Just...Listen!
1955 Words
“Can everyone hear me?” Falcon asked through the link that he was establishing with the Half-moon pack.
“Yes, Alpha!” The pack replied in unison.
Once the connection was made between the Navarre and the Half-moon pack, Roj took over control of the mind link.
“Are we ready to be a pack?” Roj called out to the pack through the pack link.
“Yes, Beta!” They all said.
“Are we ready to follow our Alpha?” Jason, the Navarre Delta called out through the pack link.
“Yes, Delta!” The packs said in unison.
“Are we ready to be one?” Falcon bellowed through the link.
“Yes, Alpha!” They countered unanimously.
“Then, let's hunt!”
The pack hunted through the woods nourishing themselves with whatever the forest offered them-be it bears mountain lions or deer. The Half-Moon pack was one not too keen or experienced in hunting humans. This was alright for the most part but Falcon knew that eventually, he'd have to teach them to include human blood into their diet as a means to keep their strength up. Not even fresh animal blood could keep them sustained and powerful as well as humans. However, for the day, they'd stick to what the Half-Moon pack knew.
When everyone veered off into their own formations, Falcon, Roj, Jason, and Alora went hunting off on their own, connecting to their own personal mind link.
“We’re going to need to acclimate them to human blood,” Falcon said, through a connected pack link between him, Rojer, Jason, and Alora.
“That is not going to be easy,” Jason suggested. “They’re so used to feeding substandardly, it will be hard for them to adjust to going into human society.”
“They’ll learn,” Falcon reassured. “With the guidance of the Navarre, they’ll survive. We’ll survive.”
They hunted together for over an hour and a half and then eventually Jason and Rojer veered off onto their own paths, leaving Falcon and Alora alone.
“I cannot wait until we’re out of here-feeding on humans again.” She said. “Have you thought about adjusting them to the way of Crescent?”
“They’re not ready for that yet, Lo,” Falcon replied.
“I’m sure they’ll be just fine.” Alora retorted.
“Crescent trafficks undesirable humans to feed on, brand, and enslave,” Falcon said sarcastically.
“You almost sound accusatory,” Alora replied. “As if you never benefited from it-”
“Never said that there was anything wrong with it, Alora.” Falcon defended himself. “But you’re trying to acclimate a nature pack into human trafficking.” He reasoned, they continued walking, when his hair stood up on end.
“Do you feel that?” Nox said through his personal link with Falcon.
Yes, he felt it but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it-not just yet. He wouldn’t cause alarm until there was cause for alarm. Until then, he’d continue on with the subject beforehand.
“They need time.” Falcon continued in conversation. “Give them time.” He said. "Baby steps are best,"
“True.” Alora said, catching his point of view. “I guess we’ll have to acclimate them together then.” She said, Sayza brushing up against Nox, who towered greatly over her in an intimate manner. “You ready to go back to the packhouse? I’m sure everyone’s about done hunting.” She said. “And even if they’re not….” Her wolf began to coo against him. “Maybe we can have a little fun before…”
Falcon was not in the mood to do what Alora was suggesting but he didn’t want to come off that way. He nuzzled against her.
“You go on ahead, and we’ll revisit that notion later.” He said.
“You’re not coming?” She asked.
“Not just yet. I’m just going to make sure that the perimeter is clear first.” He said. “Then I’ll be right behind you.”
She nodded. “Don’t be too long.”
After she sprinted away and through the woods, Falcon continued on to do as he said. Everything seemed clear but he still had that feeling that something was off.
He kept to his pace until he came to a stop in front of a large boulder living next to a quaint rock formation that produced a small waterfall.
There, he just sat and allowed his mind to linger onto things that he couldn’t help but feel were forbidden to him when he was around the others. Especially Alora.
“I think it is time, Falcon,” Nox said.
“Time for what, Nox?”
“You know what,” He countered. “You know exactly what.” Falcon didn’t respond to his counterpart fast enough before he clarified what he was saying. “We cannot stay with her Falcon. We can continue this charade anymore.”
“Nox, this is the wrong time to even be thinking about this. We just acclimated a new pack-”
“And yet it is all you think about-all we think about. Ever since….” Nox’s voice trailed off when they both heard a sound of twigs snapping in the distance. He quickly looked around, sniffing the air and surveying the surrounding area.
