Lone Wolf section 1
Auteur:© WebNovel
Chapitre 1: 1. Stolen meal
Nicole planted her body firmly, her paws digging into the frozen ground as she lifted her head. Fresh, warm blood dripped from her muzzle to land steaming in the cold air. She hunched over her kill desperately as she heard the sounds of multiple bodies racing through the woods towards her, their steps echoing loudly beneath the canopy of winter stripped trees.
She cursed herself for not paying better attention to her surroundings.
Her hackles rose, a warning growl quivering unvoiced upon her lips as she strained her senses in an effort to get a fix on how many were coming her way. With any luck, they might pass her by as it sounded like they were just out for a run and not hunting.
Their path marked by racing paws and playful yips seemed to be taking them to the west of her. However, she could not be sure that they weren’t just a distraction and there weren’t more blocking her escape route.
Nicole turned her head, tracking their movement but keeping her growl locked within her chest and her paws planted so as not to give herself away. The air was still beneath the trees but she knew that didn’t mean they wouldn’t get the scent of the animal she had killed, its blood melting into the snow would reach them and it would only be a matter of time before they looked for its source.
Even though she was prepared for unwelcome company, Nicole body still jolted in surprise, her paws nearly leaving the ground as a wolf smaller than herself suddenly burst through the trees into the clearing right in front of her and skidded to a halt before her.
She was— beautiful. Stunningly so. All sleek lines and rippling muscles beneath her thick, shining coat of brunette that lightened to a dark blonde as it trailed down along her sides, and a creamy white that ran as a stripe from under her chin to the tip of her bushy tail arched over her back.
Hazel eyes peered at her from a delicate face. Startled wide at first, they grew lidded, filling with curiosity and an interest that made Nicole feel fidgety in her skin as the wolf stretched out without moving her paws, tilting her head delicately as she breathed in, searching the air for a scent that Nicole knew she would not find.
Their scent was a part of a wolf. A perfume that lived under their skin. It marked them as an individual and enabled them to find their pack members as well as interlopers. It was also dangerous for a wolf such as herself and Nicole knew how to hide it to the point that letting it out was foreign to her.
Nicole was an alpha wolf. Alphas were considered to be top of the food chain, leaders and fighters, especially the males. But, Nicole was an alpha on her own. A lone wolf with no pack that would want her or would want to take her in. Nicole liked it that way. At least that was what she told herself as she skirted around the outskirts of other wolves and their packs on her journey through life knowing that any interaction with another of her kind could lead to a fight as it had many times before or even death.
She had already caught the delicious, heady scent of lavender and lime that emanated from the wolf before her and knew she was an omega. That could mean many different things from one pack to another but, generally, they were thought of as being lower and not important. Some packs treated the female omegas as chattel to be bred while male and female but especially male omegas were used and abused in any way they saw fit.
All of which Nicole thought was utter patriarchal bullshit.
Suddenly growing self-conscious at the blood on her face, Nicole surreptitiously cleaned herself up as much as she could with quick swipes of her tongue as she took a half step back towards the cover of the forest around her.
Knowing there was no way a pack worth its title would let such a beauty out unguarded, Nicole lowered her head to pick up her kill and beat a hasty retreat away from them. Before she could close her teeth upon it, she found her vision filled with the mischievous twinkle born within the hazel of her eyes as the omega darted closer and touched their noses together as they lifted their heads in a far too friendly greeting given that she had just been threatened by a stranger.
Before Nicole could even think how to respond to that, three more wolves burst into the clearing from the West and Nicole belatedly remembered the wolves she had heard blundering through the trees. She could tell by their scents as they surrounded her, snapping and snarling with teeth flashing as they bullied her away from her kill and the omega that they were all alphas.
There was a female among them, all piercing blue eyes and wild brunette hair that was darker than the omegas. The other were both males, their coats a black so dark the moon brought out hints of blue caught within the strands. One of them was thickly and had dark brown eyes, while the other had a more slender build and was slightly older with hints of grey running across his muzzle and over the thicker mane around his neck and shoulders. His eyes as blue and piercing as the female’s but held a restraint that was lacking in hers.
The dominant side of Nicole did not want to back down but, even though she was bigger than all of them, she was outnumbered, outmanoeuvred and hunting on the land of a strange pack. That could be a death sentence for a lone wolf such as herself even amongst the most civilized of packs.
Backing away, she made herself small and reluctantly submitted to them in an effort to gain herself time to plan her next move. Doing anything else right then, with the numbers against her, would have led more than likely to death. Either hers or theirs depending on how the fight went.
Nicole had had to fight and flee more than she had been allowed to stay. She was used to it, almost resigned to it in a way that made it second nature just as hiding her scent was. It was the omega that stilled her actions though as she was strangely loath to start anything with her there. Instead of fighting, she was forced to watch with the male wolves’ breaths rustling her fur and teeth snapping close to her spine and throat in warning as the alpha female snarled in her face, blue eyes shining in triumph as she turned and picked up Nicole’s kill for herself.
The hazel-eyed beauty filled her sight again and Nicole felt her heart lifting and soaring as she rubbed her face against hers in a way that left Nicole no room to feel any shame for any blood that might have been left around her mouth from the kill stolen from her.
The omegas breath against Nicole’s ear was a gentle huff that sent Nicole’s ears fluttering and twitching in response. Her head pressed against the thicker fur around the nape of Nicole’s neck. Their height difference forced her to nearly have to put her paws on her to reach, and still, Nicole couldn’t find it in herself to protest at being scent marked by an omega in such a blatantly possessive way.
The alpha female took great offence though and bounded back, her dark brunette fur bristled in a line down her spine in anger as she bullied into the young omega, forcing her down and away back towards the others. Finding her voice, her alpha taking offence as the omega whined and hunched her shoulders, Nicole bared her teeth and sprung between them snapping at the alphas in defence of the omega.
They were a pack, bonded by blood and kinship. She was a lone wolf that had no reason or right to interfere in their business. They all knew it and Nicole was confused by her own actions when the alpha had only been telling the omega off. Once she had placed herself between them though, Nicole couldn’t seem to uncoil and calm herself even as the males flanked the other alpha and backed her up.
Their posture screamed their unhappiness and concern for the omega behind her but still, Nicole held her ground.
Until.
A touch came to Nicole’s side, the silken glide of a body against her own as the omega rubbed against her, leaning her weight into her with the gentle nudge of shoulder and hip. It was a simple touch that shouldn’t have affected Nicole as much as it did but, coupled with the scent that was wholly her, Nicole felt herself calming.
The omegas head butted up against hers and the scent increased as Nicole found herself being marked by the omega again despite the obvious disquiet of the other wolves.
With one last swish of her bushy tail that tickled around Nicole’s neck and jaw, the omega slowly walked towards the other three wolves with a provocative sway to her hips and gave them all withering glares that had them hastily stepping aside to let her take a place between them instead of demanding it.
Nicole couldn’t deny that it kind of made her feel somewhat better about losing her meal to know she wasn’t the only one the omega could confuse. However, it didn’t make her want to linger any longer in case they turned on her again though. So, not for the first time in her life, Nicole slipped back out of sight and made good her escape.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone