Once Upon an Alien

Twenty Nine- Lycans

We ran for what seemed like hours. Honestly I didn't understand how they could still be running. Then again I'd have collapsed four minutes in.

A flash burned my eyes for a moment, temporarily blinding me and the running finally stopped.

"You okay, Morgan?" Thane asked. Zor set me down, making sure I was steady on my feet. My head was spinning, thoughts running all over the place.

"I think so," I said as I looked around.

It was then that I realized we were somewhere completely knew. The sun was up here, and we were surrounded by trees that were much less dense than the ones we were in before.

"Um, where are we?" I asked looking at Thane and Zor.

"We brought you to the other side of the planet," Thane spoke. "We opened a portal for us to jump through before Xenophon caught up to us,"

"Unfortunately my cousin landed us straight in the middle of lycan territory," Zor said rolling his eyes.

"Hey, they may not like you but I have a few friends here, that's why this was a good idea," Thane snapped back.

"W-what's a l-lycan?" I ask, concerned that they may be referring to the creatures of the night that turn into giant wolves.

"Lycans are similar to us, but they have a wolf like form instead of a dragon," Thane spoke.

"And if you're nice to them-" Thane said looking at Zor. "They'll be nice to you. They're very loyal and protective, meaning this could be a good place for you to hide while we figure things out with Xenophon," he said.

Suddenly a loud howl came, fallowed by a low guttural growl coming from a direction which was to the right of us. We all snap our heads toward the sound, and another low growl pierced the air.

In a flash, a huge hairy beast, at least eight feet tall barrels out of the forest and charges straight for us. In an instant, Zor is in his dragon form and I'm being pushed behind him.

Thane, however, keeps his cool and remains calm. He stands in front of Zor, putting one hand up to signal for both Zor and the beast to stop.

As the beast stops ten feet away from us, I now realize this must be one of the lycans. It has a giant man like body, but the back feet of a wolf, claw like hands, and a wolf like head. Its eyes glowed a golden yellow, glaring at all three of us. It's mouth is full of razor sharp teeth, and it's snarls at us and growls.

"Shift back, both of you," Thane orders. Reluctantly, Zor shifts back. A moment and a growl later, the hairy lycan does as well.

"Thaneous," the lycan bows. Thane does the same, showing respect.

"Maddox," Thane says with a smirk. "It's been too long, friend,"

"That it has," Maddox, the lycan, walks to Thane and gives him a manly hug. They pull away before turning to us.

"You remember my cousin, Zor," Thane starts, nodding his head towards Zor. Zor simply nods in the direction of Maddox politely but doesn't speak.

Then eyes fall on me.

"And who or what is this curious little creature?" Maddox says with a curious smile.

"This is Morgan. She's a human from Earth," Thane says, causing Maddox to raise his eyebrows.

"And what is a human doing on Dyspheria?"

Thane begins to tell Maddox the entire story, from Earth, to sneaking onto the ship, and everything that happened while we were here. Maddox keeps quiet, nodding and occasionally humming in response to Thane's story.

"That is why we brought her here," Thane finishes. "We need to keep her hidden and safe until Xenophon calms down and we find out exactly what happened. We know they're still connected, his eyes glowed for her still, but her mark has faded away," Maddox nods.

"Very well. My pack has a couple extra homes available if you'd like to stay," Maddox gives me a genuine smile.

"Thank you so much," I say to Maddox. He simply nods and signals for us to follow him through the forest.

The walk was about twenty minutes long, weaving and maneuvering between trees and over branches. Finally coming upon the village, I see it is very natural home like. The houses are simple, the paths all dirt or stone.

I could tell these creatures had a close connection to nature, as everything seemed as natural as possible.

As we walk through the village, every eye was on us. I honestly couldn't blame them. After all, I was now the alien on this planet. Not to mention I had two dragon shifters with me as well.

Maddox leads us to an empty house before turning and looking to us.

"Please stay as long as you wish. Tonight we are having a gathering to welcome a new pup to the pack. You're more than welcome to come," Maddox says.

We give our thanks once again and enter the small home. Everything is made of wood or cloth with exception of some kitchen items. The living room is bare, not even a couch or chair around. I'm assuming it is so whoever comes to live here will have their own choice in furniture.

We make our way down a small hall to discover a slight problem.

"Um, guys," I say nervously. They both turn to look at me with confused looks on their faces.

"There's only two beds," I say awkwardly.

"Well, that's no problem at all! You can sleep with me," Thane says with a smile which fades when a growl is heard coming from Zor.

"I do not think that is a wise choice, especially because you connected before. There is no way of us knowing if it can happen again," Zor says.

Thane rolls his eyes and sighs heavily.

"Fine, I'll sleep with you cousin," he says sarcastically. Zor scrunches up his face in disgust, making a laugh burst through my lips.

"You're hilarious," Zor says with deep sarcasm.

"I'm very aware. Someone has to have some humor to make sure Morgan doesn't die from your boring ways," Thane says with a wink at me and Zor growls again.

Oh gosh what have I gotten myself into now...