ALPHA RAY
Year 2006
(Winter, The Howling Five Kingdom)
At his cue, Rox picks Ray up and slaps his other cheek—harder this time—and the young prince hits the floor in another painful thud that breaks Mozzo and the mutt-lings into quiet smirks and giggles.
Their evil plan was working.
Ray pleads in between grunts and sniffles of the ache radiating from the blows on his cheeks, joints and limbs, but Rex ignores them all and adds, his voice strained with annoyance, "So I humbly ask everyone to leave this to us."
"So he'll be banished from the pack, won't he?" asks Mozzo and adds, much to the satisfaction of the observing crowd, "he may be the prince, but he's committed treason to the deity."
Ray wants to plead with his brother once more, but he's too tired and in pain to lift a muscle. As though the Goddess takes pity on him, Rex suddenly rebuts Mozzo. "Are you speaking on behalf of the Goddess now, Mozzarella Hardy, first born of Sentinel Leo?"
The commanding tone Instantly puts the bully where he belongs. It also reminds the kingdom of their King, as well as the deity's art about the King's first born. Rex lifts his chin with the pride of the Silver Ring pack, his fierce look stamping out the embitterment that has soiled the pack since Ray's birth.
"Ray Hook will be punished. My father has placed me in charge until his return. So I will personally see to it."
*****
Ray is shaking like a leaf. "P–Please, guys. I–I'm really sorry. It's really—cold. What—what if I shi—shift?"
One of his brothers snorts from behind him. "Then, you'll shift."
Another one pulls the rope hard. "Seriously, what's wrong with you?" The ropes eat into Ray's wrists and he winces in pain as the brother sighs in exasperation. "We're werewolves. We shift."
But I can't shift! Ray's insides scream in fear. Outside, he continues imploring. "I—I'm different! Please, Raymond." He begs the second eldest, who's tightening the rope around his ankles. "You're the smartest. You know I'm weak. Help me, please—umph!"
Rox shoves something into his mouth. "Eat. It'll keep you warm for twenty days." And Ray quickly chews.
Then, something bites his tongue, and, frightened, he spits it out. Under the moonlight, the thing looked like a disgusting mash of dark green with splinters sticking out. Ray opens his mouth to reject eating that slime and a bigger one is shoved in. Then, a hand swiftly clamps over his lips so he can't spit it out.
"Eat it, you fucking idiot!" Rox demands.
Ray shakes his head in pure fright, tears gushing from his pleading eyes. Why won't you all believe me? Why are you doing this to me? I didn't stay in the human world for fun. Well, I had fun—but that's only because I had to stay with Kate. She's in danger! Is that wrong?
"Listen, Ray." His eldest sister smiles weakly at him, her eyes shining like their mother's. "You have to cooperate with Rex. At least until mum and dad returns. This is the only way to appease the pack."
How would tying me like meat to a skewer appease the pack? Ray pleads with his useless blue eyes; they need to do something. "If the sun didn't roast me, the villagers would!" Tiny squeals of fear slip into the cold, winter night air. "Mozzo's gonna throw more stones at me—!"
"Or would you rather be banished?" snaps a brother from behind their eldest sister. He looked like he wanted to strangle Ray alive.
The already shaken Ray shakes his head more furiously, fresh large tears flinging off his cheeks.
"Then, do as we say, Goddess blast it!" scolds another brother.
After the chastising stops, the eldest sister patiently explains. "They're just herbs, Ray. Aunt Elena said they'll keep you warm for twenty days. So you need to eat all of them. Aren't you worried that you'll shift?" Ray nods fearfully. "Then, you have to eat them all, alright?"
Next to her, Rox rolls her eyes in exasperation.
Finally accepting his fate, Ray chews hard, squeezing his wet eyes to fight the sting in his mouth.
*****
For the next twenty days, Ray was stuck at the top of the Colasieze Pole. In the day, the were-folks would cast pebbles and spat at him. At night, the razor winds would slice his skin and the cold would force its entry into the warm fortress protecting his energy. By the fifteenth day, he could barely open his eyes, his ears kept hearing a ringing sound, and he was in and out of the blackness that constantly engulfed him.
