The Fenris Pack
~
Accalia
~

Accalia Larren pressed her back against the dirty and cold bricks, casting her attention over to her cousin that sprawled her gangly frame along the icy cold ground and watched over her to see if she was sleeping soundly.

She seemed to be ... despite being knocked out for stabbing a lycan in the stomach.

It took a lot of silver and brutality to kill a lycan.

And Cadence attempted to display every shard of it. Once her sword connected to the lycan's lower stomach, she was out cold with a gash across her face.

Cadence should have aimed for its heart.

Accalia wouldn't say that to her though. After the lycan knocked Cadence out, vulnerability seeped into Accalia like over pour of ice and her weapon might as well be pointed at herself. Against her better judgment, she surrendered immediately and went willingly down to the cellars to await their execution.

Because that was what would become of them. Lycans weren't forgiving creatures and their only form of mercy came in the way of death. Especially when it came to hunters.

Accalia had to stay up if Cadence couldn't. She had to ensure Cadence was safe even though they weren't. No piece of her found rest as the night slipped through the cracks of the grimy cellar.

All she did was listen to what was outside of her and think of how any moment could be her last.

Her head snapped up, her eyes narrowing at the bottom of the rocky staircase as a creak followed.

With the forest above her, she waited to see who would come forth and bit her lip to keep words from flying out of her mouth as a lycan clambered downstairs.

The torches lit up the lycan that wandered into the dungeon. The flames illuminated him in shadow and colour. He wasn't amongst the pack members that took them but for him to come down here, alone, Accalia figured he must be of a superior title than a typical pack member. 

The lycan nicked his bottom lip and leered down at the hunter, an overcast of nothingness crossing his features.

He simply shook his head at Accalia, slow and furious.

Her brows scrunched up and kept her gaze on him.

His attention drilled to Cadence and Accalia immediately got to her feet, sparing him a look that reeked of hate and distaste.

"Keep your cursed eyes away from her. If I won't kill you, she will," Accalia grumbled and urged closer to Cadence, standing as close as she could without waking her. 

"You could try, but I don't think that will in be our best interest," the lycan responded.

Accalia grimaced, feeling a rush of shivers travel across her body.

"If you're going to kill us," Accalia forced her words in a whisper, surprising herself with the malice in her tone. "Get it over with, lycan,"

The lycan grinned and drew closer to the silver bars. The metal didn't sizzle against his skin. Silver hardly worked on lycans, you had to dig deeper than that to hurt them.

"Why did you cross into these lands?" The lycan crooned and his nose crinkled, lifting his head as though he couldn't stand the sight of her.

Her mouth parted, searching for words — searching for air to fill her lungs.

Accalia and her family had been in very few straining situations of being caught by the creatures of the moon but there was always a pattern. It was always the strays. The lone wolves, the lonely dwellers that were pack-less. And it was easy to slip away their claws with silver.

Here, in this pack, in unknown territory, the chances of liberation were slim. Accalia and Cadence were sheep waiting to be slaughtered. They were the young, delicate lambs waiting to be feasted upon by wolves.

The lycan mocked her dumbfounded expression with a slacked mouth.

"Can't talk?" He spat.

Accalia clamped her jaw up and her throat constricted. Bravery seeped out of her and was replaced with dread.

They were already dead. She knew that. He knew that. There was no point in stalling, lying or denying their situation.

Accalia answered, "It was an accident."

"Tsk, Tsk. But you're hunters ..." the lycan with haunting black eyes taunted. "We took all the silver off you, by the way."

"Do you mind returning them?" Accalia sniped. "My cousin won't take kindly to it,"

"I don't take kindly to trespassers,"

It was that. But it wasn't. It wasn't their intention to cross into a pack. It wasn't their end goal to meet with a cluster of moon-bound creatures than the one they were hunting for.

Accalia couldn't deny what it was. What it looked like — two hunters trespassing into a pack. She couldn't lie to the truth. But she had no way to make him believe her words. To him, she was just another hunter to dispose of.

"It was an accident," Accalia stressed with an edge in her tone.

The lycan didn't care for the truth and pressed close to the bars, a smug smirk stretched on his lips like a ... wolf. "Hunters making an accident? I've never heard of such a thing."

