Page 3 of The Wolf Moon

I was startled when large feet planted in front of me. Had he really gone through each so quickly? Did he pick already? Or don’t they go over each potential before picking? I thought I heard him say something. What did he say? Why didn’t I listen?

The silence was deadly. I hesitated. I looked from the feet to the bodies next to me, trying to look anywhere but at the King Alpha. The girls all looked pale and terrified, but they were all staring at me now. Apparently, they had been listening.

“I asked you a question,” The King Alpha growled lowly. I winced, turning my head slowly towards him. My eyes trained on his chest in front of me, his arms crossed and waiting.

“No?” I chanced questioningly, hoping the answer would be correct.

“So you weren’t the one who forced me to wait for over an hour?” He asked, no… he repeated. I reddened again, but lifted my eyes from his chest to his face daringly. My eyes were greeted with his cold, blue glare.

“No,” I repeated firmly. And before I could stop myself, I added in perhaps the most polite but sarcastically seasoned way, “I would not dare presume a human like myself could force any lycan to do anything at all.”

The following silence was probably even deadlier than the previous. I had never felt a regret so instant as this one. I nearly yelped when the King Alpha stepped forward, reaching for my face dominatingly. I held my breath as he twisted my face side to side briefly before grasping my wrist firmly.

“What’s your name, human?” He demanded more than asked.

“Mila… Milena Young-” I winced when he bent forward, breathing in my scent with a low growl. He pulled my wrist to his mouth, running his tongue over the blood remaining on my flesh dangerously. The sight was terrifying enough to drop my stomach to the floor.

When he twisted my wrist, trailing his tongue towards the bottom of my hand, he paused to look at the small birthmark on the flesh of my palm just under my pinky. To me, it looked like a smile or the tip of a fingernail. To others, it looked like a crescent moon.

“Are you a hunter, Milena?” The King Alpha asked me cryptically.

I could barely manage a response, “Yes.”

“So am I,” He released me promptly, as though the moments spent observing me were something disgusting to him. He turned to John before indicating to his fellow lycan, “We’ll take this one. Let’s go.”

The first thing I heard was the gasps of relief from the surrounding girls within the room. I saw them embrace one another; their joy was that great. The next thing I heard was something of a choked sound escaping my own throat. I felt my eyes were too wide and my limbs too stiff suddenly.

“W-w-…”

The lycan accompanying the King Alpha approached me and yanked me forward, twisting me in front of him before pushing my head forward and down as though wanting me to bow. Then he grabbed my hands and pulled them behind me, tying them together painfully. I remained silent momentarily, the reality of the situation not having found me as of yet.

When the lycan finished, he pushed me forward towards the door.

“W-what?” I asked, stuck on the initial comment: we’ll take this one.

The King Alpha went ahead of us and the lycan pushed me to follow him. I turned to look at my peers with sheer panic.

“Wait, what?! Me?” I began to struggle and the lycan merely shoved me forward with ease. When I refused to take my steps forward, he resolved to drag me out by the elbow. I tried to sputter more words, but instead began gasping for air as though I were being suffocated.

When we stepped outside, a crowd had evolved. Families of the potential were gathered, waiting to see who had been chosen and who had been freed. As I stepped into the sunlight, a horrific wail lifted through the air. I found my family immediately; my mother screaming with realization. More wails followed; the cries of people who knew me, who had watched me grow among them, and would now watch me taken away forever.

I was forced to follow the King Alpha even though I immediately struggled to run to my family. Before we could make it through the crowd, a louder mass of cries evolved. I looked towards my family in bewilderment as my younger brother ducked under my dad’s arm and ran towards me with something in his hand.

Immediately, the whole of my family and friends ran after him. The lycan containing me stiffened, preparing for a fight. The King Alpha snarled furiously, stepping forward to greet the group of humans who dared approach him. His eyes didn’t register Greg, who had been overtaken by the group, and for that I was grateful. However, I was terrified for my family’s life.

“No! Don’t hurt them!” I cried out, trying to rip my arms from the lycan’s grip. The group collided with the King Alpha and I closed my eyes as he easily swiped them away furiously. The lycan released me momentarily, aiming to help his King. I spotted Greg and ran to him, bending down to him. “Gregory!”

“I brought you this,” He gasped, his eyes wide with fear and disbelief. He lifted the sheath and blade I had previously had wrapped around my leg for my hunt. I looked at it to him, considering how absurd he was.

“Are you crazy?”

“Maybe you can fight them off,” He pleaded, the only hope in his mind being the thing in his hands. I hesitated, but I didn’t want to see that look of despair on his face any longer. I stood and stepped my foot forward.

“You’ll have to put it on,” I told him, “Hurry!”

He reached under my dress and tied the strap around my leg as quick as his clumsy hands would allow. Just as he finished tightening the strap properly, I was yanked away painfully. I yelped and Greg aimed to tackle the lycan capturing me. My aunt caught him, pulling him away the opposite direction.

“Fight them, Mila!” He cried out. “Don’t let them kill you! Promise me! Promise me!”

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