Aryn 

One slow, deliberate oxygen-filled breath helped to relax my rigid stance. My gaze was trained, much like the sharp glare of an eagle, on the still apparatus that awaited the testament of my skills. The divisions of it's three-coloured rings set the rules for the differentiation of each individuals' ability. It's dark ring followed closely by the blue ring to finally meet the red ring, encompassed in the previously stated rings, beckoned to the sharp tip of my angled arrow and with a careful meticulous pull of the bow, it was released to shoot across a considerably large space before it landed right into the red rings' awaiting form. 

"Bull's eye!!" A park member hollered from across the training ground with a wave of a flag.

"Doesn't look like a bull's eye to me," Roy muttered, unconvinced as he peered at the target through a pair of binoculars. "I'm far off than he is and I can see that," he commented, dryly.

"Maybe if you placed the binoculars the right way and shed yourself of the unnecessary sarcasm, you'd see better," I placed my arms down and moved to get another arrow as he sheepishly fumbled to correct the wrong placement of the binoculars. "It's not a complex tool to use Roy. You see through the small lens and then it gets bigger through the other lens," I smirked, putting emphasis on my words.

"I meant to do that okay," he refuted my claim with a wave. "I could tell it was a bull's eye even without this thing," he shrugged, placing the object down with a dismissive clatter.

"Sure," I hummed before releasing another arrow into a new target.

"Bull's eye!!" 

I inhaled the sweet smell of victory and raised my eyebrows repeatedly at Roy to taunt him as I spinned the bow with a conceited smile.

"Let me have a go at this. I'm sure there's nothing to it anyway," he huffed, swiping the bow from my grasp and snatching up an arrow from the wooden barrel placed between us with a determined expression to show me up.

"Says the guy who misses every time," I sassed before moving to allow him to take position. "Or did you mean to do that as well?" I teased.

"Just watch Mr Alpha as I get my bull's eye," he dismissed with a saccharine smile, showing off his pearly white teeth.

"Of course Roy hood," I laughed as he struggled to place the arrow into the bow. 

Roy was one of my best warriors. Skilled in the art of hand to hand combat and a beast in the different forms of martial arts. However, despite his questionable skills when it came to the bow and arrow, he still failed to accept that he sucked at archery. 

I mean his comical display of archery skills made you want to run and hide out of embarrassment on his behalf.

But you had to give it to him, he had persistence and wasn't one to easily give up.

"My-my what do we have here?" I tutted and removed the arrow from his slippery grip. "How exactly will you go about your righteous crusade to steal from the rich and give to the poor if you can't even place the arrow in the right position," I snorted in indignation as I stood behind him and directed both his wrists in the correct direction. "This is archery Roy relax a little," I chuckled into his ear.

"Well this isn't the movie, Ghost, and neither am I Yil. So move you're making me uncomfortable," he bleched and shrugged me off.

"Suit yourself, wise guy. I was only trying to help," I moved a few paces back and urged him on with an encouraging gesture.

"Ugh now I've lost my train of calculations," he grumbled, annoyed and angled the arrow in a direction off the target.

This rip-off of the Robin hood tale was going to shoot down a bird.

He let the arrow go with a swift thwang and it flew supported by the wind current, over and beyond the target, far into the woods.

"One selfish, rich royal down in the woods!!! Come get your coins!!" A pack member sing-songed in a loud advertising tone to the amused laughter of the archers on the other side of the field.

"Just wait till I get you in the boxing ring Joel!!" Roy hollered back in annoyance. "I'll be sure to wipe the floor clean with your face," he muttered and this only caused another round of laughter from the gathered mass of training wolves. 

"It was still a good shot," I praised and he brightened up slightly as he bent to pick another arrow. "Just wa-a-ay off course," I guffawed and his expression turned sour. 

"Gee thanks Alpha Aryn," he replied in a sweet, puny voice with a wry smile as he positioned himself, yet again, for another shot. His forehead was furrowed in concentration and beads of sweat lined his temple as he sought out the target with steel determination.

"Is he running for the olympics?" Fred snickered and I turned to see him walking towards me with slow, relaxed steps. 

His ripped jeans together with his white shirt clung snugly to his lean physique and his long dark locks had been packed into a man bun to show off his numerous ear piercings. Dina had taken one look at it a few years back and had begged to have her ears pierced but I had refused vehemently. Only giving into her demands when she had promised to wait until her sixteenth birthday.

