Page 56 of The Red Room
They want me to be a monster?
I’ll fucking give them one.
The spotlights are on when I arrive at the deserted streets outside Völk, like Viktor wanted me to know this was the grand finale for the show he not only directed but has a starring role in. I hop off the bike onto the sidewalk, letting the frame grind a hundred feet or so before stopping while the engine rattles the pavement. It’s quiet to the untrained ear. Barely a whisp of air disrupting the vacant block. I know they expect Dimitri to burst through those doors with his crossbow, and I’m more than happy to disappoint. He’s not coming. Someone far worse is.Me.
There’re small footsteps inside. Five, maybe six different heartbeats. One is calm, but the rest of them must sense the rotten stench of death looming over the club. It’s heavy in the air. Any wolf can smell it as easily as I can smell the fear reeking from them. This is what they signed up for. This is the moment that will flash in their eyes when they choke on the last bit of Vostik blood fleeing their veins. I’m coming for Viktor. I am coming forallof them.
I stagger up the steps, the wolf twisting my toes and heels. Every inch forward brings a new wave of pain unlike any I have endured. My bones splinter where the beast inside me aims to make changes in his image. A lycanthrope splitting meapart from limb to excruciating limb. God, I can’t hold it in much longer. I’m not sure my body can withstand much more. Control was all I ever wanted. To take ownership over the thing I unleash into the world every time the moon claims me. But there’s no full moon tonight, only a small crescent shape is visible while the rest remains dark and undisturbed. More pain erupts, throbbing in my chest like a second heartbeat. I can’t do this. I’m going to transform on the fucking street with no human thoughts left. Only the ones the animal choosesfor me.
Natalia.It’s as if her name is whispered from the eerie and quiet streets. Then, I see her in my mind. A collection of images racing through my thoughts at breakneck speed. That brown hair draping down each side of her face. The small hints of freckles dusting her nose. A smile, that gorgeous fucking smile.Natalia.I draw another breath and push forward, reaching the front doors of Völk.
There’s no lock but I doubt it’d stop me if there was. I burst inward, struggling to keep the beast in the chains I’ve made in my body and mind. He’s strong. He’s vicious. And despite how many calming breaths I gasp in, the monster inside me continues to fight its way out. The hairs on each arm thicken, hiding most of my exposed skin. There’s an urge to howl, to cry out what we’d do to anyone inside that played a role in this. No one is safe now. I just hope I got here in time and can control what little humanity I have left.
“Viktor said you’d show,” Alek says, his black sleeves rolled up enough to show the strong arms hidden beneath his shirt. “We’ve been waiting for you,Nikolai.” He accentuates every syllable of my name with disgust and stands tall amongst the rest of the crew behind him. I brought them here. Every single one. And now, they form a picket line, a blockade between me and the room I will always regret creating.
I snarl at each of them individually, my skin igniting and ready to give way to what terrible thing lies beneath it. “Turning on your own pack so easily, Alek?”
“Like you?” Alek spits and steps forward. “You turned your back on all of us. Your brother was right. You are weak.”
Rage sears through my body, and fire dances along each scar on my chest. There’s nothing I can do but endure the inferno engulfing me. Choking on what little air I have left to breathe. Red takes over my vision. Red and the shadows of six people I called my brothers standing in my way. In the way of her.
“All of this for a fucking woman!” he shouts, his voice echoing in the main hall of Völk. Alek marches forward triumphantly, and those behind him take another step toward me. “Viktor said the one that brings back your head will take over this club.”
“And you believe him?” I growl, baring my teeth. The human skin on my tightened arms and legs splits open like an undersized shirt, surrendering to the monster I’m ready to unleash on them all. I draw another breath, keeping myself torn but intact.
A sinister smirk crawls from one side of his small mouth to the other. “Oh, Viktor will be the alpha this pack needs. You will just be a stain on your family’s legacy. And to think, in a couple weeks, the little pet you turned on your pack for will be his prize. Hisdobychafor thered moon.”
No.Horrible pain surges up my spine, arching my body forward to a menacing position. My shirt rips. The seams burst until shredded strands are left in its place. My arms and legs twist uncontrollably, skin melting away while fur fills in the gaping holes of my flesh. It’s happening. I am becoming the wolf I hated myself for being cursed with. The animal I’ve locked away any chance I could.Natalia. My little wolf.He’s going tohunt for her under the moon where our bloodlust is at its peak. Three sets of chains could barely restrain me during the last red moon, and before that ... Ida.
The sister I swore to save.
Tears fill my blackening eyes. Every inch of my skin now cracks with the monster making its escape. There’s no holding it back now. Nothing I can do to stop this train on a collision course for absolute destruction.I’m ready, and the wolf I’ve fought against my whole life howls in agreeance.We’re … ready.
“He’s changing!” Alek screams, drawing two blades from their sheaths at his hips. Despite the wolf lurching toward him, Alek stands tall and steadfast, a knife in each palm. The rest stupid enough to betray me flinch backward, some showing fear and spectacle in their widened eyes. Alek, however, doesn’t falter. He only readies his blades for the monster rushing toward him.
Me.
I dash forward, and the wolf’s thoughts, the ones I have ignored for as long as I could remember, fuse with my own. There’s no argument. No breathing patterns to keep him at bay. My eyesight isn’t blurry, and the images playing out don’t pass through my mind in bits and pieces. There’s not a single thing I won’t remember come daybreak. No, I see it all clearly now. Völk. The lights casting shadows on the men I called my pack. The wall most of them cling to for safety. I see everything. And the wolf and I finally agree on something for once.They are all going to die.
I slash upward, clawing for his chest and throat. He dodges a step back, and much to the wolf’s liking, I lunge at him again, this time splaying my claws for his cheek. Alek parries my fur-covered arm and stabs at my ribs first, then at my shoulder, digging the knife to the hilt.
A deep howl escapes me, but the pain subsides just as quick. These wounds heal as fast as Alek makes them, practically sealing around the edge of the knife. His eyes gape as he removes the blade, watching the sizeable chunk he dug into me shrivel to a close.
We heal faster in my body, a voice rings in my ears. It’s gruff. Menacing. Deeper than anyone in the room, although none of them seem to hear it. This voice, this thing, is coming from … me.
Duck!
The command blares in my head as Alek swings the knife for my elongated throat. I do what the voice urges and tilt my head down and to the left, leaving the whistle of a blade to pass above my pointed ears.
I’m losing it.
I am fucking losing it. There’s no way this is happening. That I am—
Having a conversation in your own head with a wolf?the voice finishes.
There’s no time to argue. No time to question what fucking screw was knocked loose during the transformation. Alek slashes up at me with both hands in a sick, tremendous fashion, missing most vital organs but nicking my forearms in the process. Black blood leaves each wound, dripping to the Völk floors. I stagger backward on my padded heels, doing what I can to keep my throat away from his reach.
Do something or I will, the rough voice intervenes in my thoughts, growling in that same horrible snarl I’ve felt bubble up my chest since my first full moon. The same one I’ve ignored, blocked out my entire life. Only now, this thing inside me, this curse—thismonstercan speak.