LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 51: Apex > Alpha
Mason took Rebecca straight to his house. He crashed through the door with the now sleeping or unconscious girl, then carried her to the second bedroom.
Haley was awake and at his side before he reached the bed. Her eyes were puffy with sleep, and she wore only her usual white t-shirt and panties.
“I’ll get some cold cloths. And I think we have something for the cuts.”
Mason smiled gratefully as she went.
He saw now there was a bloody smudge on Becky’s thigh, not sure if it was hers or not. With some hesitation he decided he didn’t have much choice but to get the girls mostly-destroyed pants off and see if and how bad things were.
He tried and failed to pull down her wet jeans, eventually summoning his Claw and cutting the damn things before stripping them away. He also tried and failed not to look at the thin, blue panties now more like a pane of glass from the river’s wetness, and the tiny, trimmed sex underneath.
Fortunately he’d forced his eyes to the jagged cut on Becky’s thigh as Haley came back with a variety of supplies.
Unlike Mason, she didn’t even hesitate. She just grabbed the girl’s blouse and tore it off.
“Oh my God,” she inhaled. “She’s gorgeous. I love her tits so much. And those cute little nipples.”
Mason practically choked as he looked at his ‘assistant’ and found himself temporarily speechless.
“What?” Haley raised a plucked blonde eyebrow then grinned. “I’m French.”
Mason shook his head then took the bottle of rubbing alcohol. “We’re surprisingly well equipped for being in the post-apocalypse,” he said, hoping the girl didn’t wake up as he cleaned her many cuts.
“It all comes from, eh, how do you say, some central storage,” Haley shrugged. “It has food, supplies. Apparently it even restocks, like magic, just slowly.”
“You know you can speak in French,” Mason said as he splashed Becky’s wounds with the alcohol. “Our lord roboGod translates everything you say.”
“Yes,” Haley whispered as she wrapped her arms around Mason’s back and leaned down to his ear. “But then you wouldn’t hear my sexy accent. Anyway French is for beautiful things. Your ugly English is better for cleaning up blood and guts.”
Mason didn’t bother to fight the smile. It was true, he loved her accent. Especially when she was calling his name with his cock buried all the way…
Focus, Mason. He blinked and tried not to think about fucking either of the beautiful women he was currently touching. Especially since one of them was unconscious.
With Haley’s ‘help’ he soon had Becky cleaned and bandaged. He was about to leave the wet panties before Haley gave him that same raised brow and he rolled his eyes and pulled them off, quickly replacing them with a pair of Haley’s.
“I could have done that,” she said after, a devious grin on her face as Mason fought the blush.
“Just help me with the damn shirt,” he said, which she did after a little chuckle. Before long they had the girl tucked under a blanket and hopefully sleeping until morning. Mason lingered a moment to check for fever, but found none. He wasn’t sure what else to do, so he brushed a few loose strands of hair from her face, then walked out and closed the door.
Haley grinned as she leaned against the back of their couch, legs together and swaying slightly.
“Sorry I woke you. But I couldn’t have found anything without your help,” he said, walking to wrap her in his arms. “Why do you look like you got away with something?”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the lips, her lids drooping slightly. “You can wake me in the night whenever you wish, for whatever reason.”
He smiled at that and deepened the kiss, tempted to carry her to the bedroom right there. But his mind was still on Becky and her people, and then in the woods with that damn pack of wolves.
“Hold that thought. I haven’t actually dealt with those wolves. Watch the girl for me. Her name’s Rebecca.”
Haley nodded with a little sigh as she fussed with Mason’s shirt. “I will watch her. She’s very beautiful.”
Mason felt his brow raise at her tone. “Is that a note of jealousy I hear?”
Haley laughed as if he’d fallen into some kind of trap. He probably had.
“I love what a simple English man you are. And I love, love how you fuck me,” she leaned forward and pressed her body against him, whispering in his ear. “But if that sexy young thing can help me get a full night’s sleep, I’ll teach her to suck your cock myself.”
Mason coughed and felt his dick twitch in his pants, forcing himself to remember the wolves. “Let’s, uh, start with keeping her alive. And getting her some breakfast. Shall we?”
“As you wish, master,” Haley nibbled his ear, and his treacherous hands were suddenly digging into her thick, firm ass.
“Bad girl,” he said. “Very bad girl. I have things to do.”
“Mmhmm. More girls to carry to our bed?”
Mason slapped Haley’s ass so hard she yelped, then untangled himself. “Tell Blake the girl’s here and alright. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Haley pouted for a moment, then converted back to the contractually obligated servant she was, instantly in assistant mode. Mason turned and jogged towards the gate.
* * *
It took less than an hour to find the wolves. They’d roamed after the setback at the river, a huge pack of beasts moving together around the walls of Nassau before giving up and moving North. Their intelligence continued to impress him, in fact it almost frightened him.
They moved in a line to help conceal their numbers just like people might, hardly disturbing the forest as they traveled. But with his increasingly attuned and almost supernatural senses, Mason could still follow them.
