F a r a h ◕ N e a l

MY HEAD EMERGES from the water as I gasp for air. The cold and cool air around me tickles my skin as I catch my breath. My wet hair stuck to my back and the blue water streamed calmly around me as if I was nothing but a hallow object blocking its
path.

      My clothes laid not far from the stream, settled on the grass a few feet away from me.

I look at the sky in slight awe. The blue pigmentation began to somber and darken indicating nightfall was near. I take a shaky breath before heading out of the lake and grabbing my towel that laid near the edge and drying off my body.

Quickly I put back on my denim shorts and my white T-shirt before looking around and making sure the coast was clear.

I sigh in relief at the fact that I was not followed and proceeded to slip on my shoes. "Thank the moon goddess." I breathe out.

"Farah," A deep chuckle arose in the air causing me to do a double take.

      My eyes narrowed as they fell on those familiar brown eyes. Xavier's brown skin glistened as the dimming light focused on him. A smug look was prominent on his lips as he chuckled some more.

"I swear to-" I couldn't even finish my sentence before I stormed over to him. Clutching his shirt in my hands, I scowled at him with threatening eyes. "What exactly did you see?"

Xavier's tall frame toward over me, so I knew my threat wasn't much intimidation to him. He removed my hand from his shirt before a sly smile grows on his pink lips. "Calm down, I didn't see anything. But from how wet your hair is, I can tell you took a dip."

My cheeks began to heat up in slight embarrassment before I look away from his bright eyes. "...Sorry." I muttered.

He sighs before looking over at the lake. "Farah, when are you gonna stop? He isn't coming back."

I scoff. "He's our Alpha, he will always be. One day he'll be at the stream...just like he said he would."

     Xavier's eyes meet mine once again and my body began to grow nervous. We were just friends...or that's what I thought but lately many of our boundaries have torn down.

"Look, I care about you and I don't think the rest of the pack members would be approving if they find out you're spending a lot of your working hours here. If he comes back...then he does but right now he left us to rot and it's up to us to take care of ourselves."

     It has been months since Alpha Venison chose to leave but when he left he said he would come back. He said he would be near the lake.

    No one knows exactly why he left or where he went but we all have our theories. Now, our people are starving and our warriors are losing their numbers.

A part of me just wanted to hope...

I just wanted to hope that one day our Alpha would come back.

Xavier's toned arms wrap around my waist before settling on my lower back. "I just want you to take care of yourself..." he whispers.

     My eyes roamed down to his lips before looking down at the soft grass intertwined between our toes.

Xavier kisses my forehead before mumbling. "We should head back..."

"Farah, where the hell have you been?" My eldest sister Hanna questions confronting me as I entered our home.

The pack was structured differently than most packs. Instead of having a glamorous single luxurious home for the pack to reside in, we had humble houses clustered together like a small town.

"Rah Rah!" My little sister Lina calls out before running towards me and wrapping her small frame around my legs.

"I was out." I said quietly, almost to myself.

I pick up Lina before giving her a tight hug.

"We have chores to do, you know, actual work. You need to focus. Ms. Heir had to be the one to clean the dinner tables tonight...and you know how she-"

"I know," I tell her cutting her off. "I'll do better...I just had things to do."

Hanna runs her hair through her dirty blonde locks before rolling her eyes at me in frustration. "Don't tell me, don't tell me you were out training with the warriors again."

"I wasn't," I answer before putting Lina down and watching as she runs back to her room with her little feet. "And even if I was, at least I'm taking an initiative."

Hanna's eyes become amused before she shakes her head. "Don't pull that bullsh*t on me."

"Whatever..." I mumble making my way towards my room.

"At least I can shift!" Hanna snaps back at me causing me to stop my very movements.

I turn my head towards her with my eyes full of question. She parts her mouth softly as if realizing what she had just done. Her hands go up to her mouth in shock.

I nod my head at her words slowly. I smirk before my eyes went to the floor. "You know, ever since mom and dad died you've been a real bi-"

I cut myself off as if knowing nothing progressive would come of my words. "I'm going to bed."

