The Save From Execution

“Maddie! Maddie, what happened to you?!” Steve was the first to act, as he rushed to Maddie’s side once more, holding the girl close to him.

“S-… Something… hurts…” she spoke in a strained voice. “My chest… My heart…”

As soon as those two words left her lips, a thought crossed her mind, as Maddie glanced at Ellie. Like her, she saw her now-worthless sister was also experiencing some kind of pain in her chest, only she was toughing it all out. Not that that mattered; what mattered most was the fact that the pair seemed to be experiencing the same pain, at the same time.

‘Don’t tell me…!’ Maddie grew enraged when another thought came to her mind.

“It was you… wasn’t it…?” she began. “As some last ditch effort to get back at me for taking what was rightfully mine… You casted some kind of curse on me, didn’t you?!”

Ellie- fighting through the pain still- was baffled by the accusations. “Excuse me…? What are you talking about? I don’t know any sort of witchcraft, unlike you,” she managed to say.

“Playing stupid this time, too? Enough of this! Steve! There is no mercy for that bitch. We must end her!”

“And that we will. Along with some nice dose of humiliation,” Steve suggested, looking at Ellie with great ire. “Not only for somehow causing you pain, but also so we all can vent out our frustrations in having her in our presence!”

At those words, the werewolves around them let out howls in agreement, clearly wanting to let out some steam on Ellie. The outsider had thought she would not get any more shocked by what goes on in this pack, but was proven wrong at the sight of it all.

‘I truly meant nothing to them, was I?’ she thought.

Be it because she saw how lively her packmates were by Steve’s suggestion, or simply because she was all for the thought herself, Maddie smiled and turned to Ellie. “Yeah… Okay, let’s do that,” she said, still feeling that questionable pain. “Lock that mutt up at once! For her crime of casting whatever forbidden witchcraft on me, the stray werewolf Ellie is to be tortured and humiliated for the next three days. On the fourth day… we will make that a public execution!”

Many werewolves let out howls and cheers of excitement at the announcement. Ellie, on the other hand, glared at Maddie for the twisted call.

“Hold it right there! Just because you’re in pain doesn’t mean you can take it out on me!” she shouted, only to receive a knee to the gut and a kick to the back by two werewolves in the sidelines closest to her.

“Shut up, you outcast!”

“No one cares about what happens to you, stray. Now act like some dog you are and stay on the ground where you belong.”

As much as Ellie wanted to get up and scold the two for attacking her like so, her body felt far too heavy for her to event attempt to lift herself up.

“Whoa there, you two. I like that enthusiasm, but there’s no fun in attacking her now,” Steve spoke. “We need to give her time to rest and recover from undergoing all those rites. Once she is well enough, then we all can have our fun!”

At that, the other werewolves around them let out howls in agreement, making Ellie feel frightened by what was to come for her.

******

How right she was to be frightened. After everything that happened that day, Ellie got dragged by a couple of mutts to her cage. Once she spent a night’s worth of recovering, as Maddie had announced, it was time for her to take her position in the plaza, and allow her former packmates to do what they wish to her. Some mauled her, some whipped her with various objects, some sexually assaulted her. Many times, Ellie tried to fight back, to break free from her prison, but because her wolf was taken away, swapped with a much weaker wolf, she could barely muster any strength, and was always overpowered by the other werewolves.

As for Maddie, ever since the Wolf Swap Rite was complete, for some reason, she was not as happy as she should be. It was not that she was unsatisfied with her strength, but more because of her relationship with Steve. For some reason, rather than be happy with him, all she could feel was agonizing pain around the guy. No one could figure out why that was, but the two lovebirds claimed that Ellie must have done something to put a wedge in their relationship.

