Territory (2 page)

Kya dropped to her knees as the moon crested the skyline. Nearby she heard wolves howling as they completed the shift.

On the ground on all fours, Kya panted and gasped, clutching her stomach as she fought her body’s natural urge to shift. Only once before had she successfully fought the change, and it was how she’d succeeded in finally breaking away from the pack that had once kept her. She would never refer to them as
her
pack or ever pretend that they considered her a part of it. She was a lowly Omega in Theron’s pack and they’d treated her much worse. She’d been beaten and brutalized for four years. The punishments she’d endured would never be forgotten and the scars on her body wouldn’t allow her to forget even if her mind would grant her such peace.

After the first year with Theron’s pack, Kya began trying to fight the shift each month on the night of the full moon. She’d heard that it could be done, but had never met anyone that had actually done it or in fact even seen it done. After four years of miserable agony and trying to fight the shift, Kya was finally successful.

Theron’s arrogance kept his pack close to the city. On nights of the full moon, his pack went to the woods nearest their town, where they’d shift then terrorize the nearby farms, livestock, men, women, and even children. Theron was a cutthroat, who never ceased to disgust Kya with his wicked schemes.

On her last night with the pack, all seven members shifted quickly except for Kya. She fought the change knowing it would be to her advantage. During the full moon was the one time each month that shifters were unable to willingly shift form. Any other night a shifter could shift at will from human to wolf and back, but under a full moon, each wolf had no choice but to shift and once the shift to wolf form was made, there was no shifting back until the moon disappeared and the sun rose.

On that night, Theron and his pack members shifted, but Kya did not. She struggled through the shift, screaming at the agony caused by fighting her body’s natural instincts. So close to town, a local farmer and his three sons thought she was being attacked. When they found her in the woods writhing in pain, surrounded by wolves, they assumed she’d been attacked by the wolves and opened fire on the pack.

Seven wolves to three shotguns didn’t stand a chance, and when the smoke cleared three members of the pack had perished.

The farmer and his sons carried Kya back to their farm. It took every ounce of her strength to convince the father to send his sons to fetch the local doctor. She pleaded with the farmer to send all three sons so that they might protect each other. With the sons gone, Kya easily outwitted the farmer and stole his truck. She never looked back.

Now writhing in pain on the forest floor, Kya hoped she had the strength to fight the change again. With any luck nearby hunters, farmers, joggers, somebody would hear her screams and come to her rescue again. She was too new to the area and knew Dell wouldn’t want to risk the lives of any of his pack for a stranger. He’d have to let her go.

Kya let out a blood-curdling scream as she rolled onto her back clutching her belly tightly. She heard a crash through the nearby trees and looked up from the ground to see a large gray wolf with blazing honey colored eyes. She knew it was Briggs.

Kya stared up at him, gritting her teeth as several wolves broke through the trees to join him. Two wolves joined Briggs, one a similar sized gray wolf and the other a much smaller brown wolf.
Dell and Chloe
.

More and more wolves entered the clearing until Kya was surrounded by nearly twenty wolves. They all stared down at her with the same look. Slack jawed and wide-eyed, each wolf stared in shock and disbelief at what was being witnessed.

Kya rolled to her side away from Briggs, sweat beading on her forehead and slicking down her back. She sat up only long enough to pull her sweater from over her head before she flopped back to the ground. Her back still to the wolves she heard a deep growl as she used her shirt to wipe the sweat from her face. Her back and arms were covered in whip and bite marks, while yellowish spots dotted her arms, chest, and ribs where old bruises were just now beginning to heal. All the T.V. shows she’d watched and stories she’d read as a child weren’t true. Wolves didn’t heal faster than the average person. When she had her bones broken—which happened often in Theron’s pack—it took just as long to heal as it took any normal woman.

With pine needles and leaves making her soft brown hair a tangly mess, Kya gulped deep breathes of air as she rolled onto her back. Her feet dug into the earth and pushed her to the end of the chain until finally she looked over at Briggs with a tear rolling down her cheek. She extended her hand out towards him without lifting it off the ground. She pleaded with her eyes, unable to speak as she curled her fingers in, and turned her head to the side exposing her satiny throat.

