RUDY

 

The mountains to the north were higher than anything else in the Timberlands. They were taller than any tree in the forest or any building I’d seen in the city. It didn’t matter where you were. The mountains were always visible.

As we got closer to our destination, I saw that they were even bigger than I imagined.

We began our journey early in the morning. Vesper, Megan and the others didn’t prepare much for the journey. They were a small group but the proud men and women looked like they were capable of anything. There was nobody else I’d rather be with than the bears by my side right now.

It was the middle of the day. The sun was out but the clouds were looming on the horizon. A bitter cold was coming and I was already starting to feel it.

“The snow is almost here,” I said.

“Don’t worry. We’ll have this settled before the snow comes.”

“I’m not worried. But it has snowed earlier. I’m not familiar with the conditions in the mountains. The mud on the hills gets slick when it rains. Avalanches are common.”

“A lot of the snow from the last storm has already melted. If you slip or fall, I’ll catch you.”

Vesper gave me a reassuring smile as we continued our walk. Our ascent had already begun but there was still so much more of the mountain to climb.

I didn’t want to admit that I was the first one to begin feeling the effects of it all. My body was sweating despite the cold. My muscles were tensing. It wasn’t a walk as much as it was a climb.

I was breathing hard when Megan suddenly turned toward me.

“You’re tired,” she said.

“I’m not tired,” I responded, still walking forward.

“Such a proud Omega. You have nothing to gain by trying to prove us wrong.”

She held her hands up in the air.

“Stop,” she announced. “We rest here.”

I turned to Vesper.

“Do you agree with her?” I asked.

Vesper looked at Megan and she grinned back at him. Vesper sighed a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders.

“I know better than to try and argue with her,” he said. “I agreed to bring her along. That’s my fault. Now we have to suffer the consequences.”

I reluctantly stopped to take a break with everybody else.

We were on a small plateau on the side of the mountain. A couple of the others built a small bonfire to stay warm while some scavenged something to eat from our surroundings.

I took a seat in front of the fire. Megan sat across from me while Vesper took his place next to me. The map clutched firmly in his hand, Vesper unfolded it and examined our location.

“We’ve already made a good amount of distance from the camp,” he said. “According to Kai’s estimates, we should be in this area around here.”

Vesper guided his finger along the path toward the red area circled.

“We should get there before nightfall.”

“And what if we don’t?” I asked.

“It would only make it easier for us. Even with just the stars and moon to guide us, it would be more than enough to settle this. We were hunters. It was a long time ago but it’s still in our blood.”

“What about you?” Megan asked me. “Were your people ever hunters?”

Everybody sitting around the bonfire turned their attention to me. I shook my head, half-embarrassed that I wasn’t nearly as strong as the others.

“My people were never hunters,” I said. “If they were, it was a long time ago. So long ago that nobody remembers.”

“There’s no shame in it,” Vesper said. “The deer are peaceful people. The herds have always lived in harmony with nature. They take only what’s necessary to survive. They leave others alone.”

“That’s part of the problem. Living out there in the east… We’re so isolated from everybody else. Everybody in the herd lives and dies in the same clearing. It’s the only life that all of them know.”

“Not you though,” Megan said. “Mated to a man outside of the herd. A man who has a bear beating in his heart.”

I looked up at Vesper and immediately felt my cheeks starting to redden. He grinned at me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“You don’t choose the ones you mate with,” Megan continued. “Fate decides what happens for all of us.”

Everybody was in a good mood. Despite the attention I’d drawn, I smiled just the same as the rest of them.

“Was it such a good idea for you to come along?” Megan asked me.

“What do you mean?” I said.

“The journey itself is already dangerous. You said your people were never hunters. And you’re also pregnant.”

“That may be true but this is my responsibility. The Omegas from my herd were abducted. I can’t ask any of you to risk yourselves for the sake of my people.”

“You haven’t asked us to do anything. We all volunteered knowing the risks. This is for the good of all the Timberlands, not just the herd.”

