Em heard a wolf’s howl and was instantly awake. She looked around in the small room she had been locked in. Maybe it had been a dream? She had no idea what time it was or how long she had been here already. She hadn’t even realized that she had fallen asleep. After banging the door and yelling for help without results, she had given up and lied down on her bed. She had dozed off and dreamed of wolves who really looked like Carter and Remy.
Rattling at the door made Em to sit up and flatten her hair a bit. The door opened and more light got in the room. Em blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to see who was at the door. At least it wasn’t Tanner or Blake that much she could tell right away.
“Remy and Carter have crossed our borders. They are here soon,” the person said. It was Erik.
“Are you serious?” Em jumped up. She felt a nervous twist in her stomach. Remy would be here soon. But what then?
“Wha…” Em started but Erik replied before she even could finish her words
“Tanner sent me to get you. He wants that you are there when Remy arrives.”
“Let’s go then,” Em said, walking closer. Erik raised his hands that were holding a piece of rope.
“Are you serious?”
“Tanner’s orders,” Erik said apologetically and started to tie Em’s hands. She didn’t resist because in the end what would it benefit her? She’d probably end up tied up anyway.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“I have nothing against you or Remy. I just want to be loyal to my alpha who takes care of us.,” Erik replied quietly and finished the last knot. Em felt like the ropes were quite loose but she wasn’t going to mention it.
“Do you really? Would a good alpha do something like this?” Em asked as they started walking down the hallway. “And if you go along with this, what does it make you?”
Erik didn’t reply. He did question Tanners behaviour. This definitely was a personal grudge instead of something to protect the pack. Remy had never been a threat. He had left peacefully and hadn’t caused problems. And now Tanner forced him back by using his mate as an object of blackmail. It was wrong. Everyone knew how low it was to threaten someone’s mate. He had tried to ask about it, but Tanner didn’t want to listen. He was clearly upset that Erik had lost Carter’s track, but he just couldn’t have followed him. Erik had tried to get into Carter’s thoughts to see where he was going but that sneaky wolf had sang the worst and catchiest songs in his head, forcing Erik to listen to them too. He had had to get out of the shared channel even before Carter jumped in the river. The whole walk back Erik had hummed a medley of the songs. It was a worse punishment than getting yelled at by Tanner; Never gonna give you up jingle bells because we are the champions.
They stopped in front of the study. Erik knocked on the door and quickly they were invited in. Tanner was sitting in his chair. Em tried to look as contemptuous as possible but it didn’t seem to have any effect.
“Your rat prince should be here soon,” Tanner said getting up from the chair. “How about we go outside to welcome him. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you again.”
“Just let me go. There is no reason to do this,” Em said.
“Oh, but there is,” Tanner said. “I hate that rat. I want to see him suffer.”
“This can’t be just about Liv,” Em said in disbelief. Defending your girlfriend was one thing but this was ridiculous and way too much.
“Perhaps I just want to crush him. He’s the son of the old alpha. He could rally these people behind him and overthrow me. And I quite like being the alpha,” Tanner said smiling.
“Remy doesn’t even want to be a leader!”
“Oh, he may say that now, but power is a curious thing. It changes people once they get a taste of it.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
Tanner grunted and started heading to the door. “We better go so we won’t be late.”
Erik took Em with him and they followed Tanner outside where Blake was already standing in guard.
“This is all ridiculous,” Em though to herself. She really hoped that Remy was alright. If only she could do something, but she felt very helpless.
Remy and Carter had barely crossed the border to the pack’s territory when they heard howls from a distance. Both slowed down, looking around warily but no one else was nearby. The grey wolf stopped for a moment and sat down breathing heavily. He was exhausted from the transformation and all this running. The red wolf stood next to him, head slightly tilted in worry and ears twitching and ready to pick up sounds of any approaching wolf. After a few minutes of resting, Remy stood up sighing deeply and started walking towards the manor. He felt extremely anxious. He had no idea what would be waiting them at the manor. He could just hope that Em was okay. If Tanner had hurt her, he’d pay.
They stopped at the edge of the forest but remained in the shade of trees. They were able to see that there were few people outside, probably waiting for them. The grey wolf growled, and his neck hair stood up as he noticed that Em was standing between Tanner and Blake. Erik was standing behind her. Em seemed to be okay but it was hard to tell from this distance.
Remy forced himself to change back into human form. It was a slightly smoother shift than turning into wolf, but it still hurt more than Remy would’ve liked. He leaned heavily to a nearby tree so that he could stand up. His legs were shaking and there were sweat drops on his forehead. Carter returned quickly to his human form as well, brows in worrisome furrow as he watched Remy dress up in the trousers.
“Are you alright?” he asked while getting dressed as well.
