The Devil Inside (Wolf Guard Book 1) (19 page)

Chapter 36.

Hadn't I had clues? Of course I had, and
yet still I'd been so blind.

Tiny pieces of the puzzle wrapped in
glittering deception, dark patches on white flooring, footsteps in the sand.

Such an easy map to follow, such an
intricate web to spin.

Half truths and full lies, some so
obvious it seemed idiotic I'd missed that perfect trail.

And what's left now? After disclosure
and after realisation.

This will always be the result,

When first we choose to deceive.

We'd started our journey so easily, I'd
thought we'd have more problems leaving the guards ground, oh, how wrong I'd
been. When Lane had led me in the opposite direction to the swelling volume
from the front gate, I'd thought we were retrieving the cars to drive our way
through the crowd. I turned confused eyes onto him as we passed several trucks.

His smile was pure smugness, "You
think we've lived so long...and only have one exit?"

I snorted back at him, I suppose not. We
entered the second enclosure behind the training room, the one I'd yet been
able to venture through. From the passing glance I managed, it was very similar
to the main camp, minus the farmhouse, and featuring several larger buildings
that could only be barracks for those guards not yet in Carver's personal team.
I caught sight of man changing to wolf, that awe inspiring transition when skin
stretches and burns and backs bend and break, only to reinstate as beasts
breach the surface. From division we are made whole.

Over a hundred men were stationed, waiting.
Many already in wolf form, those that weren't nodded to Lane as we passed
before returning to instruct the gathering around them. It was an obvious
preparation for war and I had a moment of doubt, a small insistent voice that
pestered at me to return. A voice that I would only ignore.

Lane led me to the wall surrounding the
encampment, old and gnarled trees running the walls length, withered in
Autumn's unforgiving season but large enough to cover the break in the cream
stone. A smaller solid iron door stood in our way and Lane reached up to press
his palm to the side wall, a click of the lock disengaging followed his action.
He smirked at me when I rolled my eyes, he obviously thought it was incredibly
impressive.

"At least I know I just need to remove
your hand in future to get out of here."

He laughed at me and wiggled his eyebrows,
before shifting in front of me and losing his trousers. I groaned at him and
sighed, when these males shifted to wolf the rush of adrenalin momentarily
caused their cock to uncover from the usual sheath it was enclosed in.

"I don't know why you bothered, it's
not all that much to look at."

Lane's eyes flashed and he growled his
affronted displeasure at me before turning his back so I ended up facing his
ass instead, barely covered by his light and sparse fur. I think I preferred
the probably now hidden frontal view.

I huffed as I started to remove my clothes,
it was either naked or lose them and I found myself rather attached these new
belongings. I suppose after spending so long without, I'd grown materialistic
over what I considered mine. I threw the clothes over Lane's shoulder and
carefully slid my knife into his clawed hand. I whispered to his back and was
ever grateful when he didn't turn around at my words.

"Don't you lose that."

His large hand clasped the knife tightly
and I smiled at his back before calling my animal forth. She emerged with a
beautiful burn. A spark ignited and devoured the human, blistering and feverish
in her enthusiasm. I shared her space and felt nothing but true delight when I
looked through that gold glinted vision. It was freedom. Freedom from the
almost suffocating presence of Carver. Weighed down by that males unspoken
pressure, choking in light of expectations, we were free and we were glorious.

Lane's giant form turned to the shivering,
energetic, coal coloured wolf beside him. He grinned a macabre smile, all teeth
and twisted features and gestured with his hulking head to lead the way. She
took point on our mission, the leader in her favourite game of track the Devil.
She was slower than normal, her pace shortened by the wolf behind her and his
lacking speed. Yet still the trees and shrubs flew past her in blinding slashes
as those flawless muscles constricted and released in an age old movement of
impeccable strain.

I sat in my throne, that gilded one of
false title, an illusion of Crown and rank made possible by the animal's
capacity and the Captains gifts. Anticipation flooded my veins as I allowed
myself to think once again of the end, that this time I would finish and it
would be immortal, to be forever entombed in histories of conquest. But first,
first,
it would be enjoyable and I will luxuriate in the blood that spills.

By the time that Street came into view I
had rolled around in thoughts of massacre for far too long, the animal lent me
her barbaric nature and I turned it rabid in my demented logic. I shifted
quickly out of sight of Lane's decreasing mass, he threw my clothes at the arm
I waved from behind a tree and I ventured out retrieve my knife.

His grin was sly and greedy in its
sickness, "I could help...you know?"

