The Rise of Venus

Benevolent to a Fault

Song: PoV playlist by Ivoryyy

My wet nose twitched at the delicious scent of rabbit as I pressed myself to the earth. The cover of the dark sky hid me from my prey and I sank lower to hide the anxious twitching of my pointed ears. Swallowing the slick saliva coating my tongue, I lowered my head and sprang into action.

The brown fluff raced away with my massive wolf hot on its heels. My ivory canines emerged as I growled and snapped at its paws. Its fearful twittering only managed to fuel my inner beast. Titling my nose up, I huffed at the scent of its fright and a flash of pity befell me for a brief moment.

A deep rumble pulled me out of my focus as Pride's white wolf joined me in my chase. His larger form bumped against me as he nipped playfully at my paws. I shouldered him to the side before sprinting forward and capturing my kill. Never one to enjoy watching an animal die, I snapped the rabbit's neck swiftly so as not to drag out its death.

Iron filled my mouth as its blood dripped from my clenched jaws. This was the sixtieth rabbit I'd caught and it'd only been two hours. Not too bad. But I could've done better.

Shades of dark blue emerged from the black canvas above. I could almost taste the morning air on my lolling tongue. Mera would be out soon for morning border patrol. I wondered what she'd make of our new mess...

Pride and I trotted to the pile of our fresh kill carefully guarded by six of our best warriors. I'd caught all of the rabbits, deer, and foxes myself as they were a favorite of our pups. The elders preferred moose and lynx. I'd only managed to catch two of each.

Rolling my shoulders, I commanded the wolves to start transporting the meat to the Pack House. There was to be a great feast tonight to honor the Alpha King's arrival.

And tell them of our possible impending doom.

Should we get more?

Eyeing the stack of dead meat, my eyes widened at the large black bear pushed off to the side. Glancing back at Pride, I finally noticed the claw marks embedded in his side. There was a small triangle missing from the tip of his left ear. A few clumps of his bloodied white fur were seconds away from falling.

In a moment.

Flicking my tail at him, I motioned for him to follow as I took off into the deep foliage. Twigs snapped under the thudding of my paws and I howled at the last moments of the moon. Pride's song joined mine, making it a mixture of forlorn yearning and fury.

Barreling through the forest, we ran faster and faster until the rocky cliffs of Maine came into view. The light of the ancient lighthouse still burned even as the morning star made his ascension. Slowing my pace to a trot, we carefully descended onto the cold rocks leading towards the water. The salt of the Atlantic Ocean invaded my senses as we settled on the largest rock closest to the cold lapping.

The sight of a tail flapping didn't go unnoticed by the Casanova on my right. I could smell the spike in his pheromones at the possibility of wooing a Mermaid and I rolled my eyes at that. I told him not to chase she-wolves and he agreed not to chase she-wolves.

Poor Mermaids.

They were undoubtedly going to be the new victims of his "charms."

Moving away from the warmth of his flank, I dragged my large tongue over his bleeding wounds. The large black bear had given Pride quite the fight with the way my packmate was injured. It worried me even if it didn't bother him. Pride leaned to the side to give me more access as I cleaned the slashes of infection. The tips of his ears twitched with pleasure (not the carnal kind) and he pushed his paws together. Resting his big head on his paws, he kept one eye on me and the other on the frolicking Mermaid.