Nobody threw food at me. In fact, no one even really looked at me. I found my time on the shame table quite boring. Besides sitting on my knees, I found I could lay down if I wanted, roll around with some difficulty, and could spend my time playing with the chains of my shackles.
I was lying on my back, twisting the chain around my wrist repeatedly when something clanged against the table next to my head. I jumped with surprise, twisting quickly to find a bowl of soup placed in front of me. I stared at it a moment and looked up to find someone standing in front of the table, leaning against what appeared to be a lance of some kind.
She looked familiar to me. Her hair was dark red, like blood unlike the lighter ginger my family inherited. She had it tied down her back in a braid. And her eyes were a light, illuminating blue like sapphire gems. Looking into them, I recalled where I saw them before.
"You were the black wolf," I declared, now completely suspicious of her.
"I was," She stated, a sort of quiet grace in her tone that said she didn't raise her voice often... that is, unless it's a loud, alerting howl in the night. She lifted a hand from her weapon and pointed to the bowl. "I've brought you food."
"You called them to me in the hunt!" I continued with distrust.
"Yes, well... they were quite distracted by rabbits," She suddenly smiled at me as I widened my eyes. To avoid admitting I rubbed my blood all over those poor bunnies, I reached for the bowl of soup and began eating it with vigor. I was pretty much starving.
"My name is Cate," She introduced herself easily. I didn't stop to give my name, but continued eating while looking at her suspiciously. Despite her more serious aura, she seemed curious and playful. If anything, it was like having my aunt trying to cheer me up when I was a child. It was strange. "What's your name?"
I finally stopped and frowned. "Milena. Everyone calls me Mila."
"Mila, huh? What do you think of Alpha Roman so far?"
"He's an asshole." I continued to finish the soup, ignoring Cate's laugh. When I was done, I looked at her carefully. She was clothed in a uniform of sorts. Along her waist was a blade probably no longer than her forearm and the lance she leaned on held a sharp and impressive tip.
"I'm a warrior wolf," Cate explained to me before I could ask, straightening herself before posing with her lance. It took me a moment before I realized as she twisted and turned that she was being downright silly. I frowned at her for a moment, but when she feinted a trip and then steadied herself, a smile slipped onto my lips despite myself.
"Are you really a warrior?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked me, pretending offense. I watched as she looked over her shoulder at the empty mess hall where previously lycans had fed and otherwise peered at me curiously. "They wouldn't throw anything at you because you proved yourself superior to them. And also because they think you're blessed by the Mother."
I hesitated, "Who's the Mother?"
Cate smiled with amusement, but humored me.
"She's the Moon Goddess, or rather one of them. Apparently you called out for her just before you challenged them all, including Alpha Roman," Cate informed me simply.
"I called out for my mother," I finally admitted with frustration.
"I wouldn't tell anyone that, if I were you." She straightened herself once more before glancing at me a final time. "Good luck in your fight against the Alpha. Should be a pretty interesting one, considering." Without explaining what was to consider, she walked away swiftly and left me on my own.
Time passed slowly. Others might have felt more unease at sleeping on such surfaces, but I was used to camping in the harsh wild for weeks at a time when food was scarce in my village. Lycans came and went. Some, like Cate, began offering me foods and drink at random. I was able to leave my position only to use the restroom and even that I felt was something I wasn't supposed to be allowed to do. It felt strange to be a sacrificial human in the midst of gods and being treated as some sort of creature to be wary of. I was certain this would be something that would change once this "challenge" was completed.
After what I counted to be three days, the wounds on my stomach felt absent. I had removed the bandages to play with the remains of the wound; now pink scars that were sensitive to the touch. It was strange how quickly I had healed from such a wound. Not even I could explain it.
I began thinking about how exactly I would fight off the King Alpha. Just before the hunt, he spoke of humans using horrific weapons on the werewolves. We used to know how to easily harm the deity shapeshifters, but so long ago we had been isolated and all things related to the packs were considered taboo. As long as we worshipped and gave our sacrifices, we wouldn't be wiped out entirely. The knowledge of what those weapons had been were far gone.
I did manage to kill one in the hunt, though. I still got chills when thinking of it. Obviously, injury to the brain was enough to end them. I suspected a direct hit to the heart might possibly do something as well. But as for other injuries considered deadly to humans... I doubted it.
I was considering how I might manage to set the King Alpha on fire when my thoughts were interrupted.
"Alpha Roman has accepted your challenge and announced to all that it will be completed now that you're full health," A man said to me, catching my attention. I immediately sat up, twisting to peer at the man; the same lycan that had allowed me to keep my knife for the hunt. I wondered if he regretted it.
"And when did he announce this?" I asked, bewildered.
"Two days ago," The man replied simply before reaching for my chains.
"What? When is this challenge thing happening?"
"Now. I just told you..."
I gaped at him. He released my shackles, freeing my rather sore wrists at last. Instead of climbing off of the table, I stayed put.
