AVA
Unwilling to stay for even a minute longer than was necessary in this dimly lighted and densely populated forest, I urged Greeley to keep going, not even letting him stop for water and bathroom breaks. I continued going until he grabbed my hand and forced me to stop.
" We have to keep going, we can't afford to be any where close when Cosmo and Selena find out that I've escaped." I said, trying to wrench my hand from his grasp. He however held fast and refused to let go no matter how hard I squirmed, showing me that he wasn't really as weak as he looked.
" That's not going to happen anytime soon, I made sure to spike his mead before his valet took it up to him, at the money I'm sure he's fast asleep and couldn't care less about your absence." He tried to reassure me.
" We still have to keep going." I protested.
" He could wake up anytime and the sooner we get to millennial pack, the sooner you can return and clear any aspersions that may have been cast on your name." I added.
My hand firmly gripped in his,he walked over to the log of a fallen tree trunk and slowly pushed me backwards till my butt hit the trunk and he sat beside me, lowering the garment bag from his shoulder as he sat.
" No, he can't wake up anytime soon. He's going to wake up tomorrow morning and being Alpha he's going to be too proud to tell everyone that mead had gotten the better of him and would carry on like the greater part of yersterday had never happened." He explained.
" We've had to restart several days this way in the past and only those of us in regular contact with the outside world are ever really sure what day it is. " He added.
" What an egocentric bastard." I declared, wiggling around to find a comfortable space on the tree trunk.
" I can't believe everyone let him continue serving as the pack Alpha, he should have been dethroned and replaced long ago." I said emphatically.
" Cosmo is a direct descendant of the original founder of the pack, the last of his line actually and it's going to take more than a simple show of votes by the elders to replace him." Greeley explained, letting go of my hand to retrieve a bottle of water from the garment bag and hand it over to me.
Smiling my gratitude at him,I twisted off the cover and took careful sips( remembering not to drink in a rush) before handing the bottle back to him.
" What's needed to replace him then if the elders can't vote him out?" I asked as soon as he had his fill of water and handed the bottle back to me to be covered.
" A blood fight. Whoever wishes to succeed the Alpha challenges him to a blood fight, whoever survives the blood fight automatically becomes the new Alpha." Greeley explained reaching into the bag once more to hand me some dried venison.
" A blood fight." I echoed biting into the tasty venison.
A blood fight was the fiercest of fights that could take place between two wolves. In a normal fight, wolves were forbidden to use their claws, teeth or any other artificial weapons on other wolves. They had to fight with bare hands and trust their brute strength to serve as tbe the only weapon they would need, but in a blood fight, not only could both fighters make use of whatever weapon they could lay their hands on, they could also invite members of their family to join in the fight as well as invoking whatever gods of war they could invoke to help them in the fight.
A blood fight was always brutal, often resulting in more than one death. There had been no records of a blood fight in recent years and with any hope they would be none in the nearest future.
" Yes." Greeley replied.
" And that is why Cosmo will remain Alpha till the day he dies, no one is brave enough to challenge him." He added, shoving the last of his venison into his mouth and getting to his feet.
" You sit here and finish your meal, I'll go relieve myself in the woods. When I get back I'll be your look out so you can relieve yourself." He said striding off into the woods.
I watched him go, reflectively chewing the rest of my venison.
" Thank you goddess." I murmured raising my face to the dimly lighted forest sky.
" Looks like you haven't forsaken me after all." I added, draining the last of the water and squishing the bottle in my hands.
Greeley must have had a lot of waste in his system to get rid of because he was gone for quite a long period of time. If I had any way of keeping time I would probably have timed it to be either an hour or close.
" I really should learn to be considerate of others." I told myself.
" The fact that I didn't need to stop for a bathroom break all day doesn't mean he didn't have to. I'll be sure to ask him if he needs to stop in the future." I added.
I was just getting to my feet to stretch my wearing bones when he staggered out, buttoning his breeches as he walked.
"Sorry I took so long." He apologized.
" There's no need to apologize." I quickly acknowledged him.
" You might want to go that way." He said gesturing in the opposite direction of where he had come out of.
" Let's just say the air in the other direction isn't back to normal just yet." He added.
Chuckling to myself, I went off in the direction he had pointed.
In less than ten minutes later i came out to find him waiting for me,the garment bag slung over his shoulder and a sturdy looking walking stick in his hands.
" Why do you need that?" I asked gesturing at the stick in his hands. " Do you think we're going to run into trouble?" I asked.
" No, no." He protested shaking his head in protest.
" We're going into the thicker part of the forest and I thought this could help clear the foliage." He explained.
Like the naive little fool I was, I took his explanation at face value, linked arms with him and let him lead me deeper into the forest.
We had walked for barely twenty yards when I heard some rumblings deeper in the woods, unconsciously I stepped closer to Greeley and tightened my grip on his arm.
When he said nothing about the rumbling, I concluded that he hadn't heard it. Perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me, I reasoned.
Ten more yards deeper into the forest and I heard the rumbling once more, I waited with bated breath for Greeley to speak, when he didn't I kept my mouth shut and kept walking.
When fifteen yards later I heard the rumbling for the third time,I finally spoke up. " Don't you think we should look for a place to spend the night?" I asked.
Greeley looked down at me in shock, which was understandable considering I had been the one urging him to go further all day.
" Are you sure?" He asked.
" We can still put in a good seven kilometers before it gets too dark to walk." He added.
Swallowing hard, I tried to explain myself to him.
" Believe me when I say I want to get as far away from Cosmo and Selena as fast as I can, but I keep hearing rumblings and I think it could be rouge wolves. You wouldn't want to run into rouge wolves would you?"
Abruptly coming to a stop, Greeley looked down at me and gave an indulgent smile.
" I understand your fears, but rest assured that no rouge wolves or any other wild animals will attack you, not as long I'm with you." He tried to assured me.
I tried to believe him, I really did but it was hard to trust my safety to a reed thin guy who looked like he would blow away at even the slightest and mildest breeze.
He must have noticed the look of indecision on my face because his gaze darkened and his grip on my arm tightened.
" Don't you trust me Ava?" He asked in a steely voice that had me looking up at him to make sure he was still the same man I had been with all day.
I suppose I should be grateful he was holding onto my arm or I would have fallen flat on my butt at the look in his eyes.
Gone was the slightly awkward, extremely shy and eager to please young man who had rescued me this morning and patiently answered all my questions, and in his place was a predator who looked ready to pounce and rip me to shreds at the slightest provocation.