Alpha, King, Mate

The Storm

I could see the storm clouds coming from miles away. Granted, I am talking metaphorical storm clouds, the weather was actually quite nice for this time of the year. 

After being hunted down for three weeks by whatever Alpha ruled the land we were currently in, we were suddenly blocked off by another pack of wolves. This pack however consisted of only three smaller, and therefore faster, wolves. They were a hunting party, that was easy to see, but their movements were like no other hunting party we had encountered before. They moved beside us, like they were guarding us rather than hunting. Finally, they moved to our scouts and told them they had a message for us. 

They shifted back to their human forms. I averted my eyes as the three stark naked men walked towards me, Nickolas and Arthur. They were flanked by our men, but many people on our side would die if they decided to turn back. I glanced over at Nickolas, like me he seemed to be very set on eye contact with the men, and not glancing down. Nick was slightly shorter than me, with dirty brown hair and a thick beard. His skin was tanned by the many hours of the day we spend walking through the sunlight, but like all of us he was also covered in a layer of dirt. Washing and bathing was a luxury we could not afford. The thing that stood out most to me was that dangerous shimmer he had in his dark green eyes. 

As I looked back at the three men one of them untied something that was now loosely hanging around his neck. While the other two men stopped, he continued to walk forward. Until he was only one step away from us.

"I have been told you're the Alpha?" The man said, his voice was surprisingly higher than his physique would make it seem. 

"I am their chosen leader. We don't have your hierarchy here." Nickolas answered, people in the crowd shouted in agreement. One look from Arthur however set them back in their spot. He had a way of intimidating them. Arthur was a tall, bald headed man in his forties. His pale skin was dotted with thousands of little freckles, though they were always covered in a layer of dirt and sweat. 

"I am here on the orders of King Alpha Aris." The man said loudly enough for the dozens of people in the clearing to hear. "I am told to give you this." He handed Nick a scroll.

"We have no need for our radio's anymore." Someone near us laughed. "We can just tie our messages to the neck of the dogs." More people laughed. The wolf however seemed to be holding back anger.

The crowd shushed again after another look from Arthur, and I turned back to the wolf. Nickolas had been reading the scroll the entire time. He attempted to keep his face unreadable, but to me he seemed rather happy. Thus I saw the storm approaching. 

"We will be there." He said to the wolf, giving him the werewolf handshake of grabbing each other's forearms. The wolf nodded and returned to his men, walking out like nothing had happened.

In reality we had voted Nickolas to be in charge of our group. Arthur, Russ and myself were his advisers. We could tell him whatever we pleased but at the end of the day, Nickolas was the one who made the decisions. However our group had gotten... rougher over the years. I couldn't imagine what they would do to Nick if he made a major stupid mistake, like working with the monsters we all hated so much. 

"You two, with me." He said to Arthur and I before walking down the hill to the water supply we had found. The group that had been watching all slowly went back to doing their own assigned tasks. Still, they followed us with their eyes. 

"What does it say?" I asked, once we were out of hearing range of everyone else. 

"What we have been hoping for." Nick answered, his voice dripping with excitement. "Apparently two of the Alpha kings are nearly at war. They have asked other races for their help. Vampires, witches and now us."

Arthur and I exchanged a worried glance. 

"Nick," I said carefully. "This is an ambush. If they have wolves, vampires and witches on their side... What use are we?" 

"We know the terrain better than anyone. We are smarter, we have numbers." He summed up.

"Numbers?" Arthur laughed roughly. "Our numbers are minuscule next to theirs. If not less."  

"We are still smarter." Nickolas insisted. Nick and Arthur went into a silent staring competition while I pulled my fingers through my long hair. I really needed to cut it, but one of the new members had magical fingers. She braided the hair of nearly everyone. Most people did not trust each other enough to give them a haircut using a knife.  

"We can't go there on a promise that they won't harm us." I said to nick. "Besides, the Alpha in this territory is still hunting us down. We'll get cut off before we get there."

Nick was quiet for sometime, before turning back to me. His eyes were shifting between me and Arthur. 

"This is what we have been waiting for my friends. This is our chance. We can never go back to the way things were before the wolves came out of the shadows. Our only hope is for peace. If what this letter says is true, that means the wolves and the vampires have already set aside their differences for this common cause. We have to do the same." He finished. Arthur was deep into thoughts.

"We have to know what we are in for." I said to Nick. "We have to know what they want to use us for. What if we march everyone to wherever they are and we turn out to just play bait?" Nick nodded along.

"We send someone." Arthur finally spoke. "First he-" He noticed my glare. "Or she makes a blood bond.  Should they be willing to do that then we find out what we are in for. If everything is okay we send the rest of our people."

Blood bonds were holy for the wolves. Both people made a cut in their hand and then to a regular human handshake. Their blood touches, and transfers, making a bond. They hold it sacred above anything else. 

"I will go." Nick immediately said. 

"Right, because sending our first leader ever is a smart move." I rolled my eyes at him. "We should send Russ, his son can take over the scouts while he is gone." 

"Are we in agreement?" Nick asked, a smile spreading on his face. I looked over at Arthur, he still looked just as concerned as before. 

"We take it a step at a time." I finally answered for the both of us. "You can tell the group." 

Though the prospect of telling the group of werewolf hating humans seemed to frighten him, nothing could seem to get that happy sparkle out of his eye.