Kate's P.O.V.
As long as I live, I will never forget what happened after Miles left our den. Exhausted and still disturbed by what I had seen the day before, I decided to close my eyes and try to get some sleep so that perhaps I could forget about the state of the world for at least a little while. But sleep would not come easily. I tossed and turned restlessly as my mind and the little lives that writhed within me refused to grant me peace, and I nearly gave up on any efforts of rest, but eventually I felt myself begin to slowly slip away. However, just as I had begun to drift away to the realm of my dreams, I was violently thrown back to earth by the sound of blood curdling, horrified screams and cries. Immediately, my head shot up off of my paws and my ears and fur stood on end. Intently, I listened to the land around me as I struggled to comprehend what I had just heard. Surely, it had to be a dream. However, when more screams rang out into the air, I pressed myself up to my paws and quickly made my way toward the mouth of my den, but was promptly intercepted by the sound of paws and a panicked Miles rounding the corner to my home.
"Miles?"
"Kate," he panted, deeply.
"What's going on?" I demanded firmly.
"I don't know," he replied, "but we've gotta get you to your father's den. Come on."
I admit that I was wary, as our complicated past made it incredibly difficult to trust him, but in the midst of the confusion, I simply nodded and rose to follow, but as soon as he turned around, he was greeted by fangs in his throat.
"Uncle Miles!" I cried as I watched his life shoot like a fountain from his neck and stepped back as he fell to the ground.
I breathed heavily and my eyes filled with tears as they fell upon the slain alpha before me and I watched, horrified as the man I adored and admired for my entire life slowly, painfully died. I felt sick as he finally ceased to choke and twitch where he fell, but before I could fully process what I had just seen, a dark chuckle caused me to lift my eyes to the wolf who stood in the doorway of my home.
"Nothing personal," he sneered and then spat upon my dead friend's face.
Humphrey's P.O.V.
It all happened so fast that I didn't even have time to truly comprehend what I saw before I once more ducked behind the cover of the land around me. Without warning, Scar was suddenly rushed from all sides by a group of ravenous thugs and quickly subdued, while up ahead, two more wolves scooped up the pups and carried them back to him. Silently I watched as the pups were dropped somewhere out of sight and for a moment silence fell. Then, from behind the veil of wolves who stood before and taunted the captured alpha, Victor appeared. Upon seeing our esteemed Chief Justice a sigh of relief left my lungs. Surely this had all been a trap and finally the Artist was about to be brought down. However, as he spoke, I felt my stomach drop.
"So my suspicions were true," he began and then roughly kicked the alpha in the face, "one of my most loyal subjects- nothing more than a dirty, omega-loving traitor."
As his paw made such brutal contact upon the side of his face, the crowd chuckled, sadistically.
"Though, I suppose I should have expected this from you," he continued, "you always did strike me as the idealist type. John."
He stepped aside and Hutch emerged from the crowd with the pups hanging by their scruffs from his teeth.
"Of course, I can understand being a man of principle," Victor stated as he set his gaze upon the pups that struggled between Hutch's teeth, "after all, it was principle that got me where I am now."
Scar said nothing.
"I'm sure you heard the rumors," he continued in Scar's silence, "and I'm here to tell you now: They're all true. Jonas had his principles, just as I have mine, and just as you have yours. But there's something about me that no one seemed count on: While he was merely willing to fight for his principles… I'm willing to kill for mine."
With a gnash of his fangs, he ripped the pup closest to him from Hutch's teeth and violently thrashed the young body with ferocious shakes of his head. I watched, horrified, as the pup's tiny body was ripped open by the his fangs and then eviscerated by the force of Victor's shakes. I felt sick as this harrowing scene unfolded and I felt my soul shatter as his sister's hysterical screams pierced my ears, but then, the world seemed to fall inert as Hutch took her head between his teeth and effortlessly crushed it. In this moment, there was a dull crack and then, finally, an eerie silence. I covered my mouth with my paw and through mortified, quivering breaths, tried to suppress my tears as I turned away. There was then a pair of earthy thuds as they dropped the pups' lifeless bodies to the grass at their paws, followed by the sadistic laughter of the vile wolves who restrained the alpha beneath them. In this moment, I found my courage and allowed my eyes to return to the scene.
"You son of a bitch," he growled through white hot tears as he struggled to break free.
Victor shook his head as he clicked his tongue.
