Chapter 1
1288 Words
I let myself be washed away by the gentle water, closing my eyes as it did so.
I can feel eyes on me.
Again.
You know how when people stare at us, we get this chill down to our bones?
The sentiment is identical. I could tell there was a person around because to my wolf-like hearing and smell. This river, which is conveniently located near our home, has become my regular hanging spot. It's becoming late, and I need to go going. Even though I usually come here to relax, I've found that the staring eyes following me around have become annoying.
Today is the day I face off against that individual.
So I said, "Show yourself," and meant it. I can literally feel your eyes on me.
As the breeze passed by, silence descended.
Do I have a ghost in the room with me? Consider the possibility that there wasn't.
According to my wolf intuition, there are two of them.
At that same moment, I rose to my feet and reached for the towel. When I peered into the underbrush, I saw nobody.
With a sigh, I dressed and grabbed my shoes before stepping into the murky water, where I nearly fell if a set of strong hands hadn't caught me.
"Got ya."
When I looked back, I saw Hallon grinning down at me all wonky.
Sniffing the air, he said, "You really need to be careful, Bethel." He added, "Good thing I came."
Or else I'll either drown or fall face first into the muck, I joked.
When asked for gratitude, he rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah yeah, but where's my thank you? I saved you though."
In response, I gave him the cold shoulder and said, "Yeah, yeah. Thank you for saving me from almost falling from the mud."
When I made a comment, he simply led me back to where we were working. where we'll be residing for the next seven days. As renegade night walkers, we must constantly relocate. We teleport from one location to another, never staying in one spot for too long.
I finally broke the awkward pause by asking, "How's your hunting, by the way?"
When Hallon saw me, he remarked, "Oh, good. You'll never believe what we caught. We caught a huge one!"
Because Hallon is Hallon, I never take him seriously, so I stared at him in disbelief. The outlaw's ultimate fate is also well-known. Nature is too powerful for us to stand a chance.
Seeing a crow turn white is a sad reminder that we will miss out on witnessing spectacular hunts.
As we got closer to our destination, everyone greeted Hallon because he is well-liked and will soon be the Rogue leader. So, my dad is the most powerful Rogue leader right now.
A heartfelt "thank you, Hallon! With you, we'll never starve to death!"
As they gulped down the meat, they cheered.
Hallon was pleased by my reaction to the staggering amount of crop they had, and he beamed at me with a grin.
To illustrate: "See? Can't you just trust me a little?"
I gave him the silent treatment before responding, "Alright, I believe you. How did you even get this?"
With a sly grin, Hallon said, "That's a secret. Only the strong ones know."
I snorted, "Hah, funny."
In the future, Florence will be a great leader, so I said, "Heyyy there, future leader!" to her. She is an omega with red lips and pink hair. That is her typical fashion choice.
Her eyebrows were arched in a humorous way as she said, "Hmm...all these amazing harvests, why not delay the wedding for you too?"
My face flushed and my eyes widened as I said, "Wha-Florence!" She is well aware of my frailty and is constantly making fun of me.
Hallon laughs and glances at me as if he finds this hilarious.
I mean, I'm not blind to Hallon's feelings for me. But I'm more concerned with earning my father's leadership title and having my authority recognized. The issue is that before we formed this renegade pack, I was just an omega.
We may not have any faith in hierarchies, but it shows in our authority... If we're on a typical pack, Hallon may have already assumed the role of alpha.
"I'm just..waiting for the right time...." His voice drifted off, and I understood immediately what he was talking about. Night of the red moon. And you'll see it in a while.
The red moon, of course. Night of waiting to learn our fateful pairing.
Hallon was obviously looking at me, so I looked back. As I felt my father's hands on me, we broke eye contact.
"What are you talking about with my daughter?" "Oh, here's our future leader!
Hallon said with a grin, "Good Evening, Leader."
With a hand on my face, my dad asked, "My dear daughter, how are you?"
To this I rolled my eyes and repelled his hand, saying, "Father, enough of that drink, it makes you silly."
I'm simply celebrating, because we don't drink here, you know.
To which she said, "Yeah, but you get silly when you drink that human drink."
But please join us in the main hall. He invited me, dragging me to the tent we had erected, where long tables were set up and everyone ate and drank together.
I glanced at Hallon to send the "what is happening" signal and he just shrugged and said, "Just enjoy the show." Some small puppies brought us drinks.
A hearty "Cheers!"Increased yields were the result of "my father raising his drink.""
For greater harvests, his followers kept saying.
We had been famished for months, but thanks to Hallon's leadership and that of our hunters, we finally had enough food to eat.
Since Alpha Rufus of the Shadow pack expelled us, we have been on our own, bothering no one and trusting only ourselves while living in a world where we are hidden, where we are concrete, and where our food is always in short supply.
To the head: "Thank you!"My father is the renegade leader; he is a decent man who had a clear vision and despised hierarchy. One of the she-wolf puppies came to pay a bow to him.
I looked at my father and said, "I hope our whole year will be blessed like this." It's hard to make ends meet out here, but we've managed to get by so far. I don't want to see kids begging for food, pregnant women losing their babies, or men going insane because of poverty.
My dad scratched the back of my head and said, "It'll be like this." Bethel, take my word for it.
I laughed as I sipped from my wine glass, wanting to cry from the sweetness of it all and wishing that I could have this experience every day rather than just once a year.
We stopped to watch the red moon, and Hallon brought me to the front so I could have a better look.
Hallon had his hand on mine,
He was taking a few deep breaths, and I could see he was a little anxious. "It's finally time.."
Hallon heaved a nervous sigh when he saw the blood moon.
Is that what you felt?""
When he said, "Felt what?" I blanked."
You are my companion!"He hugged me joyfully, but I felt nothing. "Is there something wrong with me?" he asked.
"Hallon-"
To quote: "I want to be with you-"
Suddenly, my father's help returned with the frightened words, "They found us!" and my moment with Hallon was cut short."
I looked over at Hallon, who knew what had happened as soon as we had stopped moving.
"Hallon-"
- Writer
