~Antoine~

The wind carried away my shame, my weakness.

It whispered through the trees, filling me with the strength and joy of the pack. The wolf reveled in it, delighted to belong, to run, to protect. I felt the pull of Serena—no, the pack leader—like a thread in my chest, binding me to her will.

There was another force in the distance, but Serena shielded me from it. I hardly noticed as other wolves fled or defected. They were weak. I was not.

She was the storm, and I was a part of it. A vital part.

She leads, and we follow.

The pack surged around Kimberly, and my wolf heart soared at the sight of her. She will join us, it thought. Serena’s jaws would mark her, and Kimberly would belong to the pack, just as I did. Just as we all did. It was exhilarating.

It was perfect.

It could be this way forever.

But beneath that joy, a pang of something else stirred. A shadow of pain, guilt, fear. It wasn’t the wolf’s. It was mine.

It was my weakness, and the wind couldn’t take it all. Please, please take it all, I prayed to the wolf god, to the packleader.

For a moment, I hesitated.

I looked at Kimberly—bleeding, defiant—and the pang grew sharper. I was supposed to protect her, wasn’t I? That was what I had always done.

I was the Knight in Shining Armor, wasn’t I?

My claws twitched in the dirt, and the wolf growled, restless and annoyed. Protect her? She doesn’t need protection. She needs the pack. She needs this.

The pang faded, swallowed by the wind and the wolf’s certainty. It was easier that way. Easier to let go. Easier to belong. Easier to forget.

Isn’t that what I always did? Forget?

All of the bad things were just a nightmare, right? The endless wandering in the trees, the sickly certainty that I could find the exit at any moment, and then the abject terror as all I ever found were more trees.

Just a nightmare. Don’t think about it.

The wolf ran, leaping across the field, its muscles thrumming with energy. Around me, the pack howled, their voices weaving into the night. Everything was as it should be. Everything except…

The blue orbs.

They hung in the trees like unholy stars, their glow pulsing faintly, painfully. The wolf recoiled at the sight of them, instincts screaming a warning I couldn’t fully understand. I tried to focus on them, to make sense of the blur, but my vision faltered, twisting and dimming. The light wasn’t natural. It wasn’t right. I veered away, skirting the edges of their reach. ʀΆꞐȫΒĘ𝐒

The wolf pushed the fear aside, its focus narrowing. The orbs didn’t matter. Kimberly mattered. The pack leader mattered. The pack mattered.

Serena shifted back into her wolf form, her powerful body sleek and dark beneath the moonlight.

She was magnificent.

She moved like a force of nature, bashing away Kimberly’s gun in a flash, her jaws clamping down on Kimberly’s leg. Kimberly screamed, her voice slicing through the air.

A small choked voice from the shadows deep inside screamed, Help Kimberly, you idiot. Help her. Save her!

The wind became stronger until I couldn’t hear that voice. I was the wolf. The weak voice was gone.

And then, the man appeared.

He charged through the chaos, his military gear dark and angular. A mercenary. The pack descended on him before he could aim his rifle, and he went down in a blur of fur and blood. But behind him came another—a tall, intelligent man carrying one of the glowing blue orbs. His face was sharp, familiar.

Andrew, the name came to me, a memory clawing its way through the haze. Andrew, please save Kimberly!

Andrew’s gaze locked on Serena, his expression calm but determined. The orb pulsed in his hand, its light searing through the air, through me. He was going to throw the orb at her.

The wolf’s growl deepened, low and guttural. Danger. Protect the pack leader.

I didn’t hesitate.

I, a loyal wolf, leapt, claws slicing through the air, and tackled Andrew to the ground. My claws tore into his side, hot blood spilling across the dirt. But the blue orb—it reacted. Its light flared, burning through my chest like fire.

Pain erupted, sudden and overwhelming.

It wasn’t the sharp sting of a wound or the ache of exhaustion. It was deeper, heavier. The light pulled at me, draining something vital. The wind, the power, the joy—it was all being sucked into the orb, leaving nothing but raw, empty me.

The wolf whimpered, retreating into the shadows of my mind. And suddenly, I was me. I was Antoine again.

My claws twitched against the ground, and I staggered back, breathless. The connection was gone. The thread tying me to the pack, to Serena, had snapped. The air felt cold, hollow, and wrong. I could still feel Serena, but I also felt the call of another, a stronger wolf.

Where was that coming from? As much as the wolf in me wanted to reconnect with Serena, the wolf also wanted to heed this other call, this other wolf. It was confused.

Kimberly’s screams cut through the numbness, raw and desperate.

I turned, my hind legs trembling beneath me.

Serena was on her, biting, clawing, teasing, her massive jaws nipping into Kimberly’s arm. She wasn’t supposed to kill her; that wasn’t the plan. She was supposed to curse her. She couldn’t risk eating Kimberly’s heart; no, the curse must be applied delicately, or Kimberly might die uncursed.

Gentle bites, that was the way to do it.

But she wasn’t being gentle. Not anymore. Her bites were getting deeper; she was losing control, tearing flesh.