For the past three days, aside from the constant torture, Steve and Maddie both demand that Ellie undo whatever curse she had placed on the latter, in which the victim werewolf had exclaimed that she knew nothing about what they were talking about. Alas, neither they nor anyone else believed her, and often stepped things up a notch in the many ‘sessions’. All that time of being caused pain by the people she saw as friends, Ellie continuously wondered why they would treat her so horribly. Was it really because she was a stray werewolf? Because she was not truly a part of this pack? Quite the petty reason for the cruel treatment, especially since Maddie’s parents were the ones who picked her up because they knew of her origin. Whatever her origin was.

After the three days of everlasting pain, it was finally time for the end of it all… The day of her execution. Tied with her hands bound to her back, Ellie was dragged to the plaza once more. Her body was now so full of bruises and injuries, and she barely had any strength left in her. All around, werewolves shouted out various insults to her, but she lacked the ability to care of the words being said, or even of the various items being thrown at her. With all that happened, she no longer cared about anything.

‘It’s soon, isn’t it…?’ she thought. ‘The end of my suffering…’

Upon arriving, her escort kicked her calf, forcing her down to her knees. Even though a bone broke from the harsh kick, Ellie did not let out even a gasp.

“Welcome, brothers and sisters of the Hermit Pack! The time has finally come… for us to witness the execution of a filthy stray!” Maddie began. “Not only is she a stray; she is also nothing more than a traitorous werewolf! For her to cast a curse- no doubt from a witch- onto me, your rightful Alpha heiress! And all because I wanted to maintain my right as Alpha, and be with the one I love most. Tonight, she will have her final judgement!”

The werewolves all howled in agreement to the declaration, wanting to see retribution come already. Hearing their reaction to her coming death, being reminded for one last time of how little she truly meant to them, Ellie could not help feeling more despaired.

“Then, without further ado… Since she has so much feelings for a mate who does not share the same sentiment, it is only fitting she get a poetic ending,” Maddie said, turning to Steve, who approached with a silver sword in hand.

“It is my honor, oh great Alpha,” he said with a bow. He turned to Ellie, and approached her with the weapon. “You know, Ellie. It doesn’t really have to end this way. Just simply undo the curse you put on Maddie, and maybe I can talk her out of killing you.”

Ellie said nothing in response to the proposal, in which Steve shrugged off.

“Yeah… Killing you is faster.” He raised the sword up over his head and swung it down on Ellie’s neck.

No thought came to her mind as she waited for the blade to cut through her. No desire to live, no thirst for vengeance, nothing. Just wait for her death in peace.

Just before the blade could even touch her flesh, though, a set of screams resounded.

“What’s going on?!” Maddie demanded, enraged that something disrupted what would’ve been the next best thing to happen in her life.

As if to answer, a frightened werewolf frantically rushed towards them. “Alpha! It’s terrible! A trespasser has entered our territory! He-” Before the reporting werewolf could finish his words, a figure suddenly came and struck him, knocking his head cleanly off his shoulders, much to the shock of many others, as blood spewed out of the corpse.

Next thing anyone knew, the figure charged towards Steve. The guy was taken aback by the action and stumbled back. While he managed to avoid death by his assailant, as the latter swiped his arm at Steve’s, not only did the sword get knocked out of his hands… but his arm also got torn off his body.

“GYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!” A terrifying scream escaped Steve’s lips, as he flailed along on the ground, clutching his now-armless, bleeding shoulder in great pain.

“Steve!” Maddie cried out, rushing to him in worry. She then glared at the intruder- who undid Ellie’s binds and picked her up in his arms- and shouted, “Stop him! Stop that damn outcast this instant!”

As soon as she gave her command, the figure turned to her. “I would like to see your pitiful mutts try.”

Maddie glared at his insulting words. “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Unlike her, however, her parents and several others flinched when they saw who this werewolf was. “W-Wait a second… Why are you here?! Your pack should be far from here!” Aiden gasped in fright.

Maddie and many others looked at the pair in confusion. “Huh? Dad, you know that mutt?”

Lila widened her eyes in shock at her daughter’s question. Specifically at what she called this newcomer. “Maddie! You should know better than to call him that! That’s Alpha William!”