I internally damned myself as we howled in pain, my leg still in between human and wolf. We were forced to complete the transformation with our leg in his mouth.
His wolf laughed, and we felt the vibrations against our torn leg as he pulled us back.
My claws grasped for purchase. This body was new and unfamiliar. I knew how to fight in my human body; that was how I was trained.
We have Alpha instincts - Aksala said through a whimper of pain - I know what to do.
Okay - I responded, but even in my own mind, I sounded far away.
I settled into the instincts, back into that place where only the fight mattered. Where pain didn’t exist, where nothing did besides the dance that made my blood sing.
With our other back leg, we kicked his eye, clawing at it so he whimpered slightly, loosening his grip.
We wiggled out of his grasp, clenching through the pain, and kicked his face with the good leg again. It wasn’t a hard blow, but it did make him step back, giving us a few more precious seconds to turn and right ourselves. We tried to put weight on the mangled leg, but a sharp pain shot up from even placing it on the ground.
That was a major setback, but one I knew I could get past.
This was our moment.
Raymond’s wolf circled around us now, and there wasn’t much we could do in the way of moving. So we watched and waited. His flaws fighting in human form must carry over somehow. He was too arrogant and always gave himself away.
I watched for any signs, any patterns of that in his wolf form.
He pushed his front paw into the ground deep, waiting only for a second before he jumped at us, but that second was all we needed.
We rolled away, so he skittered past us, trying to right himself.
We turned and lunged at his back leg, sinking our teeth deep. The thick taste of blood coated our mouth; but still, we dug deeper.
He tried to kick us away, spinning and snarling, but we limped behind him. Biting deeper.
He turned the other way, and we let go as he snapped at us, his teeth closing down on nothing but air.
He was still standing, but at least we leveled our odds more.
He circled again, and again, he paused, putting a paw toward us before he jumped.
We pushed out of the way again, but this time, he managed to claw us mid-air. We stood breathing through the pain and lunged at his other back leg.
He knew what we were doing this time, and he could shake us off more easily, but still, there was a deep wound left when we pulled back.
A growl ripped out of him and shook the floor beneath us. He was commanding us to step down, but I was a true Alpha. I would not bow to the likes of him.
I stood as tall as I could on my three legs and barred my teeth.
He snapped his back, and we jumped, aiming towards a front leg. We barely missed but managed to grab his tail instead, biting down it before he could turn to shake us off.
His tail hung limp and broken. He gave into it and roared, lunging at us.
His anger pulsated between us, meeting mine, it crackled in the air as he closed the space between us.
We managed to move a bit, but he still came down on top of us.
I couldn’t contain the howl of shooting pain when his weight hit my mangled leg. My vision went spotty and started to blur around the edges; I had never felt physical pain like this.
I focused on my anger, letting more of it out so it could quell some of the pain. It ate away at the sharp pain with its fiery one.
He pulled back to attempt to bite us, and that was his mistake. We were able to wiggle away, twisting from under him. He didn’t have us in as vulnerable a position as he thought he did.
I stood as well as I could, and that felt like an effort.
I focused on my ancestors, on my legacy. I let myself think of my mother's smiling face, the feeling of my dad’s warm hugs.
It brought tears, but there was a warmth that came with it. They were my reason.
He growled, and I sunk back into myself. He went for us again, but he was too close; he didn’t have power behind his attack, which was one of his advantages.
We let him come for us and let him knock us down, shifting so we were on our back, and he was right where we wanted him.
I thought of the friends and family I had before, of what they meant to me, what they still did as my teeth clamped around the soft, sagging, flesh of his neck.
I focused on the power of my line, the ancestors who came before, the long line of love I was created from.
We sunk down hard through his tendon but pulled back when we barely nicked the artery.
He slumped the sound out of him was some pathetic sort of lament of pain.
Well done - I told Aksala.
She preened - You as well.
I got it from here.
I shifted back, my hair spilled down my back unbound.
I stood over his wolf, ignoring the shooting pain from my leg, which faded with each heartbeat of adrenaline.
He was pawing the ground, whining.
“Shift back,” I commanded him.
My aura rippled from me and choked him.
His hollow eyes flickered with spite, and I felt his aura expand, pushing against mine, but I was more powerful, and he was forced to obey.
I took a deep, satisfying breath through my nose as I scowled down at his mangled body,
The deep gashes and cuts apparent now. His hand came to his neck, and blood spurted through it, but nothing could save him now.
“You have been condemned by your choices,” I told him, my voice echoing on the wind. It felt hard and right, and it rang in front of this old packhouse that was my prison.
But no longer.
I had set myself free.
He was taking wheezing breaths, and I knelt by him, knowing he had mere seconds left.
“I am your Alpha now,” I told him, and as his power faded, I felt it seep into me.
He looked horrified, and that was the look that would be plastered onto his face until it turned to dust like his name.