I Will Make It Go Away

Gwendolyn stared blankly at the ceiling. The morning light crept through the cracks in her bedroom blinds, casting pale gray lines across her mattress. She had not slept a single second. Every time she closed her eyes, the horrifying memories from yesterday rushed back to haunt her. She saw the dark, narrow alleyway. She felt the cold rain soaking through her thin clothes. She remembered the terrifying, suffocating stench of the rogue shifters trapping her against the rough brick wall.

She dragged her exhausted, aching body out of bed and walked into the adjoining bathroom. Gripping the edges of the sink, she looked into the mirror. Heavy, dark purple circles bruised the delicate skin under her eyes. She splashed freezing water onto her face, trying to scrub away the lingering dirt and the phantom feeling of those rogues' hands.

Today was the mating ceremony. It was supposed to be the biggest day of her life.

She walked back into her bedroom and ignored the row of elaborate, silk ceremonial dresses carefully laid out on her bed. She shoved them aside. She refused to play dress-up. Instead, she reached into her closet and pulled out a massive, oversized gray hoodie. She paired it with a set of loose, faded sweatpants. She needed armor today, not lace. She needed comfort to survive the day.

Her bedroom door creaked open. Her mother stepped inside, holding a pair of polished heels. The older woman stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes darted from the beautiful dresses discarded on the bed to the baggy clothes hanging loosely off Gwendolyn's fragile frame. Her mouth opened, her brow furrowing in instant disapproval.

"Don't," Gwendolyn said. She raised her hand, cutting her mother off before a single word of sharp criticism could spill out. "Don't start with me today. We have spoken enough about this. I know you hate how I look right now. But the right one will choose me regardless of what I am wearing. Now, please, let's just go. We don't want to be late."

Her mother clamped her mouth shut. She swallowed hard, offering a strained, forced smile. "You look lovely, Gwendolyn."

Gwendolyn grabbed her sneakers and shoved her feet into them. She walked past her mother and headed downstairs. She needed her father. She needed his calm presence and his reassuring smile. He had promised to stand right by her side today during the event.

But when she reached the bottom of the stairs, the kitchen was dead silent. The dining room was utterly empty. His usual stool at the kitchen counter sat vacant. His morning newspaper was nowhere to be seen. The house felt instantly cold and hollow.

"Where is Dad?" Gwendolyn asked. She turned around to face her mother descending the wooden stairs.

Her mother grabbed her purse and the car keys from the hallway table. She avoided Gwendolyn's gaze. "I am sorry, Gwendolyn. He cannot make it today. The Alpha called the house early this morning. There is some urgent business at the territory factory. The Alpha demanded he go handle it immediately. It is just you and me today."

A heavy knot formed in Gwendolyn's stomach. She nodded slowly, wrapping her arms around her own waist. She walked out the front door and waited by the car. She wanted to crawl back into her bed, wrap herself in her thick blankets, and hide from the world forever.

The drive to the ceremony felt like a death march. When her mother finally put the car in park, Gwendolyn looked out the passenger window and frowned. They were not at the town hall. Every single year, the human ceremony took place inside the brightly lit, heavily guarded walls of the local town hall. It gave the human girls a sense of safety and privacy from the beasts.

But today, they parked at the dense, intimidating edge of the forest. Massive, towering pine trees blocked out the morning sun. Thick mist rolled across the damp soil.

"Why are we here?" Gwendolyn asked. Her voice shook. A sickening dread pooled deep in her gut.

"I do not know," her mother replied, stepping out of the vehicle. "I am just as confused as you are. Come on. We need to get there before they start."

Gwendolyn followed her mother toward the staging area. Hundreds of people milled around the tree line. The nervous chatter of the human girls mixed with the deep, rumbling voices of the local shifters. Gwendolyn joined the line of participating females. She wrapped her oversized hoodie tighter around her bruised body.

A sudden hush fell over the massive crowd. The imposing Alpha stepped onto a raised wooden platform. He towered over everyone, his broad shoulders squared, his commanding gaze sweeping across the faces of his pack and the human residents.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Humans and shifters!" The Alpha's voice boomed like thunder, echoing off the ancient trees. "We have a major announcement to make this year."

