Alpha's Hunt

18. The shortest route

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18. The shortest route

My legs ached, my arms were sluggish, my eyes heavy and mind numb.

“Luke,” I groan

“Shut up,”

“I’m tired!” I whine

The bastard doesn’t even bother to look back and keeps walking. For the love of moon, its almost night! He didn’t even let us stop for lunch and I just had to eat while walking.

“Why can’t we just stop and sleep?” I ask him, indignation fueling my limbs to keep working

“Because this is a long path,” Luke says, I might just be imagining things but he sounds terse “We can’t waste a single second.”

“Are there shorter paths?” I jog a little to match his pace

“Yes,” Luke says, staring straight ahead “The shorter the path, the more dangerous it becomes.”

I worry my bottom lip. If we take a shorter path, our chance of winning will… well, remain the same. Because our chances of dying will increase. Multifold.

“Just how dangerous are we talking about?” I ask

“Enough to not be taken by me.” Luke spares me a glance

My eyebrows shoot to my hairline “Are you scared?”

Luke stops abruptly, the storm in his eyes intensifies.

“This is what I’ve been preparing for from the past 5 years,” He says, slowly, precisely, each word hard as stone “You think I’m not ready to do what it takes?”

I swallow thickly, feeling as if I’m walking on thin ice, unsure of where to put my next step.

“Then why follow this path?” I ask him carefully

“Before you ask that again,” Luke stares down at me distastefully “Keep in mind who my partner is.”

Right. A weak little omega. Me. I would’ve argued with him, snapped at him but deep down, I know he’s right. I know this isn’t what I’ve been prepared for.

I was groomed for making food and cleaning a place so perfectly you’d think it’s never used. I was trained to be polite and respectful towards higher ranks.

And you failed at that too.

Ignoring my sour thoughts about my own training, I silently follow Luke.

Luke who has been training for this Hunt from the past 5 years. Luke, who I know even without his werewolf abilities, is capable of taking the most dangerous path and surviving it. 

The contents of my contract flash in my mind;

If and only if Luke Winters manages to win the Alpha’s hunt, Elise Attwood and her mother, Juliet Attwood will be allowed to leave the pack without severing their connection to the pack, so as to not declare them rouge.

If Luke doesn’t win, it’ll be all for nothing. If we keep to the longer path, it’s a possibility that some other team will take the shorter path and win.

Well past midnight, we finally stop. I’d learned how to make a fire and it was my turn to do that, Luke’s turn to keep watch. As we sit by the flickering flames, I glance at the map Luke had laid out before him.

I could see the markings of each path, red crosses to depict traps on places during previous hunts. The shortest line was almost ridden with crosses.

“Since when have you started taking an interest in the map?” Luke asks, snapping me out of my thoughts