THE CLAIMING (The Chosen Series #1)

Маленький волк

Colors, fragments flash through my mind, a kaleidoscope of pictures, like watching a movie reel spinning on overdrive. I know I'm dreaming, stuck in a semi-conscious state, aware but unable to wake.

Letting my mind drift, I attempt to slow down what I see, to focus on one picture rather than all. I'm unfamiliar with the images and scenes, but there's one common element in everything I'm witnessing: Griffin. My Wolf. And with each slide comes foreign emotions, like I'm in his head.

Pushing all my energy to try and stop on one, I finally snagged a fragmented image of a youth, a boy, with innocent blue eyes, and I'm pulled in.

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She's in so much pain. I want to help her. I don't like seeing people cry, least of all girls. But he won't let me. He never lets me. He tells me I can only watch. Why won't he let me help her? Ma says I'm good at helping.

He tells me all women feel like this when I ask. That it's normal, natural, but I don't think he's telling the truth. He always smells kind of funny when he lies, and now he smells sour.

A little hand squeezes my own, and I look down to see large almond eyes peering back at me. She's scared too, she's seen what happens, and that this is NOT good, it's never good.

Smiling at her, I squeeze Ciara's hand back. We know not to talk when we're near the white room. We know not to make noise as it makes him mad, and we don't like it when he gets mad.

The woman, her name is Lila, I think, she looks like Ma, they all look like Ma, and she's screaming. There's blood coming from between her legs, and her belly is so big it looks like it's about to explode, just like what the soda bottles would do when Da used to shake them for fun. Da, I miss him so much. He wouldn't have had us here with him if he were still alive.

Another warm hand, this one bigger, comes to rest on my shoulder, the smell of jasmine and iris tickling my nose. Ma.

"Come, my Prince, you don't need to see this," then, reaching down to pick up Ciara, she coos at the little girl, "you either, mo bhanphrionsa beag," I know she just called Ciara her little princess. Ma has told me how smart I am that I can learn different languages.

I look up at her. Ma is beautiful, I look more like my Da, but I have her eyes. Ma's belly is getting larger too. I'm afraid that what is happening in the white room will happen to her when it's her time.

We've been in the facility for a while. Ma says it's been nine months, but I've lost track of time. All I know is that it's a really long time. I miss my Da. I want to go home to the Ranch and play with my friends. I miss my friends.

Ma leads us back to our room, all "his" kids should be in here, but it's just Ciara and me. Ma says that I need to behave for him so he doesn't hurt me. I know that's not true though, because he still gets angry with me even when I'm good, and do as he asks. He tells me that the pain will make me strong and that it's good for me to feel it, to see it. I don't like watching as he cuts up the women's bodies when they still make noise. I know it's all part of the procedure, the surgery, but I still don't like it.

Viktor is evil, calls himself a 'scientist.' But all I see him do is watch as they give birth to mess.

He tried once to get me to help with the delivery, got one of the women to lie down. I couldn't do it, and I felt like I would pee, so I cried. That made him mad. He called me a girl and pushed me out of the way. He then made me watch as he cut the woman's stomach, her voice making funny noises when she turned red and her eyes closed.