Gene cursed, a slur of wicked, dark things slipping past his lips as the she-wolf stalked closer.

Her steps were calculated, large paws hesitantly pressing down, sharp claws digging into the soil. Adeline's ears were pressed forward in interest... in an excitement so wild, that she was nothing more than a full-blooded wolf.

She resembled the way a wolf stalks its prey-- her head lowered below her shoulders, her ears standing erect, her stunning eyes darkened by the lust of blood.

Of determination.

Gene's own wolf responded, its panic slamming into his ribcage with each beat of his heart, urging him to run... to run so fast and far, that there was nothing but forest on all sides, encasing him in safety and comfort.

In the depth of the forest, he'd be safe. It'd conceal him, allowing his wolf to have complete control without the fear of harming a human looming over his head.

He'd be safe...

Coward.

Running was a coward's move.

Grey fur rippled along his arms and down his chest, taking over his skin in a sea of silver and black. He knew that his eyes were glowing a fierce hazel as Adeline stalked closer, her lips pulling back to reveal glistening teeth that were as sharp as razors.

Her tongue swept across her jowls, swiping over her nose and whiskers with the ease of a cat.

Gene's claws shot forward, replacing his human nails just as fast as she had changed from the innocent, kind girl that the pack had prided themselves with.

The innocence that had once been Adeline, was no more-- replaced forever by the wickedness that ran through her blood, commanding her to maim and harm and kill.

Gene remembered when she had been so young... so... girlish!

She had been giggly and artistic, choosing to spend her days painting and drawing and doing other artistic crafts that females often did. But she had also been social... very social; she'd had many friends, both male and female, and had enjoyed sleepovers and pup gatherings. By the time she had turned thirteen, she had begun to develop into a woman, and, around that time, her male friends began to notice, too. Even when Dillon and his top wolves snapped and growled at the weedy, male pups, she didn't let that stop her from associating herself with them.

Often times, she would sneak out when her protective father and warriors weren't looking, and slip out of the mansion-- heading straight into the forest where her other friends no doubt were.

But, once she had attacked her first victim, those many friends had all disappeared-- some finding their mates, others transferring to other packs for a variety of reasons, and one even setting out on his own, looking for perhaps another loner male, or even his mate to hopefully start a pack of his own.

And now, a wolf that'd had so many friends and allies, was no more. She was practically a loner, the only ones to accept her being her parents and that male.

A crippled male that was dragging himself through the grass, inching towards the female that had been fated to him.

The female that was about as dangerous as the owners of the territory they were in, but, as she stalked him with a feral snarl, the witches were nothing compared to her.

Yes, they had magic and numbers, but they didn't possess the wildness and monstrosity that was now Adeline.

They also had the sense of self-preservation, whilst the Beast was unstoppable... the only thing that would stop her was silver or death. She would, if not stopped, maim and kill until the world was nothing but ashes around her, smoke billowing up from cracks in the earth's crust, and acid rain pouring down from the heavens.

And, even then, she'd still rage.

His wolf wanted to escape, to tuck tail and bolt for the protection of the forest, but he refused to let it escape.

He had been a coward all his life, but he refused to be one now.

And it terrified him.

Adeline stalked him, her head hanging low, the powerful rise and fall of her shoulder blades taunting him, telling a story of ancient, feral instinct that hid in each and every one of them-- controlling some more than others.

Not taking his eyes off of the she-wolf before him, Gene bent his knees, rocking back on the balls of his feet.

'Run! Hide! Go!' His wildness urged, its sharp, needle-like claws gouging lines deep into his courage, his will.

'Hide. Run. Disappear. Go.' It chanted, but, for the first time in his long, long life, Gene ignored it.

He was a doctor... a male that was nearly three centuries old, and a healer for almost as long. He had patched up bullet wounds, healed severe lacerations, mended shattered bones. He had pieced back together a pup that had been torn apart by a bear; he had helped a mated pair conceive a litter; he had performed an emergency cesarean section on a female two-days into labor, saving the lives of not only the female, but her two male pups.