The pack leader’s movements were becoming more wild and unhinged. She had promised to pass the curse to Kimberly, but her wolf only wanted to eat.

She was going to kill her.

“Stop!” I tried to scream, but my jaws only emitted a pained bark.

Serena didn’t stop. She didn’t even hear me. Kimberly writhed beneath her, blood pooling around them. My claws dug into the ground, and I clenched my teeth, fighting the urge to sink back into the wolf.

The wolf whispered, coaxing me. Wait. Just wait. The light will fade. The connection will return. Everything will be fine again. Just wait.

The wolf was too distracted to take control. He kept thinking about this other powerful wolf in the distance.

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Just wait, he whispered, just wait, and it will all be okay.

But Kimberly’s screams shattered that lie.

I couldn’t wait. Not this time.

The embrace of the wind, the wonderful nothingness of all my flaws disappearing, all my pain fading. It was so tempting.

The loss of my sense of self and my very sense of reality. Surviving something no man was meant to, surviving so many things. The pressure, the shame.

They really were a nightmare.

But I couldn’t forget them.

Tears rolled down my wolf face, wetting my fur as I watched Kimberly fighting, trying to stab Serena with a long silver knife.

Just wait, the wolf sang to me from his hiding place in the dark. It will all go away. The nightmare will fade, and the wind will take us freely.

I wanted to listen.

I wanted the Game at Carousel to end. I wanted the wolf to take back over and let me hide.

“Save her,” a voice whispered too quiet for any but my wolf ears to hear.

It was the man. Andrew.

I looked down at the evil my wolf had done to his broken and shredded body.

Andrew.

The wolf laughed at him.

It laughed at me.

The wind seemed to join in.

Laughing at one man’s pathetic, dying attempt.

If I win, the wolf promised, we will win forever. Just a few more minutes.

Minutes.

I suddenly remembered the timer that ticked down in my mind.

At sunrise, we would lose forever. Minutes. Eternity would be here in a few minutes.

Suddenly, the wolf’s words took a new meaning.

If the wolf won, it would win forever.

If the wolf won at all, it would win forever.

If the wolf won at all

, it would win forever.

If the wolf won at all, it would win forever.

I couldn’t.

I couldn’t let it win.

I didn’t want to live forever, hiding from what I had done or what had been done to me.

Forever was a long time in or out of the forest.

The wolf was afraid of the glowing blue light. I didn’t have the strength to fight the wolf or the wind, but the light did.

Where was it?

The little jar of blue light had rolled a distance.

With every fiber of my strength, I jumped on it and let the light peel the very hide off the wolf inside, to force the wolf deep inside the shadows it had built for me.

The pain was beyond anything I had felt before, and soon, I had to run from it or I risked collapsing.

But when I ran, I ran as myself. A wolf body, but a man inside.

My body lurched forward, clumsy and desperate. I didn’t run with the wind anymore. I ran into it.

I slammed into Serena, tackling her off Kimberly with a snarl.

For the first time, I felt nothing—no connection, no bond, no joy. Only defiance. Only the faint, flickering remnants of what was still me.

“Get off her!” I roared in a voice only a fellow monster could understand.

Serena’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. Her lips curled into a snarl, and she laughed as well as a werewolf could—a low, guttural sound that made my stomach turn.

Her stance, her teeth. She didn’t think much of me or my chances.

She might have been right. She had been a wolf longer than me. But Kimberly needed me, and I wasn’t going to wait any longer.

Serena lunged, her claws slicing through the air. I barely dodged, the tips raking across my shoulder. The pain flared, but I ignored it. My focus was on Kimberly, on her bloodied body lying in the dirt. She was looking at me now.

Serena saw where my gaze lingered and bared her teeth.

As my body weakened, strength anew flowed into me. Grit. Mettle.

I didn’t know where it was coming from at first, but then I remembered.

I was the Knight in Shining Armor again. Maybe for the last time. I was getting buffed for protecting Kimberly.

I snarled, leaping forward with all the strength I had left. I collided with Serena, driving her back a few steps. My claws found her fur, and I ripped at her side, but it wasn’t enough. She twisted, her jaws snapping inches from my throat, forcing me to back away.

The wolf inside me growled, frustrated. Let me back in, it whispered. You can’t be happy without me. Let me take the pain. Let me take the fear.

I could barely hear it.

The wolf snarled. Kimberly is almost already gone. Wait, and it will all disappear.

But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.

With a roar, I lunged at Serena again, slamming into her with everything I had. My teeth found her shoulder, and I bit down hard, tasting blood. She howled, her body twisting as she threw me off.

The fight blurred into a frantic rhythm of snarls, slashes, and blood.

Serena was faster, stronger, and impossibly precise.

Each time I lunged, she was already gone, her claws tearing into me before I could react. Pain ripped through my sides, my legs, my arms, but I kept moving. Kept trying.

The wolves that remained watched from the edges of the clearing, their eyes gleaming in the moonlight. Some howled, their cries echoing through the fields. Others stood frozen, uncertain. The pack was crumbling without the connection, without Serena’s control.

But she didn’t care. She was focused entirely on me.