My scowl was his answer and he nodded
reluctantly."I'll be staying here. From what Carver said...that man would
only enjoy...my presence. With what's inside me...he'd only be harder to
kill."

I left him staring after me, a slow burning
contradiction clear on his face, the drugged need to slay this empath and the
understanding that not only did I not need his help, but also that his boiling
emotions would just make it harder for me.

I climbed that wall in human skin, my
muscles improved on the waste they had been. I opened my ears to sounds from
every direction, a casual check before I leaped. A smile spread across my face
and I found heaven in my sinful intentions.

My feet moved all by themselves, a robotic
step that led me straight to the kitchen to retrieve the keys I'd left and
onwards to that door. The steel barrier that creaked as I unlocked it and moved
it from my forward path. The sight before me turned my smile to extreme, a
stretching of skin obscene in its picture.

He sat as I'd left him. Tethered to that
chair. Sweat poured down his pale face, turning his skin gruesome in its
slicked grime. The stench of urine turned my stomach and yet, I still found
amusement in his weakened bladder. He looked up as I stared from the doorway, a
crazed grin that almost matched mine gracing his vile features.

"Been waiting for you pumpkin,"
he rasped from a dry throat. "You left me."

I laughed at this man. Maniacal and high
strung. Such a waste of human life and yet he would bring me such bliss, how
odd that all those years he'd hoped to humiliate me with pleasure and all he'd
had to do was die for me to feel so. I stepped forward to stand before him,
blood stained the floor beneath his chair, satisfaction rose at the sight. I
brought my knife into view and the flash of the blade caught his eye.

"Don't tease me pet...finish what you
started."

I cocked my head to the side, he was already
healing as he fed from me. His voice stronger, his face returning it's colour.
I glanced down at his feet and scowled to myself.
I can't believe I forgot
those fucking shoes.
I bent slightly and tugged on his laces, slipping off
the black, patent leather and crushing them in my grip. He raised a confused
brow my way and I shrugged.

"I
really
hate these
shoes."

He grinned widely, shark teeth on full
view. "They're all yours then."

I raised an eyebrow,"I wasn't
asking."

His face was starting to annoy me, he was
nowhere near as scared as I'd like. I flipped the knife around in my hand and
stabbed him through the thigh. High enough to hit flesh but low enough to miss
an artery, I wasn't done playing. His cry was muffled as he bit through his lip
in an attempt to hide the sound. All he accomplished was yet more blood pouring
down his chin. I checked his bonds were still in place and left the knife in
his leg, I'd prefer him not to heal from this wound. I took the shoes to the
corner of the cell and sat on the cold cement floor, my wolf lent me her
sharpened claws and I started shredding that leather, slowly and calmly.

"While I destroy these shoes, how
about you tell me the truth? You seemed so eager to last time."

He chuckled in the darkening room, the sun
had set and light was sparing but I had no trouble seeing in this gloomy
prison. "Are you sure? You might wish different soon."

I nodded at him,"Oh yes...I'm all
ears."

He panted out over the pain in his leg,
every slight twitch would only pull on that cutting blade."You think you
being with me was an accident? It was very much planned..."

A thump began in my heart, loud and
distracting. That organ only telling me what I already knew; that truths would
damage my fragile new life.

"What does a twelve year old girl
know?"

I frowned and a heated flush started low
and deep. One that grew and festered in time to my pounding heart.

"Nothing. That's what. Certainly not
who her mate is when she meets his eye on one fate filled afternoon."

A breath left my throat in strangled
sounds, choking, smothering in its realisation.

"A wolf of three hundred years old
would surely be able to recognise that bond. Don't you agree pet?"

I nodded, yes of course he would.

"His mistake was informing the wrong
people, allowing those animals to find you.....being so superior in his power
that not once, did he question his followers and their loyalties."

My throat burned. Fire flashed and raged,
ashes left their burnt taste on my tongue. His enjoyment only grew.

"He was at your mother's funeral you
know? Checking on his mate, ensuring her welfare." He laughed, so loudly I
winced from the sudden sound. "He left safe in the knowledge that you were
in my care, almost poetic no?"

I forced words passed the lump my throat
had become, those shoes a mess of leather forgotten on my lap. "Who was
it? Who did this?"

He shook his head slightly, panting louder
as the movement caught on his wound and looked to the window high in the cell
wall. "Oh no pumpkin, it's not time yet...the war has only just
begun."

Chapter 37.

It
burned like fire.