“Still… I would feel helpless if I sat off to the side and waited for you to come back. I have to do something. I have to do my part.”

“I will keep you safe,” Vesper said. “You have nothing to worry about. Our child has nothing to worry about.”

Despite my strange surroundings, I felt so comfortable being next to Vesper. When I looked into his eyes, I saw a man that was capable of anything.

“Let’s not waste any energy on what might happen,” Megan said. “We’re all trying to relax. There is still a journey—”

She cut herself off suddenly. I looked at her and watched her eyes narrow as she glanced over my shoulder.

“Megan?” I said. “What is it?”

I turned around and watched as the others who’d gone scavenging from the forest had emerged. But they weren’t alone.

A lump formed in my throat when I saw the men standing behind them, knives raised in the air.

The men were fully-clothed with masks covering the bottom half of their faces. I couldn’t tell them apart from the hunters Vesper and I encountered in the city. They all looked the same. Equally as dangerous with evil intentions in their eyes.

All of us jumped to our feet but remained where we stood.

I looked around and watched as more men came out from between the trees. They surrounded us completely, outnumbering us two to one.

They had knives in their hands all pointed right at us as well as the two bears they kept hostage.

Vesper put his arm up across my chest.

“Stay back,” he whispered. “Stay behind me. I will protect you.”

I clenched my jaw. I stared at all of them, just waiting for them to attack.

But they didn’t move. Only one of them stepped forward.

He removed the cloth that covered his mouth and I saw the rest of his face. A tuft of hair on his chin and a sinister grin above it, his teeth gleaming like fangs even though he was just a man.

“I’ve been expecting you,” the man said.

“Who are you?” Vesper asked. “What do you want?”

He smirked at Vesper.

“Where are my manners?” the man said. “My name is Penn. It’s a pleasure to have you in our company.”

“Is it? If that’s the case, why are you pointing your blades at two of my brethren?”

Penn slowly looked at his men and nodded. They moved their knives down and pushed the men they held hostage forward. They quickly rushed up back next to us.

Megan and I stood defiantly behind Vesper. The other men and women in the expedition had our backs to us, their eyes locked on the men who surrounded us.

“See,” Penn said. “I’m not an unreasonable man.”

“I would beg to differ,” Vesper said. “You and your men have hunted innocent lives in the Timberlands.”

“Innocent lives? Is a predator not allowed to stalk and hunt his prey?”

“You took the Omegas hostage!” I said. “What does that have to do with being a predator?”

“I did?”

He appeared confused for a moment before he started nodding.

“A deer,” he said as he eyeballed me. “You’re from the same herd, I take it.”

“Innocent Omegas,” I said. “They did nothing to you. Why would you do such a thing?”

“It means I am what I say I am.”

He started pacing back and forth in front of us. He held his knife up, touching the tip of it with his index finger.

“I could have easily slaughtered the entire herd. Even if they put up a fight, it wouldn’t take much effort for me and the others to eventually overwhelm them.”

“You destroyed my camp. You forced all of them to rebuild. You took the others hostage.”

“It was all necessary.”

“Necessary? How was something like that necessary?”

Penn stopped in his tracks and smirked at me. He slowly shifted his gaze toward Vesper and pointed his knife at him.

“You can’t catch something without bait,” he said.

“What are you saying?” Vesper said.

He took a step toward Vesper and Vesper did the same in response. Penn put his hands up and feigned innocence.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I don’t intend on hurting you. Not yet.”

“What is it you want?” Vesper responded.

Penn shifted his eyes up and down Vesper, examining him curiously.

“I’ve never seen anybody like you before,” he said. “You’re one of the few beasts in the Timberlands that actually put up a fight.”

Vesper narrowed his gaze at Penn. The hunter slowly rolled up his sleeve and revealed the scars on his wrist.

“You left me with quite an impression,” he said with a chuckle. “When I learned what you did to the two others in the city, I knew it was destiny that I run into you again.”