It was no secret that I couldn't shift. Everyone in my whole pack knew. They just did their best not to bring it up or to say anything about it, and I believe that is why the wound is so sore.

I don't know what has been hindering my ability to do so. All I do know is that I'm not the type of girl to let that hinder my strength.

"Farah! Lina! Wake up!" The sound of Hanna's desperate voice instinctively pulls me out of my slumber.

I jump out of my bed before slipping on my robe and running out my room. I head down to the hallways to the living room to see Hanna holding Lina on her hip.

"What's going on?" I question her. "What is it?"

"O-Outside."

We all head outside in a hurry only to come to a complete halt at the sight of smoke and fire near the pack's main storage home; food, clean water, herbs, and potions were always stored there.

"Oh my..." I whisper to myself.

Many other members were out of their homes witnessing the whole chaos. The trails of our streets were filled with ashes and resources that were burnt.

"My dear people," Beta Damon says coming into scene with a dozen warriors behind him to appease the tension. "I need you all to relax. It seems that we have endured another filching from rogues."

   The members outside erupted in words and cries of disappointment. I watched as the fire blazing nearby engulfed the storage home completely.

"It seems that it was also an attack. They took what they wanted and burned the rest. Since our pack doesn't have defined borders it is easy for foreign wolves to get in and to attack." Our Beta reminded us.

Beta Damon told us the same thing when something at this gratitude would happen and in all honesty I for one was sick of hearing it.

"Why don't we build defined borders and a better security system?"A middle aged man spoke up.

Beta Damon snickered to himself. "My kind sir, we don't have enough men for that or resources. All I can advise of you all is to stay put and to assist each other in cleaning this up. We will come up with a resolution later."

I watch skeptically as Beta Damon left with the other warriors by his side. Without hesitation some pack members began to clean up the streets.

"This is unfair, Hanna. He knows what happened to us is drastic, so why isn't he responding more urgently?" I whispered to my sister in slight anger.

Hanna gave me a helpless look. Her brownish grey eyes weren't as bright. Then again, since Alpha Venison left and the faith of my parents, her eyes have always been dull.

"We are not fortunate, Farah. Now please." She says shutting her eyes. "Beta Damon, is working with what he has."

"Farah!" My body warmed up at Xavier's voice. "Thank the moon goddess, you're okay."  He says wrapping his arms around me.

I melted in his arms as his warmth took my body to an even hotter temperature. "We were looted again." I breathe out.

"I know, Beta Damon had all the warriors scope the border for any stray rogues." He informs me before looking into my eyes. "Come with me, I want to show you something."

The wilderness was illuminated by the stars in the night sky and the shadows of the trees hid us from view. Below was a grassland that stretched miles and miles in length. It was beautiful.

"So this is what you wanted to show me?" I ask him.

He grins before looking down at the ground and back to my eyes. "I know how much you love scenery. I wanted to remind you that not all is lost."

I sighed at his words. "I don't understand you. You're the Alpha's son. You should be in charge not Beta Damon." I huff.

I never understood how Xavier was able to stay so strong knowing his own father...his Alpha abandoned his pack without a trace. How did he stop hoping? How did he move on?

"Beta Damon is Beta for a reason. Alpha Venison...He's gone." He tells me. "It should stay that way."

I squint my eyes in confusion. "So you're telling me you don't want your dad to come back?"

"As his son, of course I want my father back. As a member of this pack, I don't. An Alpha who is willing to leave his pack just like that is not an Alpha I want to be in charge. Even if it means I'll never be the successor of my father's Alpha title."

    Suddenly, the pack's signature horn was blown a few miles at the camp grounds causing Xavier and I to look at each other in worry.

We both nodded to each other before running back to camp. When we we got back to camp, commotion was all I could see as pack members were running around and warriors were getting into their stances.

I watch as Xavier runs to the warriors joining them in their line up.

I shut my eyes in relief when I found Hanna and Lina sitting down on the steps of a building near by.

"What's going on?"

Hanna shakes her head. "This time I don't know."

Sounds of wolves howling caused the crowds of pack members to huddle together in groups.

"Rogues?" I question looking over at Hanna who was trying to comfort Lina.