She could attack and retreat before I had time to strike. She was too fast.

She had too much Hustle.

Her claws raked across my side again, and I stumbled, blood dripping into the dirt. My breath came in gasps, my vision swimming.

I turned and ran, my paws kicking up the blood-soaked earth as I bolted across the field.

Serena followed; her enthusiastic breaths rang as laughter rang in my ears.

She was running around me, teasing, readying a strike, her body a blur of dark fur and shining teeth. I veered toward the edge of the clearing, toward a patch of fallen leaves under a large oak.

As I leapt over the leaves, she followed me with ease.

And then I heard her.

The howls. The sharps screams of a dog in pain.

I ran a distance and then turned to lock eyes with her.

She was on the ground, silver objects poking out of her wolfish paws and her torso.

I had been here before.

I had been caught in a trap under this very tree, a trap of rope and silver spikes.

The rope was gone, but the silver caltrops remained, waiting for an unsuspecting wolf to wander into them.

She had picked up several as she fell.

A silver spike in the paw had the result I wanted. After all, enemies could get Hobbled, too.

Now, I was the faster wolf, and I had to take advantage of it.

I lunged, slashing at her side with my claws. She yelped, her body twisting as she tried to evade me. For the first time, I landed blow after blow, my teeth and claws tearing into her flesh. But it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.

We ran across the fields again, lunging, biting, slashing. I was faster. I was winning, but my claws were not designed to kill other wolves.

I needed more.

I needed silver.

We were now back in the clearing where Kimberly was now facing down a dozen wolves or more, alone and bleeding, Serena and I had our final bout.

I tackled her to the ground.

With a guttural snarl, I pushed the wolf down, forcing the shift.

My body twisted and cracked, fur receding as the beast inside me gave way to the man one bit at a time. The pain of the transformation was sharp, but it was nothing compared to the fire burning in my chest.

One of her claws had found its mark and cut deep.

I didn’t care. I wasn’t looking to survive this. I didn’t deserve it.

My hands—human hands again—reached for one of the silver caltrops embedded in her torso. The metal bit into my palm, but I gripped it tightly, ignoring the searing pain as the sharp edges burned my skin.

Serena lunged at me, her jaws wide, her eyes filled with fury. I dodged, barely.

With everything I had left, I drove the thin silver spike into her chest, between her ribs, forcing it further than it could easily go.

She howled, a sound so loud and guttural it shook the air around us. Her body convulsed, her claws raking at me as she tried to pull away. But the caltrop was in deep, its silver bite searing through her.

The silver found her beating heart.

The air changed. The night seemed to shudder.

I could feel the wind blowing toward us, the power of her connection to it fading destructively.

I could feel it—the wolf inside me, the connection to the pack, the strength that had shielded me from my pain—all of it slipping away.

Serena collapsed, her body heavy and still. Blood pooled beneath her, the dark fur around the wound matted and slick. I fell beside her, my hands trembling, the scent of silver and blood overwhelming my senses.

The wolves scattered, their howls fading into the distance. Some fled into the woods, others stood frozen, watching as the pack leader—their leader—died.

Or so I thought.

She was becoming human. She was moving.

No! I thought.

She needed to die!

My body was bleeding from her claw marks, and the curse that had been able to heal me before was gone. I was dying.

She was still moving.

I had failed. I must have.

I looked at her face. For the first time, it wasn’t filled with rage or dominance. Her features softened, her breathing shallow. There was a peace there, a quiet I hadn’t expected.

“Clara,” she murmured, the name barely a whisper. Her lips curved into the faintest smile.

She wasn’t dead. She should have been dead.

I exhaled, the weight of everything crashing down on me. My wolf was gone. The curse was gone. And for the first time in what felt like forever, I was truly just… me.

My body ached, the wounds burning with every breath. I lay back, trying with all my might to keep my eyes open. The stars blurred as my vision dimmed, my strength fading.

I didn’t need to survive. I needed to protect Kimberly.

Serena wasn’t dead. How was she not dead? She must have had a trope to help her, but I had seen her tropes when I was her ally, and she had several unique tropes, but I didn’t remember one that would help her here.

I hadn’t paid enough attention then. I was a lap dog, not a player.

I had to finish the job but my health stats were going crazy. I was almost gone.

Serena, though, she was crawling, moving toward Kimberly, toward another wolf, a bigger one.

A wolf whose name was on the red wallpaper was Clara Withers. That was the other wolf, the one that had distracted my wolf.

Serena was alive. Clara was alive. Kimberly was alive.

For now.

Kimberly was struggling, fighting wolves and staring at the big Clara wolf in the distance.

I had to help her, but I couldn’t.

I tried to fight it. I tried, but I knew there was no coming back from my wounds.

I sank into a darkness, a different darkness than the one the wolf made for me, a darkness that was the end.

Silently, I prayed Serena was defeated and that her desperate crawling didn’t mean Kimberly was still in danger.

But then, as the reality of my potential failure overcame my other thoughts, I heard a familiar voice and a familiar line.

“Congratulations, you’ve won a ticket!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep