DPOV

Another one fell to my sword as the next was ripped apart by my wolf.

The blood dripping from his mouth felt as real to me as the blood lingering on my hands. Even though he was a couple of feet away from me.

He growled at his next victim and I mimicked the same at my next intended target. But where my wolf's victim wasn't fast enough to do anything before he was shredded, my own victim quickly fell to the ground, his head bent down, on his knees in recognition of my status.

He had trouble lifting his gaze. He was weak in terms of the pack order. He had been a foot soldier in the alpha slave master's ranks. I could see tears running down his face, but whether it was from the fear of death or because of the sheer magnitude of my dominance I could never tell.

My wolf was an alpha and therefore so was I. Or maybe it was the other way around. The man before me didn't have a shred of dominance in him and he recognized my power. I could extend my energy to make sure people bent the knee for me. Most alphas could. but I hadn't even needed it in this instance.

I walked away from the sorry heap of a man. One of my own will decide if he has enough worth to serve another pack. That wasn't something I could or wanted to decide.

I looked around wondering if there were any more assailants in the vicinity. I didn't expect a full army, but I was a little disappointed with the shortness of the battle.

My wolf returned to me and stood next to me. I was an impressive six feet seven inches and his eyes were on level with mine. He was the biggest wolf around. The size of one's wolf was directly proportional to their strength. Not per se physical strength, but I think in my case the analogy wasn't far off. I had a couple lieutenants whose wolves came up to their ribs, which was already quite impressive.

The wolf represented the animal instinct in all of us. I let mine out during battle, where my animal instincts were well suited, but he remained chackled inside my body most of the time in public, I only led him out in my quarters. But we were always one, whether he was inside of my body or a representation of me in the cool air.

"General."

I turned around and looked at my second. A beta in the king's pack.

"We have made a path into the building. Most of them have fled, but we seem to have hit a problem."

I furrowed my brows. My team didn't do problems. I didn't do problems. Certainly not when I take a whole legion to squash an insurrection by a local slave owner who's head had gotten too big for his body. I thought taking a smaller team would have sufficed, certainly because I was with them, but the King had been adamant that this kind of behavior needed to be dealt with with excessive force. I had rolled my eyes. I tried to stay out of his way as much as possible. This was just a battle I hadn't been willing to fight him on.

The so-called Alpha had caved to me the moment I walked in. They always say that they can take on the great General but when they come face to face with me and my wolf, they suddenly realize not all Alphas are created equal. I knew better than to leave him alive. The King didn't care about his slaves or his soldiers. He cared that this slave master was taken care of. He preferred gruesome and painful, but out here in the field he had no say.

I killed him quickly, allowing him this one mercy. I didn't do it for him though. I did it to make sure I distanced myself from the King's ways. The last thing I wanted was to be like him.

I walked with the Beta and my wolf on my heels towards the ruin of the house.

He motioned me towards the back garden.

In the middle of the field of roses was a girl swinging a sword and keeping her attackers at bay. She wore the rags of a slave. There were shackles on her wrists and ankles, even if they currently weren't attached to a chain.

Unfortunately there were a lot of slaves. Not just owned by this slave master, but many more alike in these lands. I found the practice despicable. No human could own another human. I seemed to be alone in that thought process. But I was biased. I have accepted the way the world works. It was easier that way. Hope is a dangerous thing.

In my early days if I had come across a slave master I had to get rid of in the name of the King, I would try and help the slaves. I tried helping them flee, it wasn't in my power to set them free, but our world just couldn't deal with released slaves. There was no place for them. So many just ended up back into slavery or worse.

The circle seemed to keep spinning and nothing I did could ever make it stop.

Most slaves of this establishment were in bad shape. They had willingly surrendered. Some even sold out their master.

It was common. Slaves usually didn't have a master for long. Either the slave expired or the master did and they were sold to a new master. There was no loyalty from a slave to their master.

And I had seriously doubted this paticialy piece of shit had inspired the exceptional emotion in this girl trying to defend against my men.

Yet here she was hacking away at my men with surprisingly effective strikes. There were two dead men laying at her feet. And a third was engaging her.

My men were all well trained but this slave girl was keeping them at bay. She had no wolf by her side so either she hadn't begane the transformation yet, or hers wasn't helpful in a fight.

I assumed the first because she was amazing in this fight, so I very much doubted her wolf would be any different.

Her long dark hair flowed in the wind as she waved the sword around. I could see it was one of my swords. She must have taken it from one of her attackers, making me wonder what she had used to take the first one down. Her skin seemed to be a bit darker, but whether it was dirt, or a tan or always that way, I couldn't tell. Her dark-almost black eyes added to her overall exotic look and they were fierce and determined.

She was beautiful. But the state of her clothes and the dirt on her face and hair told me she wasn't one of the master's concubines. That told me more about who she was than anything. If someone that beautiful hadn't been made into a concubine it told me she was special, and not in a good way. She probably had other less desirable attributes for which she ended up as a common house slave. I must admit I was curious.

I walked a little closer and I finally was able to take her all in. And the reason for her resistance finally made sense. There was a girl at her feet. She had been obscured by the bodies of my men, but now I could see her clearly. She was on her knees with her hands over her head. Her light blond hair had specs of blood in them.

She wasn't fighting for her master. She was fighting for this girl.

She was good even if she was a bit rough around the edges. Which made me wonder how a slave girl had any sword fighting skills at all. She worked her attacker to the ground and was about to put her sword through him.

"Enough." I bellowed over all the fighting. The sword stopped two inches above my warrior's chest. I had laced the command a bit with that specific Alpha energy all people tended to obey.

Her head lifted up and met my gaze. Then her eyes darted towards my wolf. There was a moment of fear in her eyes before it was replaced by determination. She would protect her friend even from me. Even from my giant wolf. That was impressive.

I called back my warrior and he reluctantly got up and moved away.

I walked a little closer to the scene and the girl on the ground opened her eyes for the first time. She stayed close to her protector.

The blond girl was relatively unscathed. There was no blood on her except some specks in her hair and her clothes looked clean enough. The dark haired girl was different. She was covered in the blood of her enemies.

My wolf next to me growled. To anyone else it would have seemed like a growl of frustration or asserting dominance, but I knew the truth. He growled because he liked what he saw. Because I liked what I saw. The blood made her even more beautiful. Or maybe it were her brown nearly black eyes that would defy the Gods themselves to get her way, that were defying me. Either way, my wolf recognized she was special.

I hated bringing my wolf out because it made me feel naked. Every emotion he displayed was my emotion, but without the proper control to hide it. He was honest where I mostly wore a mask to hide my true feelings. I didn't like to be without my control.

I walked towards her, my wolf following. She backed up a bit but never left the blond girl's side. She held the sword in front of her. She tried using both hands as she had done before, but her left side seemed weak. I saw a blood stain on her clothes get bigger and bigger with each step I took. She was bleeding and wouldn't last much longer.

One of my men saw the weakness too and moved towards her. Before I could react, my wolf had reacted and jumped from my side to hers. He intercepted the strike aimed at her and bit into my warrior's arm. He didn't have time to plead or beg or change his mind because my wolf had his arm ripped off in two seconds flat. His gray, almost white fur got stained with more blood.

He would get clean once I would take a bath. The blood would come off.

My wolf wrapped himself around the girls. Growling at anyone that tried to get too close. I looked towards the dark haired girl. She seemed shocked but she wasn't afraid of my wolf. Which was a first. She seemed to appreciate the help in keeping the girl at her feet safe.

But she might just not have the strength to be afraid anymore. The stain kept getting bigger and bigger and she was starting to lose her posture.

My eyes were on the girl, but everyone else's eyes were on me. It was rare for my wolf to act out like that. I would have to remind everyone he hadn't protected the girls, he had punished the soldier that had disobeyed me by attacking her. Although the way my wolf had shielded the girl would raise some questions.

She collapsed but my wolf was able to break her fall. She was nested into his warm fur when I reached them. I could feel her warm body against my wolf as if she was laying against me. I shook off how good that felt. My wolf whimpered at me. He was a second away from licking her face when I recalled him. He had caused me enough trouble today.

His body dissolved into mystical tendrils that were associated with the transformation. The swirls of magic returned to my body and I was once again whole. The dark haired girl was left unconscious on the ground. The blond girl was looking at me weary but now that her protector had passed out she seemed at a loss of what to do.

She knew my wolf had protected her, she sized me up and down. She bent over her friend a little. I guess the protection goes both ways.

"You can't help her. I can." I said trying to sound the least bit intimidating. She hesitated for a moment, she seemed to take me in, as if seeing into my soul, looking for the truth in my words. Eventually she moved back so I could get to the unconscious girl.

I nodded towards the beta to get the blond hair girl up and to take her with us. I scooped the dark haired girl in my arms. She weighed nothing. I could feel the warmth of her blood dripping all over my hands. She needed a doctor and fast.

RPOV

It had been a shit show ever since that megalomaniac of a slave master had announced he was no longer under the influence of the King. I think he hit his head one too many times, because our King was not forgiving, he also wasn't weak.

I had wanted to run with Lissa the moment I heard him, knowing this would be the result.

No, that wasn't true. I wanted to run away with Lissa the moment I laid eyes on him. That had been two years ago and I had studied every exit strategy, every possibility of escape that wouldn't lead to our deaths, but there had been none where we both would make it out. So I had endured.

Ever since Lissa's parents and brother died we had been here. It was rare for a slave family to stay together, but somehow Lissa's parents had done that. Because our last slave master was kind. She had taken me in when I was four and paired me with Lissa. I could tell she had a soft spot for kids. She was too kind for this world.

You don't survive this world by being kind. A fact proven by her untimely demise. There had only been a few survivors of that attack. Lissa and I were one, her parents and brother hadn't been.

The moment we were sold to our current slave master I knew he was one of the cruel ones. I didn't think we could get lucky again. I had grown up with a full belly every night, someone that tucked me in at nighttime and I had survived childhood without lashes on my back or chains around my wrists.

The last two years had been different. I made sure he kept his paws off of Lissa, but I had taken the brunt of his punishments. I didn't care, I could take it.

Now that the Royal Army was at our doors we would get a new master. I didn't think we could do worse, so I should be glad about it. But sometimes there would be a purge of slaves if relocating was too much hassle and there were a lot of slaves here... It would be a hassle.

That and we still had to survive the attack first. Slaves didn't really protect their masters, but if we got in the way, soldiers wouldn't hesitate to take us down. We were expendable, our lives meant nothing.

But it also meant that in this chaos Lissa and I could escape. Nobody would know if two slaves weren't amongst the horde still alive. I doubt they would take the ledgers and do a full account of the living and the dead to make sure nobody was missing. So this was our chance.

I knew there were holes in that plan. For one we both had shackles so anyone would know we were slaves. I could maybe get a change of clothes and some supplies, but if we really wanted to escape we would have to get rid of them.

"That is crazy Rose. We will be severely punished if we get caught."

I knew Lissa was telling me the truth. But this might be the only chance we got, ever, to get away. To be something else than a slave. I would get rid of the shackles somehow.

"Don't worry, I will protect you, I always do." I said with more confidence than I felt. Lissa would follow me, I knew she would.

So I grabbed her hand and walked out the door into the garden. I knew most of the soldiers in the Kings legion would come in through the front. And they had already found their target. The screams of his concubines could be heard across the many acres of his property.

What I wouldn't have given to see that man's end at the end of a soldier's sword.

I hoped there wouldn't be any soldiers at the back yet. I moved with Lissa through the bushes, keeping ourselves low. Lissa was shaking beside me.

"It is okay Lissa. I need you to be strong. See there aren't any soldiers at the back. They don't care about us. They aren't looking for us."

Her shaking went down a little bit. I focused back on the garden. We would be relatively safe here where the bushes and trees were large enough to hide behind. But next was the rose garden. It would be a bit more difficult to hide there. The irony that I couldn't hide out in a rose garden wasn't lost on me.

We almost made it to the end when a group of soldiers spotted us. One of their eyes lingered on us a little too long. Another thing I wanted to avoid by leaving, getting raped by soldiers in the attack. I would never let that happen, but that might create...other problems. Best to avoid the situation.

Then he took in our bags and grinned. Dammit, it was clear we weren't just running away from the battle inside. We were also just running away.

The four men moved towards us and I put Lissa behind me protectively. Four men I could do. Four men stood between me and a chance at freedom.

I dropped the bag, placing it at Lissa's feet. I pulled out the knife I had swiped out of the kitchen when we moved past it. It wasn't very big. But it would have to do.

The one that had eye-fucked us was laughing and approached alone. That is the thing about men, they were always so arrogant to think they could take on a skinny little slave girl. It suited me just fine if he came at me alone, I hoped they all did. It would make my life much easier.

He lifted his giant heavy sword and while his hands were raised above his head I duck underneath and plunged the kitchen knife in his abdomen as far as it could go, then pulled back, ripping him open, taking most of his guts with me. The look of shock and horror on his face was almost comical as he dropped his sword in order to put his guts back in. He dropped to his knees only a few seconds later.

I switched the knife for the sword just in time for the next to come at me. Still one at a time.

The sword was harder to maneuver. I wasn't particularly strong. I used speed mostly to fight my battles and the element of surprise and both were hampered at this point.

I stumbled back a little and Lissa followed me. She tripped and went down on the ground. She was curving up in a ball and protecting her head. The soldier's sword came down on her but I was able to block it with my own and push back. It took a lot of strength but I had to. He swiped his sword across my side and he hit home. I was able to stop it from slicing me in half, but he still was able to hit my side. I could feel the warmth of blood seeping out of the wound and down my abdomen to my legs. It wasn't a fatal wound, but it would make it even more difficult to fight him.

But I had to. I still had two more to deal with. I kept my gaze on this man, looking him up and down. He was very big. Everyone always thought that was an advantage. But I knew different. When he attacked again, I bent down and sliced his calves. When he plummeted to the earth with a thud, I rammed my sword in his chest. Two down, two to go.

The third was already there, but this one wasn't as skilled as the others. He seemed almost awkward. I can't believe luck was on my side today. Although the wound at my side complicated things a bit. It took me a few moments, but I found an opening.

I swiped the feet from under him and was about to trust the sword in his chest in a similar way I had done for his comrade.

"Enough."

I stopped dead in my tracks at the sword hovered over his chest, missing it by a couple of inches. The authority used in the voice was clear and even my body instinctively obeyed the command. I had never felt the force of a voice that strong, of an Alpha that strong. I usually could ignore Alphas pretty well, but his power was absolute.

I looked up and I saw that we had gathered a crowd. There was no escaping now. Over on the other side of the garden were more and more soldiers lining up. But I knew instantly which one had issued the command.

He stood in the middle. His wolf at his side. His giant wolf. I have seen many wolves before, but never like this. The fur of the wolf was already smutched with blood and his teeth were dripping with it too. The red of the blood stood out against his nearly white fur. The wolf had a long haired coat and if it was clean I would have tried to touch it to see if it was as soft as I imagined it to be.

I moved my eyes to its owner. There was no mistaken him for anything other than an Alpha, than the Alpha, the General that commanded the Royal army. He was tall and muscular but not bulky as one of my attackers had been. He had his brown hair bound at the nape of his neck, but the battle had released a few strands from them.

He was handsome and he was young. Probably only a few years older than me. How had he made it to General already?

He called back his man that was at my feet. He stepped forward a bit, his wolf following. I raised my sword against him, but I couldn't keep it all the way up. The heaviness of the sword and the wound at my side were making it difficult.

I was starting to become weak, the blood loss was starting to affect me.

I heard his wolf growl. And it sent shivers down my spine. I told myself it was fear. Who wouldn't be afraid of that fucking giant wolf. But it didn't feel like fear, the growl hadn't felt menacing to me. I relaxed a fraction.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. The last of the squadron that had attacked me saw his chance. I didn't have enough strength left to block him. Not with this very heavy sword. At least I tried. At least we wouldn't be shipped off to another slave master. This wasn't how I wanted things to end. But I was glad I could go down fighting.

The blood sprayed across my face and neck but I hadn't felt any pain from a wound. I looked down and saw the blood wasn't mine. It was the soldiers. It kept spraying from the wound at his torso where his arm used to be. The arm that was currently in the mouth of that fucking giant wolf.

The near white wolf was now more red than white. He stood next to me protectively. He had defended me. Why? He growled at anyone in challenge. His body was wrapped around us and I could feel his tail bushing against my arm. He felt warm. I hadn't been warm in quite some time. His fur was indeed as soft as I imagined. I had this urge to pet him, to thank him. But even I wasn't that stupid.

My vision blurred and I knew I was moments from passing out. I looked down at Lissa, she was safe. The wolf would protect her, I didn't know why, but I knew he would.

The last thing I remembered before falling to the ground was the heat and softness of the wolf catching me.