’t much else to see. I couldn’t even tell if it were still nighttime outside because there was nothing but darkness and stone walls surrounding me.

I wasn’t alone. That much was obvious. Even though I was bound, beaten and unable to move, they wouldn’t leave me here without supervision.

“Hey! Somebody! Who’s out there?”

My voice echoed through the cavern. A few moments later, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching me. A man appeared from out of the darkness and stepped toward me.

His body was lean but muscular, his short hair as white as the stars in the sky. He didn’t wear anything. His entire body on full display.

As he got closer to me, I got a better look at him and saw the scars on his body. Vicious reminders of old wounds he’d collected over the course of his life.

There were men and women in the city who came from violent packs. You could tell that just by looking at them. The looks in their eyes told you they’d been through a lot.

The man standing in front of me had been through all of that and more. I’d only heard what life deep in the Blood Woods, so far into the Timberlands, was like. Now I was seeing an example of it for myself.

“Let me go,” he said.

“Why do you even bother?” he responded.

“It was worth a shot,” I sighed.

“Don’t get smart with me. You’re in no position to make any demands. You’re fortunate Mordecai hasn’t decided to kill you already.”

“Mordecai? The Alpha of your pack—”

“There are many Alphas in this pack. That’s what makes us who we are. That’s what makes us so powerful. That’s what makes us Primals.”

“Who are you?”

He squatted down in front of me. He looked into my eyes, his pupils a striking yellow. When he smiled, he showed the sharp fangs his lips hid. Even though he was a man, he appeared to be just as feral as if he’d shifted.

“My name is Rukai,” he said. “Learn it well. Because when the time comes, I will be the one to kill you.”

“Mordecai,” I said, ignoring his threat. “Where’s Mordecai?”

“Why? Do you wish to bargain for your life?”

“Not my life. Lucas’s. We can come to an agreement.”

“Unless that agreement involves returning the Omega to his rightful pack, you will not come to one. But…”

Rukai put an index finger to my cheek. His nail was like a claw as he trailed it along my skin. He moved his hand down and cupped my chin, forcing me to stare right into his yellow pupils.

“Jaguar,” he whispered. “You are a fool to come here. I’m curious to see what exactly you have to offer.”

Rukai stood up straight. I clenched my jaw and readied myself for anything that might happen. The sound of more footsteps approaching filled my ears. I saw another figure emerging from the darkness.

A man, his lean body scarred the same as Rukai’s. His skin was fair and completely exposed. His silver hair was long and reached all the way to his waste. His face was aged with wrinkles, some hair along his jawline. His eyes just as feral as I remembered them from the memory that came back to me.

Mordecai.

He walked toward me as Rukai greeted him.

“He’s awake,” Rukai said.

“Yes, I can see that.”

Mordecai stood before me. A sinister smirk on his lips, he crossed his arms as he observed me.

“Go,” he said to Rukai. “Leave me.”

“What shall I do?”

“Find the others and search for the Omega. His scent is strong. It should not take you too long.”

Rukai bowed his head and eyeballed me as he disappeared into the darkness.

Mordecai began pacing back and forth in front of me. His arms behind his back, he appeared to have the patience of a Beta. But I knew that wasn’t the case. His heart was more savage than anybody in Dirge.

“You’ve mated with him,” he said.

“I’ve been with him,” I replied without hesitation.

“Of course. It’s not even the fact that I can smell him on you. No, I can see the look in your eyes. It’s that look that tells me you believe the Omega is something more than what he really is.”

“I didn’t come to fight,” I said. “I came here to bargain for Lucas’s life.”

“Bargain? Do I look like the kind of man who’s willing to bargain?”

“No, you don’t,” I said, trying not to laugh. “But you must.”

“Really?”

He stopped pacing. He looked down his nose at me.

“And please tell me, what is your name?”

“Donovan.”

“Please tell me, Donovan, what could possibly compel me to let our Omega go?”

“Lucas is a lone wolf. He is content in Dirge. There is nothing left for him here. That is the life he’s chosen.”

Mordecai’s lips twisted as he grinned at me. His teeth showing, I was half-expecting him to take a swipe at me.

