Rise of an Alpha Female (Two Moons Book 1)

by A. C. Gruptay

SMACK!

  "Just say yes already," Lands says, after slapping him behind the head.

  "We all know you can't say no to your 'little sister,' so stop stalling," Sima adds.

  "Awe, you think of me as your little sister? That's so sweet! How come you never told me that?"

  "Well, I..."

  "Excuse me, kids, my knee is starting to annoy me, and there is a number of unknown enemies about to attack us, so could we hurry this along? Thanks!" Lands says, half smiling and half serious.

  "Yes, yes, of course, I will accept it, whatever it is," Alastair sputters, and Jena acknowledges him with a nod.

  As one, all three wolves start reciting:

  "With the Moons and all of you as my witnesses, I renounce my loyalties to the Oasis pack, and swear fealty to Alpha Jena and her pack."

  "As Alpha, I accept your pledges. Welcome!"

  Three new bonds form in Jena's mind.

  "Alastair, this pack needs a Beta."

  The role comes with a huge amount of responsibility, and he isn't sure he's ready for it. It's one thing to watch over a person as her Personal Guard, that duty an honor he took on gladly, but as a Beta, he would have to take care of the entire pack.

  "What about Nazih?"

  "Not your problem, my friend."

  "But I don't want to! But since I already said I would, I guess I have no choice. However, I think you're making a mistake because I have no experience; I'm pretty sure I'll suck at it big time."

  "One of the Beta's duties is to point out when he believes the Alpha is making a mistake. Looks like you're a natural!"

  "So you agree with me?"

  "Doesn't mean the Beta is actually right, though. Don't worry! With Lands as your experienced Gamma, I'm sure you'll do fine."

  "I... I am honored, my lady!" Lands says and bows his head. "But is it wise to have two wolves in the first two positions of a pack consisting mostly of cats?" He asks.

  "Not your problem either, Lands."

  "Understood, Alpha."

  Thinking back at how she felt the power coming over the newly formed bonds with her pack but also holding the immense weight of their fates on her shoulders, Jena wonders if her soon to be Beta will feel the same.

  "Alastair, with your acceptance given, I choose you as my Beta! May you always hold the duties, responsibilities, privileges, and power that come with the position both in balance and close to your heart!"

  Alastair suddenly feels a huge increase in gravity, either that or someone just unloaded a couple of sandbags on his shoulders. He knows, however, that there are no physical reasons for his discomfort.

  As he kneels again under the spiritual weight of the forming Beta Bonds, he can already feel the power coming towards, from both his Alpha and the rest of the pack, helping him adjust and adapt to this role, his body strengthening, and the world feeling manageable once more. A strong sense of immovable balance finally settles over him.

  "Give it a few minutes; you'll adapt."

  As if to prove her point, he stands up, looking at her in awe.

  "You felt this too? Wow Alpha, I have no idea how you coped with the weight of an Alpha bond to his..."

  "Ahem!"

  "I mean her – he gives her a mental grin – pack. It felt like a mountain of sand fell on me all of a sudden!"

  "Oddly enough, between my secret training with the weighted suit and the adrenaline still pumping through my veins from the fight with Alpha Mahli, it barely felt like someone placed a hand on my shoulder."

  "Y... yeah, same for me! I was just kidding of course."

  "Sure you were." It is her turn to give him a mental smirk.

  Before Jena repeats the process with Lands, the older wolf is already sitting in a formal seiza pose, bracing for the weight of his new position.

  "You've done this before?" Alastair asks.

  "I've seen it happen several times, and people I know closely have described the process to me," is his answer.

  "Lands, with your acceptance given, I choose you as my Gamma! May you always hold the duties, responsibilities, privileges, and power that come with the position both in balance and close to your heart!"

  Everyone witnesses Lands gritting his teeth and his shoulders sagging a bit before he gets used to the new feeling.

  The cat on patrol rushes in, almost out of breath.

  "They're coming! The monsters are coming!"

