Eleanor opened her eyes sleepily and
watched a drop of morning dew slide down the leaf of a plant. The drop splashed
onto the ice and embroidered the snow like diamonds. Suddenly, the memory of
her dream came back. Had it been real? She got up abruptly from her mesmerisation,
tripping up her paws in the process. Scrambling outside like a mouse, she
scanned the area with anxious eyes.
No, it wasn’t
a dream. The Alphas menacing howls broke the thick silence- their calls
were chilling to the bone, and the rest of the pack was scuttling around,
anxious and alert. The betas took this chance to show off their pride and
confidence, striding about with a sense of superiority. There had to be
something after them- but she couldn’t quite put a finger on it.
Suddenly, something sharp and unpleasant
clamped harshly onto her tail. She yelped in surprise and twisted around with
ferocity. A slender, sunset colored wolf gazed sharply at her with brown eyes.
“Kate.” She sighed in relief
“Eleanor, you must go. Humans are raiding our pack.”
“But mother-“
A growl ripped from Kate’s throat. “Do as I
say. Run away NOW!”
Eleanor bounded away as fast as she could,
her blue eyes clouding with fright. Gnarled tree
roots spread menacingly before her paws. It wasn’t before a sudden pain speared
through her haunch, that a herd of caribou thundered towards her. Eleanor had
never been afraid of lone ones. In fact, she had a caribou friend that was
really quite gentle. But in groups, they could be merciless and powerful. Garth
suddenly appeared at her side. “Eleanor, run with me, I will help you escape
from the stampede!”
They had just ducked under
a hollowed rock, when the searing pain got worse. Her vision blurred, and stars
swam before her eyes. Garth noticed her reaction, and he fixated his focus on
an arrow that was gouged into her leg. “They’re going to turn your fur into a
coat if you don’t escape!” He yelled over the noise.
“Who do you refer to by ‘they’?”
Eleanor asked dizzily.
“The humans!”
Chapter 2
Humphrey snarled, clawing his talons on the rock abrasively. "Escaped? You mean, you let her into the open with no care or guidance? Oh, so that's what wolves do nowadays, they send their young bounding off into the world to fend for themselves. And possibly get killed." His voice dripped with sarcasm. Now it was Kate's turn to be hostile. "It was for her own good. The humans could have injured her like they did to Scar!"
"We're Alphas, Kate! We stand up for ourselves and the pack, especially the pups! We fight to our death to save them."
"Look Humphrey, there's already enough stress around, being in charge, protecting the pack and Lily's pregnancy."
"That's the whole point, Alphas are supposed to handle that stress!" Humphrey lunged at her, pinning Kate to the wall with his paws. He growled with a sense of dominance, but in their eyes,they knew they had taken it too far.
Can-do and Hutch appeared at the cave. "Sir, we must move the pack. The humans know where to find us now. Humphrey flattened his ears. "Not yet. Send a search party to find Eleanor. I won't leave without my daughter."
* * *
Eleanor's breath came in panicked puffs. A steel contraption enclosed her, and through the bars, she could see strange animal skulls. There was no way Eleanor would end up like them! But first she had to find a way out. Suddenly, something furry jabbed into her side. A handsome silver wolf with dashing honey- coloured eyes gazed at Eleanor. Oh no, not Cobalt. She thought. If there was one thing in the world that she could change, it would be to stop the taunts from her class mates that he liked her.
"How do we get out of here?" Cobalt asked, trembling. His eyes screamed fear.
"I don't know, but find a way! Use what you were taught in Alpha School."
"But I'm a beta wolf and you're an alpha."
"Just.. try anything!" She blurted in frustration.
Suddenly, there was a whimper from somewhere in the corner of the room. Eleanor looked around and was aghast. A thin grey wolf, all battered and bleeding was chained to the walls. She gasped in shock. The wolf gave her an agonizing stare.
But under all the gore and injuries, Eleanor could still somewhat recognize the wolf. It was Scar!
"W-what happened to you?" Eleanor stuttered.
Scar choked.
"Beware Eleanor, the humans may be in the very next room. You must escape, or the humans will force you into an arena, where you must fight another wolf. They do this for entertainment, and often they will make us fight till we die. The ones which do survive will simply be put to verse another wolf. And the ones which are too injured to compete like me, will be killed entirely and sent to meat factories or be made for fur coats."
This news made Eleanor's fur raise. "No... NO!" She backed her body against the matal contraption. Cobalt was equally scared. Although he was a beta, he had a bit more brains than Eleanor. "Listen, there must be something that can get us out. Like a source or something-"
"There is a source. What the humans call a key." Scar weakly pointed to something silver next to the cage.
"Yes! Lets use it and get out of here!"
Cobalt and Eleanor reached through the bars desperately groping around for the key. Eleanor tried to hook her talon into the hole of the key, but her arms were simply not strong enough. "Can you reach it?" She asked in a panicky voice.
"Let me try again." Cobalt muttered in determination.
He reached his arm through the bars and stretched as far as he could. His claws tried to grasp at the key, and he leaned forward even more. The tip of his talon touched it.
"Almost there..."
He panted in frustration.
Eleanor's heart pounded so much it felt like it would burst. The anticipation became uncomfortable. For some reason she felt like something bad was about to happen.
Suddenly, a bang echoed through the room. Cobalt stopped in his tracks. The doors opened, filling the place with bright daylight and there was a nasty booming voice. "Let the tournament begin!"
* * *
“Cobalt!” Eleanor cried.
A greasy, unpleasant man grabbed her by the
scruff of her neck. His hand had a large gash. “You’re here to train, you
stupid creature,” he sneered, each word stabbing through Eleanor’s heart. “So
is your naughty friend. He’s the fool who gave me this.” The man shoved his hand into her face, showing the gash in
full view. “Now off you go.” He flung her mercilessly into a spacious
enclosure, fenced with barbed wire and steel. A thin gaunty wolf glared at
Eleanor from the corner of the cage. She had dark azure eyes that stood out
like sapphire beacons, set I a defiant slant. Her glossy coat had a splash of luscious
milky white, contrasting with the dark. Eleanor also noticed that there were
spiked metal clasps around each of her ankles.
“If you’re my training partner, then show
me what you’ve got.” The wolf purred. Eleanor froze. Then, not knowing what to
do, her Alpha training kicked in. She set her body into a play bow, and then pounced.
But the wolf had fast reflexes. A few seconds later, Eleanor found herself
pined to the ground with a talon at her throat. “Lots of training to do eh?”
She gave a superior chuckle. “And call me Ash.”
Eleanor watched as Ash punched or kicked
the sandbag that was dangling from a rope at the top of the cage.
“The best way to deliver a nasty attack is
to think about something that made you angry.
” And right now…” She kicked harder.
“I’m thinking about…” She gave a heavy blow.
“…What my parents did to me!” She snarled
and flew at the sandbag in a combinational attack. It tore into pieces, and
sand flew everywhere, some drifting on Eleanor’s nose. She stared at her in
wonder.” Now you try, Ellie,” Ash puffed, her eyes swimming with the reminiscence
of her torture.
“Hang on, what do you mean by, ‘what your
parents did to you?’ ”
Ash growled defensively. “Why do you need
to know?”
“I might understand. You’re not the only
one who’s been through emotional pain.” Her expression softened.
Ash whimpered softly. “My parents were Alphas,
but after being born, I was ranked as Omega. Of course there was the teasing
and I became the scapegoat for nearly everything. One day, a blizzard started
to brew. I was scared and lost, especially because I couldn’t find my parents.
When the blizzard finished, I was in a totally different place, but after some
tracking, I found my home again. Only, the pack wasn’t there. My parents had
left without me.”
Eleanor felt ashamed. She had always
complained about her parents being over protective, but she had never thought
of what it would be like if they weren’t protective at all. “I guess-“
Ash frowned. “But that’s not the end of the
story. Years later, I joined another pack. I was still the omega, but I fought
my way up the ladder and became Alpha. I didn’t have a mate because I didn’t
want a family. There was no way I was about to go through that experience
again. By then, I had pretty much forgotten about loyalty, so I left the pack,
but got captured by humans, so that’s how I ended up here.”
Eleanor had never heard of an Alpha without
a mate.
The defiance returned to Ash. She growled stubbornly.
“The end. Story’s over now. Practice your training.
Eleanor stared at the sandbag, still deep
in thought. The she punched it as hard as she could, pretending it was the
greasy man.
