Feral Wolf

Wolf one, clear path for trackers. I ordered through our pack-link. The warm night breeze was blowing teasingly against my face, and a small strand of my silvery white hair escaped my tight bun, so I blew at it to get it away from my face.

In the dark shadows, I crouched with my beta, Isis, and my gamma, Alecto, as we looked ahead into the now silent camp of the hunters who were camping thirty miles southeast of our border. I caught a glimpse of our team of Black Eagles raising their arrows up in the trees as they shot down the snipers overlooking the hunters’ camp. One by one, they fell in silence.

Path cleared, Alpha. Trevor spoke through the pack-link. I waved my hand in the air in a circular motion for the Trackers to start ground attack—like a swarm of bees we quietly snuck our way through camp. The hunters that we saw along the way had their throats slit quietly with our daggers.

Remember command, kill hunters only—leave no survivors. I commanded again through the pack-link. I felt a hum of agreement through the link as I was already at the heart of the camp by now. Isis flanked my left as Alecto flanked my right.

When we came to the huge tent where there was a faint light flickering inside, I knew it was the leader of the hunters’ group. I sniffed the air and perked my ears to hear a faint heartbeat that was steady. His breathing was deep. I opened the curtain of the tent and stepped in.

The leader slept on a cot, in his hand a hand gun. He was fat and old. His dirty, white tank top was riding up his belly as he slept on his back. I pursed my lips in disgust as I approached him. The overgrowth of hair on his face and the smell that was spewing off him repulsed me immensely. I had to crinkle my nose from the horrid smell.

As if he heard me, he quickly sat up with a gasp. His eyes widened when he saw me. A slow predatory grin appeared on my face as I leaned down to face level.

“Y-you’re a werewolf.” He stammered out. I could hear his heartbeat rapidly beating as fear coursed through him.

“I am.” I said confidently.

“W-what are you doing here? How did you get here?” He looked completely flustered. He backed up a little until he fell off his cot, dropping his gun. His eyes darted to it and I clicked my tongue.

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” I threatened as I moved to the gun and place the heel of my black combat boot on it.

“Please, don’t kill me.” He pleaded. His ugly eyes were glistening with unshed tears. It only pissed me off more. I lifted my knife and played with the tip.

“Let me think about it.” I pretended to ponder before turning to him, my eyes narrowing into slits. “The answer is no.”

“W-what did I do to you? I d-didn’t even go near your pack.” He crawled farther away from me. I bent down to pick up the gun and disabled it right in front of him. The bullets fell to the ground.

“You did.” I responded. “You hurt my kind and for that you deserve to die.”

I stalked towards him and grabbed a fistful of his greasy hair and yanked it back, exposing his neck. He struggled in my embrace but I twisted my hand in his hair causing him to whimper in pain.

“Anything you have to say before you meet your creator?” I growled into his ear.

“Please I’ll do anything. Don’t kill me. I have kids.” He began spewing whatever he could to get out of my grasp. I scoffed and used the blunt end of my knife to jam it down on his side.

“Shut up.” I growled. “You are worthless. I have no remorse for hunters like you.”

My knife went to his throat without hesitation and with a flick of my wrist it slid across his throat. He began gurgling and his eyes widened with pain. His hand coming up to grasp at my hand. I stood up to my full height and kicked him hard on the side.

“That’s right. It’s not going to be a quick death for you. You’ll die a slow torturous death for all the sins you have done.” I spat and walked out.

Alecto stood on guard and turned to me when he saw me come out. He raised an eyebrow.

“You killed him?” He asked.

“He’s not dead yet.” I responded. “His death will be slow. Just keep watch so the bastard doesn’t escape.”

I watched as my pack warriors gathered the dead bodies into a pile to be burned. I then heard Isis shouting in a cave. I frowned and walked towards where I heard her voice. When I got closer, it was then I smelt the smell of Him. My eyes widened in shock and my steps faltered outside the cave entrance.

“We aren’t going to hurt you!” Isis growled out. “Come on out.”

There was a moment of silence before I heard a low growl coming from the cave that had the hair on my arms rising up in alert. A slow, beautiful shiver was running down my spine. My feet moved of their own accord and I entered into the darkness of the huge cave.

“What’s going on here?” I asked.

“There were a few prisoners locked up in here. We let everyone we found go. They are heading back to our territory but this one right here, refuses to come out.” Isis pointed to a corner of the cave that had bars. I knew it was him. I waved Isis to leave and when I saw her body disappeared out the cave I slowly walked up to the entrance of the prison.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness until I saw a tall, burly man crouching on his hands and feet looking at me, distrust in his emerald green eyes. The minute my eyes landed on his eyes the air in my lungs disappeared and I was finding it hard to breathe. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground. He was beautiful. I couldn’t make out much but I can see he was half naked, only wearing a pair of tattered grey cotton shorts. His hair was long. It reached his shoulders. He looked like a savage. It scared me at the same time as it stirred a feeling inside of me that I never recognized before.

“Uh...hi?” I said.

He was observing me while I was observing him and when I spoke to him his eyes lit up in a way that made me retract my earlier admission. He was not just beautiful he was spellbindingly gorgeous. His eyes were flickering with specks of gold in the dark cave.

“I am not going to hurt you.” I tried to keep my voice soft. “I’m here to save you. Come.”

He frowned but he did relax his shoulders a little. I crawled deeper into the prison, my eyes never leaving him in case he decided to attack. He only watched me as I crawled inside.

“My name is Calliope. What’s yours?” I asked.

He didn’t respond but only stared at me. I huffed and pulled back the strand of hair that escaped from earlier back behind my ear.

“You need to come. We must head back to our territory. You can’t stay here any longer. You have to trust me. I’ll not hurt you.” I coaxed further, placing my hands up in front of me as if I was luring a puppy—but he was nothing like a puppy. He was a large man.

“Please.” I begged. Something in his eyes flickered and he made his way towards me, placing his hand in mine.

I smiled at the contact of his skin. It sent tingles through my skin.

“What is your name?” I asked as I stood up, him following my move.

“Brontes.”