CHPT 165: Property Returned.

Pain. "Were you supposed to feel pain in dreams?" He wondered to himself a dozen times over as he watched and felt himself change. Change into something horrifying. His brother did the same, screaming and crying as he swiped and scratched at his steaming body.

The pale Full Moon's light broke through the dense forestry above him, searing their flesh with its rays as shimmering golden fur rippled across his skin. His brother seemed to be taking longer, forced to endure more pain.

The hellish pain felt like it lasted forever. Forever burned by the moon, forever enraged, forever a monster.

By the time it was all over, his old self was gone. He was completely out of control, merely a passenger in the newly formed body of the monster that seemed to always be dormant inside of him. His brother was gone, somewhere silent, unnaturally silent. It felt so real.

He could smell for miles, picking up and taking notice of scents he couldn't even accurately name. Same with his hearing and sight. It was all magnified immensely. The serene beauty of it all— the forest, the sky, the cool winds, it was all destroyed. Burned to the ground by one thing. A smell.

A smell so foul and utterly alarming that he was drawn to it. Urged to seek it out and obliterate the source of it. It was something he'd smelled before, but now with his senses boosted by whatever he'd become, it was unbearable.

The scent was what he usually assigned to one person. A person he despised. A lair, a Wolf in Sheep's clothing that strung him along, making him think he was strong— like he needed it, making him look like a fool. He knew he disliked the person the day he first had to fight him at the C.S Academy. Back when he found the scowling boy eyeing him like he was fresh meant, as if the boy didn't know who he was or who he'd become.

The same boy he'd learned had been a monster the whole time.

"Claude." He thought disdainfully.

Following his thought, his monstrous dream self followed the foul scent that threatened to drive him mad.

The source was reached in no time. Finding himself no longer able to call what he was experiencing a dream— but instead a nightmare.

What stood in front of him on two incredibly muscular long legs was a black furred beast with eyes that glowed brilliantly, glowed with Hate. He'd seen them before, he was sure of who it was, and so was his monstrous self who let out a howl foreshadowing blood and carnage.

That's exactly what followed. And he felt everything. Every slash, bite, kick and blast of red lightning that made him black out for portions of his dream, causing it to look like he was skipping time.

Then suddenly, it was just them— like the many times before. Him and Claude.

He used to find it so disrespectful. Someone so weak, constantly at ends with him. He was destined to be somebody, Claude was nobody. He was supposed to be a nobody. But he kept getting up, kept getting angrier, closing off more people, being more dedicated to training even though he sucked.

"Was there a time when he was weak? Did he always have this inside of him?" He wondered to himself while he looked at the dark monstrosity in front of him. Completely different in body and mind, but those eyes. Claude's eyes were always the same. It pissed him off.

"AAARRRRWWWOUUUU!!" A howl cut off his train of thought. His dream self and the self that was simply watching. The howl cut through everything like a sword, like cold sharpened steel it sliced the confines of his nightmare to shreds. Thrusting him into a world of black. A world of new pain.

The new pain he felt in his bones. In his burning and aching muscles. On his raw and tender skin.

"AAWWOUUU!!" It came again, rattling his brain and igniting his insides. It felt too real.

"Wake up, boy" An incredibly deep and smooth voice said, pulling him to the surface of whatever remains of his dream he floated idly through.

"If I have to say it again, I'll break your arm." The voice said, explaining the serious threat with almost no emotion as if it was nothing to him.

Slowly, he opened his eyes that felt like they needed to be closed for a few more hours.

In response, his heart immediately sank.

He knew where he was. He'd been here before. He remembered the long grass clearing, the tall coniferous pine and sequoia trees that jutted from the tops of hills and around the clearing like dark natural columns cutting into the night sky and hovering over the monsters inside.

"Wake up sleeping beauty, your Alpha has questions." A deep South African accented male voice said from behind him.

The voice made his spine tingle, he could hear the violence and anger just beneath the surface.

He slowly sat up and turned around to face them, only able to recognize two men. Two men that he last saw as something inhuman, tearing up his fellow students.

A handful of men and women— monsters looking like humans, stood over them. He could smell that they weren't human. With further inspection he could see it as well. Their thick and calloused fingers were tipped with long black claws. On their bodies, thick hair or fur covered their forearms, chests, backs and legs. Some of the men and women smiled at him, showing long canine fangs that were an unsettling shade of pink.

He couldn't recognize many of them, but they all looked like they were from different parts of the world. Joined by their shared monstrosity.

On the far left, a short fair skinned Asian woman watched him with the beautifully dangerous eyes of a serpent. Her long jet black hair hung loosely down around her unblemished face and covered the portion of her breasts that her partially opened draping black cloak didn't. Her eyes flashed light green when she found him looking.

"Aiko, we're here to assist the Alpha in questioning the boy. Not watch you seduce him." The deep and unsettling African accented voice said again.

His eyes flicked to the source of the voice, finding himself looking to an impossibly tall dark skinned man with twisted tendrils of coarse black hair that snaked down past his neck and over his broad blackish brown fur covered shoulders. He had to be at least 7ft, covered in dark skin, fur and iron dense muscle.

He couldn't help but gulp silently to himself.

His fear was immediately noticed as all their nostrils flared to take it in.

"Haha! You smell scared, kiddo." An incredibly familiar voice said.

He looked down and turned his head to the disheveled runt of the group.

"Jack." He thought in fear.

The man looked just as he remembered. Disgusting and poor.

His black slimy hair sat on his sun tanned leathery skinned head like a reverse crown, bordering the top of his skull where it was balding. He lacked the decency to cut it and let the slimy locks run down his surprisingly muscled shoulders where he had cuts and blemishes everywhere like an old used canvas. The last thing he noticed was the mans psychotic brown eyes and rotted sharp teeth.

It was all placed at the back of his mind when he was forced to notice the overwhelming aura in the place that demanded attention and respect. The Alpha.

Dolion stood in front of them all, eyeing him speculatively while his temples tensed and relaxed in response to his razor sharp defined jaws flexing in aggravation.

He suddenly took in a deep breath and ran a sickle clawed hand over his tightly pulled black hair, letting it smoothen his long snake-like ponytail that ran down his back as he exhaled.

"Alright Samuel, where in gods name is your brother?.....and where is Claude?"