Even so, he didn't dare to move a muscle because Raymond told him that: once the ropes loosened, he'd fall right off the pole and plummet a hundred feet down to his death. so even as the were-folks cast pebbles and spat at him, He wasn't going to die a splattered tomato.
*****
LUNA ROX
Year 2006
(Winter, The Howling Five Kingdom)
The King and the Queen finally returned home on the tenth day of Ray's punishment, and, as expected, the Queen threatened to end her life if Ray was not let down from the Colasieze.
"The Colasieze?!" She seemed to have aged a few years. "Are you crazy?" The Queen grabbed Rex by the front of his tunic, her eyes reddening with sadness and rage. "He's your brother!"
"And he committed treason!" Rex argued. "Mother, please, listen to reason," begged the eldest. He held up a hand to stop the others from intervening. "We wanted to talk to Ray in private, but the fireworks went off before we could stop it."
"Everyone swarmed in like bees," Rox stated in matter of factly tone. "Everyone." She glared at the Queen, reminding her mother of their last conversation. "Ray looked like he was back from a long vacation in the Maldives. You can't blame the were-folks for thinking that he'd run off to the human world for fun. They all wanted him banished. It was chaos."
"Everything was spinning out of control, so we had to act fast," explained Raymond, the mastermind of the grand plan. "We'd be the ones to 'punish' Ray so they couldn't lay a finger on him."
Rox raised her palm and admitted, "I slapped Ray hard."
Tears rolled past the Queen's quivering lips as Rex furnished her and her King of the details. "The Colaseize is the only compromise," he concluded quietly.
"We've never used it," muttered the Queen, and the King hugged her closer.
"They did their best, babe," he said and kissed her forehead to calm her. "How many more days left?"
"Ten," answered Rox.
And the Queen buried her face in her mate's barrel of chest and cried harder. "No water, no food for twenty days! He's never without food and water for a day—how will he survive?!"
Through the deity's gift, of course, thought Rox. Why does their mother always sound like Ray is a complete human? The Goddess' gift—their father's essence—is in him too, isn't it? And that protects him, doesn't it?
That idiot may be the weakest, and he may be on the brink of death after twenty days, but Rox was very sure that he wouldn't die. Not under the Goddess' watch.
*****
ALPHA RAY
Year 2006
(Winter, The Howling Five Kingdom)
Snowy!
Ray stared at the blackness ahead. He couldn't open his eyes, so he tried to find the source in the darkness. For some reason, he knew that he could. He was glad that he couldn't feel a thing right now—the cuts from the stones could still be bleeding and stinging, his empty stomach could be eating itself out of sheer desperation, his body could have shrivelled into a raisin to save that last bit of water in his system.
Whatever his condition was, Ray couldn't care less because he could hear Kate's voice now, and that was all he needed.
His angel.
And the tears came. Saltier than usual. Seeping through his parched, dried lips, soaking his barely alive tongue.
Snowy! She called and her laughter chimed like bells of pure happiness in his ears. He tried to move his mouth but they wouldn't open. He tried his throat, but his voice box was clamped shut. He wanted to call out to her so they would be together again.
I'm so sorry, Kate…. Ray cried inside, his regret gutting him. I shouldn't have left. No one needs me here. You needed me more. You wouldn't care if I was a monster. You'd still love me the same, right, Kate?
NO…. Her voice was low and distorted with rage. YOU MONSTER.
The lights came on. She was in front of him, a melting wax figure of the bloodiest red. The scars he'd endured were on her, thick, dark red blood oozing out like fiery lava from a murderous volcano.
K–Kate? Ray froze.
YOU MONSTER…. Her voice was deep and monstrous. I SAVED YOU, YET YOU KILLED ME.
Ray felt his head shaking vigorously. N–no…I wouldn't… I would never kill you, Kate. What happened to you? Why are you like this?
She stretched out her right hand—it was bloody, wrapped with scratches and cuts and burnt marks—and her chipped fingers reached desperately for him, as though begging for him to save her.
Ray saw his hand out, equally desperate to grab her. It clawed and grasped, inching closer to those bloody fingers, reaching… stretching…. Hang on, Kate, I'll save you—almost there—-!
The finger nearest to his burst into flames.
Terror jolted Ray back, and he watched as a giant hot blaze engulfed his angel.