บท 11: The Unhinged Trespasser

[AWUOR]

The rejected alpha sat upright, waiting to see who it was who had come to this side of the forest. She had lived here peacefully for the eight months since her exile and while she hadn't had the best of memories here, it had become a home for her.

Sure, she was born and raised in a palace but life had its way of making things turn out and hers was an unfortunate one bound by the betrayal by the very people she had loved and protected over the years.

The footsteps didn't slow down even as the alpha stayed alert. It was already evening and the sun was slowly going down, so whoever it was, either wanted to attack her or wanted to talk to her, both of which she really had no time for at the moment.

It wasn't long before Awuor saw a group of people headed in her direction. They looked like warriors from the nearby packs, not that she ever cared to ask around after her exile, but then that would mean that this woman had been trespassing on their property, right?

Unable to come up with an explanation for what these people could possibly want with her, the Sicario alpha sat and waited for them as they strutted towards her, their weapons making a show of dominance, almost to tell her that she didn't stand a chance. But didn't she?

Just because she was away from home and had no people didn't mean she was that vulnerable and easy to conquer. She was her own person and knew what she wanted and could get it. Well, everything except the home she was born in.

'All in due time,' Awuor said to herself when the warriors finally reached her. She had been seated in front of her tiny shelter and these people had surrounded her. She should have panicked. She should have sought help, but she knew no one was around to hear her.

She knew it would be pointless because if these people came to her today, it could only mean that they had been studying her, so there really wasn't a point in her starting to rebel here anyway. The most she could do was show them her bored face.

"You're trespassing," the leader of the group stepped forward and Awuor just stared at him blankly like she didn't already know that. Of course, she was trespassing. What else did they expect of her when her father had kicked her out of her home on false allegations?

"That's not news. Cut to the chase. What do you want from me or with me?" Awuor asked coldly, her voice making it known that she didn't appreciate having her peace tampered with.

It was already bad enough that she kept thinking of her family's betrayal and how they let her take the fall without even considering how she would be affected.

The people around her didn't take kindly to her response to the man and that was also a show that whoever this man was, he was their alpha. Well, this was about to get interesting for her anyway.

"Hey, tone down on your growls and displeasure. As you may have seen, this forest is empty and your noises will scare the birds away," Awuor added, making the people look at her like she was unhinged or something.

Well, that wasn't a hard conclusion to come to, considering she was wearing banana leaves. She looked like a lost woman from the stone age who wasn't even bothered that the men were eyeing her.

Even if she wanted to be bothered by them, she couldn't let them know that. Maybe her time here alone and like this had gotten her accustomed to some habits, most of which the regular wolf living in a pack wouldn't appreciate being associated with.

"Hey, listen here. You've been trespassing on our pack lands for almost eight months now. It's time for you to leave and pay the dues for trespassing, or face the consequences as per the rules of our pack.

"Your presence is disturbing the nature of our lands as our warriors can't train peacefully in the name of the banana-leaved woman. Now move it," the man growled out and Awuor let out a maniacal laugh.

This man had to have been very stupid to have let a stranger stay on their lands for that long. If it had been Sicario and someone else was in Awuor's place, she would have already sent the person away or enslaved them.

The man who was talking to her was a little over twenty-five years old. He had a man bun as almost every warrior he had come with, he was too masculine and had a beautiful voice, not that it was better than Jer's, but it was close.

He was dressed like a warrior going to war, but one look at him and Awuor knew he wasn't the alpha of whatever bounce of wolves this was. He was probably the beta, here on their alpha's orders, but hey, that was alright, because Awuor wasn't going anywhere with them.

"Okay, oh, grandmaster. But I'm not leaving this place, not even if you come with your armies. And I'm not paying any dues as per whatever pack you belong to. I don't give two shits about what you want, so please go away, or fight me.

"If you can't do that, walk away and go back home. Pretend like you saw nothing here and take your men to the nearest lake, you guys really need to have a relationship with water," Awuor said, lying through her teeth that the warriors were stinky.

She knew she was pissing this man off and he was probably considering having a duel with her, and she really hoped he accepted, because it had been long since she had fought a real person. Granted, her clothing right now, wasn't exactly the dressing for war, but she would fight them.

After all, who hadn't ever seen a stripped woman, right? It wasn't new, but it wasn't appropriate, and still, she baited them. Dan, this woman had some loose screws. The guy who led the group sighed like he had seen enough crazies like the woman here in the forest.

"Take her. I don't care who she is. We need to present her to the alpha before the sun completely goes down," the guy said and his men looked at him, wondering if he had joined this woman's craziness. Did he not have eyes or what?

"But Beta Adolf—" a warrior said and Awuor cut his statement short, her sarcasm making itself known.

"Ooh, so you're the beta. Damn, no wonder you don't want to fight me. Are you scared I'd kick your ass in front of your warriors? Or maybe you're worried you may get in trouble for fighting a woman like me?" Awuor taunted, making beta Adolf look at her again.

"Listen here you little wolf. You're clearly not wanted where you belong, that's why you decided to pitch a nice tent here. From my guess you could belong to one of the four packs surrounding this forest," Adolf began like he was ready to put the stubborn woman in her place.