Marcel Conway is fresh on the market for a new year of the Mating Season: a sex auction masquerading as a Peace Trade to keep the packs from going to war. But she's gritting her teeth and digging her heels in, determined to come home to her small bu...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
☽☾☽☾☽☾
How long had we marched on toward our distant rest? How long had we pressed forward on blistered feet, haggard bodies, and weak limbs?
Minutes felt like hours, and hours felt like days. What had only been a four day journey had matured and fermented in our brains to a month. Time passed strangely in the mountains, and we were caught in the hour glass' viscous snare.
I remember stepping off that morning of the fourth day. I had slapped the map of the mountains down on a filthy, jagged tree stump, the paper thin and wrinkled from it's thorough abuse, and my dirt caked nails stroked over the textured terrains.
"One last push, ladies," I had said tirelessly, my muscles shaking from fatigue. I had measured out the distance and with any luck, we would arrive at Arcadia's point by nightfall. But breaks would be shorter, walks would be longer, and supplies had nearly run dry. We hadn't quite rationed correctly, determined to refuel our bodies as quickly as we depleted out energy.
Many of our women had been pushed well past the point of exhaustion, so carrying the remaining heavy supplies in our shifted form was no longer an option. Several of them couldn't even shift, they had pushed themselves so far.
Though the brightside was we were only a few miles out from Arcadia's Point, the horrid truth of the matter was this....Arcadia's Point was at the peak of the mountain. We would be pushing all up hill for the remainder.
So, with feeble bodies, quivering limbs, but iron clad determination, we stepped off on Day 4.
The burning in our legs seemed to be in constant combat with the dry heat of the Appalachian Range. Was this the only side of the mountain range without any shade? Sweat poured down my back and dripped from my forehead, blurring my vision as I gripped my pack tighter, leading the formation of weakened women uphill.
The chorus of gasping breaths and pain filled grunts was a reflection of the commitment these women had upheld. I kept my eyes trained on the horizon, internally chanting, just a little more...just a little more....
Suddenly, I heard a piercing cry from the rear and my head whipped around to see Tekiera had fallen out. Many of the women had faltered in their trek, looking back worriedly and I clenched my jaw, worry boiling inside of me.
"Inez! Take point! Khadra, fall back with me! Everyone keep moving!" I barked out, backtracking to Tekiera where she lay on the ground in a shivering fit.
The girls didn't question and continued to press forward as Khadra and I fell back to our fallen Sigma to evaluate her. Khadra's face was pinkened from the sun and smudged with dirt, and she sported mat locks that she had pulled back into a thick ponytail, unable to manage her wild, thick and dark hair.
