MATED

"Alright. Listen up." Keerin's voice sounded loud enough in the quiet and cold night as he called out to his pack members. They eased their talking and turned towards him, giving him their full attention. He stood a few metres away from them at the edge of a hill, facing eastward. Despite the wind and the harsh weather, he felt calm and warm even though he wore nothing but a filthy brown robe. "You know what the plan is." he said. "Yes sir. We s***h, stash and dash." Alaric replied with a grin. "Can't wait to get my hands on all that gold." Aldwin commented while rubbing his hands. From the corner of his eye, Keerin could see Marion slowly shaking her head. "Boys. Brawns and no sense. What do people like us fear the most, if you don't mind me asking?" She asked them both. "Getting old and wrinkly?" Alaric suggested. "Oh no. Noone wants that." Aldwin replied with a chuckle. "Silver you idiots!" Marion practically shouted with frustration. "We fear silver. And those men down there? They have loads and loads of silver ammunition. I can smell the damn stuff all the way from here. And worst of all, they're Maldorian soldiers." "She's right." Keerin added. "Were not just going up against some random soldiers from Blackhorn. We can't afford to be reckless against them. Just a single arrow to the chest or the head and were done for. Trust me, I know." "So what exactly are you suggesting, brother?" Yates spoke up. "It's really as simple as I said it before. When I got close to their campsite I counted a dozen, all wearing silver plated breastplates and chainmail. But fortunately they looked more like scouts to me, so we don't need to be too worked up. Plus, they're feasting. Which means their helmets are removed too. We take that as an advantage." "So we approach their camp with the element of surprise, claws aimed directly at their throats, and scavenge their remaining supplies." Yates said with a nod. "Exactly." "Well, what are we waiting for?" Marion said. "Me, I can't wait to get out of these f*****g robes. Been stuck in them for days now. They're starting to smell and I do not do well with bad smells." "Well. You can do yourself a favour and walk without it. Give the skin some fresh air, know what I mean." Alaric commented. She snorted. "Nice try, dickhead." "What about the ones with crossbows?" Manning's voice was very low and calm, but still audible to Keerin's sensitive ears. "There are two of them. So I'm leaving those to Aldwin and Alaric. Make sure you take care of them as fast as you can. No messing around. I mean it." "Yes sir." The twins said simultaneously. "The rest of you know what to do." Keerin said to Marion, Manning and Yates. "We take the rest of them out two at a time. Swift and precise. No mistakes." They all nodded their agreements. "What about me?" A young voice called out from somewhere deeper in the woods. A moment later a figure came jogging out of a stout brush in the distance and stopped just a few metres away from Keerin. "There you are. Where the hell have you been?" Marion asked. "I-um, was looking for some water." Soma replied with a look of embarassment. "Of course you were." Alaric said with a titter. "Soma." Keerin gripped his chin in mock thinking. "Well, you're on gathering duty." "Gathering duty?" "We're gonna need you to gather our prized goods as soon as we finish with the bigger problem." Yates added in with a smirk. Soma looked around at the rest of the group, his eyes narrowed. "Your kidding me right?" "Soma listen," Keerin strode forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, "you have to understand the situation were in. This isn't one of our trial runs. This is dangerous. You're still fifteen and far too young, not to mention inexperienced, and I don't want you to get hurt." "Fifteen my ass." He shoved his hand away. "You killed a lot of soldiers when you were this age. How is this any different?" Keerin stared at Soma, then glanced at the rest of the pack and gave a slight nod, indicating for them to proceed on. They nodded back and started walking down the hill, leaving Keerin and Soma alone. After a moment of silence, Keerin walked back towards the edge of the hill and glanced down. A small light was visible through the trees; the fire from the camp where they were about to launch an attack. Footsteps sounded from his right side as Soma came and followed his gaze. "Do you know why I killed those men?" Keerin asked quietly. "Coz you're invincible?" Soma replied. Keerin gave a chuckle. "Why would you think that?" Soma shrugged. "Coz, you're the alpha of the world's most feared and dangerous wolf pack. You can shapeshift into two different forms too. And, you also have the ability to control people's minds from sheer will. If that's not the definition of power, I don't know what else is." Keerin was quiet for a moment. Soma really thought he was a divine being. That didn't sit right with him. He didn't want people to see him as a god. Especially Soma. He never wanted people to see him as a monster too. But he had no choice on the latter. He tried to be good on the outside, but he knew the darkness that lurked inside his core. "I became an alpha when I was your age, did you know that? I wasn't even out of my teens yet but I was given a heavy burden to carry the rest of my miserable life." Soma turned to face him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Keerin kept his eyes trained on the campfire light. He blew out a heavy breath and said, "I lost someone very close to me at that time. I was reckless and stupid enough that I couldn't protect her. And she died because of my own impetuous deeds." He continued. "With her death came pain. And that pain, that pain was so deep enough that it awakened something inside of me. Something evil. Something dangerous. And I . . ." He suddenly stopped. He sighed and glanced at Soma. "My point is, ever since then, I told myself I wasn't going to lose anyone else close to me ever again. And that means you, Soma. You're family now. That's why I want you to set this one out, let me and the others deal with this. Please." Soma cast his eyes downwards for a moment. But then stepped closer and gave Keerin a crushing hug. "Thank you. And I'm sorry. I'll step aside." Keerin was surprised at first, but then he hugged him back. After a moment he pulled back and said, "Now, let's go give those guys hell." ☆☆☆ A while later found Keerin and his pack downhill, silenty creeping through tall trees and bushes, making an advance on the soldiers. He had divided his group individually, inorder for them to encircle their camp. That way they could easily overwhelm their enemy and quickly dispose of them. As he got close enough, Keerin sent a mind wave through the air, one of his ways of communicating with his pack over long distances. He mentally reminded each member to take out two guards at one time, since there were only twelve men and six of them. He watched as the soldiers ate and drank and laughed while they sat around the fire. Two of them were standing nearest to where Keerin was advancing from, holding mugs of ale and chatting by themselves. Just as Keerin was about to get further close, he heard a sharp snap from underneath his barefoot. Glancing down anxiously, he saw that he had stepped on a small branch. His eyes roved back to the guards, cursing his stupidity. Most of them continued with their deep conversations, but the two standing close to him had their heads turned his way. "You heard that?" One of them said. "Yeah. It came from over there." The other replied. "Go check it out." "It's probably a deer." "Just go check it out you scared fuck." The first one said, roughly shoving his companion. Blowing out a breath, the other soldier gave in and started shuffling in Keerin's direction. He crouched and hid himself behind the nearby bush, waiting for the precise moment to strike. When the soldier stepped out of the campfire light and into the darkness of the forest, he glanced around nervously, trying to find the source of the sound. When he shrugged and turned to return back, Keerin leapt from the bush and clamped his left hand onto the soldier's mouth and forcefully jerked his hand sideways, snapping his neck cleanly. Limp body dropping to the ground, Keerin locked eyes with the one who remained behind. "The f**k!?" The other soldier yelled. "I guess there's no more need for a surprise attack. It's time." Keerin said. From the eastside, Marion leapt out from the dark and lunged, her claws drawn, at two of the startled soldiers. From her left came out the twins as they targeted the two who had lifted their crossbows, ready to fire. They're lives were ended with them holding their own throats before they even fired an arrow. Manning and Yates handled the rest with brute force, with Manning bashing two of the soldiers heads in and snapping another's neck with both hands. Yates fought one soldier who had managed to pick up his sword, but he was no match for his quickness and efficiency. And as Keerin had suspected, the soldiers were definitely scouts. He could tell by the way the soldiers fought. The way they handled their weapons. Plus, they had forgotten one key thing to do when fighting shapeshifters; putting on their protective helmets. A real warrior would have done that firstly before doing anything else. Yates disposed the soldier a few seconds later. That left three behind, three who had now encircled Keerin. Two had drawn their long knives, only one had drawn a double bladed sword. That would have been hilarious to him if it wasn't for the silver coating their weapons. "You killed my friend you bastard." The one with the sword growled. "I'll kill you for what you've done you retched demon!!" He swung his sword, aiming for Keerin's midsection and missed. He swung again sideways, making him smirk as he effortlessly dodged the blade. The soldier grumbled a curse and repeated his assault. Thrusts and forward slashes all the way. His swings were not reckless though. They were carefully calculated and graceful of that of a seasoned fighter, trained to kill Keerin's kind. At least there was a little competition available. The other two soldiers waited a distance away, probably awaiting orders from the one he was fighting. Guess he was the leader after all. When the soldier brought up his sword again, Keerin was about to sidestep but was deliberately mislead as the soldier amazingly twisted and lowered his sword with enough agility and sliced Keerin's calf clean through his robe. He glanced down at the now bleeding and smoking wound with shock. He has never been cut or stabbed before. Not after eleven years ago. He looked up at the soldier, who also had a surprised expression on his face. He then quickly replaced it with a smirk as he looked at Keerin. "How do you like that, you vermin. I will make sure you die a slow and agonizing death, devil's pet!", he spat as he recklessly came swinging for his head. Keerin's face darkened. He was done playing games now. As the soldier neared him and swung straight for his head, Keerin grabbed the blade with inhuman speed and held it prone in the air. His right hand began to bleed and smoke on contact, but he didn't care. Rage began to boil inside him. He was deeply annoyed than pained by that cut on his leg. He made his eyes change colour to show how pissed he was. The soldier's eyes went completely wide with visible terror when that happened. "You're . . . , " he stammered. With the right hand holding the blade, Keerin brought up his left and backhanded the soldier with brute strength. The man flew backwards and landed a distance away in a crumpled heap. The other two men left standing took one look at Keerin's eyes, then at each other, and a moment later they dropped their weapons and made a run for it into the forest. "We should go after them." Marion said as she started advancing. "Let them go. They won't survive for long anyway." Keerin glanced at the retreating soldiers. "This is the North after all." A cough sounded behind him, and he turned to see the soldier he had hit a moment ago heeving blood out of his mouth while trying to sit up. Marion walked towards the fallen man and placed a leg on his chest hard. "You're still alive. You're a tough bastard aren't you?" She said. "Y-You will n-never win, demon." He croaked. "Maybe. But fact is darling, you won't be there to witness it." With one fluid motion, she brought down her claws and slashed his throat open. Crimson began to pour out rapidly like a leaking pipe. Keerin walked towards the soldier and locked eyes with him, but seconds later his eyes gazed into space as his soul finally left his body. "We're done here." Keerin blew a loud whistle, and a moment after that, Soma came strolling into the still crackling fire light with a look of pure fascination as he glanced around their work. "That was amazing." He said. "You guys took them out with no effort at all. And you're not even sweating!" "You got that right chump." Alaric replied with his hands in the air. "We're the kings of this shit." With a pointed look from Marion, he added, "And queen. Kings and Queen." Marion nodded approvingly. "Hey." Aldwin kicked one of the dead bodies. "Mind if we take your s**t? I can't guarantee we'll bring them back though so . . ." Keerin was about to comment something when movement from his peripheral stopped him short. He turned and noticed a fallen soldier lift up a loaded crossbow, aiming it at the one who was nearest. Keerin shouted Soma's name, but it was too late. The silver arrow was fired straight into his throat. Time seemed to slow around Keerin as he locked eyes with Soma. His eyes were filled with terror as he clutched his throat with his hands. "Keerin." He breathed. And with that, he fell sideways to the ground, eyes widened. Keerin ran to his side immediately as Alaric and Aldwin preyed on the man responsible. But he didn't care at that moment. In his mind there was only Soma. He turned Soma's head towards him as smoke and blood choked him. "Soma, look at me. Look at me!" Soma's eyes were still wide as he turned towards Keerin with visible effort. "You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be fine, you hear me?" "I'm . . . sorry, Keerin." He whispered. With one final breath, his head rolled back and his eyes went slack. Keerin felt numb. His hands shook as he held Soma's limp body. The others had gathered around him, but they respected him enough to keep their distance. It was a somber moment, and he didn't want anybody to interrupt. He then pressed his forehead on Soma's and stayed like that for what felt like forever. After a while, he placed his body gently on the ground and slowly stood up. He looked at the twins equally in the eyes and said with a rough voice, "Gather up some wood. We need to bury him here." They nodded and went to do as told. Keerin kept staring at Soma, trying to feel rage upon seeing it. But all he felt was only pain and sorrow. Maybe because he blamed himself for his death. He should'nt have brought him here. He should'nt have let him join his pack. If he had left Soma back in the Colonades he would still be . . . "It's all my fault." Yates said with his head bowed. "I thought I had killed that soldier but I clearly hadn't. I let my pride get the best of me. Forgive me, brother." Keerin glanced at his second in command. He looked away afterwards, having nothing to say to him. ☆☆☆ Keerin stared into the fire as Soma's body burned to ashes. The others were standing in a circle around the makeshift pyre. He should have felt ashamed of himself for not shedding a single tear for him. But he didn't. Something inside him refused him to cry. Something that kept telling him to seek vengeance instead. He ignored that voice for the moment. Instead, he just stared distractedly into the fire. "What do we do now?" Marion asked quietly. Keerin looked up and stared at her. When she met his gaze, she saw the intensity in his eyes. She then cast hers downwards with shame. "I'm sorry. I did'nt mean to be forward . . ." "The sea." He said. Marion raised her eyes again with a confused expression. "We're going to cross the sea." Keerin looked into each and every one of his pack's eyes. "It's time we finally paid the High King a visit."