Taming the Hellbeast

Ch. 1: It’s him! I’m telling you

The sound came closer. Paws pounding the ground, panting breaths and the undisguisable smell of wet dog. The rain had stopped, but the smell would not leave until they dried up or shifted back and showered. They came closer. And fast at that. Maybe 4-6 not many. It seemed like a suicide run to test the perimeter. Like always.

He did not care. He just waited for them. Standing motionless behind some trees sure they would come by him very soon. He had already shifted, claws ready and fangs thirsting for blood.

Yet… Something felt off. It sounded different. He sniffed to catch what was different. They weren’t attacking the pack, they were hunting. He pounded out a shockwave of energy to sift through the incoming wolves. They were hunting, something small, he could feel the smaller heartbeat racing.

The desperation.

There they were 6 rogues hunting from what he could tell. He worriedly tapped into their mind link and listened; it was either that or read their minds individually. He was getting better at it; he had been training that ability for a while after he found out he was able to do it. At first it had only been reading the mind of the wolf he was fighting he could tap into; in time he could read more and more different minds at a time. Then he learned to tap into their mind link, saving himself the mind reading process. In the beginning they had to be within proximity of him, but like all his abilities that too could be developed and maybe one day perfected to work over extremely long distances.

*Get her. We need to catch her. She’s the one we need.*

They had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting whomever they were chasing when he was around, he smiled at their stupid plan. They usually just did suicide runs. Pushing in on the perimeters to test how well the Mountain Keeper Pack defended their territory.

And they defended it well, they thrived under the leadership of their beloved Alpha.

With a little help from him, of course.

It was a strong pack, well renowned and held in high regard by most, but rogues and some competing packs were inevitable, they wanted the land, and it was a breathtaking territory they held. Full forest up the mountainside, the valley below all the way to the other side of the mountain. The crystal lake was his favorite place, it was hard for him to go there because it was crowded by pack members most of the time, but he went to look at the waterfall and swim in the lake during the summertime when they all slept.

All in all, he liked the pack. They were happy people and kind. They had fierce warriors and a strong hierarchy, but none were treated badly or left out. They had many pups too, cute ones at that. There was always playful chatter sounding from the pack grounds and houses.

Their warriors trained vigorously, under the watchful and capable eye of an elderly wolf named Aroes. He was a big, bulky man with reddish hair and pointy blue eyes, they seemed to pierce people, and nothing happened on the training grounds that he did not notice. His wolf was reddish too, it was big and, in a sense, pretty because of the unusual redness to his color.

The Alpha. Well he had nothing but respect and praise to give there, he was a strong and just Alpha, greatly helped by his Luna and the pack Beta. Outside packs, rogues and lone alphas had tried to take over, but so far none had succeeded.

He liked them. It was as simple as that.

He could hear the young female they were chasing, her small paws thundering as fast as they could carry her. He tried to break into her mind link to see if she had called for help, but it seemed she was too scared to think. He had no other option than to read her mind. Her thoughts were chaotic, she was mixing up everything, present and past and it was hard for him to sift through it, but the overwhelming fear and her calling for her father, mother and Kerr, the Beta’s son, to save her was dominant when he got in there.

Suddenly she broke through the trees into the small clearing and he jolted from his hiding place. She was a little jet-black thing, looked so soft with her child fur, her electric green eyes fixed on him and if she had been afraid before, she was terrified now. She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes showed her thoughts, he did not even have to read her mind. She looked death in the eyes and knew she had lost. Still she pulled up her lips and bared her small sharp fangs, she was not going down without a fight.

It was rather cute and brave as all hell. He had to admire her, but he did not have time. He jumped towards her and bit gently into the scruff of her neck lifting her up.

“Put me down,” she growled.

“Relax, sweetheart, I’m not going to hurt you, but I need to hide you from them,” he hissed out through clenched teeth while holding her and feeling the sting from her claws at his chin.

“You’re not?” She stopped fighting.

He was not sure if it was from shock at his words or because she actually believed him. He ran fast from the clearing to the next and put her down with great care behind a tree. “Of course not, I’d never hurt anyone from the Mountain Keeper Pack. But you’re in danger, be a good girl and stay hidden here while I take care of this minor problem.” He nuzzled her gently with his nose trying to calm her and instinctively she nuzzled him back, she felt no fear of him it would seem. Trusting little thing, he thought.

“Be safe,” she whispered.