  Chapter 10 - Clashings

  "Calm down buddy! Breathe! Upright sitting, bulky and about a foot taller than me, contorted face of a wild boar and two elbow length white tusks with a slight yellow tint kind of monsters?"

  "Y...yeah, exactly, how did you know?" The cat asks Alastair.

  "Warhogs! I've fought them a few times these last couple of days. How many?"

  "About 20, not sure, though, and wolves, two of them."

  "They must have merged their groups. There used to be 20, and a wolf that came for us. Another 10 plus the other wolf were probably supposed to reach the settlement and come for you," Alastair says towards Jena.

  "Where are the other 10 then?" She asks.

  "Well we killed three of them, and six were lead astray by Nazih's cats. If everything worked out, the other six should be dead as well. I just hope Nazih gets here soon with our wolf mates."

  "How tough are they?" Hani asks, coming back from organizing the injured.

  "By one of the warhogs' admission, I'd say three warrior wolves working in tandem have a good enough chance to take one down. At Personal Guard level I was able to barely defeat one of them in a one on one fight, but that's only because I noticed their flaw – a lot of power behind their hits, but only average control in movement. Don't get me wrong, they are fast but once they swing their inertia carries them on, and you can strike for most effectiveness at that point. Otherwise, they will just block you. And we have a slight advantage in mobility because we fight in wolf and they fight in their strange humanoid form. The trick is to go for debilitating muscle bites since the damn beasts appear to feel no pain at all. But an arm can't hit you if there is no muscle to move it and they die from blood loss just like the next living thing."

  "Hani, how many warriors that can fight do you have available here?" Lands asks.

  "34, including myself."

  "You mean to say that including the party Nazih left with, there were less than 50 warriors in this pride?" Sima asks incredulously.

  "You forget about the 12 that Mahli sent looking for the warhogs. A few months back a large hunting party of 24 was sent off to check a disturbance in our outpost to the north. Only one cat came back from that saying they were ambushed when they entered the actual outpost and that there were none of our men there, only these monsters we call warhogs now. Come to think of it that was" - he stops to think for a moment realization lighting up his face before going towards an angry dark red, "Sano that came back. Damn! He has been deceiving us for a long time," Hani admits, both sadness and betrayal joining the fire in his eyes.

  "Who is Sano?" Alastair asks.

  "In short, the cat that was in Nazih's party and came back accusing you and me of foul play," Jena answers him.

  "I see. So," Alastair scratches his head, unsure of what to do next, "do you by any chance have a plan already?"

  "Lands has come up with something."

  "Indeed. As you can see we've gathered everyone in this canyon. According to the map, there is only one way in and one way out. Unless you're a bird and can go straight up. We've got two choke points, this one here, and the one behind us, and it doesn't sound like they can come at us more than one at a time by your description of their size. This small opening between the choke points we can block. Between us three and 34 cat warriors, we will hardly fit. Let the warhogs in one by one and kill them.

  "There is no room to maneuver my friend; they can almost disable a cat in one swing. We barely defeated them by outmaneuvering at every opportunity, and we were only fighting one at a time. This will be a slaughter." Alas
tair says full of concern. "Not to mention they can charge!"

  "If it's a charge don't they need a straight line to do it? The area before the first choke point is full of protruding rocks, gravel and actual rock wall at odd angles. They won't be charging until we let them in inside the clearing. And we don't avoid them; we get people to bite down and hold to immobilize, then do what you said and start removing flesh and muscle. I bet they won't be moving much with 10-15 cats hanging, biting and clamping onto every part of a warhogs body. We'd be able to deal with two or three at a time with you, me and Sima blocking the entry until the cats are ready for the next victim."

  "OK, I'll admit this is pretty well thought of. All of us couldn't hope to match 21 warhogs in straight-up combat, but like this," he pauses, nodding imperceptibly, "for once I actually like our odds. Hani, let your fighters know of our plan!"

  ***

  "Second, where are the rest of your warriors?"

  "Most likely dead for the betterment of our cause."