“You’re mistaken,” he said. “The Omega cannot choose his life. Life chose him. Just as it chooses all of us. You did not choose to be born a jaguar. You did not choose to be born an Alpha. You can only follow the path that has been laid out for you.”

“That’s not true,” I said as I shook my head. “I am a jaguar. I am an Alpha. I am proud of my heritage. But what I do with my life is my own. I control my destiny. Just as Lucas controls his. He has no wish to stay with your pack. That is his choice—”

“It’s not his choice!” Mordecai snarled.

His voice echoed off the walls and rang in my head.

“He is a Primal,” he said. “For generations, our packs have dominated the Blood Woods. We follow the laws our ancestors have laid out for us. It is our traditions. He was born to breed for our pack. Nothing more. For him to leave and live in this city, this… Dirge… It is an abomination. I will not stand for it. My forefathers would not stand for it.”

Mordecai spoke so adamantly. He had the same vigor when he spoke as he did when I fought him.

I would have been convinced if I did not feel so strongly about what I believed in.

“It is a tradition,” I said.

“Yes. Tradition.”

“Traditions were meant to be broken.”

Mordecai turned his back to me. His body began to tremble. His shoulders shrugged. His laugh was soft at first. But then it grew. It grew so loud that it would have struck fear into the hearts of anybody who heard it.

“Of course you would say that,” he said as he slowly turned back to me. “Jaguars… You left your ways behind so you could live like weak men. Clothes on your back. Roofs over your head. Cooked food in your belly. You are not a jaguar. You do not deserve to call yourself an Alpha.”

“I am an Alpha!” I growled at him. “And if you doubt me, remove my shackles and I will prove it to you.”

I lunged forward but my binds kept me on my knees. Mordecai smirked at me, his hands still behind his back.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “That was too long ago. You follow the laws of ordinary men now. Despite what beats in your heart, you left nature for structures more suitable for ordinary Betas.”

“I control my instincts. I’m aware of my impulses. Just because I am conscious of my desires doesn’t mean I am any less of an Alpha than you. I pity you…”

I’d given up at this point. If Mordecai were going to kill me, there was nothing I could do to stop him. I was going to be completely honest with him.

“…Savages,” I said. “That’s what you all are. Giving into your lustful desires. Becoming violent whenever you feel like it. Unable to control yourselves simply because an Omega is in heat. Pathetic—”

“Enough!” he shouted.

He took a knee down in front of me. I clenched my jaw as I stared back at him.

His eyes narrowed. Mordecai’s yellow pupils seemed to darken with the fire casting shadows upon them.

“Instincts,” he said. “You say I’m unable to control my own instincts, yet look at how you’re speaking to me. I could kill you with the flick of my wrist.”

“Then why don’t you? Just kill me. Or are you so pathetic that you toy with the ones you capture?”

“Tempting,” he sighed. “But no. I need you alive. The Omega will come to save you. I need your scent so he’ll find you.”

“How can you be so sure he’s coming?”

“Because he’s a Primal. His heart beats the same as mine. He shares my blood. He would never let someone he’s been with die. He will, as you put it, lose himself to his instincts. That is who he is.”

Mordecai put a hand on my chin. He held my head firmly in place as he stared at me.

“You will die when I tell you to die,” he said. “Not a moment later. Not a moment sooner. You defiled one of my Omegas. I cannot allow that transgression to pass.”

He released me from his grip and stood up straight. He observed me for a moment, his head tilted slightly, before turning around to walk away.

“Hey!” I shouted.

He stopped in his tracks.

“What will you do if he doesn’t come back?” I said. “What if he leaves me here?”

Mordecai slowly turned on his heel and stared back at me.

“Then we will come for him,” he said. “I will rally every Primal pack. And we will bring him back into our fold. Even if that means destroying your precious Dirge in the process.”

Mordecai walked away and disappeared into the darkness.

As soon as he was gone, I slumped where I sat.

I didn’t know if Lucas was coming here to save me. I could only hope that Goro had taken him back to Dirge.

Whatever happened, I knew that it was only a matter of time until I met my end.