A
volcano churning and quaking. That lava rising and flaming, incandescent on its
smouldering boulevard. White Hot and sizzling, torching it's violent way. The
animal was damnable in his demon storm and it was magnificent.

I'm going to kill them all.

They'd
risen up against me.

Against me?

How.
Dare. They.

It
was laughable that they'd even considered it. Especially today, as I stewed in
my own anger and grief. They would be perfect though, much more satisfying then
destroying furniture.

Blood
would spray for hours and I would bathe in my enemies sin.

They
stood beyond the gate, clamouring and calling for access. I had a moment of
struggle within, my hand lifted of its own accord straying towards the keypad
that would grant those old fools and their followers entry. The creature begged
to have them in his claws, stretched and pushed inside me until my body Jerked
and twitched from the force. He was angry,
so
angry that his eyes bled
from vessels popped and his heartbeat pounded and strained in bitterness.

He
knew that some of the wolves on the other side of the wall were to blame, and
he was going to torture Every. Single. One.

He'd
taken his vengeance with me already. A quick shift of the claws and a stab to
the chest, as near to the heart as possible. It hurt both the animal and the
man and yet he was willing to take the pain. I agreed with the beast; I'd hurt
our mate and he was within his rights to punish me. I don't think this was something
I could put right though, there would be no pardon for me. All I had left now
was killing. I'd slaughter this pack and the damn governors until rivers of
blood ran thick beyond the wall and bodies piled high in graves of depravity.
She would be safe, if it's the last thing I do.

How
wrong I'd been.

She'd
been twelve. A child. I'd thought I was doing the right thing. I left her as I
should of, with her father. When he'd died I returned to find her wallowing in
grief with her mother. I could of taken her then, brought her with me to safety
inside the walls, but again, she'd been a child, and still I'd smelt that
scent; the cherries that so eclipsed all else and called a sirens song to the
wolf.

I'd
left, pulling the animal along with me, struggling with his need, ripping at my
control.

Her
mothers funeral was despairing, Seeing my female with such sorrow. But that had
seemed so normal; that she would be sad, I'd had no reason to believe that the
man that stood so proudly beside her would be the reason for her dejection. How
blind to others greed and sickness I'd been, how taken in by repulsive lies and
malignant trickery.

And
now? The only person who knew the truth...the only one aware of who had
betrayed me so fully...was currently standing on the other side of the gate
surrounded by the very same false governors.

I'd
given my father the task of assigning her a watcher. A wolf to check in and
report and ensure her safety once a month.

I
hadn't wanted to know her location, hadn't wanted to make it so easy for my
wolf to take over and run to the mate that was still so young.

What
a fool I'd been.

I
would have left her there for a few years yet, wanting to give her time to grow
and flourish and have the years I hadn't experienced, the ones I'd given up for
power and leadership.

And
what had I done instead? I'd given that
dead man
more time with her,
more time to destroy the proud women I'd seen, even in the young girl she'd been.

Only
my father knew which guard he'd sent, which wolf had bitten his master's hand.

A
guard currently marked by death, a reaper calling his card and paying his
pennies to the boatman. Who'd soon be swinging his merry way from the post in
the courtyard, ripped apart and flayed. My wolf was enraged and it was
disastrous.

The
guards cleared a path around me as they moved, every one noticeably anxious
around the animal so close to erupting within. He paced and pawed, growling and
snarling at those who ventured to look my way, flashing obsidian eyes at men
I'd known for centuries, not a single one was trusted in this moment.

"Captain!"

I
turned to the wolf calling for my attention. More beast then anything showed
clearly in the features mutating my face, the wolf shifting under the skin,
contorting my cheekbones and jaw until I was some horrific amalgamation of
both. His demands of control caused my expression to change by the second and
my voice gravitated between gravelled human and growling animal.

Charlie
stood before me, a foot away and just out of reach of my ferocious claws. I
gave him credit for recognising the turmoil and understanding that not even his
gifts of serenity would placate the simmering violence.

"The
guard is ready, waiting on your instruction."

I
grunted at my friend, a wolf that had proven himself over and over again. The
beast though, no longer recognised friends or allies and so I leashed that
animal, as much as was possible.

"I'm
going to let them in." My voice was a mess of wolf and man.

Charlie
peered curiously at me, "Why?"

I
laughed loudly and crazed. The sound drew awkward glances from stationed men;
their Captain had finally lost his mind. "I'm going to kill them all
Charlie, not a single one will live to see tomorrow."

He
nodded at me, his eyes narrowed and analysing."Okay then, I'm with you
brother. Duncan will shield Sam."