She was inviting Briggs to kill her, and he knew it. Kya heard a deep rumble and looked back to see Briggs move his head from side to side as if saying “no”. Briggs turned then and snorted towards Dell, then the twenty or so wolves that surrounded them disappeared into the forest, leaving Kya convulsing in pain on the forest floor with only Briggs left standing nearby watching.

Moments passed like hours as Kya fought the agony of her true nature. Sharp spikes of pain seared her internally while externally she was feverish even in the chill of the cold Montana night. Her body writhed and convulsed while her nails clawed at the earth. Fighting the change was excruciating, more painful than even the worst physical torture she’d suffered at the hands of Theron and his pack.

After several hours of suffering, when Kya was finally able to speak after gaining some semblance of control, she took a deep breath and screamed, “HEEELP!”

Briggs stopped his pacing and pricked his ears toward her then turned his head to sniff the air. She had no doubt that he knew what she was doing. She also had no doubt that if she didn’t pull this off, he would kill her once he shifted back to his human form, if he didn’t kill her now just to shut her up. She didn’t care. The pain was so intense that she prayed he’d kill her now.

“HEEELP!” She screamed repeatedly until her voice grew hoarse and she was weak with exhaustion. She knew she couldn’t let the exhaustion claim her. If she fell asleep or blacked out for even a second, her natural instincts would kick in and she’d shift instantly.

Kya whimpered as she clutched her chest fighting to keep her eyes open. Nearer to dawn, Briggs disappeared from the forest where he stood vigil most of the night. Rolling to her side, Kya reached shakily into her back pocket and retrieved a small pocketknife she kept tucked away. She quickly scanned the area before she used her arms to pull herself to the nearest tree. Resting her back against the tree, she pulled her shackled ankle closer and rolled up her pant leg.

Oh God! Oh God!
Pressing the knife to her ankle just above the shackle, Kya took several deep breathes. She shook her head and closed her eyes at the fresh wave of tears that streamed down her face. Leaning her head back against the tree, she fought to gain the courage she needed.

I can’t do this. Fuck! I can’t do this!
She leaned back into the tree and screamed up at the quickly fading stars. She swiped at her tears absentmindedly with the back of one hand as she looked down at the knife she held in the other. Quickly, she scanned the area a second time. Seeing that Briggs still had not returned, Kya inhaled a shaky breath. She lifted the knife until its cool sharp blade rested on her wrist. It was the ultimate sacrifice, and one she needed to decide if she were willing to make in order to avoid being the lowly Omega for another pack that clearly wasn’t above shackling her and forcing her to do things she didn’t wish to do.

She took another deep breath, still fighting the change as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the tree, her body trembling. She bit her lower lip as she pushed the blade into her flesh and simultaneously pulled the blade towards her.

She felt a slight sting before her elbow was jostled and a brush of something flashed against her bra-clad torso before the knife was ripped from her hand. Opening her eyes, she looked up to find Briggs standing in the rut he’d worn in the earth from his constant pacing. Her knife clenched between his teeth.

Kya dropped her eyes to her wrist to see blood droplets dotting a slight incision, nothing that would give her the release she sought. There was no hope for any escape now. Kya buried her head in her hands, rubbing at her weary eyes before she let her body slump over. She lay on her side, her body trembling from exhaustion as she stared vacantly up at Briggs.

The wolf dropped Kya’s knife far from her reach before he slowly approached. He put his snout close to the ground and lifted up his long tongue allowing a shiny silver object to fall to the ground with a light clink.

Kya’s weary eyes looked down at the object to discover it was the key to her shackles. Rolling to her stomach, Kya pulled her arms underneath her and pushed with all her might, as one shaky hand snaked out and grabbed the key. She rolled to her side then leaned back into a tree with a hollow thud. Pulling her ankle to her, she fumbled with the key as she felt dawn approach.

Come on! Faster!
As the lock clicked open, Kya struggled to her feet. She took two steps before she fell to the ground. After having fought the change for the entire night, her slight frame simply didn’t have anything left.

