Three
1120 Words
“As you know, I'm here to select the sacrifice.Every village offers one to each pack and you will be selected for the Delmore pack," The King Alpha stopped momentarily before announcing what he deemed obvious, "My pack."
He turned to glance at John.
"Is this all of them? Or should we just spend some time picking off members of your community until you're ready?" Even though his tone was already so ominous and degrading, the thought that my delay might have resulted in terrible repercussions made me severely blush with humiliation.
"This is everyone," John assured, "I apologize profusely, King Alpha. You can... you can take two if you must."
"I can take all of them if I must," The King said loudly making many of the girls gasp with terror. He turned back to us, towering and horrifying, but seemed to calm back to boredom just as quickly. "One will do. Let's start."
The King Alpha finally advanced beyond simply scanning each of us. I momentarily pondered taking the time to clean the blood from my hand off of my dress, but I was worried about permanently staining it. Instead, I tightened my hands and cast a tense glance at the ground in front of me.
I jumped when I felt heavy feet step in front of me. He seems to have gone through each one fast. He chose already? Or do they not consider all options before making a decision? I assumed I overheard him speaking. Who said what?
Why didn't I listen? The silence was deadly. I hesitated. I looked from the feet to the bodies next to me, trying to look anywhere but at the King Alpha.
The girls all looked pale and terrified, but they were all staring at me now. Apparently, they had been listening.
"I asked you a question," The King Alpha growled lowly. I winced, turning my head slowly towards him. My eyes trained on his chest in from of me with his arms crossed.
"No?" I chanced questioningly, hoping the answer would be correct.
"So you weren't the one who forced me to wait for over an hour?" He asked, no... he repeated. I reddened again, but lifted my eyes from his chest to his face daringly. My eyes were greeted with his cold, blue glare.
"No," I repeated firmly. And before I could stop myself, I added in perhaps the most polite but sarcastically seasoned way, "I would not dare presume a human like myself could force any lycan to do anything at all." The silence that followed was arguably far more lethal. Never before had I experienced such an immediate regret. The King Alpha came closer and dominatedly reached for my face, making me almost yell. He briefly twisted my face from side to side as I held my breath before he firmly grabbed my wrist.
"What's your name, human?" He demanded more than asked.
"Melissa.. Melissa Young-"He leaned forward and gave a low growl as he inhaled my smell, making me flinch. He dangerously ran his tongue over the blood that was still on my flesh as he dragged my wrist to his mouth. My stomach literally dropped to the floor from the sight.
He paused to examine the tiny birthmark on the flesh of my palm beneath my pinky as he twisted my wrist and trailed his tongue down the base of my hand. It appeared to me to be either a smile or the end of a fingernail. Others said it resembled a crescent moon.
"Are you a hunter, Melissa?" The King Alpha asked me cryptically. I could barely manage a response, "Yes."
"So am I," He released me promptly, as though the moments spent observing me were something disgusting to him. He turned to John before indicating to his fellow lycan, "We'll take this one. Let's go."
The first thing I heard was the gasps of relief from the surrounding girls within the room. I saw them embrace one another; their joy was that great. The next thing I heard was something of a choked sound escaping my own throat. I felt my eyes were too wide and my limbs became too stiff suddenly.
The lycan accompanying the King Alpha approached me and yanked me forward, twisting me in front of him before pushing my head forward and down as though wanting me to bow. Then he grabbed my hands and pulled them behind me, tying them together painfully. I remained silent momentarily, the reality of the situation not having found me of yet.
When the lycan finished, he pushed me forward towards the door. "W-what?" I asked, stuck on the initial comment: we'll take this one.
The King Alpha went ahead of us and the lycan pushed me to follow him. I turned to look at my peers with sheer panic.
"Wait, what?! Me?I started to struggle, but the lycan just easily shoved me forward. He decided to haul me out by the elbow as I refused to move forward with my steps. When I attempted to speak further, I instead started gasping for oxygen as if I were about to suffocate.
When we arrived, there was a gathering outside. As they awaited the announcement of the picked and released, families of the possibilities gathered. As I moved into the sunlight, a tremendous howl ascended into the air. I arrived at my family right away, my mother screaming in alarm.
More wails followed; the cries of people who knew me, who had watched me grow among them, and would now watch me taken away forever. I was forced to follow the King Alpha even though I immediately struggled to run to my family. Before we could make it through the crowd, a louder mass of cries evolved. I looked towards my family in bewilderment as my younger brother ducked under my dad's arm and ran towards me with something in his hand.
Everyone in my family and circle of friends took off running after him. The lycan that was holding me tensed up, getting ready to fight. The group of humans who ventured to approach the King Alpha were met with an angry snarl as he moved forward to greet them. Greg, who had been overtaken by the gang, went unnoticed in his sight, which I appreciated.
I was, nevertheless, scared for the safety of my family.
"No! Don't hurt them!" I cried out, trying to rip my arms from the lycan's grip. The group collided with the King Alpha and I closed my eyes as he easily swept them away furiously. The lycan released me momentarily, aiming to help his King. I spotted Greg and ran to him, bending down to him.
- Writer