  "WHY? Your opponents were mere cats and dogs, neither a match for one of MY warhogs!"

  "Their leaders only used hit-and-run tactics, and this idiot decided to send some of his own into their traps," the Second says, pointing at the Raised warhog, who doesn't even try to deny the accusation, not that it would matter anyway. "And then of course you called, and we stopped pursuing them immediately to obey."

  "Hmm. Very well. That's odd! This settlement is surprisingly quiet. Are they all hiding in fear? Spread out and look for anyone! Don't kill the Alpha; he's been useful."

  The Raised warhog grunts and 10 of his men split into teams of two, checking all the dwellings one by one.

  "There is nobody around, Master," the Raised says after a few minutes.

  "Second, get in your wolf form and sniff them out. Where did these cowards run to?"

  The lower wolf returns from his search promptly and changes back to human form.

  "Master, I found them. And you're not going to like this, but I also found Alpha Mahli," the Second says. "Good! Take me to him! Maybe he can explain what's going on."

  "That's just it. He can't explain anything to anyone anymore. He is dead," he says, pointing at Mahli's corpse as they reach it. "The rest of them are hiding in a canyon 10 minutes away from here."

  The Master snarls in annoyance.

  "I really hope they still have the female wolf! I had plans for her! Looks like you all get to fight and die in a glorious battle! The victors will win bragging rights to taking a pride as slaves, and will have lots of women to play with! Tell them!"

  The Raised grunts and snorts at the rest of the warhogs and they all start stomping their feet, grunting and yowling in turn, clearly excited.

  "Master, if I may? I don't like this. It feels like a trap," the Second says.

  "When you ask if you may and then don’t wait for an answer is like me asking you if you’re stupid. Don’t copy me! I don’t respond well to flattery. And of course it is! Theirs! They trapped themselves inside this canyon with no escape. Should be even easier. Go, bring me some cat pelts. Remember I want the bitch alive. Not necessarily untouched, but alive."

  The Master remains on the outside, with two of the warhogs as escorts while the rest head in.

  Not long after, the Second in his wolf form barks at the Raised warhog as they reach the bottleneck, letting him know their enemies are close.

  Forced by the canyon in a single file, the warhogs advance, paying great attention to their surroundings.

  Rock wall on the left side, rock wall on the right side. Either go forward or go back.

  As the first warhog clears the choke point, Sima barrels into him from one side, causing a loss of balance in the tusk wearer.

  Hani's prone form on the ground, acting as a foot tripper helps the warhog hug the ground face first, with about 10 cats jumping him immediately and biting down hard.

  As the second warhog tries to rush in to help, the same happens with mirror-like moves executed by Alastair, just in the opposite direction.

  "Good, don't let up!

  Sima, Alastair get back to blocking the entry, and five or six of you help them by swatting with full claws at anyone trying to push in," Lands orders over the newly formed pack bonds, having assumed operational command of the battle since it was his idea in the first place.

  "If they are pinned down, start biting off bits.

  Focus on arm muscles first!

  Watch for those tusks as they thrash about!

  As soon as one of you bites off something, let someone else take your place and keep going!

  Watch it, their pushing in!

  Damn it; I told you to watch for the husks! Take that cat back to the injured!

  Cover that entry!

  Shit!" Lands yells as he dives in himself to support them at the choke point.

  As one, three warhogs push in at the same time, the two behind, pushing the one in front, despite his oncoming injuries.

  "This one is dead!" A cat says getting off one of the first two warhogs.

  "And this one will join him soon!" Another yells over the bonds.

  "Ok then, let them through, but try to block the third.

  Shit, we couldn't stop him! Block that damn entry again!" Lands yells, desperate to contain the situation.

  Three warhogs inside the cleared area is more than they wanted to face, especially considering they still have to block the bottleneck from more attacks.

  A few of the cats have retreated by the walls, clearly unable to continue, while some have simply stopped moving.