"They'd be blind to qualify him unless they're okay with casualties," I quipped and Fred nodded an agreement.

"I found some deets on Valerie Lynbirth and it's quite interesting," he said, falling into place next to me. "Her background, her previous schools, everything," he continued with his eyes fixated on Roy who still had the bow and arrow trained on the target.

"Who's Valerie?" I enquired with a raise of my eyebrow.

"Orson's precious sex-slave," he answered. "She's quite the treasure, I hear," he hummed with coveted information that I was eager to hear. If she turned out to be as precious as he was saying then my revenge on Orson was on it's way to completion. One down, three to go. "Is he meant to be pointing in that direction?" Fred asked with slight apprehension as he pointed towards Roy.

My attention was moved from my revenge plan towards the source of Fred's apprehension and I looked just in time to catch Roys' release of the arrow and with my gaze trained on its movement, I watched as it grazed the side of Joel's arm.

"What the actual hell Roy?!!" he shouted, aghast. "The target is right there you dimwit!!" he pointed out with a gesture towards the target which was a considerable distance from him.

"Oh I'm sorry," Roy called back sweetly. "With the massive size of your head, I must have mistook you for the target," he sassed with a gleeful smile. "That'll teach you to mess with me!" he hollered back before pumping the air with his fist and I chuckled at his petty behaviour.

"So you can't hit the target but you can shoot down the individuals on your animosity list," Fred commented, unimpressed, with a cross of his arms.

"Yep and you're next Freddy McIntyre," he laughed, mimicking the sound of a swishing arrow as he pointed the bow towards Fred.

"Oooh I'm scared for my life," Fred jittered, mockingly. 

"That's not what I was expecting but if you can channel that precision unto the target then you'd improve to be a good archer," I advised.

"As long as Joel is the target, then I have no problem," Roy suggested with an evil smirk as he picked up another arrow.

"Aww you've got a bone to pick concerning your deflated ego. Why? You can't take jokes anymore?" Fred taunted and Roy turned back with a broad smile.

"Infact make that two targets with the inclusion of pretty boy over here," he added before turning back to face the target. Fred threw in an invisible punch towards Roy and mimicked his actions. 

Whereas Roy was skilled in combat, Fred was skilled in archery. Both wolves held no animosity towards each other, they just enjoyed teasing a little too much and were what others would call frienemies or whatever other label you deemed fit to describe their relationship.

"You were saying?" I noted, calling back Fred's attention to the information regarding Orson's plaything, Valerie.

He turned his attention back to me and snapped his fingers. "Yeah, so Valerie is from Minnesota, a long stretch from Alpha Orson's pack," he bent down to pluck up a wheat stalk and placed it between his teeth. "She grew up in the homely town of Lanesboro with both parents. Her mother was a teacher at the local highschool and her father owned a small furniture business," I leant against the barrel and watched the natural surroundings which was filled with the occasional shout of joy when a bull's eye was attained as I listened to his voice.

The soft breeze assisted with the further relaxation of my tense muscles and with one ear trained to catch his every word, I plotted the execution of my sinister plan, internally.

"Her father is dead now though. It was said that his poor heart couldn't take the pain when he failed to find her after she was abducted," he continued and that piece of information drew me out of my musings.

"Just how long has she been abducted?" I enquired as I watched an eagle perch unto the branch of a nearby tree. Eagle sightings were very common in these parts.

"Five years," he answered. "At the age of eleven. She recently turned sixteen a month ago," he added.

"Is Marcus Rodriguez in any way involved?" I droned, knowing exactly what the answer would be. He was the only one capable of abducting underage girls.

"You guessed it," he affirmed with a nod. "And from the sparse information that I was able to get from a jolly walk into the town, which was by far the greatest feat I have had to perform...." he sighed and I quirked an eyebrow. "...try extracting information from a tight knit community and tell me how that goes," he muttered and I cracked a small smile. "Anyway, I was able to learn that she had been kidnapped on her way home after evening lessons at the local church by a group of men clad in all black," he said as he tugged absentmindedly on his ear lobe. 

"The case was reported to the local sheriff and after the necessary twenty-four window period required for supposed missing persons they began their search but by then she was already out of the town and on her way to Las Vegas," he moved the wheat stalk to the other side of his mouth and shifted his position slightly.

"Why would they classify her as a missing person if she was abducted in the full view of a few bystanders?" My gaze was still locked on the eagle which was now staring intently at a rustle in the grass below. It had sighted it's prey. 

