It took me two hours to figure out how to post this since I'm in DR and connection is trash. The least you can do is comment. PLEASE!

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Chapter Three

                "Punch me."

                "I'm not punching you."

                "Just do it. I can take it. I'm not a little pup. Just punch me." Dominic growled out, squaring his shoulders and standing closer to me. His expression was serious and determined. His form let me know that he was ready and was preparing himself for the impact. He really wanted me to punch him. He's such a joke.

                "Dominic, please get out my face." I sighed; already I was bored with whatever was happening. Dominic moved in closer, taking the initiative, he nudged my shoulder trying to knock me over or most likely aggravate me. I barely moved or showed that I was affected but the mother wolf took it as a threat. Standing up she growled warningly at Dominic. Her canines were bared and saliva began to drip from the sides of her mouth as she threatened him. Dominic glanced at her before moving his eyes back to me. His stance remained the same, he still wanted to fight.

                "Are you scared? You think I'll hit you back harder and you won't be able to take it?" I held back a laugh. Dominic smirked smugly above me; his confidence was rising for some reason. I wondered what was going through his head. Why did he suddenly feel that his balls had gotten bigger from the last time I had seen them?

                "You hit like a bitch," I remarked, rolling my eyes at the idiot and taking a needed step back. He was too close to me and the wolf in me plus the wolf by me were getting close to retaliating.

                "Hit me, Cyra. Come on, do it! I know you want to. Don't you get tired of being under me? Of me dominating you in every way possible? Not only do you submit to me in the bed but here al-" Then he shut up. With speed and precision my fist had come crashing up into his jaw with as much force as I could muster without threatening to break one of his teeth. I wouldn't want to do anything with him if he was missing any teeth. Especially in the front. He always knew how to rub me on the wrong way. Mentioning our sexual escapades was a sure way to make me want to dismember him. That was private, even if it included him, I hated when he mentioned it. I would've stopped having sex with him a long time ago simply because he loved mentioning the fact that we did it together. But he was the best and the most reliable person in my pack, to do that stuff with at least. I rather not make a train stop around each male member of my pack to find out if there was better. So, I was stuck with him.

A loud crack resonated throughout the cave and Dominic let out a cry of pain, stumbling away from me. Growling, Dominic spit out the blood that was pooling in his mouth before turning to me. His eyes were blazing with anger, the glow of his wolf let me know he was ready to attack. I didn't know why he was so mad. He asked me to hit him.

A roar left his mouth and I watched as his canines elongated before he advanced towards me again. I already knew he was going to try to punch me with his right arm; his dominate side, so I lifted my left leg into a high kick and knocked his arm away from me. In the process, he was pushed back again. This only seemed to anger him further; I could feel the fury rolling off his body. The mother wolf began to advance, another growl ripping from her throat. I met her with a growl of my own, low and calm so that she knew it was directed towards her. She stopped and looked up at me. I shook my head, letting her know I didn't need her help right now, and she lowered her head in mostly annoyance rather than surrender. A deep huff released from her mouth before she turned and went back to her area in the cave.

"Stop, Dominic. I don't have the time for this." I truly didn't, it was 8 o'clock and I still had an essay to start and finish. If he had just let me walk back to my house in peace none of this would be happening. But no, Dominic wanted to be a tough guy. Dominic wanted me to punch him. Dominic wanted to spar. Idiot.

Ignoring my warning Dominic charged at me gain. His body had considerably crouched over letting me know of his intentions. He was going to try to knock me over using my legs. Thinking quickly I jumped up and bent my body back until my hands touched the floor before flipping over again so I was back in a standing position. Dominic was in the spot I had occupied previously, on all fours, looking up at me with confusion. The more we did this the angrier he was going to get because there was no chance of him winning.

"Are you done?" I asked, bracing myself for another attack towards me just in case. Dominic narrowed his eyes at me but began to relax. He stood up tall, his eyes were still the gold color of his wolf but his teeth had gone back into their human form. The blood from his mouth had trailed down his lips and covered his tan jaw and neck and some was splattered over his light blue shirt. That stain wasn't going to come out.

"I went easy on you." He muttered, his eyes finally going back to its normal dark brown. He was calm now; he was no longer a threat. But, the wolf in me refused to back down, not until I was safely in my home. It wasn't necessary. Dominic wouldn't try to seriously hurt me. The most he would do was rough me around a little bit but not enough to make me bleed or bruise. He would hold back, unlike me. Holding back was for the weak.

"Sure you did. You should go clean up. I'm going to head back now. See ya!" I waved before turning my back to him and walking out of the cave. The wolves around me moaned in sadness as I walked past them. They didn't want me to leave, but they knew I had to. I would be back tomorrow, they would get over it.

I left the woods quickly; the need to get back to my room was strong. The essay was due at eleven instead of twelve because my teacher was a bitter wench. That left me less than three hours to complete the whole thing. I was supposed to visit Nnamdi tonight. He asked me to come to his room in the Witch Quarters this morning. It must have been serious because Nnamdi rarely called people to him; they normally came on their own accord. Whatever he had to tell me must be important so it was best I got there on time.

"Hello Lisa and Maxwell," I greeted once I walked into my home. My assigned parents sat on the sofa in the living room. Lisa was spread out on a loveseat; her dark brown straightened hair covered the pillow her head rested on. Her medium brown skin was on display as she only wore a tank top and some short shorts as clothing. She seemed quite comfortable and barely raised her head to look at me as she muttered a low "Hi, Cyra."

Maxwell was on the loveseat adjacent to her. He was sitting up though and his eyes were focused on the paperwork in his hand, not the TV, unlike Lisa. When he heard my greeting he looked up from his papers and at me, his hazel eyes brightening at the sight of me. "Hello, pup." His dark brown lips stretched into a smile and I smiled back.

Although they weren't my real parents I still cared for the couple deeply. I have lived with them for almost eleven years. They helped raised me and were wonderful guidance and a comforting shoulder to lean on whenever I was distressed. Not that I was distressed often, I often kept my feelings to myself. But when they got too overbearing I often went to them or Nnamdi. I loved them.

"Cyra," Lisa called just as I was about to walk up the stairs to my room. I stopped, turning to her so that she knew she had my attention. "Why do I smell Dominic's blood on you?" I swore under my breath, my aggravation from earlier resurfacing. Of course he managed to get his disgusting blood on me. Looking at my hands I noticed a small speck of red on my right one. It was very minuscule but it was enough for Lisa to smell it.

"I roughed him up a little bit." I answered honestly. Lisa gave me a disapproving look, shaking her head at me.

"Did he hit you?" She asked hopefully, it would make her feel better if she thought I didn't hit him first. But I wasn't a liar.

"No, he didn't get a chance too." She stared at me again, her dark brown eyes rolling behind her lids before going back into place and looking back at the TV. I took that as my cue to leave and finally made my way to my room. I needed to start my essay ASAP. My time was running out rather quickly and I didn't do very well under pressure. I needed time to think and process things. That was only when it came to school work though. On the battle field I could work in any circumstance. School was a different story.

In two hours I had completed my essay and was on my way to the Witch Quarters. My skin immediately began to prickle and my body became even more aware of my surroundings the closer I got to the mystical creatures. Witches were at the top of the food chain. You didn't fuck with them, not if you cared for your life. They weren't easy to kill and even if you succeed at killing one there were hundreds of other witches who now saw you as a target. And they would eliminate you very easily.

The humans loved the witches although they didn't know it. Their existence was still a fact or myth situation with humans. Some believed in them, some didn't. But the witches were basically humans with the gift of control over the elements. They were to blend in completely. They were alluring to every species. There was something about them that made you want to approach. Maybe it was their power, their aura, or just their looks. They were beautiful specimen. Every single one of them screamed beauty. Witches were perfectly crafted and held their own level of attractiveness with different features. Some were big, some were small, some were light, and some were dark but they were all stunning.

I walked past a group of them on my way to Nnamdi and they all smiled cheerily at me, I smiled back at them in respect. They scared me and I hardly trusted them but they were 'helping' us so I could at least show them some respect.

It was the witches' fault we were struggling to keep our species alive. If they hadn't given us the curse of having mates and weakened us with the wolfsbane plant the humans wouldn't have had a chance of destroying us in the way they were doing now. But there was no reversal to any spell, there could only be improvements and slight additions. So we had to work with the witches until they figured out a way to help us. And they were taking long. The only thing they've helped us with so far is masking our scent and animalistic tendencies, but other than that they've done nothing. But, all we had was time and faith. We had to wait. The witches knew what they were doing. They had created us after all.

I finally made my way to Nnamdi's room and was gifted with the scent of sage as soon as I walked in. Nnamdi sat in the middle of a red rug with a lotus flower sewn into it. His eyes were closed and there was a red glowing light radiating from his skin. Listening in I could hear that his breathing was slow and his heart was barely beating. If he was human that would mean he was close to dying. But he wasn't, so he was fine. He was simply mediating.

I took a seat on a cushion on the floor near his wall and waited patiently for him to be done. I wouldn't dare interrupt him. 

Nnamdi was a thick man, on the chubby side, with chocolate skin and thick and kinky hair. He was handsome in a sense. Many of the female witches on our land had made it a point to try and get with him. His attention was a reward in itself. I didn't know what it was about him that made them go crazy. And I didn't exactly want to find out.

"Do you feel that, Cyra?" Nnamdi had suddenly stood up, his previous glow was gone and he was back to normal. His wise eyes looked down at me and I didn't quite like that so I stood up too.

"Feel what?" I asked in confusion, and he smiled wisely at me.

"Cyra, so much potential is inside of you." Nnamdi was the only person who pronounced my name correctly. It was pronounced as "seer- ah" but everyone else preferred the "cy-ra" pronunciation. I had grown used to it when I was young but I had always preferred its origin al pronunciation. I was thankful that Nnamdi took the time to say my name correctly. "You don't feel it, Cyra?" Feel what?

"I'm sorry, but I don't Nnamdi." I replied honestly, looking at him expectantly. We had made our way over to one of mahogany tables. On top of it were a bowl of some flower that had been ground up into a paste and another bowl of what smelt like ashes. "Whose remains?" I asked immediately, looking at the bowl with a side eye.

"It's your grandparents' ashes. Remember they had been killed before your parents, but their bodies remained on our land." I did remember, my parents had grieved for months.

"Why are they here?" I questioned, why did he even have them? Nnamdi smiled at me, his white teeth on display and his cheeks becoming plush balls on his head.

"Give me your hands, child." I did as was said, ignoring the 'child' remark. H e was only a couple of years older than me. But witches loved to feel old. Nnamdi took out another small bowl that had been carved out of wood and placed it in the middle of the table, between us. He muttered something foreign under his breath with his eyes closed before opening them and grabbing the hand I had reached out to him. Staring at my wrist Nnamdi chanted something in another language and my skin started to burn. I looked down at my wrist in alarm and watched, and felt, as the skin began to cut itself open, blood dripping from the slit. I bit back any complaints and allowed him to move my hand over the bowl so my blood would fall into the cup. Once Nnamdi stopped chanting the bleeding stopped and my wound began to close back up.

As soon as Nnamdi let go of my hand I moved it back to my lap, rubbing the area that was previously bleeding soothingly. It didn't hurt anymore but I was still alarmed. I then watched as Nnamdi took a spoonful of my grandparent's ashes and placed them in the bowl with my blood. Then he took the same amount of the flower paste and added it with the others. Immediately the three substances began to swirl around and mixed together without the help of Nnamdi or me. I watched in fascination as a dark cherry red liquid formed and looked up at Nnamdi, waiting for the next move. Still smiling, Nnamdi took up the cup, whispered something else, and brought the liquid to his lips. He began drinking with his eyes closed shut and I almost barfed. That was nasty.

When Nnamdi's eyes reopened they were a stark white. I gasped at the sudden change but fought off the fear that was developing within me. I didn't trust many but I trusted Nnamdi. I was safe. "Give me your hand again, Cyra." He commanded and I obeyed, reaching out the same hand to him. His eyes stared blankly at me, or behind me, I didn't know. The smile had left his face and his expression was serious. His hands gripped my right one strongly and his breath shortened at the contact. Minutes passed and he hadn't said anything but his grip hadn't loosened either.

After what felt like ages Nnamdi finally let go of me and his eyes went back to normal. Sighing, he shook his head sadly, letting my hand go. "I cannot protect you from this, child." Protect me from what? What was he talking about? "The future is bigger than both of us but yet it lies in your hands. You are so young, so inexperienced, so conflicted, but I guess Fate likes those characteristics. Doesn't he?" Nnamdi chuckled but I didn't know what was funny.

"What are you going on about Nnamdi? What spell did you just perform?" I asked him desperately, I was beyond confused and it was troubling me, I didn't like this feeling, I didn't like it at all.

"That information is not important. What you must know is that you have an important decision to make soon. Very soon. You must make the right one. Any mistake will lead to ultimate destruction."

"Destruction? Nnamdi, am I in danger?"

"You've been in danger your whole life, Cyra. Your heritage made it so." I shook my head at him. He was spewing nonsense. "You will know when you have made the choice. That' all I can say. Good night, Cyra." That's it? That's all he was going to tell me?

"Nnamdi, you have to tell me more. You can't just leave me hanging." Nnamdi smiled sadly at me, taking my right hand again and resting a gentle kiss in my open palm.    

"I must, good night Cyra." And then in a blink of an eye I was back in my bedroom. I shook off the tingly feeling that was all over my body and looked at my surroundings with anger. I hated when he teleported me and I hated when he left me hanging. Of course he would go on about utter bull shit and then whisk me away. Witches.

~

"They are viscous creatures. You all know this. They would kill any one of you without a second thought. They have no sense of civilization, they can only copy it, copy us. It's one of their greatest skills." I looked at Mrs. Brookes with hidden hatred. She was a disgusting disgrace and a bashful liar. "You may think a werewolf means no harm. They might seem innocent in that moment but you must know they aren't. No matter what age, or what form, a werewolf's intent is to kill. So, you must kill them before they get to you first. " Mrs. Brookes pink lips smiled as she looked at each and every student's facial expression. Mine remained bored so she quickly passed over me, not wanting to waste her time. She was looking for fear, excitement, and shock- anything but boredom. I wouldn't give her that satisfaction.

"Aurelius," She called, her eyes had stopped on him. "Have you ever seen a werewolf?" The question was simply to tease him. Most of the students here had never seen a werewolf, and if they had, you would've known. You wouldn't need to ask. Yesterday, when I had first seen the boy, Aurelius wasn't in any of my classes that day. But today, it turned out he was in two of my blocks. He was in this class, Werewolf Protection and Education Level 5, and my health class.

"No. There were no werewolves in my state. They had all been killed or driven away." Aurelius replied his face smug, he was proud. Disgusting.

"Interesting," Mrs. Brookes face flushed pink, her pale skin failing to hide her excitement. "Why move from the safety of your previous state to come here? If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"I wish to become a hunter," He admitted and my ears perked up at this. That would explain the wolfsbane that coursed through his veins. "You can't hunt where there's no game." I finally glanced at Aurelius after he said that. My eyes were skeptical as they stared at him. He wasn't looking at me; his attention was on our teacher. His expression showed no humor, he was dedicated to achieving his dream of being a murderer. He disgusted me too. He was new but he proved to be no better than the rest of them. I wanted him dead.

Mrs. Brooke appreciated his response and gave him a grateful look. She was going to pay more attention to him. His future was promising in her eyes.

Suddenly a piercing high pitched noise hit my ears. I gritted my teeth and held back the need to react. Looking around me I noticed that no one else was hearing it. And, that meant only one thing. It was a signal meant for werewolves to hear. Specifically, werewolves of the Agwang pack.

No. This can't be happening. It just can't. I thought to myself in earnest. I could feel my heart threatening to beat out of my chest. I wanted to throw up, or cry or leave. I needed to do something. But I couldn't. I couldn't make any attention come to me.

The signal meant that my pack was under attack. At that very moment hunters were on my land possibly slaughtering my family and my pack mates. And yet, I sat here, safe in a room full of humans and possible future hunters. At the thought, my eyes found Aurelius again. He was already looking at me, his eyes were curious and ... worried.

Fuck him.

I had only one choice, well, two. The second choice was recreational, very recreational. My first choice was one given directly from my Alpha to each pack member. If we heard the signal and we were near our territory we were to immediately come and and help fight to protect our fellow members. If you weren't close by, like me, you had to run. Act like you never lived there, you never knew them, and resume life without them. I wasn't supposed to go look for them, I wasn't supposed to help. I was supposed to take my hidden bag of necessities and money, buy a new home from one of the werewolves that we trusted and worked in real estate and continue my life with the humans. But, fuck that.

I was going to stop this. And once the final bell rang, and I was released from this human made prison I was going to fight. I would no longer be at the mercy of the mortals. Werewolves were going to get their status back even if I had to die trying to do so. No.

Even if I had to die doing so.