How f*****g cute was that? Telling him to be safe. He licked her ear and turned ready to defend her from the wolves at her heels.

“Don’t look, sweetheart, this won’t be pretty.”

*She went this way. We’ve got her now.*

He wanted to laugh at that, but he refrained himself before jumping out from his hiding place. The rogues stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of him. He was shifted, but his wolf did not have control yet. He was huge, twice their size at least. His crisp white fur almost blinding them. It was so white it had a blueish shine to it. Ice white, he liked to call it. His eyes were silvery grey and focused on the 6 wolves in front of him.

‘Want to have some fun, Acker?’ he asked his wolf.

‘You f*****g bet ya!’

‘All yours.’ He let go and allowed Acker to take over. His eyes turning completely black and the irises changing from silver to pure white. It was a scary sight and the intruders reacted accordingly and froze in fear not surprised shock.

Acker wasted no time. With a low growl he attacked. He leapt in before they had a chance to figure out what was happening. Ripping the throat of the front runner and biting the neck of the next one, the snapping of bones easily heard.

*What the actual f**k!!* One of them cried out in their mind link.

Acker relished in their confused surprise and took out two more without breaking a sweat. Only two left, a brown and a black one, time for fun.

“Come at me,” he snarled to entice them to attack him.

“Who the f**k are you?” the Brown asked.

“Really? No guesses? I’m hurt.” Acker laughed tauntingly.

*It’s him! I’m telling you. It’s the Hellbeast.*

*f**k you, it can’t be. It’s a legend, a damn scary story to tell kids.*

“Might as well speak up, I can hear what you’re thinking anyway,” Acker teased with a bored drawl listening to their mind link babbling.

“f**k if you can,” the black snarled.

Acker was amused. “Think of a number between 1 and 1000.”

*862*

With an evil laugh Acker lunged forward killing the brown where it stood, he continued to lunge at the black and though the black got a few scratches in, it was not a fair fight. “862,” Acker whispered gloatingly before he broke the guy’s neck.

He breathed out and licked his scratches. The girl! He turned and she sat behind the tree looking straight at him, her eyes were wide with wonder.

Wonder. Not fear, shock or revulsion as was usually the case.

He stalked back towards her, Acker still in control, he knew he had to look terrifying, but her gaze of wonder never left him.

She tumbled forward and carefully licked his wound then she looked up at his big head having to take a few steps back to see him. “Come back, silver eyes.” She herself let go of her wolf and her electric green eyes turned a normal green. Well not normal, they were like sparkling emeralds.

‘Enough fun, Acker. Time to leave.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’ Within a second, he was back in control.

“Hi,” she said sweetly. “Thank you.”

‘f**k a precious kid,’ Acker mumbled in his head and he could not agree more.

“No worries little one. Are you ok? Why didn’t you look away like I asked you to?”

The little girly laugh she let out rang in his ears. “I had to know if you needed help.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t need anything.”

“A friend? I can be your friend.”

Friend. He had never had a friend. He was always alone, people feared him. Hated him even. And this little black-furred puppy wanted to be his friend. Though she had been scared at first, being chased by 6 rogues would make even some adult wolves scared, she was fearless and kind. Sure, he had saved her, but somehow, he felt like she liked him for something else.

“My dad says you can never have too many friends. He’s an Alpha you know. He’s smart.”

‘f*****g awesome, the Alpha’s daughter.’ Acker grumbled. ‘We’re so deep in s**t if she tells.’

“You don’t want me as your friend.” he grumbled dismissing her brilliant child-like idea.

“I’m Santine. I’ll be your friend. Who are you?”

“Sweetheart…” he murmured. He could not use her name, that would make her too real. He never really used people’s names when he interacted with them.

“Name!”

If she had been in human form, he was certain she would have stomped her feet into the ground to get her way in a girly fit.

“I’m Jax. Why aren’t you afraid of me?”

“Kind eyes. Kind soul. Silver beauty.”

“You should run along home. I’ll take care of the mess here. Please don’t tell anybody you saw me, they’ll hunt me.”

“You’re my friend. Of course, I won’t tell anybody.” She nuzzled her head against his bowed down head and ran off.

‘f*****g cutiepie that one.’ Acker was almost purring.

Jax nodded in agreement before he surveyed the scene. He masked her scent to make sure nobody knew she had been there and grabbed one of the bodies with his teeth and carried it off. It was no fun anymore really, but he still did it to help. It was not like he had anything better to do. And saving the little green-eyed furball had been worth it.