"My guess is that the sheriff was either on Marcus Rodriguez's payroll or he had been bribed to stall on time so that the men would have ample time to high-tail it out of the town," he speculated. "Because no further search was conducted after the twenty-four hour period, no docket was filled to document the abduction, heck! There were no newspaper articles on the incident. All talk around the abduction went quiet after a few weeks and everyone remained hushed lipped about the whole affair," he sighed heavily. 

"And even much more bizarre, she isn't the first girl to be abducted. Other girls with differing descriptions have been kidnapped in similar fashion and they were never found or looked for by the police force. Only their parents and a small group of volunteers ventured out to look for them but there is only so much they can do," he shrugged, placing his hands into his pocket.

"Interesting," I hummed in response. "How did she get to Orson?" I asked, still looking at the eagle which had positioned to take flight as it narrowed it's gaze unto its prey and with one mighty squawk, swooped down unto the grass, dug its claws into the ground and rose up mightily with a wiggling snake within its grasp. 

The predator and the prey. The strong versus the weak. The abducted versus the abductee. All was the circle of life.

"She worked for Marcus at first for a period of two years as a bartender in one of his sensual clubs. It was said that Marcus took a certain liking to her and wouldn't let any of the patronisers have her even when they offered huge wads of greenbacks," he explained. "But that was until Orson came along. He sighted her on one of his fortnightly trips to the underground world of underage human sex-slave auctions. She wasn't up for auction but he requested for her to Marcus' obvious reluctance but even he is wise enough to never go head on with a lycan, especially a brutal one. And so he gave her up albeit for a costly price," 

"And she has been with him ever since?" I asked in disbelief. 

Lycans never kept human sex-slaves for long because they were prone to causality. Broken limbs from rough BDSM games, weak bodies from punishment, death or even the fact that they could never satiate the fiery need of a werewolf. So four years was a whole lot to keep a human sex-slave. 

"Yep and he hasn't had a new one ever since her," he replied. 

"She must mean something very important to him then," I mused, thinking up a possible explanation for the brute's affection towards a human girl.

He had held her with utmost care and concern on the day of the meeting and the way in which she had looked up at him in adoration and sought comfort in his hands when she was scared, hinted at a deeper connection between them.

"In fact he rarely goes out with her. Her presence at the meeting may have something to do with either the renewed attacks of the Night Prowlers or the threat of the Jerlions. He probably thought the safest place for her would be by his side than at his pack," he theorized. "There's definitely something deeper between them," he affirmed with a nod.

"What about the Jerlions?" I piqued with interest at that new piece of information. 

"A few of them have been sighted hovering around the perimeters of numerous human territories," he furrowed his eyebrows at the  thought of what the emergence of Jerlions might mean. "They are far away from werewolf territory but still it's suspicious that they show up now after the last time," his gaze darkened at the memory and I struggled hard to contain my tumultuous emotions.

Jerlions were bad news. Plain and simple. They existed in Usturus, a parallel fantastical world much like the world of the white-wolves. The only difference was that while the white-wolves still inhabited a hidden part of the earth, their world was an entirely different planet that was hidden to the naked eye as you could only get there through portal travelling. They were also known as the turned-fae's. These were faeries that practiced diabolic, evil magic. They were much more enchanting than their faerie counterparts with a sweet facade that fooled you to the deadly trap of their wicked plans.

They would normally never meddle in our business, content to be in cohorts with the likes of spellcasters, sorcerers and some vampires with which they had a mutual understanding of evil. However, the chain war saw their partnership with the Midnight Pack ruled then by Alpha Xander, Leto's father, as well as the Scarlet Moon and Mystic Shadow pack, also ruled by the previous Alphas in an attempt to win the war. To say they had a tremendous advantage was an understatement, however, at the last minute the Jerlions had pulled out of the deal. They were tricky by nature and relishing in the momentary thrill that our folly had granted them might have been the sole reason for their involvement in the first place.

"How many have been sighted?" I questioned through clenched teeth.

"Two young adult females and one teenage male," he answered. "But they haven't been seen since last week," he scowled, frustrated at the fact that they weren't under his radar.

"I want your eye out for them on a daily basis along with a few pack trackers. If they so much as take a tiny step into Alaska then I want them gunned down with Drac infused bullets," I ordered, tightly. "Am I understood?" 

"Loud and clear Alpha," he agreed with a curt nod and I trained my gaze far into the woods. 