"Can I back out of the challenge?" I asked him, as though I could bargain with the Alpha through him. This man appeared to follow the King Alpha around a lot. Perhaps it meant he was important. He looked big enough to be almost as scary as the Alpha. His brown hair was rather long and loose to his shoulders. Who knew?
"You can," He admitted simply, holding out his hand palm up for me pointedly. "Just bare your neck to him."
"What? But he'd just rip my neck out," I exclaimed with exasperation.
"That is the point," The man answered, a look of solemn boredom set on his features. His eyes were a dark blue-hazel and they conveyed his attempt to view me as a dead woman who just didn't know it yet. I frowned unhappily at his hand.
"What's your name?" I asked, reaching for his hand at last and moving off of the table.
" I wasn't hunting you, so I avoided your challenge. I'm not required to answer," he responded simply. I stared at him momentarily as he led me out of the building. I recalled how he had yanked me from my family and life, thrown me against a wall, and jokingly allowed me to keep my weapon during the hunt as if to rub it in my face that I wouldn't survive.
"You didn't hunt me?" It was... surprising.
"I have my reasons," He shrugged, unimpressed. "I would offer my neck if I were you. If you win, you'll be challenged by every powerful wolf in this pack and all the others."
"Well, I can't win, can I?" I muttered unhappily.
We stepped into another building, walking through halls and ultimately arrived at a set of double doors. I could hear the lycans behind it already. When the doors opened, I was shoved into what looked like an arena of sorts. The walls were lined with lycans, all of them chattering loudly and a type of excitement thriving in the atmosphere.
In the center was a massive space. Too much space, if you asked me. The floor was dirt, but I could still see evidence of past fights in the marks of claws left on the ground. In the space provided, I noted several stands which held weapons. I blanched further. It wasn't enough that he would have supernatural strength and abilities, but he could also use weapons against me?
I had to remind myself that I could use them as well.
I was shoved forward once more, finding it suddenly extremely difficult to do so myself. To the right side of the area, the King Alpha stood watching me emotionlessly. I stiffened, lifting my chin and taking the shortest, choppiest steps to the opposite direction. I was a sacrifice, after all. I should have expected to die sooner than this. I just didn't think it would be at the stake of my own fighting abilities.
"Call it, Beta Caleb," The King Alpha suddenly snarled as I found my position across him, the massive space still not enough distance between us in my opinion.
"Yes, Alpha Roman," The man who had brought me here responded. Ha, Caleb. I felt a triumph, however small it was. He turned to me expectantly, "Do you have anything you wish to say or do before we start the challenge?"
I felt all eyes on me as the air silenced, waiting for my response. My heart thudded in my chest painfully, fear and adrenaline pulsing through me wildly. I wanted to opt out of the challenge, of course. But I also felt that same determination as I had when I ran through the forest, trying to survive. I made a promise; to fight. I might not have been a fighter or warrior for my own people, but I was a hunter. I had killed a deity werewolf once already. What's an Alpha King?
I targeted the King Alpha determinedly.
"Prepare yourself," I told him, my voice trembling as I shifted my feet in a way to stabilize my center more. For a moment, an undefined expression crossed his features as he watched me, as if I were a surprise to him. He no doubt had expected me to wimp out immediately.
The Beta, Caleb, turned to look at the ground between us. I felt my breath go light, my mind lifting above me as though my reality was no more palpable than a dream.
"Start," Caleb barked swiftly. The word froze me. I had expected to run for a weapon immediately, but my feet were lead under me. This was it. I was dead.
Alpha Roman stood where he had been left, unmoving as well. He didn't take his eyes off of me, his body just as stiff. I couldn't understand it. I was petrified. Why didn't he attack me?
My feet came back to me as fast as I had lost them. In a span of a breath, I turned heel and ran for the nearest weapon stand. I heard him before I saw him and I quickly dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, crying out in fear as he flew over me.
I shoved myself to my feet, reaching the weapon stand and lifting the bow I had spotted easily. I slung the case of arrows over my shoulder and was promptly slammed into, thrown across the dirt ground roughly enough to lose my breath. However, it wasn't as hard as the wolf had hit me in the forest. And there were no claws involved.
He was holding back. His loss.
I rolled the minute I hit the ground, the bow now firm in my hand, and strung an arrow with such ease that it felt like another extension of me. The King Alpha stood just feet away, towering and still in human form. Spotting my weapon, an expression of amusement graced him, as though he found my attempts humorous.
I aimed for his heart, breathing lightly. He disappeared in a blur, not running towards me, but not running away either. He was mocking me. However, I had great instincts. I released the arrow with deadly precision, equipping another without hesitation to release this one as well. Both hit him, missing him just inches below his heart, and caused him to freeze in mid-step.
With him stunned, I aimed for his eye, preparing for the kill while he was still processing the fact that I was able to hit him while running. I pulled the string, tightening my core in preparation, and then hesitated. Why was I hesitating? Let go. Let go.
