Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Stefan met Myka’s eyes only for a moment before he turned away toward the fire without another word.
‘I see…’ Myka thought to himself. The heavy feeling in his stomach and chest, the serious look in Stefan’s eyes… they made sense now. ‘So, this is how you communicate….’
Myka looked down at his hands and smiled. He wished Peter could be here for this moment.
It would take time to earn their place in Stefan’s heart. But at least Myka knew now that there was a place for them in it.
“Is everything ok?” Myka asked, glancing back in the direction Selene had been looking.
“Yea, it was just a small animal,” Selene said, keeping her eyes on the trees around them. “But it would be safer to make sure there are no larger ones in the area before we go to sleep.”
“All right,” he nodded.
Selene walked away from the fire and into the darkness of the trees. She had seen something moving in the bushes. It looked like a small animal, but she needed to be sure.
She didn’t need to go far before she found signs of foxes in the area. That very likely was what she had seen. She walked the perimeter further out from the campsite, listening for any suspicious sounds and looking for movement.
There were animals all around them. But, of course, it was a forest, and there would always be something watching, listening. But nothing caught her attention as particularly suspicious.
Selene was about to turn back when she saw something in the dirt. Kneeling down, she got a closer look.
She felt her heart quicken as she recognized the tracks. They were definitely left by one of the bat creatures she had fought before. Luckily, they also appeared to be old. Continuing her search of the area. She found several others, but like the first set, they were all old. It didn’t appear that there had been any monsters in this part of the forest for at least a week, maybe even two.
After a thorough search, Selene felt confident they were safe from any threats in the area. She returned to camp just as Myka finished serving the children. She sat down, and he handed her a bowl of stew.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the bowl in hand.
“Not a problem,” Myka smiled, sitting with his bowl. “Everything look good out there?”
Selene nodded, taking a bite.
“Seems like it was a fox I saw scurrying by,” she said.
“Makes sense,” Myka said. “Probably smelled the stew for the meat and got curious if he could steal it.”
Selene nodded.
The rest of dinner was mostly quiet. The children were already tired and ready for bed by the time they had finished washing their bowls and putting them away. Myka got them settled into their tents and returned to sit with Selene by the fire.
“You should get to bed soon,” Myka said. “I will put the fire out before I lay down.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Selene said. “I was planning to keep watch anyway.”
Myka gave her a curious look.
“Didn’t you say it was safe?” he asked.
Selene glanced at him and then looked away.
“It is.”
“Then why would you need to keep watch?” Myka asked.
Selene swallowed.
“It never hurts to be a little cautious,” she said.
“True,” Myka said. “But tomorrow will be a busy day. We have to leave early to get up the mountain and set up our next campsite. We still need to hunt and forage for lunch and dinner. We need plenty of time to do that and still have a chance to explore the village before the sun goes down.”
Selene lowered her gaze, looking into the fire.
“I will explore the village while you take the kids to fish and forage,” she said.
Myka furrowed his brows.
“I thought you wanted me to come to the village with you?” he said.
“That was before the kids were coming,” she sighed.
“Why does that change the plan?” Myka asked. He leaned forward and stared at Selene.
The mission was to investigate the village and the mound, the scout that reported back to Axel would have had to check both before giving an all-clear. If the village was safe, there should have been no reason to keep the children from exploring it with them.
Selene took a deep breath.
“That village was full of people when Alexander and I came,” she said softly. “Full. And every single one of them was infected by the Dark Queen’s mutation, shambling around like zombies.”
Myka sat up, listening to her words with an awful feeling growing in his stomach.
“I had to kill them all,” she continued. “I had to cut each of them down, and no one fought back.”
Selene turned away to look at the trees beyond their camp. She took another deep breath. The pit in her stomach had grown since they arrived in the territory. As she thought of getting closer to the village, it grew wider.
Knowing she did what needed to be done had not lessened the burden of those deaths on her conscience. On the contrary, imagining walking back into the village had woken her in a cold sweat more than once.
“The bodies disappeared. They were absorbed back into the earth,” she said. “But I don’t think taking the children inside of that place is a good idea….”
Myka swallowed and looked at Selene with sympathy. He had heard about what happened, but listening to her now, he felt the sorrow in her words. It was an open wound for her still. He had no interest in making it any worse for her.
“All right,” he said. “I understand. You go to the village, and if there is something you think I might be able to help with by going, I will do so.”
“Thank you for understanding,” she smiled.
“Of course,” Myka nodded.