“I hear it too, Nox,” Falcon said. He stood on all fours and sniffed around, catching that something wasn’t right-that something was near.
He snarled and continued to survey his surroundings when suddenly a red blur swished past him. Almost instantly an odor made itself present. An impure odor.
“A vampire!” Nox growled. ”We need to make sure that everyone is safe-”
“Everyone get back to packhouse!” Falcon and Nox demanded through the pack link. After a howl of confirmation, he severed the link and communicated directly to his Beta and his Delta. “Get everyone to the packhouse safely!”
“You felt it too?” Rojer asked.
“Yeah. Get everyone back safely! Now!”
“Yes, Alpha.”
Falcon started to survey the perimeter when he saw the blur again, hues of long red zapping by him in a near circle.
“Falcon? Falcon! Where are you?”
“Alora, just stay put!” Falcon said. “I’ll be at the packhouse shortly-”
“Wait-where-I’m not leaving you out there alone! I’m coming to find you-”
"No, you’re not! Do as I say, Alora! Stay put-”
“But Falcon, I can’t jus-”
“I said stay Alora!”
Before the conversation could end, Falcon was struck so hard, his body bounced off of the ground and hit a tree.
Quickly, he shook it off and recovered, sending a loud howl through the air before releasing an even louder roar in a challenge for whomever it was to show themselves.
It was only moments later that someone appeared from the shadows and no sooner he saw her, he stood upright, his hind legs cracking and readjusting to hold his weight. He then growled again, wildly shaking his head to ready himself for the fight.
The woman standing there had an allure that was hard to compare to. She possessed an archaic beauty about her and it spoke of her age, though her appearance didn’t.
Her skin was porcelain-pale against the extremely long and life-like red hair. She was tall and lean yet shapely.
“Hello there, handsome.” The woman said in an odd accent. Her head tilted as she watched the large lycan standing feet over her. “Shame I’ll have to kill you.” She chuckled. “I bet your human side is even more impressive.”
Instead of sufficing her with a standoff, he went in for the kill and the impact brought a sound wave through the forest that sent the trees and leaves into a frenzy.
The combat was lethal, punches hard, sending a wave through the air with every strike. As expected, this woman was extremely powerful, matching in his strength but somehow, Nox matched her power.
She knocked him into a tree and rushed him and just as she made an impact Nox’s mouth opened and caught her shoulder, throwing her to the ground. He then stood his ground, relocating the shoulder that she knocked out of place.
As he healed himself, waiting for the venom from his fangs to kick in, he watched her stand up. There she stood, a grin on her face as she seemed to will the blood from her wounded shoulder before it healed.
“Never saw this power before,” Falcon mentioned, shocked at the power that she had just revealed.
“Powers like that aren’t around anymore.”
“I can see without seeing that presumably beautiful face of yours that you are quite disappointed in what just happened.”
She started toward him again when he tapped into his own power and forced himself into her mind in a way that affected her equilibrium. Only moments later, she was buckling to her knees. Before she fell, he mentally willed her up and forced her to walk to him.
Her stare was incredulous and she couldn’t move except for what he allowed. “Wha-what is this?”
Before she could get into his grasp, Falcon shifted back into his human form and grabbed her against the neck, slamming her against the tree.
“Who...are you?” He hissed. “Why are you here?” Her body shook violently as she tried hard to fight against his mind control. “Answer me!” He demanded.
“Falcon!”
When he heard her voice, Falcon’s mind was caught off guard! And in that one moment was all that was needed for him to lose focus.
“Alora what-” He stopped mid-sentence to return his attention but too late before she struck him to the ground.
Just as he got up in an attempt to recover, the red-haired vixen had him by the neck and immediately sank her teeth into him.
“Falcon, no!!!” Alora screamed and immediately her telekinesis exploded from her knocking the vampire through a tree, splitting it in half.
Before the tree could fall on a still recovering Falcon, she pushed it away with her mind and rushed to go help him. When he recovered enough to stand, Alora tried helping him up. “Are-are you okay-”
Her words were cut off by Falcon shoving away from her. “I told you…” He muttered as he struggled to walk away. “I told you!” He snapped and turned to face her.
“Wh-I just saved your life-”
“You wouldn’t have had to if you would have just listened to me!” He bellowed. Alora winced and stepped back. “I told you to stay! Just stay, Alora!” He hissed. “Why can’t-why can’t you ever just….listen?”
- Writer
