Z P.O.V.
My hands are covered in blood, my heart thumps against the wall of my chest. Pulsating within me. I am sweaty and my vision is blurred. I look around and all I see is the darkroom with the stone walls that surround me.
"What the hell is going on!" I cry out.
I am shaking uncontrollably and my breaths are harsh the feeling that I have is overwhelming my senses. I don't know where I am or what time it is.
"Someone!" I plea.
My pleas and cries are met with nothing but the cold air of silence. I'm not in my bed or my pajamas. I am dressed in full gear and armor. Have I just been in a fight? Am I fighting someone right now? Where are my friends? All these thoughts come crashing into my mind like a giant tsunami. One after the other batters me.
My nose is running and my eyes burn from my tear-filled eyes. They have flowed and flows like tiny rivers never-ending down the sides of my cheeks.
"Z?" A voice groans.
My eyes shoot wide open and I crawl on the ice-cold floor beneath me. That voice, I know that voice. I still can't find them the pitch-black darkness that encases the room has me blinded. Even my Lycan Leona can't see through it.
"Call out to me, can you hear me?" The desperation in my voice is no longer being held back.
"Z" The voice is there but muffled.
I keep moving forward on my hands and knees crawling like an infant like. By the third time, I hear the voice and I know it is my beloved Estelle.
"Estelle, hold on I'm coming!" I holler to her
Finally out of the darkness I can make out the silhouette of my Estelle. My mate the love of my life. I touch her abdomen only to be greeted with warm wetness on my hand. My blood in me runs cold and I tense up at the sensation on my fingertips.
"No...no...no, this cannot be, not you baby...not you, " I burst into tears holding her head in my arms and my blood-soaked hand in hers.
"Z...you must…" her words are a low whisper and barely heard.
"Estelle, stay with me...don't leave me."
I can feel Leona crying deep within my soul and together our hearts break as Estelle's pulse softens and eventually stops. Her wonderful kind heart comes to an abrupt halt.
Her body goes limp as I hold her right, feeling the life drain from her, and the scent of roses flee from my nose and dissipate into the air.
My sobs bellow from the very core of me. Uncontrollable I scream and curse the fates and those above our sworn protectors have failed us. They have failed my Estelle. The war with Solarious and his army had waged on and on. I had hoped it would have never reached our realm but it did. And the failure of my leaders had cost me the love of my life.
My sorrow turns into a hot red rage that no one can stop. I feel bricks pile up around my heart and a thick iron chain with a black lock sealing away what is left of my heart. Solarious will pay for what he has done. He will pay for the death of my Estelle.
I release Leona out and upon the enemy. Showing no mercy to any serpent or lizard scum I come across. One by one their blood paints my teeth red and drools down my chops.
Finally, after all the kills I had mustered I made it to the lead tent where the bastard responsible for my pain hides.
A growl pleasantly leaves my lips and the rage Leona and I carry is suffocating. But I don't care, my comrades are gone and my one and only with them. I am the last one left, the last standing survivor of the Lycans.
Entering his tent it is apparent that he expected me to come. Considering I slaughtered thousands of his men I was not surprised that he had been waiting for me.
As we stand there about to square off, I hear yet another familiar voice calling my name.
"Z" The strange voice echoes off into the distance.
I remained frozen in my place searching for the source.
"Come on Z wake up, " the voice is more firm. And I notice who it is.
It sounds like it is Emily, but that can't be right, how do I remember a girl named Emily when I have never met one before in my life? The only woman I have ever come to know was my Estelle.
"The last Lycan has come to meet her demise, " Solarious mocks.
My blood begins to boil and I can feel the fur begin to rise on my neck and back. I bare my teeth at him.
" You are going to die here!" I snap.
My snarling and growls do little to intimidate him. He still stands there unscathed by my actions and words. There is no fear in the air, no fear in his eyes. All of his movements are slow and precise.
"It is funny that you say I am going to die here, with the eradication of your planet, there is nothing left for you. And once we recover the bioweapon from Earth, there truly will be nothing left." He laughs maniacally.
"Leave the humans out of this, " I spit.
He still doesn't take my words to heart and brushes them away with a swift flick of his hand.
"Humans are so pesky, so full of anger and greed. They need not live." He replies.
"They've done nothing, leave them out of the conflict"
" All will now before me eventually Lycan, even you." He cackles.
There is no mercy in his eyes, only evil, and a desire to kill and stomp out those he deems undesirable to be a part of his empire. I charge towards him full of rage and a thirst for blood….his blood.
Everything within me and my Lycan want nothing more than to feel the life drain from him in our long strong paws. To put a stop to the evil that has already killed so many and threatens to kill many more.
"As we speak specimen X decimates Earth leaving the weak to perish. And those unlucky to crawl and weep and beg for mercy...I shall soon answer their cries for mercy and relieve them of their very existence." He throws a solid right hook and connects to my muzzle.
Holding strong I return the favor and offer him a combo of left and right hooks. Causing him to stumble a few steps back. Wiping his green blood from his busted mouth he smiles.
"Who knew a local woman could be stronger than the males."
