Alpha Klayton | ✔️

38 |

"I'll catch...but you have to kill."

The words cut through me like a knife. I felt like a stalker as I am pulled down to a crouched position.

I am shocked when I turn my head and Berry is in the tree, blending in with the all the greenery. In fact, her pointed features made her look like she was a creature emerging from the trees. She had even taken the book with her and it was clutched in her slim arms. I shivered; I hadn't even seen her move.

Paxton was crouched behind me as he whispered in my ear. "Now, you gotta move nice and slow." I swatted at his head at the insinuation, it was definitely meant to come across as dirty with the wag he wagged his eyebrows to me.

I could hear Berry's soft giggle from above me. I rolled my eyes and started to walk, still hunched over, being careful to avoid all the twigs that lay beneath my feet.

I kept moving, unsure of what we were even hiding from until I heard it. Breathing... uneven, as if it was running. Heavy sounds of something inhaling and exhaling, more specifically, someone.

A person.

I could see their hair through the bushes, and hear their feet hit the ground in a rhythmed pattern.

It was my turn for my breathing to catch in my throat. No. I turned to Paxton who was showing no emotion; a blank and bored expression on his face.

"Absolutely not!" I took no caution trying to be quiet, I almost hoped I would scare this person away.

Paxton looked at me almost expectedly – he knew I was going to react this way. What an ass!

He chuckled and looked up at Berry. The audacity he had to laugh at this situation. I crossed my arms in frustration at his taunting.

"I told you she wouldn't have the guts to kill a person, it wasn't even worth the try."

Berry's only response was to jump to another tree. I felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my head. I had seen more things break the rules of physics in the last hour than I had in my whole lifetime. I watched in shock... in admiration.

"Ah, witches and their tricks..." Paxton muttered to himself before turning back to me. He was still crouched on the ground whereas I was upright. The human had passed on the trail and was now far away. I breathed out a sigh of relief as Paxton pulled me back down again and turned my head to make me look through the bushes.

I strained my eyes to see through the thick foliage.

"Don't worry, our prey is a little more... furry."

I am thankful to see a doe, her head nodded in front of her, eating. My relief shocked me; I was glad I didn't have to kill a person, but this animal was beautiful.

The more I watched her the more I noticed. Small things stuck out, like the soft browns and grays that contoured her body. Or her large eyes, with eyelashes so long that they draped over and brushed her cheekbones. Her sharp ears that stuck up; turning in all directions, listening for any sign of danger.

The irony struck me. I was the danger. Fear flooded throughout me; I didn't want to be a killer.

But with this fear, a feeling of confidence followed. I knew what I had to do, and it was that confidence that scared me. Paxton interrupted my thoughts.

"That's the goddess in you, the natural instinct to hunt allows you to see the details you do. In order to hunt, you must be able to predict the behaviour of the target."