Selene turned her eyes back to the trees and up the mountain.
She would recommend that they make their next camp at least a mile from the village. She remembered that there was a lake about that distance from it, so it wouldn’t be too hard to convince Myka of the reasoning to do so.
It would give the children plenty of practice fishing and give her a chance to explore the village without worrying about the safety of the others.
She wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t think the children would benefit from seeing the village. There was nothing there for them to learn or explore. It was a place filled with ghosts and regret.
But the reason that she didn’t want the children anywhere near the village had nothing to do with the past. But rather, because according to the report she had read, she would likely need to spill blood there once more.
He quickly climbed to the next branch, tightly holding the tree trunk and breathing softly and slowly. The wound on his arm burned, but he couldn’t afford to pay attention to that right now.
Below him, he could hear the movements of the leaves on the bushes as they scraped against the leathery skin of the monster. The grass that was crushed and ripped up by the taloned feet as it searched for him.
He closed his eyes and tried his best to stay quiet.
It had been an hour since the chase had begun. An hour since he had seen the smoke rising from miles below in the forest.
At that time, he had climbed the highest tree he could find and searched through his binoculars until he found the campsite.
There was a blue-haired man and two children sitting beside the fire. The number of tents behind them made it clear that at least three more people were likely in their party.
Who were these people? They couldn’t have been from Winter. The report he had sent to Alpha Axel would have reached him by now, and the contents would have ensured that no other parties would be sent to Moonguard territory, especially not with children present.
Bustling Bush, just outside of Moonguard territory, would have received the same report even sooner than Winter. So, there was no reason to think they would have come from that pack either.
The scout took a deep breath. They must have been nomads. He had heard many of them had already left Winter and were returning to their wandering ways. But they usually didn’t stay in large groups like this.
They were more aware than most of how dangerous it was to do so.
Still, they were here now, and it didn’t matter who they were or why they were there. What mattered now were the three bat creatures that had also spotted the smoke in the air and were making their way toward the camp.
He had been stuck on the mountain for days. After he had sent his report, he was spotted by the same group of bats that were currently turning toward a new target. It had been a game of cat and mouse all week. Finally, this was the closest he had gotten to being able to go home.
But he couldn’t let them reach the camp.
He pulled the bow from his back and an arrow from his quiver. He lined up the shot and waited patiently for one of them to take another step into his line of sight. He set the arrow free, and within seconds it found its home in the leathery arm of one of the bats.
It turned back with a screech, staring straight at him. The others turned as well, and soon they were charging back up the mountain in his direction. It wouldn’t take them long to reach him.
He quickly gathered his supplies into his pack and moved the bow over his shoulder as he climbed down from the tree.
One burst forward from the bush just as he landed on the ground below the tree. He barely managed to avoid the reach of its talons as it swung its arm wildly at him. He shot forward into the brush with all his might.
He ran for a long time. He could hear them behind him for a while, but he had gotten some distance between them at some point. Then, finally, it was enough to keep their interest on him rather than the campsite miles away down the mountain.
Taking a quick break to catch his breath, he tried to listen for their movements. Or for anything that told him where they were. It was at that moment that one of them got the jump on him. It came out of the bush and grabbed his arm, the talons digging into his flesh and tearing.
He gritted his teeth at the searing pain, but he grabbed the knife from his belt and stabbed at the bat’s arm as the beast screeched. It retracted its arm, but the scout did not relent.
He turned and jumped at the monster. He stabbed it repeatedly, using the adrenaline that pumped through his body until the beast was left a lifeless, bloody mess.
Once he was sure the bat would rise no more, he pulled a cloth wrap from his pack and quickly tightened it around his wound. Then he reached down and covered his hand in the monster’s blood. He smeared it over the wrap on his arm, hoping it would be enough to cover the scent of his own blood.
Hearing movement in the distance, he turned and ran until he found a tree with high enough branches.
He stood, hugging the trunk and controlling his breathing while the other two bats searched the area below him.
Another hour passed, and the bats had moved their search further into the forest. But the scout waited until he couldn’t hear even a hint of their movement. Until the soft sounds of the woods at night filled his ears once more.
The hoot of the owl, the scurrying of the foxes, and even the soft flapping sound of the bats that flew between the trees catching bugs in the air.
He carefully returned to the ground, cautiously moving through the brush and the trees. He found their tracks. The bats had headed further up into the mountain, toward the mound. He could try to turn around, to head down toward the camp he had spotted.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?