Zion 

******

It didn't take a master to see it. Beyond the false smile the forced actions, the forced words... it was so obvious. 

Kyra was breaking.

And there was nothing I could do about it. 

So I continued watching her from afar, keeping to the back as out little party traversed the woods. Truth be told, I'd been watching her all day -- well, as much as I could. Just as Azriel had demanded she do Luna duties, he'd demanded I do Beta duties, too, including training. I'd tried to hide my weakened state from my pupils, but I could tell they knew. Of course, they didn't know it was the Wolfsbane in my system, slowly eating me away. But then again, that wasn't the only thing being eaten away. 

Seeing Kyra deteriorate before my eyes... it was killing me. Killing me more than any lethal drug would. 

I'd seen her at the feasting, with that superficial smile that didn't meet those eyes. Eyes that had become a dull dark grey, very unlike the fierce black I used to know. The life in them, the fierceness... it was all gone. No one else noticed -- or cared. I'd seen her talking to people of the court, and they seemed too damn enamoured by her presence to notice something was wrong, that she needed help. 

That she was being tormented by the man she once loved.

I glared at his back, his figure tall and dark beside Kyra. Pride radiated off him in waves, and it angered me. How dare he exploit her and feel any sense of pride? What kind of man does that to someone, to a woman he claims to love? 

A friend. He used to be my friend, my saviour.

But things change. He was my sworn enemy now, and one day I would  make him pay for this. I would give him a death so painful to give him a taste of what he'd put Kyra through -- and maybe even that wouldn't be enough. 

I stared ahead, towards the trees that were starting to thin, towards the chugging noise of a distant human town. And now he was leading her to her home town, where she could turn people into monsters, just as he had once turned her.

I clenched my fists. I hadn't even known Azriel had turned her. I, as blinded by my loyalty as she was by love, believed Azriel when he claimed it had been an Alpha from a different pack. But no, it had been him. It was always him. 

But then that bought other thoughts, selfish thoughts. Why did it have to be her that night? Her, of all people, my mate. Why couldn't it have been some other girl? Some girl that would've died during the transformation anyway? Why did it have to be her? So much pain could have been avoided, for both of us.

I wouldn't care about some other girl like I did for her. I never would, because she was my mate.

My mate... but was she really my mate? She said she'd never felt a strong connection with anyone, and the strongest one she had felt turned out to be a fraud. I knew mate bonds often kicked in for one person earlier than the other, but surely she would have felt it by now, right?

Or, you're her dud mate, came that irksome thought. I shoved it aside. No, I couldn't be; I'd never felt a mate bond in my one-hundred-and-fifty years of existence. If I developed one now, then... then it just had to be real.

Because I wouldn't know what to do with myself if it weren't.

I returned my gaze ahead, the fluorescent lights and rumbling of cars clearer now. Something in my heart fissured at the little human houses, at their gabled roofs and cobbled paths. Kyra had lived in one of these unassuming houses once, a peaceful live void of violence and misery. And it had been stolen from her, just like everything else in her life.

And to think I'd just told her to suck it up...

I chewed my cheek as I looked at her again. There was nothing I regretted more than how I treated her in those initial months. How I'd pushed her to the edge, because of some skewed moral code of mine. I recalled the time she attacked me, and if I was honest, I deserved that and a hundred more. 

"Please," came a weak voice. My vision blurred. Kyra. She sounded so small, so scared, and I wanted nothing more than to kill Azriel and his Gammas right then and there. I wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be okay, that we'd be okay.

But I couldn't.

"Please, don't make me do this," she continued. I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting the pain that bleated in my chest.

A soft chuckle, and fury slammed me. My eyes snapped to Azriel's dark form. I snarled. I would kill him. I would kill him in a damn heartbeat if I could. 

But not in the state I was now. I could barely stand on two feet, and magic was out of the question. 

"We must, my dear," he cooed, saying it as if he cared. As if he actually cared about her, like the way she'd once cared about him. "We cannot risk bringing humans into the court."

She shook her head, and I just looked to the ground in shame. The one time she needed protection, my protection, I couldn't give it to her. I'd failed her once with my warning and failed her again now. 