"Lycan women have always been stronger than their male counterparts. You may have destroyed my home and my people, but I won't let the same happen to humans."
I charge at him once more only this time I am not so lucky, I am met with a silver infused blade. It is long in its length and light blue in color. The blade pierces me through my chest, gripping on to it I feel my insides begin to burn from the silver.
Glaring into his eyes I try my best to hold in the pain that courses through me. I can't give him the satisfaction that he is causing me to suffer. A menacing smile crosses his lips and meets his eyes.
"Dear sweet Lycan, to be a conqueror it requires research and study. And I have done mine, I know the weakness of every civilization. Your downfall appears to be silver no?"
I wince as my body crumples under the sheer agony that I feel. He slams my body to the ground and rips his blade from my chest. Blood spatters his feet sending tiny droplets of blood soaring out. The rest flows like a river from the going whole in my chest.
"It was a pleasure." He says wiping his blade clean before sheathing it.
My vision begins to blur as I am surrounded by his men. They drag my limp body by my ankles out of his tent. The world around me begins to grow black.
I can feel them tying me up my paws and ankles having me held up in an X pattern. I am in and out of consciousness. Bits of other memories come to my mind in blurred out versions.
All I can see is people that know me, laughing with me, helping me find the cure to stop specimen X. Who are these people? They seem to know me, but I don't know them. This is impossible!
Then I see her this wonderful woman, this magnificent human that stands before my eyes. Her long hair and smile catch me off guard the more my memory sweeps with imagines of her green eyes that could light up the moon. And then I see it, our kiss!
Right there in this strange building, her light red lips pressed against my own, so tender and yet it wreaks with passion and desire from the two of us. The Sparks are flying. I can see it. She wants me just as bad as I do her. I have only ever kissed one woman and that was my mate, the love of my life, my Estelle. So how is it possible that I desired someone else?
"Z comes back to me, " The voice calls out.
"We need you Z, we need you"
"Estelle, " I say with a husky voice.
A silhouette appears before me, long black hair passes the shoulder, a scent of honey and midnight air fills my nostrils. My Estelle!
"Z, come back to me Z," she says with outstretched arms.
"I never left you, I'm here Estelle!" I cry out.
She gets closer to me inches away from my lips and our eyes are locked together in one. The world drowns out around me. At this moment it is me and my Estelle.
Her soft hands rest on both sides of my cheeks.
"Z, where did you go?"
"Nowhere Estelle I've been right here, " I reply.
"You left me Z, you left me and they found me."
Tears well in my eyes and I choke on my saliva. My heart drops to the pit of my stomach and it feels as if it has quit a beating. I place my hands on top of hers and entangle our fingers together.
"I'm sorry my love, I failed you, I went to go protect you and left you vulnerable."
She doesn't say anything, Estelle takes her ocean blue colored nails and her soft hands and puts our foreheads together, and evaporates into the air.
"Don't go, Estelle…." I mumble the words to myself.
I lose consciousness once more and fade back out. I'm not sure how much time passes by before I am aware of my surroundings. Images flicker before me of buildings on fire, the screams of the innocent being murdered in the streets. It's like watching a movie that skips scene after scene just showing the minimum amount.
"Wow, this one is still alive, " I can hear the voices of serpents hissing to one another as they walk around me.
"Tougher than that one looks I'd say." Another chuckles.
"It doesn't matter soon she'll be nothing but another corpse, lost and forgotten."
Their voices drift off as they continue on their way bantering to one another. They thought me weak? Little do they know of the true beast that dwells within me.
"We will show them weak, we shall slaughter them all!" Leona grumbles.
"Patience my friend, we must heal first," I reply looking down to my chest.
The outside looks wide open, infected but it is what's on the inside that matters most. Had Solarious left his blade in my chest the poison from the silver would've spread so much that I would have died. It is only by his own ego and ignorance that he saved my life without realizing his mistake.
The longer I stay still and tied in place the quicker my cells and muscle tissue begin to heal and regenerate. It is a tedious process but a very good ability to have.
I stay in my solitude and drift in and out of sleep the more days that pass the stronger and better I feel.
"Z wake up, we have to get going, " I feel my body shake.
Opening my eyes no one is there, it's just me alone. But I can still feel myself being shaken gently and the voice calls to me again.
"Rise and shine sleepyhead, "
What the hell is going on? I am awake so who is trying to wake me? Just as quickly as the voice came it had left. I didn't hear it after the third time.
More images play again in my mind quick glimpses of innocent women and children being murdered in the streets crying out and begging for mercy. In one, a Lycan father shields his infant son and his mate from the blade of the enemy. He manages to kill one attacker before being dominated by another squad.
"Remember Z, you must remember, " Estelles ghostly voice calls to me.
"I can't remember, I locked that pain away years ago." I reply, shaking my head.
" To overcome my love you must remember your past, "
"Stop it, " The images flicker in my mind over and over.
I cry out the anguish that engulfs me is a torture like no other. With grit teeth I try my best to fight away the images, all the pain, the guilt, and sorrow.
"Estelle enough!" I growl breaking my restraints and fall to the ground.
Leona purrs loudly at being released. This time my coat is a dark blood red color. A new power flows within me.