Practically everything had a detectable scent to him now, including the wolves. In fact he suspected with time and practice he would be able to discern considerably more of the world around him, but for now he mostly just didn’t understand what he was detecting. Not so with the wolves. And no matter how wisely they might move, or how little of the terrain they disturbed, he could still always follow a fresh trail.
And he wasn’t going to let creatures with a taste for people move freely in his woods, or near Blake’s town. These wolves, like any of the monsters in this ‘New World’, would learn the price of attacking men.
He increased his speed to a sprint, flying through the woods without a thought for caution. The scent grew stronger and stronger, and he caught the pack by a small creek. Like most animals, once you knew where they slept or drank, it was only a matter of time before they were vulnerable. The creatures lounged around the water, drinking and cooling themselves from a long night of hunting. Mason set three traps with his Trapmaking power before he moved closer, watching as the world lit with deadly possibilities. He approached from upwind, then watched until he spotted the larger wolves that might be the alpha or its male kin.
He felt strange as he watched them. Like somehow he understood their hierarchy and behavior in a way that didn’t seem possible. He watched a young wolf approach its elder, trying to initiate play. The elder growled and the youth slunk away with a whine, and somehow Blake knew this youth was the child of a dead mate, out of the alpha’s favor. He saw the females chittering and cleaning each other, working out who would drink first, whose children would follow. He shook his head at the strange feeling of knowledge, assuming it had something to do with his classes and nature affinity. But now that he saw them, he lost whatever bloodlust he’d had to kill. They were hungry animals, struggling to find their place in a new world just like humans. The people on the river were nothing to them but a possible meal.
Mason stepped out from the trees, into the path of the wind, and waited. It didn’t take long.
Half the pack raised their noses in the air and growled. Mason summoned Predator’s Claw and crouched down, looking until he found the alpha’s eyes.
The big wolf and its sons and brothers came first. They sniffed and growled, heads low as they circled, waiting on their leader to decide. The alpha was dark colored like all the others, huge and powerful, the fur on his face patchy from a deep bite scar on his cheek. Mason met his eyes, and stared.
[Apex predator activated.]
Mason was surprised as his enhanced affinity power appeared in his vision. Usually it helped him resist spells or traps, and also affected enemies to remove similar benefits if they were close. But he’d never seen it useful outside of some kind of physical threat.
All the fight drained from the alpha’s eyes. His lips covered his teeth, and in an instant the whole pack stood tall on their haunches and quieted, their tails between their legs.
Interesting, Mason thought, unsummoning his sword as he extended a hand.
The alpha came forward and sniffed. It nuzzled it, with one lick to show Mason he was welcome, but not a superior, or else it would have lain down to show submission. Mason pet the dangerous creature and smiled. He felt the nymph charm’s heat at his neck and took it with his hand. As he did, his vision blurred.
Strange noises echoed all around him, half animal sound and half words. He shook his head and tried to focus on the words, soon realizing it was the wolves. It was as if suddenly they had voices, and he could hear, or maybe feel them in his mind. He felt mostly curiosity—the many concerns and questions about their children or the next meal. He felt their fear of the South and the predators there—fear of the men from the square mountain.
Keep going North. Mason tried to ‘speak’, then felt instruction pulse from his body like a wave of sound, or maybe scent. Stay far away from hairless apes like me.
The alpha met his gaze as if enthralled, and somehow Mason knew he understood.
[Hidden druid class feature discovered. Power gained: Speak with Nature. Mana based power.]
Mason smiled and released the nymph charm, which he no longer felt he needed. His meager mana pool had diminished nearly by a quarter from the single exchange, but for now he didn’t mind.
He could talk to bloody animals!
And it seemed with Apex Predator, he could somehow make them understand he was not to be trifled with—that he was something outside the normal order of things, or possibly at the top. He thought about the description of his druid class when he’d first taken it—his status as ally, mentor, and guide.
That’s how it felt, he decided—that a part of him wasn’t prey or predator but something else entirely. As a ranger, maybe, his role was inside the natural order of things, just as the power described—the apex predator. But a druid was something else. And he was both.
These wolves weren’t his enemy. They were his charge, his responsibility, just like the people of Nassau. He wasn’t here to kill them. He was here to protect them.
He met the alpha’s patient eyes again, then resummoned his power.
I will take the outcast.
Again he felt the understanding, a returned feeling of relief, and gratitude. The alpha growled, and the youth Mason had watched before jogged forward and lowered his head at his father’s side before licking his mane.
The alpha at first seemed it would reject the gesture, but soon licked the youth’s ears before turning away. The young wolf instantly raised its head, scrambling to Mason’s side with newfound confidence before resting its head on its paws. It seemed that was that.
Mason stroked the animal’s fur and scratched its ears until it closed its eyes in pleasure. It had a grey stripe on its right flank, unlike its sire, and Mason decided to call it ‘Streak.’ He only had enough mana for two more commands, but expected he didn’t need them for anything important.
Goodbye, he said to the alpha and his pack. Then to his new companion: Hunt nothing, and follow me.
Then he walked back towards Nassau. With a last lingering look towards its family, the young wolf turned from his pack, and followed Mason into the trees.
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