It's more common than you realise, Accalia brooded internally.  "We—were—"

"Were what?" He demanded in a mocking tone.

All sense to reason with him was tossed out the window. 

Accalia got tense and threw her arms around herself, shrinking inwards. "A creature like you wouldn't understand,"

They were divided. In two different worlds. With entirely different circumstances. They wouldn't — couldn't possibly understand each other and why would they?

Hunters and lycans were doomed to be enemies.

"Enlighten me," the lycan uttered.

Try, Accalia willed to herself. Try to make him see. 

"We had a duty to hunt for a lycan and we couldn't find him. We were tracking him and from where he was, he led us onto another track. We were wrong because it led to this pack." Accalia admitted as she opened her eyes, finding the lycan watching her intently, unveiling her with his penetrating black orbs.

It was odd to her that his human eyes hadn't reached the surface yet.

"You're supposed to be trackers." The lycan said. 

"We're supposed to be killers too,"

And even then ...

The lycan shrugged carelessly at her and shoved his hands in his oversized coat. "He tricked you. The lycan you were hunting must have thrown you off his trail then 'cause we haven't gotten any reports of a lycan that had been captured by hunters. My people are more equipped than that."

Accalia swivelled her eyes on him and she leant forward in confusion. "Your people?"

She received no response from him but that wolfish smirk. He wanted her to figure it out for herself. He wanted to see her unravel before him.

Her mind overworked itself. There were seven known Alphas that overruled certain climates, environments and places they called their own.

Very few occupied the woodland. Others oversaw the mountains, rivers, seas and even the darker neck of the woods that many didn't bother to acknowledge.

She swallowed her incessant nervousness and leered at him questionably. "Nothing to say?"

He didn't utter a thing.

Accalia knew of the Alphas that ruled, their names and what their pack stood for her. However, her knowledge didn't stretch far enough to know their appearance and every secret.

Her only duty was to demolish the bloodline.

Perhaps he was a son of an Alpha or a brother of one. Something told Accalia this lycan had been around for a long time and he had seen many things. Done many things.

"I'll give you a hint, your kind rarely cross paths with my pack ... until now."

As soon as his confession came out into the bleak night, her body went numb and her mind blank.

Only because she knew.

It was him. The lycan that gave the direct order to capture them then slain them.  He stopped their deaths.

It was him. The Alpha of Alphas. The first son. A monstrosity amongst his kind. The embodiment of the lycanthropy curse.

"Lycus Fenris." Accalia realised, attempting, with all her might to keep her voice stable.

The Alpha of Alphas was draped in black, every angle and portion of him was clean and polished. Every part of him seemed pleased by her conclusion.

He clapped sarcastically, his palms slapping together resounded off every wall with a bang. "Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner."

She was a failure amongst hunters. Tears swam to the surface and she compelled herself not to cry. Not to shed a singular tear in front of this beast.

"You know, as hunters, you'd think you would know your surroundings better." The Alpha taunted with glee trailing his voice.

Accalia's head hung low. His words were like incessant beatings laid into her. She couldn't take it.

They would be safer in death.

Accalia would rather face her father's wrath and disappointment than the Alpha of the Fenris pack.

"I'm new to all of this," the Alpha explained with a wave of a hand and curiosity showed on his face, a means to understand. It was all fake. "I just thought having hunters in my presence would be the way to end my night."

He was the type to marvel at the sound of his voice. The kind to laugh at the pain of others if he was the one to inflict it. It was known that the Alphas of Alphas had hardly if ever, crossed his path with hunters. His specialities were deeply seated in targeting fellow Alphas, ensuring they were in line, followed by lycans and werewolves.

To him, hunters would be pests. Meaningless to him. Not worth the effort.

Accalia's features hardened, but her back swayed against the brick wall for support. "You haven't come across many hunters then, we tend to kill your kind."

The Alpha raised his thick eyebrows and his lips parted with an awestruck expression. "I doubt you've killed anyone. I can smell your humanity and with those easy-going eyes and pretty face, you're more benevolent than the rest. Your family member sleeping away, however, looks a little more deadly. If it came down to it, she'd kill anyone. Even a human."

Accalia clenched her jaw, wondering how on earth he discovered all of that and if this conversation they were having would be the final one she would have again.

