Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Cillian

Pacing the banks of the river, I carefully watch for my prey. Fishing is something that allows my mind to rest, and using my talons to catch them gives my instincts a chance to take over. I’m closer to the village than Ma would like, but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Besides, the sun is setting now, meaning the humans aren’t likely to venture this far into the forest.

They’re too scared of encountering a monster… One just like me. The notion makes me laugh. I’ve never had the desire to eat a human, nor have I killed one. But I would, to protect my family…

My thoughts are taking an unnecessary dark turn, but that's nothing new when I think of the humans. Memories of the day my parents were killed flash through my mind and distract me from my hunt.

“Stay hidden, keep quiet,” the human-looking woman with my mother's voice says. She sees the confusion on our faces, but she doesn’t have time to explain. “Once we’re safe, I’ll tell you everything.” She presses a kiss to each of our cheeks, before looking over her shoulder once again. We’re tucked into a cave hole just large enough for my brothers and me. “No matter what you hear, do not come out…” She hisses, a tear trailing down her pale skin.

With a growl of frustration, I shake my head, and shove the memories away. I concentrate on my task, refusing to visit the past again.

Ma’s lessons allowed us to better understand humanity and use their more basic tools, but it repressed our monsters’ natural abilities. Which is why I’m out here, fishing with my claws, and not the nets Ma prefers.

As an Alpha, working with my brothers to forage and collect for our pack brings me a certain sense of peace. That I get to be close to the village where my mate lives is an added bonus, even if it’s a risk.

The woman that occupies our thoughts, since Aldair scented her years ago, is quickly approaching the age of her first heat. Ma has reminds us frequently, and forcefully, that our human Omega will need a lot of attention and care during that time. Her instincts will drive her to mate us, sending us into a rut. We’ll nest and breed her. If she doesn’t reject us.

There’s a reason my brothers and I haven’t revealed ourselves to her yet, despite several close calls. To her, we’re monsters. We need time to woo her. Something this form might not allow us to do. If Ma is correct, though, there’s still hope that we’ll be capable of a second form.

Against my will, images of my parents flash in my mind's eye again. The human way they looked before their death’s… We’d never seen them shift before that day. We hadn’t even known it was something they could do.

What would it feel like to be human? Frightening, I would imagine. To be so weak, in skin that provides no protection from the elements or injury.

Perhaps it could be an adventure, though. Oh, to be so close to death at all times. One careless step away from losing a limb.

I’ve seen Ma stub her toe many times over the years. Watched her wail in pain. Such tiny little bones…

With a rush of motion, I skewer two fish with one hand. Before I’m able to celebrate the catch, a commotion from the direction of the human village distracts me. I crouch low, watching them closely.

Agitated voices raise the brown tipped black fur along my arms as they get closer to the river.

They haven’t seen me yet, so I dash into the edge of the forest as they reach the riverbank. A group of men and women follow a small and angry human Alpha as he stomps around. The putrid stench of these humans makes my lip curl in disgust when the wind carries their scent my way. Do they not bathe?

My eyes narrow, as two familiar faces come into view. I recognize the slighter Alpha and thin Beta female arguing with the irate Alpha as the people who share a dwelling with my mate. I haven’t been this close to the village in a while, but I would know their faces, even years later. They’re her parents. A burning anger forms as I make the connection to what their presence, as well as the Alpha’s words, mean.

“I told you to get that little bitch daughter of yours ready for me. How could you allow her to escape! Were my simple instructions too difficult for your tiny minds?” he yells in the couple’s faces, particularly the woman. He’s shorter than both of them. Especially the other Alpha.

He’s a bit round compared to the rest of the villagers around him, but I could easily toss him over a cliff side… The violent thought makes me smile.

“We bathed and readied her to your expectations, Alpha,” whispers the female as she places a hand on his arm placatingly, trying to calm his rage.

“Obviously training her to be a submissive Omega bride was beyond the capabilities of you both. She should have been begging to accept my knot, as is my right,” he spews as his entire wrinkly body shakes with anger.

Shifting nervously on their feet, the surrounding crowd murmurs among each other as a Beta houndsman approaches with a pack of drooling pests I’ve encountered before. A few of the males of the pack of dogs pick up on my scent and tremble at the feet of the men gathered, searching for me. I smirk. Good, it seems they remember me then.

“It seems my Omega has fled our mating ceremony. Something I will not stand for!” he goads the people, as one of the other villagers hands him the reins to a large horse. “I will be rewarding those who help return my mate to me,” he adds, as he climbs onto the horse with difficulty and gestures to several groups who are already making their way between the trees. “Drag her back, by any means necessary, my only condition is that she remains a virgin.” The way he hisses the last words make my instinct to protect nearly send me into a blind murderous rampage. His mate?

HIS MATE!

I snarl, my teeth snapping in the air, as I dig my claws into a tree trunk, holding myself back. If I slaughter these men, the entire village will band together to hunt me and my brothers down. Innocents will die. This isn’t the skilled pack of monster hunters that destroyed my home sixteen years ago. My brothers and I would destroy these people.

