Page 2 of Not Your Ordinary Shifter

“You see this, right?”

“Um….”

“It’s a yes or no question.”

“Yes.”

“It is what I think it is, right,” I asked and kept my face straight as I stared at my friend’s flustered expression.

“I don’t know. What do you think it is?” My eyebrow raised, and I turned to face him. He looked down at the bulge and then backed up a step. “Do you want me to tell the men to fall back?”

“Why?”

“Um…so that…so…fuck. Do you want to take care of that first?”

I shook my head at him. “No, whatever has caused this is in there.” I pointed to the herd house down in the deep valley. “Could this be a trick?”

Shale was one of the very few close friends who knew all the sordid details of my abuse and why I never took a mate. He shrugged at the question.

“I guess there’s only one way to find out. Give the command to move in, but be wary,” I ordered. Shale placed a fist against his heart, then shifted smoothly before letting out his battle cry and galloping off. This was the last stronghold between me and my ultimate goal, Alpha Torrid and the Mountain Ridge Herd. He was an old bull now and held command over these smaller herds, allowing all sorts of depravity to ensue, but no more. I was going to bring new order to the entire North.

The sound of screams and clashing of weapons drew my attention, and I watched as my men cut through the guards who had been taken unaware. I sauntered down the hill, keeping an eye out for anyone hiding among the thick foliage. With each step closer, the scent of whatever it was that was stirring desire in me intensified. I sucked in a deep breath, taking the rich, exotic scent into my lungs, and I shuddered as my cock begged to be touched. I was an Alpha now, stronger than any I’d ever come across, and could withstand the primal urges, but the aching in my loins brought back memories of my youth…before I was scarred for life. Whatever it was causing this reaction needed to be eradicated. I couldn’t afford for my enemies to know of any possible weakness.

I reached the edge of the clearing as my men were rounding up the last of the guards who had surrendered and vowed to join my herd and serve me. Women and children were separated into another group and forced onto their knees as Alpha Gorrin was brought forward and deposited like trash on the ground before me.

“Is this how you treat our heritage? You let your men do your dirty work for you,” Gorrin said and spat on the ground. I smirked.

“You misunderstand Alpha Gorrin. I intend to give you the opportunity to either join me or battle as our kind has done sincethe beginning of time. The choice is yours, but know the battle will be to the death.”

I stood calmly with my hands clasped behind my back. I knew Gorrin wanted to fight. They always did, and they always lost. It didn’t matter to me if he chose to live and follow or fight and die. The outcome was all the same. I became the Alpha, and my herd, Vicious Winds, would embrace the new additions.

“I know who you are.” He spat on the ground again. “The impotent Alpha. You have no right to be the leader of any herd if you can’t produce an heir. It’s blasphemy.”

I knew others thought that about me, but he was the first to voice it so loudly. I didn’t need to glance around to sense the herd’s disapproval. I shouldered off the long cloak I was wearing, pulled the string on the leather pants, and stepped out of them. The gasp of everyone watching matched the shock in Gorrin's eyes as my muscled frame and hard cock were now on display.

“As you can see, the rumors of my abilities or lack thereof have been greatly exaggerated, but it is no matter. You have already shown your true heart to me, and therefore, a duel to the death is what I now choose for you. Get up, Gorrin, and prepare to fight, or are you too old and frail to battle with honor?”

He pushed himself to his feet, glaring as he did. “Do not call my honor into question. I will fight, and the Goddess will see that I am victorious.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “If the Goddess sees you victorious, then she is a blind God.”

With a roar, Gorrin charged me while he shifted. I leaped in the air and avoided his rack easily as I landed softly behind him. As Gorrin struggled to slow down from his poorly planned attack, I shifted and charged. My hooves thundered across the ground, and I lowered my head as Gorrin started to turn on the damp grass.

Gorrin saw his error a moment before I rammed him and lifted him off the ground with my rack. It was over three times the size of his, and the sharp spikes on the tips pierced his side and tore at the muscle, breaking his ribs with a loud crack.

Rearing off the ground, I whipped my head to the side in a death shake before tossing his body like he was nothing more than a yearling and not an alpha. Gorrin skidded across the ground and crashed into a tall oak. The leaves rustled as the tree groaned from the impact.

I blew at him in disgust. The sound of my displeasure was loud as steam from my nostrils rose into the early evening air. I slammed my hoof into the ground, the forked points digging in the hard dirt and sending it flying as I demanded he rise.

Gorrin weakly lifted his head, looking at me as I glared down upon his pathetic body. I didn’t fight dirty and waited until he was once more upright and ready. Blood dripped from his side into a puddle on the ground, and I knew that my first blow was fatal if left untreated. But he wouldn’t need to worry about that. I planned on ending him long before he bled out.

Gorrin looked at his herd as they stared on to witness the final end of their Alpha. He knew his death was coming, there was no longer conviction in his eyes and I could smell his fear in the air. Gorrin knew he had no other choice than to continue the battle and pawed at the ground before he pushed off and ran at me. I launched forward, my massive hindquarters pushing me at a blistering pace. I saw his death mirrored in his eyes. He knew this was it. At least in his final moments, he held a sliver of honor in his heart. We lowered our heads, and with a thundering boom, we crashed together. Our racks collided, and I easily pushed him back. With a sharp twist, I heard his neck snap, and then his body went limp. Gorrin dropped to the ground, and with a soft shimmer, he shifted into human form, dead at my hooves.

One slow step at a time, I turned to face the members of Gorrin’s herd and watched as they placed their foreheads on the ground and willingly gave themselves over to my authority. I marched back with my head held high and snorted in victory.

My herd members snorted in return and raised their fists to their hearts. Movement caught my eye, and I turned my head to watch as they dragged over what looked to be prisoners. They were all tossed on the ground, their bodies covered with so much filth that you could hardly tell one apart from the other.

Shale pointed to the first one in the line-up. “They are all prisoners from other herds for a variety of reasons, but none of those reasons warrant the abuse happening down in the cells.” He pointed to the furthest one, who was curled up in a ball, the body so skinny that I wasn’t sure how they were alive at all. “The only record I can find on this one is that she was given to Gorrin as payment for a debt.”

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