He'd soon stab himself in the chest, then allow Adeline to die-- the heir of his pack.

The screams of the dying witch rang out, sending the birds that had been gathered in the trees, into the air in a flurry of wings and feathers.

With as much noise as Belladonna was making, it was a miracle that the rest of her coven hadn't arrived yet. They were witches-- the most powerful in North America, probably even the world-- so why weren't they fighting with her? Had she told them to stay? To allow her to go alone without any assistance?

What type of leader was that?

They needed to get out of here, sooner than later.

A smug grin spread across his face, appearing just as quickly as his razor-sharp canines, the light catching the glistening ivory white.

Her tongue swept out again, tracing over her jowls as if to taunt him, to send him running in the opposite direction... away from the others.

The trees sighed, their leaves rustling in the wind that was now weaving through them.

"Sweetie," he cooed, taking a step back, then another. "If you are trying to scare me, it is not working. You have to try a little harder than just smacking your lips and walking funny; it is pathetic really."

Making sure to steer away from the cabin coming up behind him, he backpedaled slowly into the clearing, leaving the cover of the forest and vans behind.

The crippled male that had been dragging himself through the field-- his legs laying useless behind him-- let out a violent curse, his dark eyes going wide as the sunlight slammed into Adeline, setting the grey of her fur burning.

She was fire and ice; earth and water; wind and darkness.

She was everything that he feared, but yet, as he brought her closer to the mob of snarling and bloodied wolves, he didn't feel an ounce of fear.

If he distracted her long enough...

In their frenzy, they others had forgotten about her location, and the requirements to break the curse. Yes, they were killing the witch-- ripping her apart limb from limb, bringing forth screams of pain-- but in their bloodlust, they had dragged the witch away from Adeline, breaching that line that, should they kill the witch, they'd never be able to cross back over...

And, just like that, their daughter would be dead; everything that they and others had done to save her, swirling down the drain.

Wasted.

It'd all be wasted.

Gene refused to watch Adeline die; refused to return to the pack with a pair of childless parents, and a mateless male.

He had seen what losing a child did to parents; that was one mess that he hated working on... and repairing.

But, it was a whole other story when a male lost his mate.

Gene would deal with grief-stricken parents any day if that meant that he didn't have to fix the mess that followed the wrath of a Lupis male.

Many times, he had to put down the male with a shot into the spine, a mixture of deadly toxins flowing into the male's body-- eventually stopping the heart dead.

Adeline cocked her head, the blue orbs speaking a great deal of how she wanted their meeting to end.

About how she wanted to rip his throat out and taste his blood on her tongue.

But, she wasn't attacking him...

Why?

"Get a change of heart?" Gene chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

Her eyes left his body, her reedy body following them. The sun's rays reflected off her steel grey coat, melting the whites and blacks together into a mass of silver.

It nearly blinded him just as his heart stuttered in his chest, the feelings of pure dread sinking down into his stomach.

Where had Finnian gone?

He was immobile... defenseless.

And Gene had practically lead Adeline right to him!

"KILL HER!" Gene roared as the witch's whimpers surrounded him, pulses of dying magic leaking from her bloodied pores and into the ground, coating the grass in a fine layer of sooty blackness.

She was a volcano, the last of her essence, of her being, making one last ditch effort to save her.

To preserve what had been so easy... too easy for the wolves to capture between their teeth.

If they didn't finish Belladonna now, both Finnian and himself were going to be dead, the corpse of death looming over them with blazing blue eyes.

She was a blue-eyed beast, an uncontrollable force of nature and Hell; spawned by Noorali himself.

How had the Moon allowed her to be born, when she knew the fate that would find poor Adeline? Was there some other greater cause that called for the girl?

He doubted it. How could someone so damaged, so deadly, be of any use, other than show that Brujas and Wolves could never be allies?

