TO KILL A KING

SEVEN-BEFORETHESTORM

FARRAH

I had always been early to rise.

I loved the sounds of the forest first thing in the morning, so silent and serene. Sometimes I almost allowed myself to forget about all the death and distraction beyond the tree line.

This was my safe place. My sanctity amongst this world so filled with evil.

They weren't all bad though. I would be forever grateful to have an Alpha like King. I spent the majority of my younger years, drifting between packs with my mother and brother, never settling anywhere for long before we were either turfed our or moved on due to conflicts. 

No where was safe from attacks.

This was the first place I had ever felt safe, the first place I had ever stayed long enough to allow myself to call it a home.

Seven years since we accidentally stumbled upon King's pack of misfits. Of course, it wasn't always this way. To begin with they weren't hero's at all, they were ruled over by another Alpha entirely.

Alpha Nero, a surly faced middle aged man with a wicked temper. King showed up one day, probably five or six years ago, as a rogue right around the time my family and I were about to move on once more, not faring well under the Alphas tyrannical leadership. I remembered how she had just walked straight in, past all patrols and challenged Nero for his pack. 

King wasn't small by any means, her athletic figure standing her around six feet tall, but that didn't change the fact that Nero was easily twice her weight.

He damn near killed her. Beat her within an inch of her life, I remembered shielding my little brothers eyes from the brutality, fearing he would be forced to watch the female die. 

-But she refused to give in, no matter how many times he threw her down.

It all came down to when he had her by the throat, pinning her to the floor. Her hands grappled desperately for something around her.. anything.. until her fingers found purchase on a rock.

By the time she was done Nero was unrecognisable, as she stood to her feet and declared herself our Alpha, spitting blood from her mouth and wiping at her split lip, smearing a vicious blood stain across her jaw.

At first nobody took her seriously, especially the males. They challenged her and lost. Time and time again she beat them down, most with ease. She had Alpha blood in her that girl, I could tell right from the start. It was there, in the way she stood, her back straight and tall. In the way she spoke, clear and authoritative, she meant every word she said and she wasn't afraid to show it. They found that out the hard way. 

-But mostly it was there in the way that she cared. Like all Alphas she hid it deep beneath a mask of cold hard courage, but we all knew it was there. She would bleed for us, die for us. After all she was the one that was finally able to knit the broken pieces of this poor, dysfunctional pack back together.

She was our King.

Sometimes I lay awake at night, wondering what really happened to her. What was her truth?

We didn't even know her real name, not even us, her second in commands but most importantly her closest friends. So instead we called her King, because in truth it didn't matter what she was really called, all that matters was she was there, and for that we were glad.

The sun cut through the trees with a thousand slices of gold, casting the forest in a beautiful bronze. I was just admiring the singing of the early morning birds, when all of a sudden they fell silent. A blanketing hush falling over the woodland.

A twig snapped somewhere to my right and I span around, I may not have been as good a fighter as my friends but that didn't mean I was completely terrible at it. Despite telling him over and over again about my hatred for violence, Eli had instead that I at least learned the basics incase I ever needed to defend myself. 

"Who's there?" I called into the hauntingly silent forest, my voice echoing like a strangers cry amongst the trees. That was when a hand large enough to cover the entire bottom half of my face covered my mouth, another arm around my waist as I was pulled backwards into a hard chest.

I screamed, I thrashed, I drove my elbow back into the persons ribcage. I heard a hiss of pain as the strong hands released me and I stumbled backwards.

"Ouch." He wheezed, "Seems like I taught you a little too well."

"Don't do that Eli!" I scolded, giving him a shove. "You scared the life out of me."

He laughed, a deep booming sound and as much as I tried to surprise it to carry on pretending I was angry with him, I couldn't stop my lips curving upwards in a grin.

"Walk with me?"

I nodded, moving beside him to try and keep up with his long legs. "Slow down!"

"Maybe you should just grow instead." He teased.

I bit my lip, "I would if I could.. I hate being small."

"What?" He stared down at me in confusion, "No, Farrah you're perfect already. You don't need to change anything."

I felt my chest swell with some odd feeling I couldn't seem to place, but it was warm and lovely and felt like safe like home. I always felt this way around Eli, probably because he looked after me like a little sister.

He cleared his throat awkwardly as if to change the subject. "How come you're out here so early anyways? Your shift doesn't start for at least another hour?"

"I always walk in the mornings." I smiled. "I like to watch the sun rise."

Out of the corner of my eye I caught Eli staring at me, "What?' I asked, c*****g my brow.

"Nothing." He said softly, "It sounds beautiful."

It was, I thought to myself. It was always my mothers favourite, before the influenza took her. She was human, my father was a fullbred Lycan. She had suffered from pneumonia on and off for many years before that so it had mainly just been my little brother and I. The both of us against the world.

Eli pulled me from the mess of my own mind with his sonorous voice. "Have you seen Cole? Or King for that matter."

"Oh, yeah. " I said nonchalantly, "They're having a sleepover round hers I think."

Eli stoped in his tracks and I almost collided with his back, "Hey! watch where you're-"

"Farrah what did you just say?'

"I said watch where-"

"-No, before that." His face looked worried, dark eyebrows knitted together over his cerulean eyes.

Shooting him a questioning look, I repeated suspiciously, "That Cole and King are having a sleepover?"

I thought it a bit odd at first that he was so interested in it, but then I remembered feeling a little left out to know that they were having a sleepover without Eli and I, but I had tried not to read too deeply into it.

"Fuck." He cursed.

"What? Whats wrong?"

"Farrah they're not having a sleepover. They're sleeping together.." He said darkly, but I just stared at him blankly, not understanding exactly what he was getting at.

"Whats the difference?"

He dragged a large palm down his tired face, "They're fucking."

"Oh." Was all I could manage in response.

Oh.

Oh no. Not good.

"What are we going to do about it?"

Cole and King, that was something I had never seen coming. It was strange just to think about it, I didn't want to think about it. -To think about two people that I cared so deeply about... Doing it.

"There is nothing we can do about it." He shook his head with a sigh, before adding, "I just hope they know what they're doing."

Again, Eli saying things that I didn't understand, "I think they know how to-"

"Farrah." He sighed, as if already knowing what I was about to say. "Thats not what I meant. I mean I just hope they realise what they're getting themselves into. I expected this much from Cole, he's so impulsive and.. I don't even know how to describe him."

I nodded along where I felt appropriate  as I listened to him rant. "-But King, I thought she would know better than this. She must realise that this is never going to end well between the two of them."

"Are you jealous?" I didn't mean to say the question out loud but it had left my lips before I could think to stop it. I hated the way it hurt to ask, a pain shooting through my chest. Why did I feel this way?

He scoffed, almost looking offended by my question, "Of course not! Farrah don't get me wrong I care very much about King.." I held my breath, waiting for his answer. "-But I have never and will never think of her in that way."

It felt good to hear that. Not that I had any right to feel that way, and not the I expected him to feel any sort of obligation to me. What was I talking about? Since when did I even want him to feel an obligation towards me? Maybe I did, I wasn't exactly sure.

What I did know was that in this moment, in this little corner of the world, everything was perfect. I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my lips as I gazed up into his stern face, a slither of bronzed light illuminating his strong features.

Now it was his time to question, "What are you smiling at?"

"You."

If I didn't know better I would've said his eyes lit up and the edges of his lips rugged upwards into the faintest trace of a smile. He cleared his throat, "You want to go for a run?"

"What about a game of hide and seek?" I jollied, already bounding about and jogging along in front of him like a child.

"You better start running then." He grinned and I swear I felt my heart skip a beat. I turned tail, flying through the undergrowth as fast as my two feet could carry me.

I splashed through the narrow stream, hoping the water would dull my scent but still I didn't slow down. I shouldn't have, but after what felt like years but in reality was probably only minutes I spared a second to throw a glance over my shoulder to see if he was on my tail already or not. After all he never specified exactly how long he could count for.

It was then that I collided with something horrifically hard, my head slamming into it and making the world spin dangerously with a thousand multicoloured dots.

It was warm yet strangely solid, like a rock, and wrapped around me to catch me as I fell backwards.

Strong hands wrapped around my forearms and in the moment before I glanced up I prayed that it would be Cole.

But it wasn't.

It was a strange man. If I could even call him that.

As I had never known a man to tower so tall over me, or have arms so strong or a face so.. Stunning.

I was completely thrown off guard by his shocking beauty, staring up at him with eyes as wide as saucers, not sure wether to scream, run or cry.

Maybe all three.

"Who are you?" I barely managed to get the words out and when I finally did my voice shook and broke like a frightened child.

He didn't answer for so long, that I began scanning the surroundings for any semblance of escape.

I felt sick, all I saw were men. As far as the eye could see there was a wall of thickly bound muscle with this beast at the forefront.

When he finally spoke I feared I may faint, I had never heard so much power in a voice before.

"Your worst nightmare."

***

QOTD-Have you guys watched Tiger King on netflix? I'm obsessed!

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-TFOA