"Terrible shame, really," Victor mused apathetically as he used his paw to roll one of the lifeless pups over and over as he examined its corpse, "for omegas they had pretty strong bones. Probably coulda fetched us a pretty good price in the slave trade up North, but you just had to play hero. Honestly, had you not done that, I woulda let them live. Once they served their purpose and the omega was dead, I would have seen to it that they led comfortable lives up North as den ooks, but now they're nothing more than meat and for that you can only blame yourself."
Scar snarled.
"You fucking coward," he snapped, "I'll kill you!"
"No you won't," Victor replied, dismissively.
As though on cue, the entire mob rushed him and with a merciless onslaught of teeth and fangs, they ripped him limb from limb until there was nothing more than a pile of mincemeat on the ground. Mortified tears stung my eyes as I collapsed with my back against the rock behind which I hid and I tried with everything I had to keep my emotions in check like Miles had taught me, but nothing I learned could have ever prepared me for the horrors that I witnessed on that day.
"I know you're there, ook," Victor called, "give yourself up peacefully and I promise to kill you quickly."
I remained frozen with fear.
"No?" he called, smugly.
A brief silence.
"Alright. Flush him out," I heard Victor order, annoyed.
My heart pounded like a drum in my ears and I hyperventilated as my fears slowly consumed the entirety of my being. In that moment, I couldn't move, speak, or even think. My entire body was locked down. I trembled and bit back at the tears that streamed down my cheeks, but then the sound of a thud before me drew my eyes to the ground and when they beheld the eviscerated pup lying at my paws with his head removed and the slain alpha's heart skewered in place by his spine, I completely lost it. In a mad, clumsy scramble, I began to scream cry as I pushed myself away from him.
"What's the matter, filth?" Hutch called as the wolves in his company laughed derisively at me, "don't you like my latest masterpiece? I call it 'The Head and the Heart'!"
Unable to think clearly as the weight of the situation into which I had been thrust came crashing down upon me, my body seemed to act independently of my brain and I began to run. With a scramble of paws, I stumbled to my feet and took off like a bullet into the woods behind me.
"John. Fetch."
I panted and cried hysterically as I blindly crashed through the undergrowth, taking no heed to the branches that slapped my face and sliced my skin. I had no idea where I was going or what I needed to do in order to escape or protect my life. I just knew that, in the moment, running worked, so until it didn't, that's what I was going to do.
Kate's P.O.V.
A mixture of emotions flooded over my body as I glared at the wolf before me.
"You son of a bitch," I growled through hot, angry tears.
Unapologetically, he smirked at me as he stepped over my friend's lifeless body.
"Hello, Kate," Gauge greeted, sinisterly, "it's been a while."
"You're dead," I growled through white hot tears, "you hear me? Dead!"
At this, he chortled, derisively.
"Strong talk, underlover," he replied, smugly, "but you and I both know how this ends."
I hate to admit it, but in truth, he was right. Even though I didn't want to think about it, we both knew that unless some miracle occurred, it was over for me. In my current state, I couldn't fight, or even run fast enough to escape. I knew it from the moment I saw him end my friend's life, and it was for that reason that I could only stand there, helpless as Miles slowly bled out on the ground. I took in a deep breath of collection and glared fiery daggers back at him.
"Well then what are you waiting for?" I demanded, bravely, "if you think you're man enough, then do it. Kill me. Kill an innocent mother and her unborn pups."
He smirked and chuckled inwardly.
"Brave," he began, "or stupid. Either way, I've always admired that about you, Kate."
He began to slowly approach.
"But there's… something else I've admired more."
As he spoke, he drew in a long, slow whiff of my scent and then smirked, evilly. I had only ever seen that look one other time in my life, and as soon as his gaze met mine, I knew exactly what he intended to do and my stomach sank to my paws.
"And since your husband is as good as dead…"
I backpedaled away from him.
"No…" I replied, breathlessly.
"Oh yeah," he replied, smugly, "thanks to John, we knew about your little plan from day one."
My heart dropped.
"You're lying," I accused in disbelief, "Hutch would never work with you."
"Yeah, my uncle was afraid of that when he realized who John really was," Gauge said with a shrug, "You know how indie artists are these days. Always gotta do everything their way, but, well… here we are."
I gulped deeply as that horrible realization slammed into me like a freight train and tears began to stream down my cheeks.
"But… Candu…" I argued as my mind once more tried to reject the reality that it faced, "best friends…"
"Oh, it was brutal," Gauge mused, fondly, "He was ferocious, like an animal, or something possessed. And yet… he was oddly methodical as he dismembered the runt- almost like he was savoring every cut. Gods, you should have seen it… Watching him work truly is something to behold."
I simply sniffled, unable to speak, and swallowed once more at the lump in my throat.
"Honestly, I wish I could be there to watch him kill and stage your husband," he continued in my silence, "according to him, Humphrey's body is going to be his 'greatest masterpiece', but the only masterpiece I care about right now, is you."
In this moment, I felt my tail bump the wall behind me and I gasped as he pressed upon me still. I quickly glanced behind me and then back at him as the totality of my helplessness consumed me.
…
…
I'm sorry. I just need a minute… Something like this is just so difficult to talk about, and I'd honestly rather not talk about it or relive it in such detail, but… I feel like it's important, ya know? No one should ever have to experience the horrors that I experienced, but I feel like it's important for those of you out there who were victims of sexual assault to know that there is a life on the other side of it. You're not alone. That's why, as hard as it is for me to relive it, you need to know what I know and see what I saw.
…
Okay…
"Gauge, please," I begged, desperately, "don't do this."
He chuckled, darkly, as he stopped mere inches away from me and then leaned in to sniff me. As his nose drew close to me, I pressed myself up against the wall, I guess hoping that somehow I could miraculously pass through it, and when I felt it begin to trace the fur along my neck, I shuttered.
"Mm," he moaned, shakily, "you smell so good."
Then, before I could even blink, he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and dragged me away from the wall. Desperately I pleaded with him to stop, but he simply continued to pull upon my scruff as I struggled for my life against him. And then, as the futility of it all fully settled in upon me, something suddenly snapped. I had come to terms with the fact that I was probably going to die by his paw long ago, but in that moment, I resolved that I would not go without my dignity. I refused to be a victim again. So I resisted his might and tried with everything I had to pull away. The harder I pulled, the harder he clamped down and it wasn't long before I felt his teeth pierce my flesh, but to the pain I took no heed and I continued to fight.
Frustrated by my resistance, he threw his body into the sides of my legs and then used it as leverage to toss me over onto my back. I painfully struck the ground, but no matter what I kept fighting. Gauge then stood over me and attempted to place his paws upon my neck, but the combination of my pregnant belly and my forepaws kept him at bay. In his eyes, I could see the same wild hunger that fueled Daniel that fateful day and between his thighs, I could see the tip of his dick poking out of his sheath, eager to violate me as Daniel had done. In that moment, I found myself back in that den in A-School on the day that I lost my innocence. I felt the same sense of panic and desperation wash over me and when I closed my eyes, I saw Daniel standing over me just as Gauge was, with his sexual hungers raging and willing to get their fill by any means necessary.
"Ugh, stop fighting me bitch!" he growled and then punched me hard in the face, "just let this happen."
I cried out in pain as his brutal blow struck the side of my muzzle, but my will remained unshaken. It wasn't going to happen to me. Not again.
"Fuck you, cocksucker!" I growled, breathlessly as I used my claws to slash his face.
Gauge snarled loudly as he felt my claws slice his skin and I watched as the whites of his eyes ran red with rage. With a shout, he pushed himself up onto his hind legs. I attempted to roll away, but before I could, he slammed stiff legged paws down onto my stomach. The pain and the swell of emotions that I felt when the lives in me writhed to get away from him was indescribable, but it had caused just enough of a lapse in my concentration for him to be able to completely overpower me. Next thing I knew, a brutal barrage of blows landed upon my face and it wasn't long before I could feel my consciousness begin to fade, but then finally his paws were withheld and I lied there on the ground beneath him, my face swollen and bloody. With me subdued, he removed himself from atop my body.
Without an ounce of quit in me, I attempted to stand, but as I moved, he flipped me over onto my stomach. I tried to push myself up off of my chest, but he mounted me and, too weak to support his weight, I found myself pinned to the ground. From his position upon my back I heard him chuckle, darkly.
"You see, Kate. This is how it should be," he sneered into my ear as I continued to try to push him off of me, "bitch facedown in the dirt where she belongs, a big, powerful alpha on her back, breeding her whether she likes it or not. That's all you females were ever intended for, and it's time you cunts relearned your place."
Tears streamed down my face as I futilely continued to try to free myself from him, but the hard reality of it was: I was beaten. Once again, I would be a victim and there wasn't anything that I could do about it. I sniffled as I felt the tip of his phallus nestle itself between my labia and prepared to have what remained of my innocence stolen yet again. As I felt him slowly penetrate me, I weakly sobbed and begged him to stop, but my pleas for mercy fell upon deaf ears. Then, from the distance, a haunting howl rose into the air and I felt his knot touch my lips.
"You hear that, bitch?" he sneered as he came to rest inside me, "the Day of Reckoning is upon you."