The grey she-wolf veered sharply, her ears laying flat against her head as she jumped, her teeth bared in a promise of a violent, violent death...

Gene lunged, his arms flung out wide to, hopefully, wrap around Adeline's torso.

His hands met coarse fur, but she was as fast as she was thin, her body slipping easily from his grasp.

She was wind and water, weaving past his grabs as easily if she had been in water.

She was the northern wind, twisting and lunging through the heavens-- her body a mere blur in motion, set into a dance as dangerous as that of a tornados', tearing through anything in her path, and ripping through anything that refused to submit.

And, just like an avenging angel surrounded by a multitude of colors, she struck with claws of iron and canines of steel.

Another terrible shriek of pain sounded, but, this time, from a different creature.

And it wasn't male...

????

Alexandra had discovered a weakness in the ancient witch.

Belladonna was extremely powerful-- she controlled nearly all of the elements: water, fire, earth, air, and void-- but her most powerful was a black fire that Alexandra could only call shadow fire. The shadow fire was a living demon of dark flame, and, as the wolves took turn ripping into the witch, it licked along her flesh, wisps of darkness curling over wounds leaking blood as dark as night. But, apparently, the shadow fire didn't have a mind of its own; it relied on the witch for directing and power. Without the Bruja to direct it, the shadow fire was trapped within her body, unable to get out in large enough bursts to do any harm.

So, as long as Belladonna was unable to think clearly, she was defenseless.

"Let go of me!" The witch shrieked, the balls of flames that were now her eyes, roared in response to the shout.

The grass around them crunched beneath her paws, strings of smoke rising up as she moved over them. Her head was lowered and ears pressed forward, the fur on her back rippling from the emotions running through her.

She nearly grinned at the fool.

Circling the bloody mess that was now Belladonna, Alexandra watched as Dillon slammed into the witch, his jaws closing around an arm coated in the red liquid.

Belladonna grunted in pain, her eyes erupting as she was shoved onto her back, another wolf lunging toward one of her feet with bared teeth.

She was losing a lot of blood now.

It wouldn't be long until her pathetic deity descended to earth to retrieve her poor excuse of a soul.

Belladonna was extremely lucky that her creator wasn't even remotely related to the wolves', because, if the witches' creator had been related to the Moon, Alexandra wouldn't hesitate to visit her often once she herself, was called to rest.

The wolf on Belladonna's foot thrashed his large head, the witch's blood dripping from his jaws.

Crunch!

Belladonna let out a yelp of pain, her ivory white face paling even further as Dillon retreated, leaving her right arm a mess of exposed bone and shredded flesh.

The witch panted through her teeth, her once full red lips gone from sight, probably laying somewhere in the grass exposed to the vultures beginning to circle above.

Alexandra knew that they needed to leave, especially since vultures had begun to sense the upcoming death. It wouldn't be long until Belladonna's coven arrived, all fifty of them baring down on Alexandra's group of six.

But she couldn't reign her wolf back in.

It didn't want to be reign in.

It wanted to take its time with Belladonna, it wanted to draw out every scream and groan of pain for as long as possible.

And Alexandra couldn't help but agree with it.

After everything that she had done to Adeline, the witch deserved a long, drawn-out death. She deserved to have her limbs ripped from her body; she deserved to have her skin peeled from her flesh; she deserved so much, but, sadly, they were on a time crunch.

The wolf on the witch's foot released his hold, and seconds later, another male replaced him.

Alexandra was done watching her prey suffer... it was, once again, her turn.

Blood flowed, sloshing into the grass as the she-wolf tore into her prey. Blood and mud clung to Alexandra's fur as she struck, digging her canines deep into the Bruja's body-- taking chunks of meat with her as she retreated, looking for other places that hadn't been shredded by her teeth and claws.

Nails cracked and bloodied bit into her neck as she gouged the witch's chest and abdomen with her jaws, taking mouthfuls of once perfect skin, and spitting it out.