  Sima sports several bleeding scratches that have already started healing and a nasty gash on one of his sides that is an entirely different matter. Thanks to his larger than usual wolf form and his training, he is the one that has taken on the brunt of the warhogs' attacks as he tried to both block them and protect the others.

  Alastair fairs barely better, being the next one in line to cover for Sima, where the big wolf was exposed.

  The first two warhogs in the second wave were finally tackled and contained, but the third had reached the second bottleneck, ignoring the cats trying to make him turn away, smacking away the occasionally pesky one that tried to slow him down by grabbing at his legs.

  "Alpha, we lost one, he is in the second bottleneck now. Alastair go protect the Alpha!"

  "NO! Stay where you are. I got this!" The Alpha commands over the bonds.

  She has been following the fight from the second choke point patiently, not joining the warriors earlier with the only motivation that if all else fails she will simply block them there, where she would only have to fight one bestial wild pig at a time.

  But NO LONGER!

  With rising anger, she has watched HER people get hurt by those monstrosities, and she jumps at the chance for some payback, bringing forth her wolf and taking the oh so familiar wolf form.

  With an almost identical maneuver to Sima, she jumps and barrels into the incoming warhog, making him fall both out of the choke point and flat on his back while Jena rolls and spins for the true attack to follow.

  The warhog is fast in his recovery as he stands, preparing to respond, quite more so than expected, but when you've been training for so long with your entire body weighed down with rocks, sand, and water against a Personal Guard of Alastair's talent, 'regular' fast doesn't seem so fast anymore.

  With all the strength and speed developed in her human form amplified by her wolf, she pushes off the canyon floor, missing the warhog but avoiding his counter-strike at the same time.

  Recovering quickly from her planned mistake, she lunges directly to the back of his neck biting down hard.

  Though trashing hard and pulling at the wolf, the warhog can't get her to let go, and she keeps on squeezing her jaw.

  She finally reaches bone, and with a bit of extra effort, she crunches through the spine, collapsing on top of the now paralyzed warhog, which squeals uncontrollably, unable to realize what just happened to him.
<
br />   "They're retreating!" Lands says through the mindlink, a sense of relief following his thoughts.

  "Only 16 warhogs and a pair of mutts to go!" Jena says over the bonds viciously, making even Alastair shudder a little at her tone.

  This is no longer the Jena he used to know. This is Alpha Jena, stepping in to protect her pack from any and all aggressors.

  With things apparently calm for the time being, an assessment of the situation seems proper.

  "How are we doing?" She asks Lands, preparing herself for bad news.

  "Four dead, seven wounded severely enough to be incapacitated, 14 light injuries on the rest of the cats. Sima has a nasty gash one of the cat doctors stitched up but it will surely tear in the next fight, and minor injuries that he says are nothing. Alastair and I are just sporting the same kind of ignorable minor injuries."

  "That's bad. Really bad. And the enemy?"

  "Five dead warhogs. If they simply repeat the last attack, we will run out of warriors before they run out of warhogs. Long before they do." A dejected sigh follows the statement.

  "I will join you and fight alongside everyone else," Jena says.

  "Is that wise, Jena? You should stay safely with the others," Alastair argues and seems to get approval from the cat warriors present, while Lands expression stays neutral.

  "You forget yourself, Beta! I'm not a trophy mate Luna, which stays behind while the men go fight. Nor am I a coward..."

  "I never said you..."

  "I'm NOT finished!" Jena lets some of her Alpha power seep into her words and Alastair's words freeze before forming.

  "I have been training to fight and be a warrior all my life. And you should know this better than anyone. I am the Alpha! And I will stand and fight by my people and pack! Either until these abominations are dead, or I no longer draw breath!"

  The speech is an obvious boost to the morale of everyone present; some of the cats are wondering how this Alpha could be so different from Mahli, even more so being a woman.

  "We should keep that as a last resort," Lands says, waiting for his Alpha's attention.

  "If you have a plan, I will consider it."

  "An idea. One that you could maybe turn into a plan."