Barely Breathing

Chapter 9: Sleep now princess

Xyrus let out a humorless chuckle. "Willow's not my sister, she is my chosen."

Here he is again, claiming me as his. Nah' what's new?

"No. She is my chosen!" Alpha Ken intercepted. He looks angrier than before.

"The girl is mine." Alpha Troy said maliciously whose glaring at Xyrus.

"I believe you're all wrong. I got her." Alpha Lance's mood had turned now from jolly to a scary glaring alpha matching the other three. There was so much tension lingering in the air.

Who do these men think they are! I am not a thing to be claimed! I growled and glared at each one of them, making sure they've got the message.

"You are all wrong! I am not anyone's chosen! I don't need any of you so might as well leave me alone here and find someone else!"

"Who cares what you think? You don't have a say on this honey." That made me snapped. I lunged at Alpha Troy, shifting into my wolf form.

Violet's a pretty wolf. She has soft purple fur and moss green eyes, just like my human eyes. She was an average female wolf but when it comes to speed, it can rival male wolves.

I aimed at his neck but he dodged my attack, shifting to his brown wolf. I then tried to bite his legs and he just moved them out of my reach so I clawed his arms instead. I managed to scratch him but not deep enough to cause blood.

He lunged at me at full speed and thanks to Violet's quick reflexes I was able to step aside at the last second. I saw his outstretched arms on my peripheral vision and instantly darted a distance away.

Phew! That's was close. I landed not so gracefully and clawed on the ground to stop myself from falling. He attacked me once again by kicking me on my back. I gasped at the pain but quickly recovered and jumped at him.

I bit his ear harshly, causing blood when I’m finished. I growled boastfully to annoy him more. That did it as he once again lunged at me, however this time, he wasn't controlling his self. I saw his eyes looked at my exposed shoulder and directed his hit on it. I quickly did a body swerve to avoiding it.

A pain in my stomach erupted as I wasn't prepared for his backup move. I bit his exposed shoulder as well and released it after I was satisfied, I injured him. We both stumbled on the forest ground and drips of our blood tainted the grass.

We circled each other, carefully watching each other’s move. I heard a painful howl near us followed by another agonizing wail but I shook my mind and tried my best to focus solely on my opponent, Alpha Troy.

Finally, he leaped at me and I did the same. Everything happened in slow motion, just a few inches away I swerved so I was sideward and I bit hard on his neck and clawed off at his body making sure the damage is inflicted.

As I planned, he didn't anticipate what I just did. His wolf form stumbled onto the ground with a loud thud and rolled a few times more.

Clap. clap. clap.

"You did fight well princess."

Breathing heavily, I looked at the man and gaped at him. Xyrus stood in his human form unharmed while alpha Lance and alpha Ken were laying on the ground. Alpha Lance already shifted into his human form so I quickly averted my eyes. They looked dead to me. Horror filled me as I thought of it.

"Are… are they…they --"

"Unconscious," Xyrus muttered.

I breathed out a sigh of relief after registering his words in my mind.

"I may be heartless but I'm not stupid to create a war with their pack," Xyrus explained. There was intensity on those sea-blue irises as he looked at me. The wind blew and some of his hair fell on his eyes. He was breath-taking.

I glanced again at the two alpha and understood his words. Alpha Lance's body was twisted in a not- so-good way while Alpha Ken was laying on his stomach with blood and scratches all over his body.

I took a deep breath and mind-linked him, yes, the privilege of being our alpha, he could talk to us even in wolf form. "You still have to fight me."

"The pleasure is mine princess." He blinked, his eyes shining.

Doing a defensive position, I waited for him to shift and yet he didn't. "Aren't you going to shift?"

"No." Xyrus looked so different. He was so composed and oozed danger. Besides, how can he fight me in human form? And yet again two bodies were lying on his feet.

Xyrus waved his hand signaling me to come over. "Come on Willow. I don't bite."

I took that as my cue and sprinted towards my long-time opponent aiming his leg but he didn't even move out of his place. He simply catches me in the air and threw me a foot away. I landed not so gracefully on my side.

“What the hell just happened?!” I voiced out, trying to analyze what just transpired. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I was shaken. Maybe it was just a miss chance, I shook my head and

tried to leap at him again. Take note 'tried' as he threw me swiftly in the air once again. I was exasperated. He was so strong and very fast.

"Is that all you got? And here I thought you are one of my best warriors." He teased.

"I was just warming up!"

"If you say so, Come princess." He called out again. I inhaled deeply and fast as lightning attacked him, my claws upward and ready to claw the life out of him.

But he was undeniably faster than me. Xyrus caught my paws mid-air and spun around with me hanging like a kite then threw me at a tree. My back collided on the trunk and I whimpered in pain.

"Give up already princess, you're only hurting yourself."

"Never!" I coughed with blood coming out of my mouth. This is not what I thought it would be.

"Let's make a deal. You don't need to defeat me anymore. You just need to make me move out of this position and then I'll leave you in peace." He bargained.

"That's it? All I need to do is to make you move out of your place and I win?"

"Yes."

“Deal!”. Is he out of his mind?’ Well, that's easier than I've thought. If I could make it near without him tossing me of course.

He was calm and confident. I never thought he was this strong. We used to fight before when he forced me several times to be his training partner. And I was able to kick him or even scratch him a bit so what's wrong now?

"All those fights we had, you were just fooling me around, didn't you? Deceiving me with self-esteem that I could defeat you." I tested, my suspicions growing by the minute.

Not even a slight of guilt crossed his features, he remained unreadable. Obviously buying more time to answer. "If I hadn't, will you go rogue again?"

I didn't know what to say. A part of me knows he got me analyzed because I will probably be gone rogue just to avoid him or the Mate Hunt if I realized that soon I can't really protect myself from him.

"I did it to keep you safe." He whispered softly.

"No, you didn't! You did it for yourself!" Rage filled me to the brim. How dare he fooled me for so long. Without thinking right, I run towards him faster than I ever did before. I was growling and tears rolled free from my wolf's eyes.

It all happened in slow motion as I jumped at him yet again in mid-air, this time he didn't catch my arms rather he skilfully hit my particular point at the side of my neck as an acupuncturist does.

I felt myself shifting into my human body and fell into a pair of strong arms. My energy betrayed me as I felt numb. Soon darkness took my senses away but not before hearing him whispered ever so softly.

"Sleep now, my princess. You've done a good fight." Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.