"I don't think so...rogues don't attack twice in a nightfall."

I continued to stare in the direction the pack warriors were facing which was at the center near the wilderness. My heart was racing as the growling of what seemed to be dozens and dozens of wolves kept coming closer.

I bit my lip in nervousness. We did not have enough warriors for what was inside of those woods.

"Stand back," Xavier ordered the other warriors as if to take precaution. "We don't know what we are getting ourselves into."

The howling and growling got louder and louder than suddenly...nothing. Silence consumed the night around us and the only sounds were coming from the whispers of the terrified pack members.

As respecting the quiet, about twenty large wolves revealed themselves from the woods in a secure line up. There stance was not defensive, but more offensive. They were sly and their bright orange eyes lit up the rest of the night.

Thuds were heard from the other side of the woods and we watched in anticipation as another wolf made its entrance.

The piercing bluish eyes of the wolf were illuminated by its unique pigment. I heard whispers and chatter come from the pack members around me.

"That's an Alpha," one said.

We all gasp as the wolves shifted into their humane form in front of us as in what seemed to be seconds. The last wolf to shift was the one with the blue eyes.

When he shifted, his human form was toned and strong. His muscles clenched as he dusted his pants which were in the pattern of camuflaje just like his other wolves. He walked up to the center and his people behind him with his bare torso.

His dark hair was sleek yet messy. His tan skin looked smooth on his body yet rugged on his hands. A light scar was on his right brow which for some reason made him even more interesting to look at.

Beta Damon turned to look at all of us before facing the foreign wolves head on. "What are you doing in our territory?" Damon questioned.

The blue eyed Alpha snarled. "My pack was passing through, we were shocked that a little pack resides in undocumented territory."

Damon shook his head. "Undocumented? Yes. But it is still our territory. We have no where else to go."

"My pack does not want trouble," The Alpha's voice was smooth and low. "We've seen a wild fire hours ago and we just wanted to make sure there were no rogues."

Beta Damon sighs. "We were attacked...nothing more."

"Where's your Alpha?" The foreign Alpha asks. "I would like to speak with him."

"I'm the Alpha..." Damon lies. "We are the 7th Legion pack."

The foreign Alpha chuckles and so do his men. "You are no Alpha, I can sense it."

"But-" Beta Damon was shut down.

"Your pack is reckless. Your pack seems to lure and be prone to attacks from the enemy. For my pack's safety, I feel it's best for you all to move along...to leave." His voice insinuated the last word.

My mouth parts in awe and the pack members around me begin to erupt in exclamations of fear and disbelief.

"We will not leave! This is our rightful land! Our Alpha may be gone but that doesn't make it any less of our land!" Our Beta speaks up.

"Well you give me no other choice..." The Alpha says before his canines protrude out of his mouth and the blue in his eyes darken.

The rest of his men mimicked his actions as if preparing for an attack. I watched as our warriors tightened their line up...preparing for the blow.

No...

We can't lose anymore people.

"No, please!" I say running towards the group of shifting men.

"Farah!" Hanna yells in fear.

With all my strength I push past the crowds of my own people before running past our warriors line up and meeting the bright colored eyes of the mysterious Alpha.

    His eyes focused on mine and it was as if time slowed down and the chaos around us began to fade away. It was as if we weren't even real...like we were dreaming or in a daze. Everything was obsolete.

    His canines shrunk and his eyes became neutral. His faces softened as he gazed at me.

"Get her back now!" My Beta says before I felt Xavier rush to my aid, pulling me back away from the unfathomable Alpha.

"Farah are you crazy?" Xavier asks as he pulls me farther back.

"Stand your ground! Stop!" The Alpha commands to his men confusing everyone at the scene.

"But Alpha-" A brown haired man with a stubble tries to speak out to his leader.

"We will not be attacking..." He orders.

His eyes were still glued on mine. Even through the cries and appreciation of mercy from my people and my Beta, his eyes continued to pour into mine.

    And my eyes did the same, not able to look away from the sudden change of color as if a representation of his change of heart.

Golden.

To be continued...

© All Rights Reserved (victoriapinkglitter)
Edited.