Conversing with a lycan — Accalia could almost hear her father screaming at her, berating her for such actions. Her brother would merely refer to her as a fuckhead over her recklessness of being caught.

Twenty-four hours would fade to zero.

At least William Larren wouldn't have to attend a morgue to identify their bodies or collect their death certificates.

And the Alpha's stare. His crippling, gravitating stare that watched and stained, rippled eerie shivers up and down Accalia's body.

He could unnerve anyone. Make them feel uncomfortable with just a subtle leer.

Accalia couldn't shake him off. "Stop looking at me like that,"

"Like what?"

"Like that ..." Accalia trailed off and waved her hands over her eyes in a gesture to his.

The lycan shrugged and it could have been done out of hopelessness. "I can't help it,"

Accalia frowned. Most lycans, one of his age, knew how to control their every urge and shift. He was no different.

"Well, learn." Accalia snapped sharply.

"Why?" The lycan demanded and his head tilted to the side. "Do you want to teach me?"

Accalia grimaced in disgust, those shivers turning into outright tremors. "Why are your eyes black? Do you lack self-control?"

He didn't hesitate. "Around you, I do. What's your name?"

Accalia blinked. His annoyance with them trespassing must be irking him to no end. If so, why not end it? He could kill them in a matter of seconds. Why string it out?

Accalia already surrendered. She had already admitted defeat. Her cousin lying motionless proved their disposition. They were on the losing side and any way of escape was futile with Accalia the only conscious one.

Accalia didn't bother resisting.

"It's Accalia."

The lycan's eyes lit up and by that, through the blackness, brief flecks of amber seeped through like flares. 

"Last name?"

A dead end. They were doomed, anyway. 

"Larren."

Might as well go off with a bang. Accalia's father would approve, even in dire circumstances such as these. He would want their name claimed on this earth, scarred into their killer's skull before departing.

She couldn't say that her father would be proud, but at least she did one thing he would have wanted.

It was the lycan's turn to blink in surprise.

"Didn't expect that,"

Accalia fiddled with her fingers nervously and lay clean straight through her teeth. "We have distant relations to the ones you're probably familiar with."

"I've heard of one in particular," he recalls, mulling over Accalia's lie. "Bits and pieces."

Accalia side-eyed her cousin who was still out cold.

"It makes sense, though. The cultural background, the tons of silver you both had — even if it was just jewellery. And of course, we can't shy away from that tongue you got on you, Spitfire." The Alpha of Alphas noted and scratched at his stubble, smoothing over his words.

"Just wait till my cousin wakes up," Accalia said thoughtlessly and an uncontrollable half smile drew across her lips. It wasn't meant for him. "You'll be in one hell of a ride."

Maybe they would kill Cadence while she slept. That could be merciful.

"Trust me, I'm already in hell."

Accalia's smile faded and scorning, reproachful frustration stormed in.

"How could this be hell for you?" Accalia sniped spitefully and pushed off from the wall, daring a step too close. "You've put me and my cousin in a cage."

The Alpha rolled his eyes, rubbing his forehead as though he was tired. Tired of this conversation, of his prisoners. He looked like he could be doing better things.

Accalia couldn't register the nerve on him.

"Karma for all my wrongdoings — this must be my punishment. You being here will make everything worse."

He heard a last name and suddenly he knew her right to the bone. To the inner and most untouchable parts of her.

"What? How—how?" Accalia stammered out, her voice cracking, but reaching a point of no return. She knew not to expect anything less from a lycan. He was the prime example. "You're the worst of the worst, Lycus Fenris. A murderer, a predator, you take pride in destroying people and packs—"

"You're mated to me," He confessed in a spitting yell. "That's my hell!"

A gush of blame threw itself on Accalia and she was reaped in disbelief. Whatever this was, it wasn't — they weren't mated, the Alpha pinned it all on her like she was entirely at fault.

Her fault. And hers alone.

The hunter and the lycan locked eyes for a long, standstill moment and it never seemed to cease.

It was unending, a vicious cycle of malevolence and it made the divine match in hell.

And then, almost out of embarrassment, utter humiliation of what this was, Lycus fled out of the cellars.

Accalia's heart skipped a beat. A breath of air heaving for another and she was desperate enough to fall to her knees and pray this wasn't true.