Gwendolyn held her breath. Her chest tightened.

"As you all know, each year we hold two separate ceremonies. One for the humans, one for the shifters. But this year, we are changing the old ways. We are doing something unprecedented." The Alpha paused, a feral smirk playing on his lips. "We are combining the events. Both ceremonies will happen simultaneously right here in the wild."

Gasps erupted from the human girls. Gwendolyn's eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated terror. Her hands began to tremble.

"The shifters now hold the absolute right to actively claim a human mate today," the Alpha declared. His voice cut through the rising panic. "For the beasts participating, the ancient law of the hunt remains in full effect. The rules are simple. Track your prey. Catch it. Mark it with your teeth. Bring it home."

Blind panic seized Gwendolyn's mind. She could barely breathe. Yesterday, she had narrowly escaped being assaulted by rogue wolves. Today, the law itself was unleashing beasts to hunt her down. She was prey.

The crowd shifted. Gwendolyn looked frantically around for an escape route. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted her best friend. Sylvia wore a tight, revealing dress that barely covered her thighs. She had been standing next to her wealthy human fiancé. But upon hearing the Alpha's announcement, Sylvia let go of the man's arm.

Sylvia shoved her way through the staging area, shockingly abandoning her fiancé. She strutted straight toward Gwendolyn and stood right beside her.

"Sylvia?" Gwendolyn whispered, staring at her friend in shock. "What about your fiancé?"

Sylvia rolled her eyes. A strange, eager grin spread across her glossy lips. "Forget him. He was just a weekend fling anyway. Looks like you need some support. I will run with you."

A tiny sliver of hope sparked in Gwendolyn's chest. At least she would not be alone. At least they could run and hide together.

"The human women have a five-minute head start!" the Alpha roared. He stepped down from the platform, his eyes glowing with primal energy. "Ladies, run!"

A deafening horn blasted through the cold air.

Chaos erupted. Women screamed and bolted past the tree line, scrambling into the dark shadows of the forest. Gwendolyn grabbed Sylvia's hand. She dragged her friend forward. They sprinted past thick trunks and jumped over twisting roots.

Gwendolyn counted the seconds in her head. Her legs burned. She needed to get deep into the woods, far away from the staging area.

But they had barely run for a minute before Sylvia yanked her hand away. Sylvia sighed dramatically and lazily dropped herself onto a patch of soft, mossy ground.

"Sylvia! What are you doing?" Gwendolyn shrieked. "Get up! The time is running out! We have to run!"

Sylvia leaned back on her hands and stretched her legs out. She looked up at Gwendolyn and smirked. "Why? Don't you want to be claimed?"

"By a beast? No! We have to run!" Gwendolyn begged, stepping closer to grab her friend's arm.

Sylvia swatted her hand away. Her expression turned callous and cold. "Suit yourself, Gwen. I only joined this dangerous hunt because I want a werewolf to claim me. I want a real male. You can run all you want. I am going to stay right here and eagerly wait for my furred beast to find me."

Gwendolyn stared down at the girl she thought was her loyal best friend. Hot tears of betrayal stung her eyes. The clock was ticking. The five minutes were almost up. She had no time to argue. She had no time to change Sylvia's twisted mind.

Gwendolyn spun around and bolted alone into the dense, dark treeline.

She pushed her deeply aching body past its physical limits. The bruises from yesterday's attack throbbed with every desperate step. Low branches whipped across her cheeks. Sharp thorns tore at her sweatpants. Her lungs burned like they were filled with crushed glass.

Then, the true horror began.

Deep, guttural, animalistic growls echoed through the shadowy woods behind her. The five minutes were up. The predators had been unleashed. The sounds of heavy paws tearing up the dirt and massive bodies crashing through the underbrush served as a terrifying auditory reminder of the beasts closing in.

Adrenaline flooded her veins. She scrambled up a steep incline, her sneakers slipping on the wet leaves. She desperately scanned the area for a cave, a hollow log, anything to hide inside. Nothing.

