The Feral Mate

Chapter 4: Colt

Chapter 4: Colt

“You’re not borrowing my underwear” I growled at my Beta, Brock.

“Oh c’mon please, Colt? I know you brought extra!”

“No,”

“Why?”

“One, it’s gross. Two, I’ll never get them back. And three, maybe this will teach you to finally think ahead for once.”

“What will teach him to think ahead?” asked one of my best warriors, Joan, poking her head into my cabin. She was a tall, dark-skinned, sss woman with braided hair and a mischievous smile.

“I only brought two pairs of underwear,” confessed Brock, sheepishly.

“We’ve been at sea for over a week!” Joan exclaimed.

“Well, obviously I thought we’d be done by now!” Brock threw up his hands and sighed. “Whatever, I’ll just go commando,”

“Ew, thanks for that imagery.”

“You’re welcome,” Brock winked as he exited my cabin. Joan let out a low growl as she watched him go.

“Honestly, I feel bad for whoever his mate winds up being,” she grumbled. I cleared my throat, but let my Alpha voice rumble into it to show her that I did not approve of what she said.

“Joan, Brock has his flaws, but so does everyone else. He deserves to be accepted for who he is. We all do. Plus, we both know he’ll embrace his mate, no matter who or what they are,” I said. Joan nodded.

“That is very true, Alpha. I apologize,” she said, sincerely.

“That’s alright,” I replied. I wondered sometimes if Joan was a bit envious of Brock for being chosen as my Beta. They were both outstanding fighters, and passionate about protecting the pack. I knew that some people thought that I chose Brock over Joan because we had been friends since childhood, but this was not the case. I chose him because, despite his intimidating 6ft 4in frame, and well-defined muscles covered in battle scars, he was patient, kind and willing to speak with anyone before resorting to violence. He had a bright, winning smile, with dimples set deeply into his tan skin. His sandy blonde hair gave him an easy-going surfer vibe, which made him easy to talk to and excellent at relieving tensions within the pack. I had heard a few she-wolves crushing after him call him a ‘himbo’. I don’t consider this a bad term, but I think perhaps people don’t realize that Brock is very emotionally intelligent where it counts.

“Anyway, I came in here to tell you that we’re in sight of the island, and in about an hour we’ll be close enough to see the shore,” Joan said.

“Brilliant, I’ll come up,” I replied, and stood from behind my desk. My cabin had an office, kitchen, luxury bathroom, bedroom, balcony and walk-in closet. Our ship, the Wanderlust, was once a high-end yacht that had been transformed into a battleship during the war by the rogue Captain Taylor. I defeated Captain Taylor and now his boat was mine. It was a beautiful vessel that could easily house about 15 people, but there were only five coming with me on this journey. I stepped out onto the deck, into the hot sun. The area had been hit by a storm a few days previous, but you wouldn’t know it by looking around. I wore basic cargo shorts and a white tank top. Normally, an Alpha dresses to impress, but I wasn’t about to explore an uncharted island in a suit and tie.

“I think there’s something on the shore!” Jake, another warrior of mine, called out. Joan handed me a pair of binoculars. The island was still a good distance away, so it was hard to make out exactly what the black blobs were that decorated the beach. They sort of resembled large pre-lit bonfires. I turned my focus to a singular black blob. After sailing closer, I realized that the bonfire-like structure was actually a collection of supporting posts propping up a central 14ft pole. At the top of the pole a human skull was placed on a spike, and dangling from frayed rope beneath the skull was a collection of bones, most likely human as well. They swayed in the breeze like some sort of grotesque windchime.

“One, two, three, four, five-” Joan counted.

“Wait, let's hold off counting until we’re closer. It will be easier to keep track, and we’ll get an accurate number once we circle the island completely,” I said, and turned my head to the crow’s nest. “Jake, get out your camera and record this!”

Jake did as he was told, and recorded our approach to the island on the fancy handheld camera that he brought in case we saw something outrageous. I honestly couldn’t believe his delusional theories were actually turning out to be valid. We stopped short of the reef about 100ft and began to circle the island. Our group gawked at the eerie edifices surrounding the island on all sides. There were fifteen of them in total, all evenly spaced. Nine of the skulls appeared to be werewolves, four were human, and two were once vampires. Whatever lived on this island was clearly a force to be reckoned with. Oslo was pacing rapidly in my head, and the look in my crew’s eyes told me their wolves were also preparing for a fight.

“Colt, look,” said Brock, pointing toward the dense jungle. “Above the canopy, I saw something shiny,”

I looked, and sure enough, a small glint winked out from the top of one of the taller trees. I couldn’t make out anything else around it.

“A lookout, maybe?” questioned Joan. Brock shrugged, eyes never leaving the light.

“Be prepared for anything,” I mind linked my entire crew. “A monster, sirens, pirates. Anything,”

The engine on our boat was small, so the trek to the shore was long and tense. I saw that there were indeed numerous sharks surrounding the island. A few even bumped against our boat, and when Brock made the mistake of dipping his fingers into the water, one lunged for him and nearly took his hand off. Thankfully, Brock’s reflexes kicked in, and in half a second he had partially shifted enough to s***h the thing open with his claws. The other sharks swarmed the bleeding one in a violent frenzy, and our boat was long forgotten by the beasts in favor of cannibalizing each other.

Finally, we reached the beach. We were silent, some of us gazing into the jungle, some of us staring at the closest pillar of death. I considered that it might be there to warn people like us not to do what we were about to do.

“Stay together. I’ll take the front, Brock will take the rear. Rely on all your senses while we go through here. If you get a whiff of something unfamiliar, speak up immediately. Look for trails, either animal or otherwise. I want to cover as much ground as possible today, but we will not be staying after dark. Understand?”

“Yes, Alpha,” everyone chorused.

“ Let’s go,” I turned on my heel, and marched straight into the shadowy wild landscape.