“No. But not much I can do about it right now,” Remy replied. His breathing was heavy and as he straightened up, he had to take a few very deep breaths before he could even consider walking anywhere. Carter had a bad feeling about all this. He doubted things would go peacefully between Tanner and Remy, but Remy was in no condition to fight, unlike Tanner who was in great physical shape. Remy on the other hand looked like he hadn’t eaten in a week which probably wasn’t too far from the truth.
“I’ll be right here, as your support,” Carter said. Remy smiled a bit and then they walked out of the woods. Almost immediately they were noticed by Tanner’s crew, but no one moved. Em’s position straightened and she stared at Remy’s direction. Remy looked different. He wasn’t doing well, Em could notice that from afar. Her heart ached and she tried to go meet him but was of course stopped by Tanner.
“Let’s just wait your boyfriend here, shall we,” he said smiling and Em wanted to kick him.
Soon the boys were close enough for Tanner to speak to them without having to raise his voice.
“Remy. How nice to see you,” he said.
“Can’t really say the same,” Remy replied drily. He didn’t even try to seem friendly. There was no need for that since they both knew it’d just be theatre anyway. “I’m here like I assume you wanted. So, could you let Em go now?”
“Hmm, let me think… No.”
“What?” Em shouted.
“I never said I’d let you go, did I? You just assumed that yourself.” Tanner said smiling.
“You’re disgusting,” Em hissed. Remy was at loss of words. His chest felt tight and anger tickled in his limbs.
“You let her go right now or…” he started.
“Or what?” Tanner laughed. “You’re gonna beat me up? Actually, you know what? That’s gonna be the only way you get her back, Ratatouille. You beat me in a fight, and you get your girl back. If not, she stays here.”
“Deal.”
“Remy, no. You can’t,” Em said. Remy didn’t look like he was feeling good. He had lost weight and seemed weak. If he challenged Tanner, he’d get hurt and Em didn’t want that.
“I have to,” Remy said. “I won’t let him hurt you anymore. I…I want to take care of you.”
“Aww, how sweet. This makes me feel sick,” Tanner said. “Are we gonna fight or what?”
During their exchange basically the entire pack had come outside or gathered to look out of the windows. They were whispering to each other, pointing at Remy and wrinkling their brows while talking about Tanner who seemed very excited about this chance to fight. He took off his shirt and stretched his muscles while he and Remy moved to a more open space.
Carter didn’t know what to do. Remy would get beat up for sure. Normally he wouldn’t have doubted his friend, but he wasn’t in a fighting condition now. He had almost been knocked off his feet by one transformation and now he was going to do it again.
“We will fight until one of us gives up. Is that fine with you?” Tanner asked. He was confident in his victory, but Remy wasn’t about to give up. He wanted to protect Em. He had to do it. She was in this mess because of him and he couldn’t bear to see her get hurt. Remy wanted to prove that he was worthy of her kindness and affection.
“Yeah, it’s fine.” Remy said and took deep breaths. He searched for his wolf who now responded more easily than last time. It probably sensed all Remy’s emotions. And it didn’t like Tanner either. This whole place made the wolf anxious. And Em was in trouble. The wolf wanted to protect his mate.
“Let’s go then. Good luck, Ratatouille,” Tanner said and drop to his knees. Before he even properly hit the ground, he had transformed into his wolf form.
To Em’s great relief Tanner wasn’t much bigger than Remy was as a wolf. He looked stronger though. Dark brown coat covered muscular shoulders and legs. He had big paws and sturdy-looking body. He was a very healthy-looking wolf.
Remy on the other hand wasn’t as successful with his transformation. The first attempt failed miserably, and he was now breathing heavily on the ground. The crowd whispered if he even was in a condition to fight. What had happened to him? Next to Em Blake let out a laugh.
“What a good hero you have,” he said to Em. “He can’t even transform properly.”
“Shut up,” Em hissed. Her heart wrenched as she watched Remy struggle. Tanner was patiently waiting for his opponent to get ready although it looked like the wolf had an amused smile on his face. But at least it didn’t attack when Remy was still defenseless.
After three attempts and lot of agonizing pain and gruesomeness, Remy was finally in his wolf form. Some people from the audience had left because they simply couldn’t watch the painfully slow transformation process. Em felt like she was about to cry. Remy was in so much pain for her sake. She didn’t know what to do. She had to help. Remy looked miserable. His wolf has changed so much too. The difference between him and Tanner was so big Em couldn’t see how Remy could win this even though she wanted to believe in him. A fierce determination burned in Remy’s eyes and it gave Em hope. Carter had said that Remy was a good fighter. She hoped that he hadn’t lied.
Comments (1)
See all