Chapter 2- Deaths Grip on Me

I was laying in the woods, my limbs almost buried underneath the falling leaves of fall. I watched as the sun peaked down between the huge thick branches of the trees, signaling that it was dusk and the cold night air would soon get colder. I dug my fingers into the dirt below the fallen leaves hoping to warm any skin that I could, my body trembled as my exposed body soon felt numb to the stinging the wind caused.

I groaned as I tried to move my leg muscles from the cramp position that they were in. My body refused to move though; only my fingers that were scabbed over could move, but that pulled on most of my hand wounds. I wanted to cry out for all the pain I was in, but I hadn't been able to use my voice in months.

'Breathe, we may not have long. Just watch the view, enjoy the peace.' Ash whispered in my head. He had been dying since he had awakened when I was a couple months from finishing my 365 days of punishment. I had wished I would have escaped before he awoke, but all I could ever do was dream. He never got to shift, to run in the forest, to hunt.

He was trapped inside of my body just as much as I was. But now we were free, all I could do was lay in the beautiful woods and die. He would never be a free wolf, I would never get to free my old pack from the Alpha, or Connor.

"Sh-Shift." I sputtered out to my wolf as I coughed blood. "Shift be-" I took a breath; air getting harder to fill my lungs as time went on. "Before we, we die."

I wanted him to finally shift after months of being locked away before we died.

'No, we would die quicker. Someone might find us and help us.' Ash argued. The thought of someone finding us swarmed the last remaining thoughts I could process. Once they found out I kissed a boy they would beat me worse then the Alpha. Atleast, that's what Alpha said.

"Let's just try to heal." I mumbled. My body was the first to go, now it was my brain, next it would be my pulse. Knowing I was leaving this pain made my heart skip a beat with pure happiness. It made me want to cry with joy if I had enough strength for that.

I knew there was no hope in healing us, Ash knew too. I just hoped to give him some peace before the headache shut him out from me. Another sign we were dying, something so normal yet so deadly to us.

'Eyes open Nathan.' Ash whispered.

My eyes sprang open as my vision blurred. I didn't even know that my eyes had closed, a blissful feeling of peace kept confusing me when I had to re-open my eyes to the blurry world. My heavy eyelids finally slid closed without hope to open again.

"I'm sorry." I slurred out. One last tear slipped down my bloody face as I fell into the darkness, hoping I would awake again. I screamed and screamed, but my voice was in so much pain that my very last cries of pain became the silence of night.

I dragged my arms closer to my chest and hugged myself as I wasted away in the middle of the forest where the Alpha had left me.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

My blood felt like it was burning, my body was screaming. But then I heard it. Leaves crunched as the predator came closer. I hoped with guilt that whoever came would kill me before I choked on my own blood.

The noise stopped, the forest was silent. Seconds passed before my mind made me believe I was just desperate to hear things before my dying breath.

"Look at the chest, it's still rising." My eyes shot open but my body stayed frozen as I searched for the soft voice. Two figures stood 7 ft. away from me as they slowly walked towards my limp body as I watched in fear. The smaller figure gasped as she made eye contact with me, she pulled on the man's sleeve before quickly coming towards me and bending down.

"Hunny, can you speak?" She asked with a honey sounding voice as she slowly grabbed my hand. I opened my mouth but the words never came. I could feel Ash slowly rising up before my eyes rolled back and he took control.

"We plead Underdeath." Ash spoke through my body like I was possessed, pleading for them to save us because we were under the age of 20. Underdeath was a law for anyone under 20 that was a rogue had to be taken in or cared for until they either had someone that cared for them or they found a new pack. But Underdeath also could mean that any crime that was done from someone who could plead Underdeath would be dealt with then a normal crime. It was meant for young people to have a chance in the world before it destroyed us, or we destroyed ourselves.

The woman's gray eyes became large as she heard Ash's words before smiling down at her. "Its okay hunny, you don't need to plead Underdeath. I'm going to help you as much as I can." I could see her staring at my neck in confusion as she slowly touched the metal color with purple liquid leaking out of it.

"Duke, come here." The man came closer at her command as he slowly headed over her looking down at my throat.

"What is that?" His gruff voice was also soft as If he could kill a thousand people and still smile every morning with love.

"It's one of the collars they use to keep the prisoner alive so they can live to get their full punishment." Her eyebrows scrunched as she slowly touched the skin around it. I let out weak gasps as I closed my eyes in pain and grumbled.

"Don't touch. . .Touch the- the skin." I cried out as I clamp my hands into fists in the dirt. I started to cough up blood, the pain of my body moving made me groan more as I slowly tried to swallow the remaining blood in my throat.

"Luna. . .There is help on the way but I'm afraid to say that even the collar won't help him." Duke spoke softer as he moved towards my head. He slowly sat down on his legs lifting my head into his lap as he blocked the sun and gave me comfort all at the same time.

"You must be prepared Luna, not every life is meant to last to see someone else's ending. All we can do is make them comfortable." Duke was right. His words were harsh but his actions were caring. I would die with more comfort than I had in a long time.

I heard a sigh as I let my eyes linger at the woman he called Luna, she looked sad, almost heartbroken as she squeezed the hand that wasn't curled into my chest.

"Maybe; Maybe we can take off the chains and fishing string for more comfort." The woman said as she slowly pulled my other arm away from my chest to reveal all the tight fish string slicing and digging its way further into my arms, chest and throat.

"Luna, our claws can't cut through the string without pulling it more. As for the collar and feet chain-" Duke stopped as my hand loosened from Luna's hand. She quickly grabbed it and held it close as my strength to hold her hand disappeared. "Even if we had the right materials, we could never be fast enough before they-"

"Die." I breathed out as my eyes rolled in my head. "Is okay, I didn't think." I swallowed painfully. "Didn't think I- I would make it this far." I said breathless with a smile slowly ripping my chapped lips. I opened my eyes as I felt Duke start to brush his large hands through my scissor cut, dirty hair. I took a deep breath to try and get their scents, Luna's honey and flowers and Duke's fire and spring water washed over me in waves of bliss..

"What's your name honey?" I opened my mouth to say it before I realized I had forgotten it. I opened my eyes and turned my head down to look at my curled up hand that was tied with string. I squinted my eyes trying to make out the name carved into my arm but my eyes couldn't focus, nor my mind.

"My arm, It, It's on my arm." I turned my arm over to see the other side where I had carved my name in so I wouldn't forget. "An- And Ash is my wolf's name." I whispered, begging my thoughts to stop swirling.

"Nathan, such a lovely name. And Ash is beautiful for a wolf." Luna smiled brightly. I watched as her golden hair was draped over her shoulders as she looked at me with sadness. It almost looked wrong on her to look that way but something else caught me, some smell calming my almost dead body. A feeling of bliss that was scented in the air like it could understand how much pain I was feeling.

"Thank you." I whispered. By now my eyes were closed, my senses were all dull as everything became covered in a glazzyness as I took shallow breaths.

'It's time.' I heard Ash say in my head. I squeezed her hand as she spoke but no sound came out. Death was like a blinker in the night, it swept over me as I took one more shallow breath. I felt my eyes roll as no air got to my lungs, all the pain stopped. A warmth jolted through my body yielding all the pain to stop, and it did. I felt amazing, until I felt nothing.