Jerlions never showed up on earth for fun. There was a specific reason why they were here and my guess was that they had been summoned. But by who and for what?

"Smile Alpha we've got company," Fred whispered, staring at something behind me.

I turned around to see Yil walking towards me with a nervous smile. She waved lightly and I smiled back, warmly. Her hair was left to flow down her back and it cascaded softly about her. The high-waisted pants that she wore outlined the dainty curve of her hips and the delicate circle of her waist. Male wolves were left speechless at her beauty as their eyes followed her every movement with gaping expressions lining their facial features. Her gaze was trained on my face as she continued towards me, oblivious to the attention that she was drawing.

"When exactly do you plan on claiming her as your mate and our Luna?" Fred quizzed. "Because until then you'll have a difficult job warding off all the unmated wolves in the pack," he pointed out. "Imagine finding out that the she-wolf you openly lusted after is your Luna," he joked.

I was about to reply when I noticed that I really didn't have a plausible reason for why I was stalling the announcement or the marking. Every excuse pointed out the fact that claiming her as my own would be the rational thing to do. Regardless of my plan, she was still my mate and belonged to me. If I wanted to protect her from the Alphas then claiming her was a better protection plan as no wolf would be brave enough to incur the wrath of a mated she-wolf, much less one mated to an Alpha. 

Why then didn't I still claim her? Was it her subtle rejection or was it my indecision?

As much as she was my mate, I still wanted her to willingly choose me as opposed to forcing her.

"The gang's busy re-watching Titanic and I must admit that crying gets tiring after a while," she commented with a soft laugh when she neared me.

"The gang?" I asked, amused. Dina and Llyod must have taught her some slangs.

"Dina, Kiba, Lloyd and Zena," she named them with a shrug. "It's a handful of names to recite you know?" She took an interest in the nearby archers and seeing that her attention was on them, they puffed out their chest and flexed their muscles in a prideful macho show-off.

Puh-please!! The she-wolf is mine feather brains, Adolf scoffed, irritatedly. But I don't blame them, seeing as my dumb human mate insists on letting her go all the time, he snarled, glowering at me.

"How did you find this place?" I asked, ignoring Adolf complaints.

"I just followed your scent," she replied before turning back to face me. Then she sighted Fred.

"Hi, I'm Yil," she introduced herself cheerfully with a smile.

"Freddy but everybody calls me Fred," he mirrored her smile and stuck his hand out but I smacked it away before she could shake him. "Ow!" He complained.

"Despite the distance you just had to source me out because my scent made you delirious," I teased with a smug smile before sending a saccharine smile towards Fred that warned him of the consequences of getting close to my mate. His hard swallow was an indication that he understood loud and clear. Good!

"Hmph whatever," she rolled her eyes but the tinge of red in her cheeks betrayed her real feelings.

"Hey Yil! The only person with my best interest at heart. Boy am I glad to see you," Roy called out, walking closer to a stunned Yil. What was he playing at this time?

"Erm hi Roy," she acknowledged him with a sheepish smile.

"The other day she even called to ask of my well-being," he stated with a wide grin. "Not many people do that these days," he added as side talk and sent a fleeting accusatory look my way.

Behold! The master of blowing things out of proportion.

"Do you mind a game of archery with me?" He proposed. "It's much more interesting than him," I growled at his brazen behaviour and he averted his gaze from me.

"I would love to actually," Yil replied, sending disapproving gazes my way. What did I do? He's the one pushing his luck?

Roy was momentarily taken aback because he wasn't expecting that she would accept, especially after my possessive behaviour. He replaced his expression with a bright grin and led her towards the barrel of arrows.

"Choose your pick," he encouraged as he passed her the bow. I moved closer to where they stood with Fred behind me and watched her movements carefully. With the display of skills that I had witnessed yesterday, I was certain she was good at archery as well.

The flurry of activity around the training ground stilled to a silent tempo as most wolves stopped to watch the she-wolf who wielded the bow and arrow with delicate hands. 

"Give me the farthest distance," she said to Roy and he chuckled at first at her request in disbelief but seeing her determined face he quickly hollered to Joel to move the target farther along.

Not many wolves attempted that distance, in fact I had only tried it a few times and the arrow always fell just slightly off the bull's eye every time. So you could imagine the feeling of surprise that crossed our faces. Some wolves laughed silently in complete disbelief and others were already betting as to the outcome of her charade. I crossed my arms across my chest and watched on, silently.