Despite the need to rip the head off the short Alpha, I have no desire to end the lives of the innocents in this village. The ones that simply want to protect their own families.

Still, my inner monster wants to see the Alpha human dismembered and screaming as he chokes on his own blood. My enhanced hearing picks up the sound of a horse’s hooves in the distance, heading away from the village that I’d missed earlier, and I take off into the forest.

My fangs pierce my bottom lip as I grind my teeth at this stupidity. Those humans are excited at the prospect of hunting down my mate. “ Drag her back by any means necessary…”

Over my rotting fucking corpse.

I’m fast. Faster than the hounds, and much faster than any human could ever dream of being on foot. Faster than horses when running through the thick forest, too. They’re too large to weave through the trees at the speed I can.

It doesn’t take me long to catch my mate's scent, and I suck in a deep breath. I’d scented her earlier, but I assumed it was because of how close I was to the village. Stupid. It’s tinged with fear…no, terror. My Omega is terrified. Her scent follows the trail of hoof prints, and my guess that she was the one I heard before is confirmed.

It doesn’t take long to catch up to her, allowing me to determine which group of humans is closest to her. I won’t kill anyone if I don’t have to, but I will scare them away. Aldair would tell me to be cautious.

But when he scents the ripe berries coated in sour terror, he’ll be just as furious as I am. My instincts want me to grab my mate and take her to safety, but to her, I’m just another monster in the forest. If I approach her now, she’ll only fear me.

That doesn’t mean I can’t protect her. I know my brothers will join me shortly. So I turn back the way I came and start hunting the humans who think they can hunt my mate.

The first people I come across are female Betas. Their scents nearly causing me to sneeze. They’re closest in distance to my mate, but they’re going the wrong direction. I follow them, making sure they continue in the wrong direction. If they get too close, I’ll scare them off.

“I wonder what kind of boon we can seek from Donald,” a vapid woman wonders out loud as they skirt the broken path of the forest. They’re ill-prepared for this terrain.

“I know there will be coin, but I wonder if he may be persuaded to take us on as well. I doubt he’ll want her for anything other than breeding a whelp. I would be happy to keep the bedsheets warm,” her friend cackles.

The critters in the surrounding foliage go quiet at my approach, but they continue to prattle on about how inadequate my mate is without a care to the danger at their backs.

I let out a rumble, sick of listening to their idiotic bullshit, causing them to scream. Both women lose their footing and drop their satchels as they take off back to the village. Bending over with a sardonic smile, I collect the leather bags to bring back to the cottage.

I don’t waste another moment on them, before picking up my mate’s trail once again. She’s riding as fast as she can, but the forest is thick, this far from her village. I keep a good distance, so I don’t startle her horse, before turning back, once again, to continue my hunt.

The stench of three Betas with clearly poor hygiene hits my nose like a fist. Why are these humans so foul? Ma’s shit loving pigs have better cleaning habits…

“I say we have a go at the girl before the Alpha takes her, fuck what he said about her virginity. Have you ever seen a bitch like that?” one of the vile humans gleefully suggests as he grabs his pathetic cock through his pants. I snarl at the disturbing sight. They call me the monster, with men such as these in their village?

“Wonder if that Omega cunt can handle two at a time? Beta bitches are a dime a dozen, but she is the only young one left. I bet we can ruin her before she even makes it back, and he wouldn’t notice,” the shortest of the three pipes up as they make their way forward, getting too close to the direction that my mate went.

I said I wouldn’t kill if I didn’t have to, and I meant that.

And I do have to kill these three men. I use their stupidity to my advantage, wrapping a taloned hand around the short one’s throat and pulling him behind a tree. I tear his throat out and drop his carcass to the forest floor before either of the other two turn around.

“Jake? What the hell, man?” the stupid crotch fondler yells.

I use my speed to appear in front of them before they can make it more than a few steps, my talons dripping with their friend’s blood. I’ll make it look like a bear attack and leave their bodies here for the animals to consume.

“Boo,” I whisper, and snort when they piss themselves.

They both turn to run from me, but it’s no use. Like the first man, I rip the second Beta’s throat out, before stalking my final prey. I catch him easily by the nape of his neck, and lift him into the air.

“Please,” he practically vibrates out of my grip with his whimpering. I ignore his cries for mercy, as he no doubt would have ignored my mates. I reach forward and slice through his groin.

The pitch of his wail as he frantically grabs at his ruined genitals allows me to relax marginally. There are still others hunting my Omega…

“You would have violated my mate. I might have let you live, had I thought you deserved the air you breathe. Humans like you should all be disposed of. Rapists… ” I hiss, as I toss him to the forest floor beside his dead friend. “You will die in agony, alone and afraid. I’ll enjoy watching you suffer.” His death is quick, unfortunately. But I don’t have time to linger, anyway. I need to catch up to my mate. The sounds of hounds up ahead is troubling.

They might be too close already. Shit, I underestimated the small Alpha. I took too long to kill these Betas. I left my mate unprotected for too long.

“Fuck,” I hiss, as I follow her scent, fear gripping my chest for the first time since I was young.