Girls her age should be sneaking out of the house to secretly attend a party where she would kiss her crush, not dragging a prisoner as prey to her cannibalistic-eating sister.
Angus’ breeding obsession had never stopped at demons, Fae, witches, or humans. No. This ti, he’d aid for a perfect, pure-blooded werewolf heir. But what he got instead was much worse.
The goddess had cursed him.
Bree was no wolf. She was a wendigo.
Wendigo were cannibalistic-eating creatures. No one knew the true story of how they ca to existence, but in the old stories, they were beings twisted by hunger until they devoured their own kind. In Bree’s case, she was more feared since she’s a wendigo born into a werewolf bloodline.
Bree had done nothing to deserve it, but the sins of her father had simply been visited on her.
As expected, Angus had been furious with the outco, but he hadn’t killed her. Wendigos were dangerous, but they could also be useful. Her appetite for raw flesh made her a threat even to her own family, so she was locked away in an underground cell.
The twins, Lauren and Layla, were mostly in charge of Bree since they used their ntal powers to control and groom her to their father’s will. And right now, Hannah had been sent to do the one thing she hated most. Feed her.
The man’s head lolled forward as Hannah dragged him by the rope binding his ankles, his body leaving a sared trail of blood on the floor. He was still breathing, but not for long. By the ti Bree was done with him, not even the bones would be left.
The corridor to Bree’s sublevel dungeon was narrow and steep, lined with stones that seed to drink in the torchlight. The deeper she went, the colder it beca, until her breath began to mist in the air.
That was Ziva’s doing. The rune carved into the arch above the final door exhaled a constant, unnatural chill that weakened Bree, slowing her enough to keep her from tearing through the walls and slaughtering them all.
Every few weeks, Angus ordered her moved to the hunting grounds, where she can tear through whatever "prey" he throws inside. The preys were mostly traitors from his people and her hunts were as much execution as entertainnt. After each hunt, she’s dragged back to the Frozen Chamber, where she paces like a caged animal until the cold slows her again.
In one word, Bree was the perfect instrunt to keep the villagers in check and anyone else that dared to betray him.
By the ti Hannah reached the bottom, the frost on the walls had thickened into jagged spines. The guards moved aside without a word, none of them volunteering to help her.
One of them unlatched the first gate, then the second, while the man’s eyelids fluttered, a groan escaping his cracked lips.
"Lucky you," Hannah muttered sarcastically, just as the third gate was unlocked. She stepped close enough to feel the cold prick her skin.
Inside was gloomy as Bree rose onto her haunches with slow, animal grace, barefoot on ice. Her hair hung in a tangle, her eyes lit like coals under ice. She tilted her head, listening to the approaching body and scenting them. Her lips peeled back and she revealed too many unnatural, sharp teeth.
"Behave sister, or you won’t get a al next ti." Hannah warned her.
The twins claid Bree was tad enough not to hurt any of them, but she was going to be careful here.
"I’m hungry." Bree’s voice was low and ragged.
"Well, bon appétit," Hannah said with no emotion.
The man stirred fully now, panic showing in his expression when he looked around his environnt.
He started thrashing, but it was useless because Hannah shoved him inside with a hard kick, the sound of his body hitting the frozen floor making her jaw clench.
Bree crouched low, the cold slowing her but not enough to dull the instinct. She moved on all fours, her joints bending in unnatural ways, with her head tilting at an odd angle as she stalked him. The rune might sap her strength, but it couldn’t starve the hunger out of her.
The man’s cries beca pleading. "Please—please—"
But the sound was cut short by a wet crunch as Bree’s hands locked onto him. Her fingers curved like talons, digging into his flesh. She lowered her face, inhaling deeply before sinking her teeth into his throat with a tearing sound that ripped through the silence. Blood stead against the cold air, splattering across the ground.
His screams was high and desperate, before turning into choked gargles.
Hannah didn’t stay to watch the nightmare, she had already stepped back and let the guards seal the door. By the ti she got to the first door, the screaming had stopped.
She shouldn’t feel anything for him. Sympathy was a weakness in this family, yet Hannah couldn’t help it. Maybe it was because all he’d wanted was to leave this hell hole and explore the wonders of others places.
But Angus with his festering paranoia and trust issues didn’t forgive wanderers. In his mind, a man who left could talk, and a man who talked could ruin eveything he was working hard for. So, like all loose ends, he had to be tied up and fed to Bree.
The village of Duskmoon Hollow had not exactly been popular even before Angus claid it. Its people had been a strange mix of humans and witches who thrived in isolation. Not a single werewolf in sight... until him.
Here, he had lived with Ziva’s mother and turned the village into his base of operations. Slowly, he bent Duskmoon Hollow to his will as the witches beca his tools, and the humans his servants.
And perhaps it was the magic the witches wove into the air that cloaked the village from prying eyes, but no one dared disturb Duskmoon Hollow. Not the neighboring towns. And especially not the governnt.
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