She angled the bow to the target, slowly, and with an eye trained on the board she let the arrow shoot across the field and towards its final destination as we all waited with bated breaths.

"B-b-bull's eye??!!!" Joel hollered in disbelief and some wolves erupted in cheers while others stared on, stunned, at the fact that a she-wolf had shot that far and still managed to get a bull's eye.

Yil blushed from the attention and looked back at me with a smile before she turned to pick another arrow at the request of a few unbelieving wolves who wanted to witness it again. 

My heart swelled with pride at the fact that the feisty, strong she-wolf who was capable of such a feat was all mine.

"Damn that was fire," Fred swore, surprised.

"Yeah she's a wonder," I praised and took a step towards her but not before I was stopped by Cayden's agitated voice.

"Alpha Aryn can I speak to you for a moment?" He wheezed out, stopping to catch his breath before trudging towards me.

"What's got you in a mad man's race?" I asked, taking in his face, red from exertion.

"I got a call from our trackers at North Dakota. There have been multiple savage killings at the border territory. From pack guards, to women and children. It's been a brutal bloodbath up in those parts," he explained, quietly so as not to draw the attention of any wolves.

Despite the fact that North Dakota was inhabited by my allies with Canada, some of my pack members also lived among them. Father's whose families were back here, children with adventurous streaks who travelled there, aunts, cousins, the whole lot.

"Who's behind this?" I demanded, seething with rage. "The Alpha's?" I questioned with a clenched fist. 

Looks like my revenge plan would have to come faster than was planned.

"No. It's the Night Prowlers. They are retaliating because of Kodiak's death and they know how hard it is to infiltrate our pack so they've gone for the next best thing," he explained. "And the methods that they have employed in these killings range from physical combat to machine guns with wolfbane-infused bullets and the like. They are like lunatics on a blood-filled rampage," he lamented. 

"Bastards!!" I snarled with fury.

"At this rate they'll need more warriors from our pack and a whole range of destructives," he added.

Star was skilled in making monstrous killing machines, destructives, that were more deadlier than the weapons that human beings traded. However, a traumatic experience involving her elder brother had put her off the creation of destructives for life. The mere mention of the word distressed her.

"Roy will arrange for a group of highly skilled warriors to follow you on your journey. I also want a few of our best archers on this trip," I ordered Fred and he nodded, promptly mind-linking Roy.

"Alpha I know it'll bring Star great discomfort to make destructives but that's the only chance we have against them. Even our best warriors and archers are susceptible to the mortal wounds of machine guns and bombs," he advised. "It's fruitless if we lose them as well," 

"I'm coming with you on this trip and with our cunning strategy and plans we will be sure to win this," I affirmed with confidence. "And if we have to deal with humans for their machine guns then we'll do that as well," I gritted out through clenched teeth. Anything but putting Star through trauma.

"Yes Alpha," he relented with a respectful nod as he backed away to prepare for the trip.

"What's the problem?" Roy directed the question at Fred in concern.

"Just come with me we need to plan for an impromptu trip," he muttered and turned on his heels with Roy following behind.

Yil was still engrossed with the archery and now she had been joined by Zena, Kiba, Lloyd and Dina who took turns aiming at the target. She squealed excitedly like a giddy kid when she got the bull's eye every time and also helped to direct a clueless Dina on how to handle the bow correctly. 

The sun was setting again and I was reluctant to leave her behind at the pack. Her carefree laughter and fiery but bubbly personality was beginning to grow on me but it had to be done, the Night Prowlers wanted to draw me out and I'd give them just that but with a terrifying bang that would send them reeling backwards into the depraved hole that they crawled out from.

Yil craned her neck to peer at me and our eyes met. She smiled widely at me and waved me over excitedly. Her happiness was so contagious and I felt myself slowly gravitate towards her. She was distracted momentarily by Dina who shook her excitedly as she hit the target. They both erupted in giddy bounces with Zena and Lloyd joining the growing circle of rotating bounces. 

The compulsion to move towards her was broken and I sighed heavily before turning my back on her. I was sure that she was safe with them, especially around the solid rock called Kiba. Besides, Roy was going to stay behind and after a series of instructions she was sure to be protected till I returned from this short trip.

I trudged on towards the pack house and I had a funny feeling that for once when she had willingly sought and called for me, I had turned my back on her. 

Some mate bond this was. Only the Sky Lordians knew the games there were playing.
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