He looked at me.

“I knew kidnapping the Omegas would draw his attention,” he said to Vesper, Penn’s eyes still locked on me. “Killing them wouldn’t have done anything because bears aren’t vengeful people. They don’t have to satiate their bloodlust. But… They do have a sense of justice. Such friendly people, I knew they couldn’t turn down an opportunity to save someone in need.”

“Okay,” Vesper said with a nod. “You got my attention. And now each and every single one of you will pay the price.”

Penn smirked at Vesper and shook his head.

“I won’t pay the price,” he said. “Look around you. We outnumber you. If it came to it, we would defeat you.”

“There are others in the sleuth,” Vesper said. “You speak about bears and how they have no desire to satiate their bloodlust.”

Vesper took a step forward.

“Would you like to test that idea?”

I could tell Vesper was doing everything he could to hold back. He was fuming. His jaw clenched. I feared nobody in the entire forest would be able to stop him if it ever came to it.

“I have no interest in incurring the wrath of an entire bear sleuth,” Penn said.

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it,” Megan said.

Penn glared at her before turning his attention back to Vesper.

“My people and I are hunters,” he said. “Ever since Dirge was established, living the life of an ordinary man has become so boring. There is still a fire that burns in our hearts. We have to satisfy it. And we do so by coming out to the Timberlands to hunt. We are only following our nature.”

“Your nature has been gone for centuries,” Vesper said. “If you choose to live in Dirge, then you chose to live as men.”

“I didn’t choose. I never had a choice. Our ancestors forced us to live in Dirge. We’re changing our destiny. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

Penn took a step back from Vesper, that sinister smile still on his face.

“Unless you can prove me wrong,” Penn said.

“How will I do that?”

“I have no interest in more bloodshed. The destruction of the herd camp was necessary but regrettable. Two of my brethren are locked behind bars. I have a proposal for you, bear. A proposal you won’t turn down.”

Penn started pacing back and forth.

“They say bears are the most dangerous hunt,” he said. “I’m not interested in hunting deer or foxes or other harmless small animals. I want to hunt you.”

He pointed his knife at Vesper.

“If I successfully hunt and beat you, then I’ll know my destiny is to hunt and be the Alpha of all of the Timberlands.”

“And what if I beat you?” Vesper said. “What if you fail in your hunt?”

“Then I was never meant to be a hunter. It will all prove to be a silly notion. Old instincts that should have been forgotten long ago.”

Penn held his hands out.

“So? What do you think, bear? You and me. One on one. We’ll see who’s the predator and who’s the prey.”

Vesper turned toward me. I looked up into his eyes and saw the determination burning within them.

I didn’t want him to do this. I didn’t want him to risk his life. But he and I both knew that this would be the best way to end the conflict without anybody else getting hurt.

I couldn’t stop him even if I tried.

“One condition,” Vesper said.

“What is it?”

“Release the others. The Omegas from the herd have nothing to do with this. It’s me you want.”

“You can take them back. I’ll escort you myself. It’s circled on that map of yours…”

“Okay,” Vesper said with a nod. “I agree.”

“My companions will accompany yours to where the Omegas are staying. You, on the other hand, have until nightfall. Return to the Timberlands quickly. I will see you soon.”

The hunters all slowly started filing away with Penn just behind them. I stayed behind with Vesper and the others.

“Are we sure we can trust him?” Megan asked.

“He wouldn’t come out here and not attack us if that weren’t the case,” Vesper said. “I believe what he’s saying. I can see it in his eyes. He believes he’s still a hunter. He’s using me to test himself.”

“Then it’s best you leave and prepare.”

Vesper looked at me. This entire time, I struggled to find the right words to say.

There was nothing for me to say though. Vesper already knew what I was thinking.

He gave me another smile to assure me that everything would be all right before turning back to Megan.

“I’ve been prepared for this my entire life.”