Captive of the Lycan

The cramped studio apartment smelled of turpentine and desperation.

Sophia Bennett stared blankly at the empty white canvas propped on her easel, brush poised to create something from nothing as she had a thousand times before.

But this time...nothing. Just a hollowness that matched her bank account.

With a frustrated growl, she flung the brush across the room.

It clattered against the bare walls, leaving a streak of crimson paint in its wake.

"Get it together, Soph," she muttered, raking shaky fingers through her raven locks.

Without money for a proper meal in days, the dizziness and lethargy wasn't helping her tap into her dwindling creative spark.

Her phone rang beside her, and when she checked it was her boyfriend calling.

She sighed to herself before picking the call.

"You know what day it is sweetheart?" He asked while she just stared directly at the wall.

Sophia, after five years of relationship with Aiden could barely think of what their relationship was going to end up like.

As a matter of fact, she saw no future, neither did he, in the relationship.

"Day?" She questioned with a cocked brow, having been occupied all day with the zero in her bank account.

"You didn't forget did you?" He sounded disappointed.

Deep down, Sophia knew she had no time for this and wanted to burst out telling him to go straight to the point.

She kept her cool instead.

"It's my birthday Soph. How could you forget such an important day?" He asked, pain laced in his tone.

Sophia felt bad, like real bad. It was the first time ever she would forget something like this.

"What's wrong with you these days? You've been acting strange. First my mother's anniversary, my sister's graduation and now my birthday?"

My...my...my...

It was never once 'our'. He always had to be so selfish with himself.

"Aiden it was a mistake. I'm sorry I forgot. It's quite unusual."

"It's not, you've gotten used to it. Do you even care about our relationship anymore?"

She couldn't help the way her brows shot up. Then she sighed.

She should be asking him that question.

He had forgotten her birthday so many times even last year and she never complained about it... only checked to see if he was okay even when she knew he was.

But he...

She sighed. "I'll call you later Aiden."

"Don't try to exc..."

She hung up before placing her phone beside her.

Maybe a walk to clear her head would-

A thunderous boom shook the building's ancient foundation.

Sophia gasped, clutching her easel for balance as the lights flickered.

More deafening crashes echoed up the stairwell, coupled with bloodcurdling roars. Inhuman. Furious.

Then the screams began. High and shrill, bouncing off every surface. Sobs and pleas for mercy in between the demonic snarls.

"Oh god..." Trembling, Sophia crept to her door and pressed a shaking eye to the peephole.

A wave of copper scented the musty air - blood, her mind numbly registered.

"Sweet merciful heaven..." She recoiled, eyes wide at the hunched shadow figures prowling in the hallway.

Abnormally large, they skulked with inhuman grace despite their grotesque, contorted shapes.

As they neared an apartment door, muscles rippled in choreographed violence beneath shaggy, coarse fur.

A fist the size of a sledgehammer punched through the door - raining splinters.

Sophia gasped, clamping both hands over her mouth to muffle the sound as the monster easily ripped the door from its hinges.

The screams grew louder, mixing in sickening snaps and crunches that ripped the breath from Sophia's lungs.

Slaughter. Massacre.

With the grace of an Olympic gymnast, one of the monstrous shapes spun in her direction, snout lifting.

Its nostrils flared as a chilling metallic howl reverberated through the enclosed space.

It caught her scent.

Petrified, Sophia couldn't move.

All thoughts skittered away as blinding terror rooted her to the spot.

The only sound was the thundering of her own heart pounding in her ears.

The thing lowered its massive snout, beady black eyes boring into the souls of its prey as it prowled closer.

Closer, closer, the growls growing louder.

Desperate, Sophia strained against the paralyzing fear, forcing air through her lungs.

Then she screamed.

Ear-splitting, primal, raw - the kind that cut through the most bone-chilling night...

Yet it barely slowed the predator's advance.

Frozen, she watched in detached horror as the beast reared back on its haunches, muscles coiling tight enough to-

With impossible speed, a dark blur whipped past her.

Sophia blinked and her inhuman stalker flew backward, crashing through the drywall opposite in an explosive rain of plaster.

Stunned, she lurched back, plastering herself against the door as the second nightmarish shape landed in a low crouch between her and its fallen brethren.

This hulking figure seemed more proportioned than the other twisted forms - powerful and male from the width of the shoulders and swell of corded muscle.

But still inherently...not human.

It turned slightly, piercing azure eyes locking on her from over one broad shoulder.

Sophia gasped at the blatant predatory dominance burning in those feral depths before they quickly snapped back to the threat rising to its haunches.

Its lips peeled back, revealing ivory daggers slicked with crimson.

A resonant, menacing growl echoed from deep within that barrel chest, effortlessly declaring its challenge.

With a baying screech, the initial beast launched itself forward.

Sophia braced for impact, for tearing fangs and claws.

But it never came.

A meaty crack filled her ears as the raging thing was launched sideways into her kitchenette.

Her eyes widened as its attacker closed the distance, planting a heavy boot on its skull and rearing back for what surely would be...

The end.

"Enough."

The single word reverberated with Alpha power, freezing the hulking figure mid-strike.

Slowly, he angled his head, jaw still taut with snarling aggression as a newcomer stepped through the wreckage of her door.

Unlike her savior, this man looked outwardly human.

Tall and commanding in a tailored black suit, his raven hair swept back revealed chiseled features that could have graced a Calvin Klein billboard.

As their eyes met, Sophia instinctively shrank back.

His gaze carried an innate sense of arrogance and entitlement as he calmly appraised the carnage, exuding a stifling aura of entitled authority.

With a curled lip of disdain, his pale eyes sliced to the beast pinned underneath her apparent protector's impressive weight.

"I see the mutts need to be put down. Permanently this time."