Alpha Roman disappeared from his spot and was suddenly there, knocking the bow from my hand with a dangerous growl. He grasped my arms and threw me the opposite direction of my weapon, causing me to land particularly roughly. I laid gasping for air, my heart exploding in my chest.
Behind me, the Alpha was ripping the arrows from his abdomen, snarling as he did so. Blood spilled from his stomach to the ground where he threw the arrows and promptly stepped on them. I stood up painfully, something in my own abdomen damaged by the throw. When he began to approach me, I suddenly lifted my hand, reaching into that part of me that felt a connection to the animals around me.
"Stop," I told him, my voice high and frightened. There were gasps surrounding us as that power rose around me immediately, demanding to be obeyed.
Alpha Roman hesitated, lifting his face to breathe in the air around him curiously. His body stiffened under my order and I focused my entire attention on willing him to remain where he was.
"Now this is a fight," He growled deviously, an excitement flushing over his entire form, as though he had been waiting for me to do this very thing.
"I don't want to fight," I said truthfully.
"Then offer me that throat of yours, Milena," Alpha Roman suggested, the idea quite appealing to him for some reason. I didn't trust him, but I knew I couldn't win this fight. He had tossed away those arrows as if it were nothing to him. And he could move so fast; there was no way I could accurately hit him.
"Would you kill me if I did?" I asked uncertainly.
"Offer your neck and find out," He responded, his voice low and dangerous.
I could feel the adrenaline wearing off into something more of fearful uselessness. But still, I didn't trust him. I shook my head firmly, not willing to chance it.
"If you want my neck, you'll just have get it yourself."
"The hard way, then," He stated, taking a firm step forward.
"Don't move!" I shouted, forcing him to stop. "Step back!"
He stumbled over a step backwards and snarled loudly, his form beginning to change in front of me. He growled loudly at the snap of bone as his hands malformed and became claws. And then he took a few more steps towards me.
"Stop," I said quietly, my focus more on my order than my volume at this point. He paused again, huffing as he fought against my demand. I had never used this connection like this before meeting the werewolves. So often it was just me, reaching out to calm dying animals or to call them to me. It was too easy for them, but for this man it was something else entirely. I began to struggle to keep my breath.
"Shift," He suddenly demanded of me, his own form half-changing in front of me. I was startled by his own demand. I suddenly felt something else pushing back towards me; a separate power lifting around us. The werewolves watching seemed to be reacting to his order, as many began to change forms immediately. "Shift."
"I'm not a lycan!" I cried out in frustration, but just as a said it, a terrible chill crawled under my skin like something within me reaching out to touch the surface of my body. A scent enveloped me; the smell of a wild animal, powerful and of the forest. I gasped, my focus dropping entirely. Just as quickly, the King Alpha was on me, twisting me to the ground.
He suddenly smelled different as well. He smelled like pure power, untamed and seductive; something that caused a drug-like sensation to thrill through me. As he pinned me to the ground, he lowered his face into my chest with a low growl in his throat. I reached for him absently, pulling his face to mine and rubbing my cheek against his, and inhaled his addicting scent as though I had become something wild myself.
I lifted my face away, baring my throat quite suddenly for an entirely different reason than admitting defeat in a challenge. I was submitting. It was as though I had been possessed by this... whatever it was that crawled dangerously within me.
"I won't accept it," the King Alpha growled from above me dangerously, anger radiating behind his curious desire. I aimed to look at him, withdrawing my neck, but he immediately grasped my hair in his hand and pulled my face upwards, keeping my throat bare to him dominantly. I gasped, that wild part inside me delighted by it until his next words. "I don't know what those wretched goddesses are planning, but I won't play along. You are not my mate."
He suddenly bit my neck, causing me to yelp in surprise. However, I didn't feel the pain of wolf fangs digging into my flesh. In fact, he barely bit down; using only his human teeth lightly in a way to purposely not break my skin. It was a clear indication, but I didn't know what it meant.
He released me, ripping away from me as though it were a difficult thing to do.
"Take her away," He demanded to those nearby, huffing with rage and no longer looking at me. I remained frozen on the floor of the arena, the strange scents and sensations leaving me all at once until I was nothing more than confused. I wasn't a lycan, but if I wasn't, what had happened to me?
"Banish her to the temple. Let the Moon Goddesses watch her wither away. Perhaps they'll view it as a sacrifice direct to their altar," He declared angrily before storming away.
I was pulled from the ground swiftly. What lycans remained in human form were murmuring around me, whispering things about mates, blessings, and omens. Some were staring at the bow I had left on the ground. Others were looking to the sky blindly, as if they would be struck down by angry deities at any moment. The rest watched me, avoiding my eye when I looked to them, but holding the same general expression on their faces.
Respect.
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Music: Savage (feat. Flux Pavilion & MAX) by Whethan