BLACK

(21) Foes

Dedicated to @SabrinaBeauty for asking me to update... that's a first for me (: & inspired me to write an entire new chapter in 1 day.

EDITED

-Oren-

The distance was aching, like a constant pressure pressed upon me. My limbs were heavy and strained, but my paws scraped low along the dirt; determined.

Every second away from her stung, my nerves rattled without her in my line of sight. A constant need, an insatiable hunger for her safety. And that safety was with me.

"In this time, you are not to lurk." Cassandria leads her -within reach- land of Uncharted. "You hear me, Alpha Black?"

As Alpha, it was my job to know all of my allies, to understand my enemies. From what I had learned, Cassandria was the fill in for her brother, an Alpha born from fights. He had snuck beneath everyone, making his own land and pack so great, none could override. Many, many meetings influenced the ideals of tearing them down, defeating the mystery threat. However we never bothered, after his first large announcement was followed by his murder in the treaty ceremony.

Cassandria, his sister, had always been a rebel. She did well for this land, but somehow it belonged to Noire.

"I'm breaking my back to give this room to her, and I don't need you outside stirring up your notorious trouble." She stares into a tree line, arms folded beneath her cloak. As the wind rustles through my stenchful pelt, my senses pick with alarm at all of the rogues scents.

Safe, I force myself to believe. She's safe.

Black only huffs in response to Cassandria. His anger was raging in his skin, its homeland. I still wasn't fond of the power he possessed to shove me into the back of my own mind, reigning him full access. I was weak back here, with only his eyes, and my sore train of thought. I always felt tingly on my edges— where ever they were. It was as if I were fading, like a ghost. Trapped to haunt my own body.

Cassandria's head tilts, glowing green eyes too bright against the forestry in the backdrop. "What?" She shrills with an upper lip curled. "You don't think you can possibly stay here? My men group to kill, especially those they're not in favor of."

My tongue is cemented to my mouth, but the shifter has other plans. 'Not here, perhaps. But somewhere.' His vision focuses on the leaves in the background, eyes scavenging the way between roots, and branches, in an attempt to mark an escape, safety, and back up route. His anxiety was terrifying. A shifter could smell, taste, and experience fear. Black was no different, but the crippling terror was not his. He feared to be too weak to run, to keep Noire from trouble. In his mind, she was his now. Nothing could separate them. The small space Cassandria had mastered to part him and she was a miracle. There was a constant pain coursing to his leg, and genuinely all throughout his body, but I was only a small part of his mind now. He could ignore me for however much it pleased him.

"Alpha Black." Her lips are pinched, a curl looped out of her jacket and over her shoulder. She didn't understand, Black thought as a bitterness bit his tongue. She doesn't have a mate. "I— you don't quite understand how lucky you are that it is Noire Vierr with you."

He huffs in response once again, orbs retaining their focus. The woods blur, the caribous calling a forgotten signal. Food later. Mate now. His intentions picked up again, and I strung as many words into sentences as I could to ease him. When he felt doubt, a crack appeared for me to enter. It was my job to reassure him, to keep Noire safe from his idea of haven for as long as I could. I had no idea when Black was going to wipe me out again, and an even less conceived thought of when I would gather enough strength to fully transform. It was important for Noire to have this time separated, even if knocked out. Don't go, I spew at him.