Page 87 of Ruled By The Alpha

Lost

by

Hannah Haze

Chapter 1

The birds wake me as the sun creeps over the horizon and beams of light chase away the darkness. I roll onto my side.

My father sits by the fire, sharpening his arrows, the flames flickering against their shiny tips. Around him the others in the hunting party rouse too, and I meet the eye of Hensta as he curls up to sit.

The alpha’s gaze seems to find me more and more often these days, and I don’t wish to give him any means of encouragement.

Quickly averting my eyes, I roll away, tucking my hands under my cheek and watching as the sky fills with light and birdsong crescendos.

They say at the end of days, the birds stopped singing. That the skies were silent and sunless for month after month. It is hard to imagine such silence, such darkness. Even harder to imagine the world before.

My legs are stiff from the cold and our long walk yesterday tracking the herd of beasts I now see in the distance, dark silhouettes moving against the murky yellow. Now we have found them, and today we will make our kill and take our trophy back to the people we have left behind—the pregnant and nursing omegas, the children, the ones who can no longer hunt, and a few of our strong, young alphas standing guard.

I imagine what my younger sister is doing now—probably seeing to the fire and fetching water for my mother. I smile, pleased my father let me come with the hunting pack again. It pains me every time he leaves me with the other women and I have to watch the hunters’ retreating backs, their bodies buzzingwith excitement. I may be an omega, but I am also strong and fully grown. I am a good hunter, and I will prove it again today.

The herd at the horizon grazes on the long, swaying grasses, and my fingers itch for my spear laid out beside me.

Chapter 2

My feet pound the hard earth as I chase the young calf through the swaying grass. We separated it from its mother, and now it dashes about in a frenzy, left and right and right again. I follow its zigzagging path, lunging from one side to another, quick and light as I run, my spear now poised on my shoulder. I hear the thunder of other human feet behind me and my own ragged breath in my ears.

The calf dashes to the cover of trees where the dense undergrowth wreaths the trunks. I keep my eyes locked on the flash of brown hide. Someone calls my name at my back, encouraging me onward.

I can tell the calf is tiring. I’m gaining on it. Its desperate snorts ring out and its head swings from side to side.

I take my chance, leaping forward and plunging the sharp point of my weapon deep into its neck. It falters for a second, then crumples to its belly, its lifeless head falling to the ground.

My kill was swift and painless. And I am thankful. The calf will feed my people, but I do not like to see things suffer. I'm not like the big cats who toy with their prey, or some of the new alphas in our hunting pack who find pleasure in teasing their kill.

I kneel by the calf’s body and rest my palm on its still-warm belly, thanking the Mother Earth for this food she has given us.

“Well done, Nafia!” I turn and find Hensta behind me, leaning on his knees, panting hard. “That was a good kill.”

I nod, trying to keep pride filling my chest from showing on my face. This is only my second kill, but surely it will show myfather that this is where I belong—out hunting with the others. My designation need not confine me.

While we wait for the rest of the party to catch up, we find twine and bind the calf's feet, and I chug the water from the hide flask hanging at my waist, smearing some over my face and around my neck and brow.

“You should not waste your water like that,” Hensta tells me, watching me as he leans on his spear.

I scowl at him. I am bored of the men telling me what to do. Hensta is not that much older than me, and while he may have been on more hunts, I can run farther and faster than him.

We wait some time longer, and then Hensta grunts. “Perhaps we ought to find our way back.”

I nod and kneel by the body of my kill again.

“I will carry it for you,” Hensta offers, stepping forward.

I shake my head, hauling the body onto my shoulders and heaving myself to my feet. The body is much heavier than I’d expected, but this is my kill, and I will have the honor of bringing it to my father.

We make our way back through the trees, following the path we’d made earlier, the undergrowth crushed in places where we’d sprinted. But the party is not waiting for us as we step out into the sunlight, and we cannot see them or the herd we tracked.

I let out a puff and drop the kill onto the ground, a cloud of dust spiraling into the air as it lands. Rolling my shoulders and my neck, I rest my hands on my hips and squint toward the horizon, turning in a full circle. I cannot see them.

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