WILD

three

Alpha Orion was in line for the throne, but first, he needed a mate. He had busied himself with human females, just for a good time, but never really thought about finding a mate or having heirs— a luxury only he could afford at the time. Now, things have changed. His father was on his deathbed and he was an only child. He was extremely desperate to find someone and he needed to find her now.

There weren't many females to choose from, since his pack was more prone to having males than females. Pack numbers were dwindling. After having no luck finding a mate, a lot of their men left and attempted to adapt to the human society, blending in there.

That's why he was grateful when the elders agreed to help him and a few others from his pack find mates under an extinction clause. This was no time for games. He needed a mate and heirs as soon as possible, and he would do almost anything to make it happen.

That's why he was here with nine other hungry men, watching over the forest, waiting for the females to be released. The rules were simple: don't kill on purpose and whichever one caught your eye and you got to mark was yours. His strategy was to at least catch one that took their allotted three minute head start as an advantage and ran. That would show that there was at least a little bit of fight in her, and it would most likely make her a good Luna and queen.

When the females were released, he watched intently as a blond and a brunette took off as quickly as possible side by side, and he could tell they were working together to avoid being mated. He saw that as a small challenge, and he also saw that the brunette was the naturally faster one and had instinct. Maybe he would go for that one.

He could tell that the two other alphas picked up the blond's scent as easily as he did, and they were practically salivating at the thought of having her. He didn't think it was worth the trouble of fighting two other alphas, and that wasn't the one his wolf was urging him to pursue anyways. He did feel bad for the blond girl, though. Having two alpha males on your trail trying to make you their mate was extremely dangerous, and potentially deadly.

After three minutes, he shifted quickly, his bones cracking and making sickening snapping sounds. He had gotten used to the pain that came with shifting, but would never get used to the disgusting sounds that came with it.

He sprinted after the girls, knowing that if one of the alphas happened to concede and let the other alpha have the blond girl, then they would turn to his brunette, the one he wanted, and he couldn't let that happen.

The other males weren't much competition so he pretended as if it were just the three alphas and ten girls in the forest. He caught onto the little blond's scent almost immediately. He noticed that she was most likely presenting, since her smell varied a bit and sometimes was strong and sometimes not. Naturally, his wolf reacted to the scent, but even his wolf didn't want her, no matter how fertile she was and how good she smelled. He needed to focus.

He knew that the two of them working together meant that it would be harder to find them. They had already started making false tracks and he'd have to go into a clearing and trace the scent all over again. It was exhausting and quite annoying, but he respected their intelligence in this arena, which he knew for a fact they weren't acquainted with. It also meant that his future queen would be smart and strategic, which was a plus.

Eventually he found the common denominator: the scent trails always ended in the outskirts of the clearing, but they always got stronger and trailed inwards towards a large tree in the middle. He allowed himself a wolfy grin, quite proud of himself for figuring out their strategy so quickly. He quickly ran over to the tree and looked up, hoping to see the girls sitting on the branches in the tree. It was quite hard to see into the cone-shaped tree, but he caught a flash of their white and olive green clothing and he knew they were up there.

He heard their slight whimpers and their heavy breathing. He would've just climbed up the tree and taken his mate, but his wolf was way too big and he wanted to give her a chance to come willingly. He shifted again, knowing that if he tried to bark up the tree he would alert the other wolves and the girls weren't from his pack, so they wouldn't understand him anyways.

He looked up into the tree and started to speak. "Hello, girls. I'm Alpha Orion Gunner from the Gunner pack. I've found you, so you can come out now. I'm not going to hurt you." He waited a few moments and was met with complete silence.

"Girls-? Ouch." He looked down at the pebble that had just hit him in the forehead. He growled and looked back up into the tree, seeing the brunette staring back at him, barely visible past the leaves.

"Buzz off, okay? None of us want this. Just go away."

Alpha Orion just stared at her. To most she would seem plain, but she was stunning. The sun was still setting and even from below, he could see how they sparkled in the last remaining rays of sun. She had the most perfect, round little nose and long eyelashes that fanned out against her cheeks every time she blinked. It looked as if she had tied her hair in a knot to keep it out of her face since she didn't have a ponytail holder at her dispense. He almost wanted to laugh at how cute she looked in that moment, but looks were deceiving, and so far, all she's shown him was how cunning and slick she was. He had to be careful with this one.

"Aren't you tired of running? Come down, little ones, and I can show you a place to rest your heads properly." He looked up at the two of them in the tree hopefully. The brunette seriously looked like she was contemplating it. He finally thought she was gonna give in, but then a bigger rock was thrown at him.

"Yeah, so when I wake up you can be buried balls deep inside of me against my will, forcing me to carry your pups. I think not!"

Luckily he caught the rock before it hit him right above his eye, but despite his kind and patient disposition, this wasn't something he could be laid back about. If he didn't grab her and mark her soon, she could belong to someone else, and that couldn't happen. He had eyes on her first.

He dropped the rock and cleared his throat rather loudly. "I'm giving you a chance to come on your own, but if you won't play nice, then I guess I'll just have to come up there myself."

She rolled her eyes and her face disappeared behind some pine needles. "I guess you will, then."

He nodded to himself and surveyed the tree, trying to find a way he could squeeze between the tight branches without getting his fur stuck. He shifted and started to dig his large claws into the thick tree bark, pulling himself up. The girls shifted in the tree and tried to move away.

This time, the blond girl threw a rock with all of her strength, and it hit him in the head. His wolf yelped and then growled, wanting to get this over with. He wanted to claim that stunning doe-eyed girl as soon as possible and he could smell the other alphas getting closer. The least he needed to do was scent her and then nobody could dare challenge him for her.

He retracted his claws from the tree and huffed, running in a circle around the tree and rubbing his face against the bark. At least maybe this would deter the other alphas a little bit and make them wary of coming too close.

He sat down and the two alphas trotted up to the tree, sniffing the air. They knew their prize was hidden up in the tree and planned to rip the other alpha apart to get it.

»»————-　✼　————-««