Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

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*****

LERRIN - Anima

Lerrin made it only two steps towards the cave before the faintest scratch of claws on the back of his mind stopped him mid-step. He hesitated, but with a curse, opened himself to the pack mind.

Images flashed of pursuit through trees and along a trail. They sent him the scent of the cat and the donkey where they'd squatted to drink, then continued. The trail was fresh. Very fresh. They were almost on them. The bloodlust was rising and they struggled not to bay to each other in anticipation of victory.

Lerrin snarled his warning. You take the horse only. The Cat is mine.

Then with a final, longing look at the cave, he leapt into beast form and sprinted after them.

*****

RETH - Anima

They weren't nearly far enough downstream when Behryn put a hand to Reth's shoulder and shoved him into the bushes along the water's edge, urging him to squat between the branches, despite the cold water.

Reth gave him a look, but didn't speak. Behryn's gaze was fixed on a point between the leaves. Reth followed his gaze, and waited.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, a long, gray wolf head appeared, then the beast's chest, then legs one of the trackers leapt onto a large boulder and scented the wind. Seconds later, without ever looking in their direction, the male turned towards the trail hidden from their view.

Reth still didn't breathe. That was only one of what Behryn was confident were still five wolves left to track them. And Reth was trembling with cold and weakness.

It made his skin crawl to be crouching behind leaves while the wolves prowled his Kingdom. But he knew Behryn was right. They were spent, and these wolves hadn't fought yet. Five on two was near-certain death. But letting them track his forest, aimed at his City… it made him want to roar.

He thanked the Creator that the wind was in their favor, that they wouldn't be scented this way—and that they could scent the wolves.

And Behryn was right. Within less than a minute, four more wolves, moving much faster than the first, appeared one by one, flashing down the trail in the direction they'd been moving before Behryn turned them around.

Reth put this hand to Behryn's shoulder and squeezed. They waited, listening and scenting, as the wolves circled where they'd knelt to drink, then gone back to the trail. There was a moment where they communicated silently in the way wolves did—looking at each other, hesitating in their movements—then they were off again, barreling down the trail in the direction of the Tree City.

Behryn didn't need to warn Reth to stay still and quiet to ensure the wolves didn't return. They waited a full five minutes, but with no sign of the grey and white fur, and their scents fading, finally both of them straightened. Reth didn't quite catch himself from groaning as he straightened.

Behryn shot him a look, but they waded back out of the bushes and started up the creek again. Behryn believed there was another trail that would meet this creek on the other side about half a mile up, and then they could circle back—

It was a measure of how tired he was that Behryn froze first at the flash of brown so gray it looked black, except where sunlight hit it directly.

Unbreathing, Reth froze, but he was a step too late.

A massive, near-black wolf stood, head low and lip curled to bare its teeth, on the same rock downstream where the tracker had paused to scent the wind.

There was still fifty feet between them. Neither of them could cross that space without the other seeing them coming. He had the advantage of scent—it was definitely Lerrin. But Lerrin had the height.

"Reth," Behryn breathed. "Don't."

Reth shook his head slowly. He could see the problems too.

If Lerrin came for him, he'd have to swim across the deeper water, slowing him and giving them a chance to flee—or attack when he was still without solid ground under his feet. And with two of them and only one of him, their odds were much, much better.

But the same barrier occurred in reverse if they went for him.

Reth stared at the wolf, its hackles standing straight across both shoulders and down its neck. Teeth as long as his small finger, bared and flashing in the sunlight.

Behryn stood right behind him, half-hidden from Lerrin's view by Reth's shoulder, if Reth didn't miss his guess. And sure enough, he felt Behryn's finger at his back, poking.

Behryn had a throwing knife.

Reth swallowed. "Come out, Lerrin. Neither of us is going to win this. We should use this Creator-given moment to negotiate. Between us we could bring peace to our people. Neither of us wants a war."

"Speak for YOURSELF," Lerrin snarled, ripping back into his human form.

He was a few years younger than Reth, but fully mature. As tall as Reth himself, though not as broad. His dark hair, just like the fur of his wolf, looked black unless sunlight scattered over it. His body was honed, every muscle and tendon honed to a primal, brutal efficiency.

The wolves were fast, relentless fighters, and with the Alpha power now in his veins, Lerrin met his gaze fearlessly. "You killed my father—" he snarled.

"You were there, Lerrin, you saw him attack first."

"—and now my sister," the man hissed through his bared teeth. "I vow to you, Reth, I will fucking skin you alive and—"

"Don't make promises you won't want to keep," Reth said in his deepest, most dominant tone. Lerrin shuddered, his body still calling him to submit, despite his own power. Reth rushed ahead to hold the advantage. "I call the Peace of Leaders. Speak. Tell me why this has happened. Give me an opportunity to fix it."

"It is far, far too late to fix this you fucking pussy."

"Speak, Alpha, Tell me what cut your people adrift—why it came to this. You've clearly been planning this for months—"

"You ignorant, fucking fool—the wolves have been ready to take you down for years. You killed the last of mercy from the only Alpha who would have backed you when you took my father's life."

"Lucan? He never fully supported my reign. He would have—"

"I wasn't talking about my father himself," Lerrin hissed and his voice puttered into a growl so menacing, Reth's hackles rose. "I was the one foolish enough to believe in your vision. Childish enough to encourage the Tribe to try to keep peace. I even stood for your mate you stinking sack of pus." His eyes, a cold blue circled in indigo so dark it looked black, narrowed. "I will never make that mistake again."