Ahead of her stood a towering, ancient oak tree. Its trunk was massive, covered in thick, rough bark. Without a second thought, Gwendolyn grabbed the lowest branch. She hauled her exhausted body upward. The rough bark scraped the skin off her palms, but she ignored the pain. She climbed higher and higher, seeking sanctuary in the dense canopy of leaves.

She found a sturdy branch and pressed her back against the trunk. She hugged her knees to her chest, trembling uncontrollably. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to whatever gods were listening that the beasts would pass her by.

For a brief second, the forest grew quiet.

Then, a deep, smooth male voice called out from the ground directly below her.

"Hello?"

The single word floated up through the leaves, calm and polite.

Gwendolyn gasped sharply. Her eyes snapped open. She clutched her trembling hand over her rapidly beating heart and leaned forward, peering down through the foliage. She could not see his face, only the broad silhouette of a towering man standing at the base of the oak.

"W-who are you?" Gwendolyn's voice broke. She sounded pathetic and weak. She gripped the branch tighter. "Please... please just leave me alone!"

The man did not move.

"I will do whatever you say," Gwendolyn pleaded. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. The sheer terror paralyzed her. "I promise. I will do anything. Just walk away. Spare me. Please!"

The stranger's voice drifted back up. It was completely calm, devoid of the feral rage she had expected, but undeniably firm. "I cannot leave."

Gwendolyn let out a choked sob.

"Get down from the tree," the man instructed. His tone left no room for argument. "I will only leave if you can prove to me that you are not physically hurt. Come down."

Gwendolyn swallowed hard. She had absolutely no other viable choice. If she stayed up here, he could easily climb up and drag her down by force. Terrified of angering the stranger, she carefully swung her legs over the branch.

She began her slow, trembling descent. Her muscles shook with sheer exhaustion. She reached down with her right foot, blindly searching for the next solid foothold.

Her sneaker hit a patch of damp, slippery moss on the bark.

Her foot slipped. Her ankle twisted sharply. A blinding jolt of pain shot up her leg. Gwendolyn winced, her fingers losing their tight grip on the thick wood.

She plummeted backward through the empty air.

Gwendolyn squeezed her eyes tightly shut. The wind rushed past her ears. She braced her fragile body for the brutal, bone-breaking impact of the hard ground. She prepared for the pain of shattering ribs and snapping limbs.

But the impact never came.

Instead, she fell squarely and perfectly into a pair of incredibly strong, muscular arms. The stranger caught her mid-air, absorbing her fall with impossible ease.

Gwendolyn froze. She was suspended in the arms of a beast. She was far too terrified to open her eyes and directly face the shifter currently holding her against his broad, rock-hard chest. She kept her eyelids clamped shut. She remained utterly, completely still, too afraid to even breathe.

"Are you hurt?" the stranger asked. His deep voice rumbled against her side. It was laced with genuine, profound worry. "Is the pain severe?"

A sharp, pulsating pain radiated from her twisted ankle. It throbbed with every beat of her frantic heart. She could not force a single word past the tight lump in her throat. She simply offered a small, jerky nod.

The stranger shifted his hold. He pulled her slightly closer, pressing her soft body against his solid frame. He lowered his head. She felt his warm breath ghosting over her jawline.

"Don't worry, little one," he whispered dreamily, his lips brushing directly against her ear. "I will make the pain go away."

His arm tightened around her waist. His voice dropped into a low, fervent, possessive vow. "From this moment on, I will protect you with my very life."

The gentle promise sent a wave of confusing comfort washing over her. For a split second, the sheer terror melted away. The vow sounded so desperate, so fiercely protective. Gwendolyn almost allowed her lips to curve into a small, relieved smile. She almost believed him.

Then, he moved.

Without a single warning, the stranger tilted his head and mercilessly sank his sharp canines directly into the delicate flesh of her neck.

The skin tore. Blood welled up beneath his teeth as he brutally initiated the ancient claim.

Gwendolyn threw her head back and unleashed a horrifying, ear-piercing scream of pure agony into the dark forest.