He
bowed his head to my wolf. I sighed in gratification, he always did know what
the beast needed from him. A gesture of respect to his commander that soothed the
savage, primal need to commit homicide and basic instinct to protect the woman
that had already been so violated.

I
took the deepest breath. Scented the air that suffocated me with its
accusations and reprimand. I was at fault for my part and I would suffer a
thousand deaths for my ignorance. But
only
by her hand, not by these
wolves that clawed at my gate and promised the Devil his souls if only he'd
grant them power in this life.

It
was a shame Lane wasn't here, he would surely enjoy the massacre approaching,
revel in the chaos of war. No doubt he'd have stood beside me now, encouraging
my wrath and taunting the pack at the gate.
Like I needed any encouragement.

"Tell
the team to assemble in groups of four, partner as two's watch each others
back. I will not be commanding today. I am not in control Charlie." He
quirked an eyebrow as if to say it was rather obvious. "Divide the pack,
send half over the wall to drop behind and the rest from both sides. You will
personally ensure my father gets out of this alive."

Charlie
acknowledged his task. I had faith in this man, he would die to ensure he
succeeded. He bowed his head again and turned to leave.

"And
Charlie?"

He
looked over his shoulder and tilted his head in question.

"No
one lives. Kill them all."

He
smiled slightly, the man was nowhere near as vicious as Lane yet he had his own
circumstances and injustices, ones that made him into a wolf very nearly on par
with my own.

He
left with his instructions and I turned to the gate. Matthew was standing front
and centre, a grim smile gracing his pale face. I took the first step towards
him and the ground shook with my anger, representing the riot that pleaded it's
need to escape. I looked down and saw my legs in full shift, I laughed at the
sight, a true half man half wolf figure stomping it's way to the gathered
crowd. Their voices died at my approach, probably finally understanding what
they'd released in me, finally aware of what their actions have brought them.

I
met that brunette with iron bars between us, his face wavering in its
confidence. I was not surprised. Did he really think this was enough? That he'd
brought enough wolves? This was pitiful.

I
struggled to speak but forced the words I needed past the rage stuck in my
throat, "Was it you? Did you do this to my mate?"

He
recovered his bravery slowly, a painstaking thing to watch. How amusing, that
they truly believed these were the wolves that should rule. Wolves that shook
and shuddered beneath my glare.

"I
did not. That was someone else's perfect plan."

My
wolf growled, affronted that this governor should talk as if Arya had lived
someone's greatness, and not the true terror she'd known.

"Who
then?"

He
smirked at me, the reprobate. He'd soon learn he'd only shortened his life
span.

"It
was discussed between us and we all agreed. Your father's appointment simply
delayed our hand." He scowled at my wolf as the beast flickered over my
face, demanding release and insisting his blood rage be satisfied. "You've
challenged us for long enough, it was time to remove you from your
position."

I
laughed at the pathetic wolf in front of me, pandering to his
audience."And to remove me you traumatised a young girl? YOU. ARE. NOT. A.
MAN!" I roared in his face, swiping at the iron bars that kept him out and
protected his head.

I
gave him a small amount of credit for not completely losing his composure.

"We
had an opportunity and we took it, today will bring a new era for all wolves.
Your time has ended."

I
laughed again. I could not help my amusement, he had no idea of the wolves in
this encampment, no idea of what he was dealing with. But I was about to show
him.

The
governors had been judged and found wanting. None would be safe from my
retribution, they took the one thing sacred to all wolves and destroyed the
sanctity of the bond. Rather than the ravaged Captain they'd hoped to find they
instead created a monster, one that cares not for guilt or innocence. Only that
they stood in opposition and they would die in dishonour and disgrace, their
mutilated corpses hung in shame for the world to see.

I
took a step backward and stared at the stony silence that preceded chaos. I
smiled at the faces I met, faces that would be rotten as the ground welcomed
their essence and the evening pulled to night. A night of glorious horror and
dazzling terror. The hill my camp sat atop would bleed life for decades to
come.

I
snapped my head to the sky and roared as my wolf burst through the surface.
Eager to slaughter, eager to bleed. He'd show his mate how worthy he was by
killing all those that had harmed her. He would be absolved, even if the human
wasn’t.

Charlie's
voice rose above the answering roars as guards shifted to wolf and panicked
cries resounded from the pack beyond the wall. A terrifying grin stretched
across the beasts face, glory in victory, honour in reprisal.

My
second was ferocious in his roar, still human while he commanded his last words
before his shift.

"OPEN
THE GATE...."