An:// again more violence featuring animal abuse and other violence is featured below. Please skip it you are unable to handle animal violence// authoer

The past

I watched the men lower my poor puppy into her grave in a tiny handmade casket my mom put together. We burned lavender incense outside to bring healing vibes to his spirit.

It had started with the little pup playing fetch inside with a bunch of toys we made her. The little puppy accidentally shredded some papers in the other room which made my dad angry. He stormed in the room picking up the pup in his hands to go outside.

I found the pup outside later that evening in the middle of the road. It looked like a car had run her over but I didn't dare ask my father how it happened. It was that night I realized my father was capable of horrible monstrosities. I waited until after we buried the pup to ask my mom something that bothered me.

"Mom, what happens when a werewolf dies in the pack. How do we mourn the werewolf who lived an honest life", I had asked my mom one evening before dinner. We were having my dad's favorite meal of steak and potatoes tonight. Mom had her hands on the garlic to lather it on as a special marinade. It was his choice of dinner most nights the pack members came over. My mom's hand stilled over the steak as a ghostly expression came over her eyes.

"Gabby, let's hope you never find out", she said with a haunted expression in those sad eyes. "But if you must know it truly depends on the importance of that wolf. If an alpha dies the pack will die in spirit. If it is a pack member with no title we hold a ceremony but move forward. It is the order of things. One day we all die", mom said honestly.

Now

She was right about every word she spoke to me that night. A pack was nothing without a strong alpha leading them. If I made it out of this alive, I would rebuild the pack that my parents had destroyed. If I learned how to control my strength then the strong alpha blood running through my veins would serve its' purpose.

If I could get away from the blade stabbing into my back then I could test out that strength. I was limited with my options because I had only shifted once but I also was altered by their little experiment. pressed the blade into my back with his shaky hands. I knew the voice of that little wimp from a mile away. he didn't scare me but someone else more powerful then my parents was waiting for me.

"You don't have to threaten me. I'm coming along willingly", I scoffed bitterly. For four years I had spoken to him everyday, mostly about the weather or my homework, but he had been listening. He had always offered me candy but I had not accepted his request. Mr. Peter, with his beady black eyes that could never meet my gaze, nicked my back so that a tiny piece of my skin was torn.

"Shut up", Mr. Peter's said nervously. "Shut up of I will kill you", Mr. Peter's said in his usual shaky tone. There was no way in hell small fry was going to get the drop on me at any point. He was a fly on the wall in comparison to the others involved.

"Now, Now, tsk. Tsk Micah or shall we say Mr. Peter's. We don't play with our prey", said a woman from in front of me. I had trusted this woman with so many secrets over the past four years. She knew every detail of my past and my present. After my parents died, when I was at my weakest, she had helped me out of that darkness. It turned out all her motives for helping me were done to slowly poison my memories. Mr. Peters threw me on the floor as I stood weakly before this woman with hatred in my gaze.

"You bitch. What have you done to Aunt Tabby", I asked Ann bitterly. It was only a short while ago that Aunt Tabby had gone to check herself into rehab to get help. Aunt Tabby did not know about Samuel, my parent's, Ann or Mr. Peter's. She was my godmother who had lied to protect me on that first night.

"Why she's right here", Ann said as she pulled Aunt Tabby forward. Aunt Tabby was covered in bruises and blood from head to toe. She looked like she had been crying but now she hung her head down low. "Look at how weak she truly is now", she said with a smile on her face.

"Rowen, I never meant to hurt you", Aunt Tabby said. "They did something to me. I promised your mom I would protect you,'' she said with her eyes facing the floor. Oh God, the awful things we had both done to each other.

"Playtime is over", Ann said as she grabbed Aunt Tabby harshly. She wrapped her hand around Aunt Tabby's neck so tight that I could hear her gasping. "It's time to unleash the beast. Die", Ann said as she crushed her trachea. I watched Aunt Tabby crumple to the floor as the light drained from her eyes.

That day in the hospital I remembered Aunt Tabby speaking to someone. "Her parents are dead, what else could you possibly want from her?" She had said. I remembered her saying that I didn't need to know my past. It was the deep voice of Mr. Smith telling Aunt Tabby that he would be back for me one day.

Everyone had been trying to protect me from different things but I had been blind. Mr. Smith wanted to keep me with the pack to protect me from my fate, my friends wanted to fight by my side and Aunt Tabby had wanted to shield me from my former life as an alpha's daughter. The truth was I couldn't be saved by the people I loved because of these scars.

I accepted my fate as I allowed the burning scars to swallow me whole. The scars on my flesh ripped open as I shifted for the second time. As I felt myself standing on the paws of my wolf I looked out at the blood red moon to howl. I was the beast all along that killed her parents in cold blood. The beast I was so afraid of had been living inside of me this whole time. I was spiraling out of control as the beast living within me fought for dominance.

"If we die tonight, we die together" Ann said as she stepped over Aunt Tabby's remains. She lit a match tossing it behind her casually. The flames burst forth like a spell as it weaved its way around us in a circle. "Nos mitte et bestia", she said loudly into the flames. It was the work of evil magic that she used to draw the beast out. "Nos mitte et bestia", she repeated once more. It was the last thing I heard before it clawed its way through my flesh. The beast within me had risen again.