The four knelt on the cold stone floor, their arms tied behind their backs, knees aching, and hearts heavy with the dread of what awaited them. Kael blinked through the haze of his pounding head and looked up at the throne before him. The man seated upon it, the so-called Techie king, was nothing like the terrifying tales that had spread through the kingdom. He was bloated with power, his skin sagging and pale, bruised beneath his eyes and around his thin, cracked lips. A king feared across lands far and wide—yet was fear really such a glorious thing?
Beside him, his three packmates knelt, bound and gagged. Ash gave a muffled whimper, her breath catching in her throat as her shoulder struck the stone floor. But as she tried to push herself upright, the guards forced her and the others down once more, leaving them bowed in the king’s sight.
“Father, I bring you the mages,” announced the prince.
Father? So this spoiled man was royalty. Jax struggled against his restraints, his breath coming quick through the tight gag, his eyes darting from Kael to the guards as he searched for any chance of escape. But there were too many armed men, and the room was too tightly secured.
The king rose with a flourish, his robes flowing as he descended from his throne, and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.
“Well done,” he declared, his voice sickly sweet with pride. He stepped forward and gestured at Ash with a twisted smile. “Stand her up!” he commanded.
The guards hauled her up roughly by her arms, and Ash gritted her teeth, eyes blazing. The king approached her, examining her face with a cruel, mocking curiosity.
“So young,” he murmured, brushing a finger down her cheek. Then, close to her ear, he whispered, “Mages like you needed only to obey the rules, and you would have lived.”
He took a step back, giving her one final, disdainful glance. “But now you will die.”
A single thought cut through Ash’s mind, raw and seething.
"Kill him."
The voice raged in her mind and pulled at the beast sleeping within the corners of her thoughts.
"Live and come to me!"
The command surged through her like wildfire, spreading to her very bones. Power rose within her, a primal force breaking free. Her ropes snapped, her muscles shifted and swelled, and she tore through the gag with sharpened teeth. Her body contorted and grew, taking on her true form—a towering wolf, claws gleaming and ready for blood. She snarled, her eyes glowing in the dim light of the throne room.
The king stumbled back, horror twisting his features as she lunged. He barely had time to cry out before her fangs tore into him, ripping flesh and spilling hot blood across his gaudy robes. He dropped to the floor, dead, his face frozen in a mask of shock. Ash felt a surge of primal satisfaction as she looked down at him, his blood warming her fur, but that satisfaction faded into rage—a rage for all those he had condemned, for all the lives he had taken without remorse. For all the sins that had been committed against her people.
"Get off him!" Enero, shrieking with terror, rushed at her. With a snarl, ash seized the prince by the collar, lifting him easily into the air.
“No!” the prince choked, struggling in Ash's iron grip.
Ash looked into the prince’s wide, terrified eyes. This one smelled of fear and desperation, not of cruelty. She tossed the prince away, sending him crashing against the throne, and turned to the guards now rushing in from every door.
"Get them! Kill the beasts!" the prince bellowed, scrambling to his feet and pointing. “Any who kill them will be rewarded with titles and lands!”
The guards, seeing the bloodied corpses of their king and spurred on by greed, charged, drawing their swords. At Ashe' side, the others broke free, shifting into their wolf forms, fur bristling, claws sharp as razors. They threw themselves at the guards, scattering them with powerful swipes, their snarls echoing off the chamber walls.
Kael lunged at the closest guards, slashing with his claws and sending two to the ground, clutching at the deep wounds on their throats. He pushed past them, clearing a path as Ember dashed to his side, his golden eyes meeting Kael's for an instant. Together, they fought through the line of soldiers, tearing their way toward freedom.
They were surrounded. Swords slashed down upon them and guns fired. There was no where for them to move. Ash felt metal bite down into her shoulder and she howled, loosing hold of her wolf form as the power of the silver pulsed through her. She fell to the floor, clutching at the bleeding wound.
In the fray, Jax, his red-streaked fur dark with blood, shifted into his full wolf form, dropping to all fours and bounded over to Ash. She leapt onto his back, clinging to his fur as he bolted for the door. Kael and Ember followed, covering their retreat as they tore through the hallways.
Tearing blindly through the palace in search of a way out led Jax to a second story window. Good enough. He jumped at it. Ash saw the charge and flattened herself against his back, clinging to his fur as tightly as she could. Jax went through, breaking the glass and easily catching himself on the ground. The drop down did nothing to slow his pace. A quick glance over his shoulder reassured him that Kale and Ember were right behind him and had also fared well in the fall.
The pack tore through the courtyard, paws pounding on the cold stone, their ears twitching to every alarm and the grind of gears as the palace’s defenses sprang to life. Listama's machinery was waking to trap them, and the automated turrets above swiveled into position with a high-pitched whine, their red lenses tracking the fleeing wolves.
“Those turrets will cut us down before we’re halfway to the wall if we don’t split up,” Kael growled, glancing around for cover.
Ember nodded, his golden eyes darting between the turrets and the guard towers. “Jax, take Ash. Go south and keep low—draw them away from the main gate. Kael and I will pull the guards toward the east side and circle back. Meet at the edge of the city.”