“No!” she moaned on her knees, slumping forward until her body was once again sprawled on the forest floor. Too weak to move, Kya lay motionless, waiting for dawn.

The instant the sun peeked over the horizon Kya knew it. A weight and pressure she’d been struggling against all night was finally lifted, leaving her weary body finally able to relax. She knew the second she felt the weight lifted from her that Briggs would shift, and he did.

She was pulled up roughly from the forest floor. Too weak to fight back or even defend herself; she hung limply in Brigg’s strong hands.

“You will NEVER do that again!” He bit through clenched teeth, his angry scowl mere inches from her face.

As Kya’s head rolled back her eyes drifted up. She watched a burnt orange maple leaf gently zigzag towards her from the canopy of trees and pines overhead before the forest and sky above her blurred, and as the leaf fell, so did her eyelids. Exhaustion claimed her as Briggs hoisted her up into his arms, a deep growl of pain escaping him as he stalked off with her through the forest.

For the second time in as many days, Kya awoke with no idea where in the world she was. Her heart instantly began a steady hammering in her chest as memories came flooding back.

She knew she had been caught in the territory of the well-known North American Alpha. While other smaller packs existed in Minnesota, Maine, and New York, no pack was as large or possessed as much territory as Dell and his large North American pack. She’d heard of him, but had no desire ever to meet him. She’d hoped to be in the area only long enough to visit Josephine then escape unnoticed, but Josephine’s betrayal left Kya at the mercy of Dell and his pack.

Kya’s body screamed in retaliation as she rose to a sitting position. Stiff and sore beyond belief, she made to rub the back of her neck only to find the effort caused too much pain in her arms. Looking down she saw that her wrist was bandaged and so was her ankle where the shackle had bit into her flesh during the previous night’s struggle.

Glancing at the window, she saw that it was dark. Day had come and gone and she’d slept through it.

Easing herself from the bed noiselessly, she walked to the window not bothering to tiptoe. She knew from personal experience that any wolf in the house worth his salt would have heard the instant she shifted her weight off the bed.

She scanned the small room. The walls were painted a warm brown and paintings of dark forest scenes hung from each wall. The room was simply decorated with a small bed, one window covered by a half open oak venetian blind. A lowlying dresser sat against the furthest wall. A cedar hope chest sat at the foot of the bed, and a bureau with a vanity centered on top was nestled against the wall closest to her. As Kya passed by the vanity, she stopped to stare at her reflection. Her eyebrows rose as she took in her disheveled hair, torn sweater, dirt and tear streaked face, and filthy jeans.
Jesus!

Ignoring her horrendous appearance, she limped to the window and peeked out.
Long drop.
She tried the latch, but the window wouldn’t budge. Just as she was about the throw her shoulder into it, she heard a faint knock at the door. Her belly dropped.

“It’s just me…Chloe”. Without waiting for a response, the door slowly opened and Chloe entered carrying a tray of food while clothes hung over one of her arms. She smiled warmly at Kya, “How are you feeling? You must have been exhausted. You’ve been out for a full day.”

Kya stood motionless at the window, eyeing Chloe warily.

“You must be starving. I don’t know what you like so I brought you what I’d want if I just woke from a full day coma.” Chloe slid the tray onto the low lying dresser and pointed down at it, “You’ve got steak and mashed potatoes with veggies, a slice of hot apple pie and hot tea. Oh!” She interjected reaching her hand into the pocket of her pullover, “Here’s a soda just in case you wanted something cold to drink.” Chloe set the soda on the dresser next to the tray and turned her attention to Kya. “I…um, brought you some clothes too. I think we’re about the same size.” Chloe laid the clothes on the bed then crossed over to a closed door on the opposite side of the room, pulling it open. “This is your bathroom, you can shower in here.” Chloe snuck a glance at Kya who had yet to move or speak from her position at the window, “Just so ya know, this lock does work.” Chloe clicked the bathroom lock out then clicked it back in again. “Also, the lock on your bedroom door works. In case you wanted to get more rest but didn’t feel too comfortable letting your guard down without some sense of security.” Chloe shrugged her slender shoulders and smiled over at Kya.