Belladonna's face was now ashen, the place where her nose, lips, and ears had once been releasing a steady supply of blood to the earth below.

Alexandra retreated, saliva and blood pooling from her jaws and flowing onto the crisp grass.

More wolves lunged onto the witch, attacking the places that had received the least amount of damage, and clawing the places that had the worst of it.

Circling with three other wolves, Alexandra was oblivious of what was happening outside of that little, bloody circle.

All she saw, all she smelled, tasted, or heard, was the witch. She smelled the witch's pain and terror; tasted the witch's blood on her tongue; heard the witch's screams and groans and grunts; saw Belladonna's bloody body.

And she loved it.

Every now and then, as she circled the woman, Alexandra would lunge forward and nip at her thigh or calf, giving her a little more discomfort to add onto the wolves biting into her upper body.

Belladonna's reactions were beginning to slow now, especially as her body drained all of its blood into the fried and black earth under them.

It wouldn't be long now...

"KILL HER!" Gene, the doctor that they had brought along with them, roared out, his hazel eyes staring wildly at the group of wolves surrounding the matron.

Alexandra whipped around, her jowls still holding their raised position, but the sight of what met her eyes, nearly dropped them.

Adeline, her little girl, was awake...

But, instead of the actual Adeline, a different form of her was in control.

The Beast.

????

Finnian couldn't feel his legs.

He couldn't feel his legs.

He couldn't feel his legs.

But, still, he moved, dragging himself through the grass that was frying underneath him, the soil nearly boiling with heat.

But, still, he moved.

He had to get to Adeline.

He had to.

He needed to be there for her, once the curse was broken.

He wanted to be there.

With her parents gone, focusing on tearing the witch apart without him, Adeline was left alone with that male doctor.

A doctor that obviously couldn't bear to be even close to her.

What if she woke up? How would she feel then?

She had been unconscious the entire trip, her brain locked in a cage of ice, chains of darkness wrapped around it so tightly, that he was afraid that she'd never escape.

But, if she should awaken, would she be afraid?

Most definitely; but who wouldn't be afraid?

He had to be there for her. Even if she didn't like him, it'd settle the wolf in him to see that she was okay...

There were no excuses, especially now since he was pretty confident in the fact that she was his mate. After all, he had smelled her mating scent-- the lovely, fragile scent of lavender-- and had accepted that being away from her, was next to impossible.

The grass gave away easily at the slightest pull of his fingers, but still, he moved.

Gritted his teeth as pain racked through his chest, no doubt emitting from a few broken ribs, he pushed down the shout of pain that begged to break free.

He had to be strong, not only for her, but himself too.

He couldn't feel his legs.

Whatever the witch had welded to get him down, had worked wonderfully. Perhaps, it had worked too well...

'What if I never get the feeling back in my legs?' He wondered, but, with a shake of his head, he pushed that horrible thought away.

Being paralyzed was a whole lot better than losing his life...

Digging his fingers into the soil, he heaved himself forward, his jaw clenched from the strain of pulling his massive body.

But still, he moved.

Inch by excruciating inch, he pulled himself from his very fingertips, his legs and waist dragging lifelessly behind him.

The curse that Belladonna had cast onto him, was indeed working like a charm.

The paralysis, the horrible feeling of nothing at all, was spreading; eating up his legs, his waist, and, in not very long at all, his torso.

In that very moment, Finnian decided that death was better than this horrible demon.

But still, he moved.

He still moved.

And he still moved as Gene appeared, walking backward as if he were encouraging a frightened animal.

Even though Finnian couldn't see her because of the large cabin in the way, he knew that she had awakened.

And she was anything but a frightened animal-- of that he was certain.

He smiled a dark, wicked thing that lifted his bloodied lips, causing his dark eyes to melt into a fierce gold. "It's about time that you showed up, Addy."

"I agree." A female voice purred from behind him.