Once we reached the edge of the forest, Azriel raised his hand in signal to halt. Slowly, he turned to Kyra, placing his hand on her shoulder. I couldn't stand to watch as her eyes turned to gold, as something else in her heart seemed to snap. 

Before long Kyra prowled in her wolf form, those gold eyes dull like extinguished flames. Not even the indigo tint shone on her fur, but was rather replaced by a dull grey. Azriel led us to side walk where he made her sit in the bushes, waiting, whilst the the rest of sat hidden within a garden of overgrown shrubbery and weeds. My heart sunk as a human male walked by, whistling low to himself. Then, like a hawk on its prey, Kyra was all snapping jaws and flashing canines as she jumped on the human, sinking her teeth deep into that point on his throat. 

The human, like many of them, was too stunned to scream -- move. It wasn't like he had time, because the Gammas were up in an instant, knocking him cold and tying him in ropes. That dead look persisted in Kyra's gaze, even when she went back into the bush, resuming her position.

Azriel's eyes had not left her once. They couldn't, not while he was controlling her every action, her every bite. He used her body as a vessel, a puppet, with no regard for the fiery soul trapped within. The fiery soul he was extinguishing. By the time Kyra was upon her fifth victim, I couldn't stand to watch.

At same point we got up and moved, likely due to all the blood that had pooled on the pavement. I dared a glimpse into those cold eyes, hoping for any sign of Kyra, to see any signs of her hanging on. Dead. Completely, utterly dead, like a guttered candle. Fury engulfed me again, but I could do nothing.

Eventually we happened upon an alley way, a place full of nooks and shadows for us to hide. Azriel and his Gammas crouched in the back right, while Kyra lingered behind a few bins, ready to attack. I just watched, even as a girl walked by, her eyes bloodshot and back hunched.

My heart stopped. The human girl looked about Kyra's age, with falling brown hair and pale skin. 

A girl, another young girl like her. I glanced towards Kyra, and her wolf form was stiff. To curse a girl with this curse, a girl her age... it would break her. Break her more than she's already been broken. I could see it in the tenseness of her posture, of he reluctance in those golden eyes. 

I couldn't let it happen. I couldn't let them break Kyra anymore than they had. I had to do something. I had to do anything, even just to spare her this marginal pain, even if it costed my life. 

I watched in slow motion as Kyra sprang forward, sending the girl to the ground. The girl's bloodshot eyes went wide as they took in Kyra's beastly form, but I could see Kyra's hesitation, her resistance against Azriel's command.

The Gammas were circling her now. Perhaps it was hope, or stupidity, but something hot and wild fuelled me as I charged barelled into the Gammas and slammed myself into Kyra's furry body, throwing us both off the girl. 

The Gammas stood around in shock. Fortunately, the girl still had enough mind to get to her feet and run. Those few moments of shock cost Azriel and his underlings everything, for within moments, she was gone. 

I looked around. Kyra's golden eyes were focused on me now, brighter than before, bright with what I could only describe as gratitude. So were Azriel's, but his were bright with a different emotion. No, that was the light of fury. 

Even so, I raised my chin and locked his gaze. I didn't know if Kyra had managed to bite that girl, but even if she did, her getting away spared her from Azriel's grasp. 

I leveled my gaze with Azriel's. "Beat him," was all he said.

I didn't even have time to register his words before a thudding blow to the temple set my vision spinning. Another hit to the forehead, and my brain throbbed. A aching hit to my ribs, my hips, followed by cracks and blooming pain. I could see the Gammas smirking above me, relishing every moment of this abuse. Black dots swam in my vision, and the darkness tugged at my mind, offering me peace, quiet. But I couldn't go under yet. I had to hear it. I had to--

"Stop!" came her voice. "Stop!"

That voice along was enough to wash away any pain, any misery. In the storm of punches and swipes, no one saw the small smile that formed on my mouth. Kyra was still there. Those words alone proved she was still alive; still thinking, feeling. She wasn't a husk yet.

That's all I needed to know, all I needed to hear to go embrace the darkness in peace... even if my life ended tonight.

A hard kick to my skull, and everything went dark.