Alpha's Fire

Midnight Moon

Prue wasn’t sure how far she’d managed to cover on foot. Still she powered on, flying through the trees with only the moonlight to guide her.

Elena whined the whole way, pleading for her to return. When she asked her why, she got no answer. So she did the only thing she could with the situation she’d found herself in and kept going.

She only stopped when she found a lake in the middle of a clearing. It was a perfect mirror of the twinkling night sky. Prue inhaled a deep breath, scenting the area - it smelt like soil and leaves - nature. 

She waded into the lake until she was deep enough to turn on her back and float, allowing the water to cool her burning skin. The heat was extreme but not as bad as it had been the night before, not yet anyway.

Maybe I could just stay like this. She gulped down the air greedily enjoying the sensation of the icy water and the prickling sensation it had on her skin.

She had not shifted while fleeing. She didn’t trust Elena to not take her right back to Henry and the others. She had sensed Elena’s feelings had changed for the pack the moment she woke between Henry’s legs.

She cringed, submerging her face for a few moments, wishing she could forget how intimate it had been - being that close to the alpha.  

Elena had yearned to return even before they had left the territory. They’d been so many places and she’d never backed on eye at the packs they had come into contact with, but then they’d never been allowed so far into a pack’s territory. A killer for hire wasn’t exactly someone you wanted around your children. 

Why do you trust him? She asked Elena, now staring at the stars.

Why don’t you?

Because, she didn’t know why, because I don’t trust anyone. We can’t. It’s too risky.

Elena whined.

I’m sorry Elena. But we can’t.

He is different.

He hasn’t showed us anything to make me think he didn’t know exactly who we were from the start. It doesn’t matter even if he is different. Our mere presence could endanger his pack. If people find out there is an unmated Luna under his protection, they could connect the dots. Think about all those children, the people like Keira. 

Elena whined again but fell silent. 

Prue basked in the quiet of the midnight moon. 

A slight crack from rustling leaves came from a bush at the edge of the lake. Prue tensed instantly. She calmly moved her body and began to tread water, careful to not make any noise. Only the top half of her face was above the water now, just enough for her to breath through her nose. She stared so hard at the blackness her eyes began to ache. There was no movement. Maybe it’s a harmless woodland creature, like a rabbit or a fox, she told herself, barley able to hold back a scoff at the idea.

I should be so lucky, she thought scathingly. 

Prue knew that she was likely being tracked, she just hadn’t expected Henry and his men to catch up so quickly with everything that had gone on. She was harder to track in her human form, her scent wasn’t as strong and she’d had a head start. It wouldn’t have slowed them for long. Still they had caught up faster than she would have liked.

There is likely more than one, Elena piped up.

I think you’re right, she replied still scanning the water edge, if I had my weapons these guys would be in so much trouble, she grumbled - mostly to herself. 

You don’t think it’s Henry and his pack?

No. It has to be rogues. Henry ordered his men to stand down and they wouldn’t have sent many soldiers out with the current security situation.

The situation we were supposed to help with? Prue ignored Elena’s comment.

Prue could only pray the water would help cover her scent long enough for her to get ahead again - maybe - and as long as there weren’t that many pursuing her. 

Her stomach was doing flips. She was unarmed, mostly naked, now soaking wet and probably being tracked by a pack of savage, flesh eating rogues. She would have laughed if it wasn’t so tragic.

We should go back, Elena told her. 

Prue didn’t respond and instead focused on her breathing, forcing her body into a calculating calm. She moved to the opposite side of the lake and emerged from the water and crept quietly into the tree cover, like a silent shadow. She covered about ten yards and dared to breath a sigh of relief. 

The eerie trees towered around her as she carried on moving, careful to tread on the sides of her feet, straining her ears for anything that approached. 

The dead of night did not make her feel safe as it normally did. She felt as though she was the one being watched. Her gut twisted as she forced her body to breath quiet shallow breaths. Every step she took was precise, measured. Still though she did not feel like she was being quiet enough. 

She scanned the darkness, searching for movement. Still nothing. But something wasn’t right. Prue tried to put her finger on where the feeling was coming from. It was so silent. 

It dawned on her then - the theme tune of the wildness had been silenced. Not even a cricket sounded.

Prue really was being stalked. Under normal circumstances she’d revel in the challenge of hunting her hunter, she’d make sure they knew why you should never target the arrow that could kill you. But weaponless and exhaustion did not make a winning combination.

She heard it then, the break in the silence. Snapping branches to her left and rustling bushes to her right. 

The hairs on her arms and neck stood on end as and goosebump erupted over her body. Her senses sharpened as she listened to where the knotty fibres of the woodland ground were broken under paw prints.

She pressed her back into a groove of a trunk scanning the trees around her, looking for anything that could help her. If she shifted they would scent her straight away. 

Think Prue, think.

A cramp struck her body making her double over grabbing her side.

No. Please no. Not now. 

Prue breathed through the pain and looked up to see a dark shadow getting closure. She dared not to move. Wishing her stillness would be sufficient camouflaged. She knew it wouldn’t. 

I can do this. I’ll wait for my opportunity and strike when they least expect it. Taking one at a time. 

Elena growled ready for the shift as a large hand wrapped around her mouth and she was hoisted up into the tree. Blood curdling fear wracked her body and shook her to her core as a stranger restrained her arms with one hand and covered her mouth with another.

All she could do was stare wide eyed, as a black wolf with daunting yellow eyes emerged from the bush and walked towards her. Prue was barely 12 feet off the ground, her feet hanging limp in the air below. Like a rabbit ready to be dropped into a stewing pot, or rather a wolf’s open maw. 

She could hear more movement in the shadows as the predator prowled closer. She wanted to close her eyes so she didn’t have to watch but she couldn't. The midnight wolf stopped directly beneath her, sniffing the spot where she’d been standing mere moments before. Every second felt like a minute as she waited to be dropped into the wolf’s clutches, those razor sharp claws and nasty bone crunching teeth would make fast work of her in this form. Her heart pounded like it was going to erupt from her chest. Prue wondered if this was it? The last moments of her life.  

Elena was not writhing or howling like Prue expected.

A loud howl rung in the distance, cutting the silence of the forest. The wolf’s ears twitched and for a moment she could not believe her eyes at it turned tail and ran into the bush. 

She hung there for a moment not knowing what to think, until her capturer whispered in her ear so low that she barely heard it, “Prue you are safe.”

Henry. Her heart stuttered with relief, she could have cried. 

“Can you climb?” He asked.