Beyond the Pack’s Law: My stepsister or nobody else

Hayley’s POV

I became too slow, groggy and disoriented.

My cheek burned fiercely where Holland’s claws had raked me.

I went to raise a hand, but quickly realized I was bound – arms and legs tied down spread-eagle to some kind of metal table.

“Finally awake, I see.”

The cold, sneering voice made my blood freeze in my veins.

Dread coiled in my gut as I turned my head to see Jada emerging from the shadows, looking utterly inhuman with her fanged maw and leathery wings unfurled menacingly.

“Wh-where am I?” I rasped, throat raw from whatever drug they must have used to subdue me.

Jada’s lips pulled back in a grotesque parody of a smile, revealing rows of jagged teeth.

“My personal playroom, you could say. A sanctuary where I can enact judgments without… interruptions.”

She trailed one razor-sharp talon almost delicately down my arm, leaving a thin crimson line in its wake. I suppressed a shudder of revulsion.

“Holland delivered you to me gift-wrapped, just as he was instructed. Such an obedient little errand boy when properly motivated.”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“But why?” My voice cracked with confusion and fear. “What do you want from me?”

Jada laughed darkly, a sound like nails on a chalkboard. “Isn’t it obvious, foolish girl? You’ve been marked for the Embrace.”

A cold knot formed in the pit of my stomach as her sinister words reminded me of that awful night at the restaurant, the vow of punishment she had sworn to inflict on me.

“The Embrace?” I echoed faintly, hardly daring to ask.

The creature formerly known as Aiden’s aunt leaned in close until I could smell her fetid, rancid breath hot on my face.

“By flagrantly carrying on your unnatural relations with my nephew, you’ve earned the greatest honor our family can bestow,” Jada hissed viciously. “Transcendence into the ranks of the Unmaitred. My greatest warriors, mystic paragons, and the elite of my dark empire.”

I felt the blood drain from my face as her twisted meaning sunk in like a sickening pit in my gut.

She was going to turn me into… into whatever kind of abomination she and her “family” had become. Just like she had attempted before her monstrous form manifested in that diner.

“No…” I whispered hoarsely, panic clawing at my insides as I fought against my bonds desperately. “No, please, I don’t want this! You can’t–

Jada threw back her head and laughed that grating, evil cackle that raised every hair on my body.

“Can’t I?” she sneered mockingly. “You stupid, naive little girl. What makes you think you have any choice in the matter? The Embrace is not a request, but a purifying rite that will scour every ounce of your pathetic humanity from existence!”

I shook my head rapidly, tears of terror stinging my eyes. This couldn’t be happening, it had to be another nightmare!

But then Jada produced a grotesquely long, curved obsidian dagger that seemed to almost… writhe with dark energy.

“Behold the Grimcurse blade, child,” she crooned with vicious glee. “Forged from the essence of the most ancient and terrible of my clan’s dark patrons. Just one cut from its unholy edge… and the transformation will begin to take hold.”

Jada raised the wicked dagger high, its curved edges glinting with malevolent promise.

Despite my frantic struggles, I could only squeeze my eyes shut in horrified anticipation of the torturous agony to come.

That’s when an explosive crash like thunder made the entire room shake violently.

I screamed in startled surprise, eyes flying open just in time to see a massive gray form come hurtling through the air to slam into Jada with crushing force!

The impact sent the dark matriarch and her Grimcurse blade clattering away.

I could only gape in shock and awe as a gigantic, feral-looking wolf easily the size of a small truck now wrestled and clawed at Jada with unrestrained ferocity.

But upon closer look, I realized with a jolt that the wolf’s eyes were utterly human and familiar… Aiden’s eyes, filled with desperate determination and the drive to protect me at all costs.

“Aiden?” I cried out in disbelieving horror and wonder. “What… How…?”

Jada let out an inhuman shriek of primal rage and frustration as her twisted demonic form and Aiden’s massive wolfen aspect grappled in a flurry of biting fangs and slashing talons.

“You impudent whelp!” The words tore out of Jada’s throat in a garbled, guttural rasp. “After everything I’ve done to uplift you, make you one of us, this is how you repay me?”

Aiden didn’t respond, simply snarling a bone-chilling growl before his powerful jaws clamped around Jada’s throat hard enough to make her choke out a gurgle.

His monstrous aunt seemed to sag in his iron grip–then, with a sudden burst of dark energy, she broke free!

The two inhuman combatants were thrown apart with overwhelming force, hurtling in opposite directions to crash against the chamber walls with earth-shaking impacts.

I flinched, heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst right out of my chest.

When the dust settled, Jada slowly rose to her feet, nursing a shattered wing as thick tar-like ichor oozed from a savage bite wound on her shoulder.

Likewise, Aiden’s gigantic wolf form clambered upright, front claws torn to shreds and pelt matted from deep gouges inflicted by Jada’s talons.

“Not bad, whelp,” the matriarch snarled hatefully, hauling herself into a defensive crouch. “If you surrender the girl now, I may yet let you keep your wolfen aspect intact..

Aiden’s only response was a menacing growl as he paced in a slow circle, jaw dripping with smoking acidic drool as he kept himself positioned protectively between Jada and I.

The air was thick with tension and malice.

Just as it seemed the two inhuman fighters were about to launch themselves at each other with renewed fury, a distant sound pierced the moment–faint at first, but rapidly growing louder.

The distinct, unmistakable cries and howls of more wolves!

And not just any wolves, I realized with a jolt, as the first massive, hulking shapes bounded into view through the entrance Aiden had torn through.

These wolves, while similarly gargantuan as Aiden’s aspect, loped upright like humanoids with eerie sentience glinting behind their glowing amber eyes.

Werewolves! Or at least, what I knew as werewolves unleashed their true, monstrous natures.

A whole pack of them taking up territorial stances around Jada, barring their fangs and slicking back their ears menacingly!

I felt equal parts terror and incredulous awe at the scene unfolding before me.

For so long, I’d lived in blissful obliviousness to the supernatural world surrounding me.

And now here I was, smack in the middle of what seemed to be some kind of epic clash between different monstrous factions!

Jada, for her part, straightened and looked around warily at the fresh new threat, her grip tightening on her Grimcurse blade as if gauging her chances.

Then, as if coming to a decision, she turned and… shrank back down to her humanoid woman form in a flare of dark energies.

Only her cold, beady eyes betrayed her malice as she glared straight at Aiden’s powerful wolf aspect.

“Don’t think this is over, whelp,” she warned lowly. “I am Zhanna of the Unmaitred Lineage, promised rulers and inheritors of this world once the old ways are restored. And I always… collect… what is owed me.”

With that ominous vow, she slashed her blade in an intricate pattern, causing an inky black rift to open in the air behind her.

Shooting Aiden one last hateful look, Jada turned and stepped backwards through it–just as the assembled werewolf pack surged forward!

But it was too late. The rift sealed shut, leaving only the gathered wolfen humanoids pacing and growling, clearly frustrated at her escape.

As the tension slowly deflated, Aiden’s massive wolf form seemed to shrink and distort until he was once again human.

Jada escaped, but not before vowing vengeful retribution against Aiden and me.

As for Aiden himself, I could only gape in stunned disbelief as his wolf form shifted back into his familiar human visage, though now I understood that it was merely a facade concealing the feral, monstrous power burning within his very being.

A power he had tried to shield me from… until now.