SWNOVELS Chapter 23: Behind these Icy Eyes
Mikalya's P.O.V
The sound of wings resettling into feathery bodies woke me up from my sleep.
I opened my eyes to the faint light of dawn that was seeping in through the fabric of the tent. It took me a while to realize that it was Abhay's warmth that surrounded me in a cocoon and not a blanket.
Any other time, my instincts would've been to get as far away from him as possible. I didn't make connections, didn't know how to keep them. This might in fact be the first time I've ever spent the night in a man's arms. But the wolf recognized its mate. It felt sated and happy lying in its mate's arms for the first time in a century, even though I knew I couldn't stay.
Once again, my mind got distracted by the sound of ruffling feathers. Cautiously, I rose from the makeshift bed, careful not to wake Abhay and pulled up the zipper from one side of the tent, enough to take a peek outside. Falcons. About a hundred of them. And they were surrounding the dunes around the tent.
"Damn those bastards!"
They thought to drive me away by force, that too from my own land!
But that thought itself was irrational. These weren't my lands anymore; I had left this place behind a long time ago...and I wasn't a true Alpha. I was just a lone wolf travelling alone, who had Alpha blood running through her veins. And most importantly, I didn't intend on forming a pack or settling down here ever again.
But the falcons were now panicked after the arrival of two new wolves in the territory and they feared that I was about to take over their land and throw them out, causing them to uproot their entire cauldron and having to relocate somewhere
new.
"Mikalya? What's wrong?" Abhay's groggy voice came from my right and I instantly turned towards him with a finger held to my lips, telling him to keep quiet.
"Get dressed, we have company." I told Abhay briskly as I started gathering my clothes.
We got dressed quickly and in silence. I was sure Abhay knew something was wrong but he didn't ask questions, something I was grateful for. Once we were ready, I stepped out of the tent first, just to make sure there were no threats in the vicinity just yet.
Abhay came to stand beside me, looking in awe at the falcons that had gathered all around us, trapping us in. I had this feeling that if he didn't sense the danger around us; he would've whipped out his camera for some shots.
Even I had to admit, the falcons looked magnificent. All shades of grays and brows amid the desert with the rising sun as their backdrop. But what probably gave away the fact that there weren't just regular birds but shifters was their size. They were at least twice the size of regular falcons found in the wild and that was just the smallest of the group.
"Mikalya...I think we should-" Abhay began but I cut him off my holding up my hand.
"Where's your Alpha?" I turned to ask the falcons, loud enough so everyone could hear.
Abhay gave me a confused look, as if he wanted to ask if I was nuts for talking to a bunch of oversized birds, but before I could say anything to him, I saw a shadow in my periphery.
I would've reacted harshly to the new threat if their scents hadn't hit me first. It was Ruksaar, Kashmira and her son. And they were all running in my direction, alarmed looks on their faces.
"Jiji!" Ruksaar called out as she came to a stand beside me with Kashmira on her other side.
"What's going on? I received a letter from the falcons telling me you were-oh!" Ruksaar slapped her forehead. "Bloody birds! They tricked us!"
"No, we merely gave you a warning."
We turned to face the new male voice and saw the cast of falcon's part in the middle as the young Alpha stepped forward, dressed in the traditional Gujarati men's clothing. He was the only one in human form, surrounded by his men who guarded him well.
Lost in the world of this story? Make sure you're on Ne5s.org to catch every twist and turn. The next chapter awaits, exclusively on our site. Dive in now!
"I thought we had this conversation before," I told them, trying desperately to keep the wolf out of my voice. Abhay was still beside me and he didn't need to be dragged into a shifter battle.
"First there were two of you but now there are four!" The Alpha snapped. "You can't help it. I didn't want to believe it at first because I've never seen a female Alpha before but I can no longer deny the truth and neither can you. There is no such thing as a lone Alpha! Where ever there is an Alpha, lone wolves will gravitate towards you. It's inevitable. And soon enough you'll want to take over our land to start a pack of your own."
"So that's why I was so drawn to this place." Kashmira whispered, too low for anyone else to hear but me. "I was drawn to you, that's why I came here of all places to seek refuge."
"You need to leave immediately," the falcon Alpha spat out. "Or there will be consequences!"
I grit my teeth, my wolf gnawing at me to let it out to play. How dare a bunch of chickens try to threaten me and my people? How dare they try to surround me unprovoked in my lands?
I took a deep breath to calm myself, but when I opened my eyes, I knew my wolf had risen to the forefront, and now, I spoke in the voice of an Alpha, watching the Falcon Alpha's face pale as he looked into my eyes.
"I had no intention of prolonging my stay here." I spoke calmly, but the sound of my wolf made my voice echo, sounding more menacing than before. "I was going to leave anyway. But you made the mistake of coming here unprovoked, and you brought your entire troop with you. If that isn't an act of challenge...then I don't know what is."
If they had the guts to know that I was an Alpha, then they should've had the brains to realize that once threatened, an Alpha doesn't sit idly by and let others bully them. An Alpha fights for its pack and an Alpha crushes its opponents mercilessly.
I saw the Falcon Alpha falter for a few seconds, but then he squared his chest and stepped forward, his anger palpable as he tried to stare me down.
"Why should a mere woman have the power to decide the fate of others?" he barked. "You may be an Alpha, but you are but a woman!"
"You proud idiot," I spat.
He laughed a deep wicked laugh that gave him some false sense of superiority.
"You know, I was planning on letting you go, but now, I've changed my mind. We will kill you female Alpha, so we can rectify this blasphemy of nature!" He spat arrogantly. "You should've never been born." Suddenly...I was standing in that old, desolate village of Mouri...my parents being burned alive at the stakes...and in front of me is Alpha Rafael...the man I feared and hated.
As my mother's screams die out, her skin melting from her bones...I watch as Rafael turns to face me, his eyes glowing in anger.
"Soon, you've face a fate worse than death, girl!" He spits in my face, grabbing onto my hair roughly. "You're a blasphemy of nature! You should've never been born!"
I blink my eyes, adjusting to the rising sun, and I'm no longer in that place filled with horror, but in the middle of the dunes and the edges of an ancient ruined palace, with hundreds of falcons in my path.
A fierce growl tears through my throat as the memories from the past subside, and my wolf is overcome by anger and resentment.
"Get ready!" I growled, and beside me, I could see Ruksaar nod her head as she takes a step forward.
"Mikalya...what's going on?"
That soft voice suddenly made me realize that we are not alone...and that even though I had tried my best to protect him from all of this...it was already too late.
Turning towards Abhay, I stared into his eyes, an apologetic look clouding my face. "I'm sorry Abhay," was all I had to say to him...because I knew...what was about to happen next, was going to transcend his wildest imaginations. And then I turned back towards the falcons...and let my wolf out to play...