#Chapter 17 Kill or Be Killed
Helen POV
People say their life flashes before their eyes right before they die.
As the wolves raced towards me, I didn’t see my life as I’d lived it. I saw all the things I’d never gotten to do instead.
“Justin!” I yelled again as I saw him racing along the edges of the clearing.
Justin was staying inside the treeline. I couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t rushing to my aid until I noticed his silhouette changed. He was suddenly taller.
A lot taller.
When Justin raced out of the forest, he was a fully grown Lycan and he towered over everyone and everything in the clearing. He grabbed one of the nearest wolves by the scruff of his neck and hurled him away; I screamed when the wolf hit a tree trunk with a yelp before going silent and still.
“Justin!” I cried.
Two of my attackers turned to go after Justin only for him to swipe them both with his claws.
Blood sprayed across my face, hot and sticky. The copper scent overwhelmed me so much I couldn’t even scream again. All I could think to do was crouch down closer to the ground to make myself a smaller target.
The last wolf was preparing to run away when Justin bounded after him with a leap which landed his huge back feet in the middle of the wolf’s spine.
I heard the snap before Justin scraped his right foot backwards, shredding the enemy wolf’s spine and ending his life in the blink of an eye.
Justin shook his hands before turning to stride back to me. He shifted before my eyes, becoming human without breaking stride; I realized he was a whole other kind of beast than wolfen like me. His power was terrifying even to me and I was his mate!
“Are you hurt? You reek of blood,” he complained, cupping my face to tilt it up to examine me.
Shaking my head as best I could, I said, “No, I—it isn’t my blood. You killed them.”
The four attackers had shifted back to their human forms. Without their huge wolf forms to menace me, they were only broken, mutilated men. I couldn’t stop staring at them My eyes bounced from one body to the next to the next to the next.
“They were attacking you,” Justin snapped, “Of course I killed them. They can’t attack my mate. Would you rather I let them kill you?”
“You didn’t have to kill them,” I said, my lips feeling numb (1
Was this what shock felt like? I’d read a person could go into shock from a bad experience. No injury was needed to put someone in a shock state. Did I need to get to treatment? How did someone treat shock in a werewolf?
My thoughts were all over the place in my confusion and horror. I had never been exposed to so much blood. Even though I lived with an Alpha wolf and Alphas battled to the death for territory, I had never seen a werewolf die.
The only death I’d experienced had been that of my elderly grandmother and she had passed in her sleep. Her funeral service had been beautiful with everyone on their best behavior. It was one of the few times I’d seen my father express real emotion as he’d loved his mother.
#Chapter 17 Kill or Be Killed
+25 BONUS
Justin pinched my chin, tipping my face up before twisting me around to look into his eyes. He studied my face while I tried to avoid blinking out of some strange instinct couldn’t explain.
“Why wouldn’t I kill them? They would have killed you if I hadn’t come along. You realize they weren’t here to take your flag, yes?”
I murmured, “I don’t know why they were here. I don’t know where they came from or if they would have killed me. I just know they didn’t have to die today.” 2
“We all die eventually,” Justin said with a grim finality, releasing my chin when I jerked my head backwards.
I realized Justin wasn’t even upset by the deaths he’d caused and I felt a rush of anger surge through me. How could he not care he’d killed four men?
There was no way for me to know who those four men were or who they had left behind. What if they had mates? Children? What if they were the last of their family lines?
Life was precious! How could my mate not understand something so basic?
“You didn’t have to kill them!” I shouted.
Wiping my face on my arm, I cleared the blood off as best I could while getting to my feet again. I was still small compared to Justin’s towering form; I didn’t want to think about how easily he’d killed all those wolves in his lycan form. He was intimidating enough as a man much less as a beast.
“This world is kill or be killed!” Justin roared back at me, angry in his own right though I could hear confusion in
his voice, too.
His confusion should have given me hope, but all it did was make me angrier.
Securing the flag under my shirt and inside my shorts, I shook my head in disgust, “Leave me alone, Justin. Go find a flag. I’ll meet you at the entrance again. You should like the second half of the Games. They let you kill in it.”
Would Justin be allowed to participate? Would he be punished for killing during the qualifying round?
The Games Master had specifically said no one was supposed to kill anyone or deal permanent injury during the Flag Forest portion of the Wolfen Games. He had mentioned being removed from the contest as well as being given a permanent ban.
I raced for the exit from the forest which put me back in the estate courtyard.
Pulling out my flag, I waved it over my head which earned me several loud cheers from those who’d already finished the round. Clapping came as well as from the members of my pack who were there to act as witnesses.
It was the first time I’d been praised so highly in my whole life.
“Where is your Lycan?” Diana asked, her mouth twisted in a mean expression as she saw I’d been given a band to pass to the next round.
“Justin is coming. He—“I tried to explain, panicking as I realized Justin might be in serious trouble with the Alpha King.
“He killed some werewolves!” Donna interrupted, racing up to break into our conversation, “They were going after the flag she and I found. The Lycan came out of the woods and just murdered them!”
Diana was only interested in the blood on my face now she had heard Justin was the reason for it. I could practically feel the glee radiating from her.
“The Lycan killed in round one?” Diana laughed, “He can’t compete then! He’ll be banned forever.”
2/3
#Chapter 17 Kill or Be Killedk
+25 BONUS
The Games Master approached with Alpha King Juden as well as some members of the Alpha King’s entourage. I froze in place, not sure what I should say or if 1 should say anything at all. I wished my father would come to my aid the way he always did for Diana.
“Prince Justin killed contestants?” The Games Master asked, his expression grim as he stared into my eyes.
I could tell he wanted to catch me in a lie or see if I would try to avoid telling the truth. All I wanted was for him to stop glaring at me. His gaze was uncomfortable to me. Donna was wearing a smug expression as if she thought I would try to lie so she could get me into trouble, too.
“Four wolves did attack me and then—“I started to say only to be stopped by the Alpha King who held his hand up for me to pause in my explanation..
“Were they wearing competitor bands?” Alpha King Juden pointed to a two wolves who were still in their werewolf form with competitor bands around their forelegs
Trying to think, I realized I couldn’t remember any indication of who those wolves were. They hadn’t worn anything. All four of them had been totally naked when they reverted to human form after dying.
“No. They didn’t have competitor bands. They were naked when they shifted back.”
The Games Master frowned, his brows drawing together as he asked, “They shifted from wolfen form to human? Was that when the Lycan attacked them?”
Swallowing back the taste of coppery blood, I said, “No. You don’t understand. They shifted back to human form after they were dead. Justin attacked them as a Lycan while they were all wolves.”
“All four of them?” Alpha King Juden asked.
I nodded. I didn’t know what else I could say to them.
Justin raced out of the forest with a flag then and his face was flushed, his breathing hard, and I could tell he was agitated. His eyes swept over my body with a familiar look which made me blush. What was he thinking? Looking at me like that in front of all these wolves!
He strode towards me and the Alpha King as well as the Games Master left room for him to reach me. They obviously didn’t want to get between the last Lycan and his mate.
A brief exchange of words happened between the Alpha King and the Games Master before they stepped forward again to gain Justin’s attention.
“If we can prove the wolves you killed were not contestants, you will be allowed to participate in Round Two of the Wolfen Games. If they were,” The Games Master declared with a serious tone, “You will be banned from the Games and removed from this competition.”
Justin turned from the pronouncement to grab me by the waist, lifting me off my feet as he kissed me passionately as his only response to the threat of banishment from the Games.
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