The Outsider [Ryker]

[Deleted]

The morning had started as innocuously as any other normal day. With an empty belly and no companions to assist in a hunt, Athena had come to the river to fish along the shores. The fish there were large, easily enough to sate her hunger, and she began her day in neutral, unclaimed lands. She had not planned to trespass that day. The she-wolf was experienced in the ways of the world and the wolf, and the loner adeptly avoided pack territories on normal days. This day, however, was not a normal one for Athena. In the sunlight, her soft ash-gray coat appeared silver, shining and well kempt – save for the crimson trails left by her wounds. A peaceful day spent on the shores of the Aughgar River had turned into a battle for her life. Two animals now stood facing each other, and the lupine contender was not fairing so well.

An advantageous and hungry brute had caught the scent of her fresh kill only minutes before the ruckus began, but it was not one of her own kind. The fae froze when she heard it coming. The leaves crunched beneath the heavy footfall of something massive, and the slow, lumbering pace could only mean one thing. The ferocious behemoth was looking for a free meal, and the moment he caught sight of the she-wolf and her prize, his burly pace accelerated. Athena’s eyes darted between the river and the fast approaching bear. Stepping into the water meant certain death. The waters of the Aughgar were swift and merciless, capable of dragging nearly any creature to a watery grave. She had a better chance of outrunning the bear, she knew, and as the bear came charging, the pale gray female ran in the opposite direction.

The bear would not be easily deterred, though. She had peered over her shoulder long enough to see that his hunger outweighed the energy he would expend to catch the wolf. The beast’s fur was a dark, muddy brown shade, and it was a monster – clearly male from its enormous size, fully matured, with maniacal rage flashing in his eyes. Athena dropped the fish hastily. It was not worth the fight. Unfortunately, the bear had other plans. It was no longer the free fish that he was interested in. Athena was not an animal willing to fight for the sake of amusement. The bear seemed to feel differently, a twisted grin crossing his grizzled features.

The hulking bear carried on at an impossible pace, quicker than anything as large as he should be able to move, but Athena had dealt with bears before. She couldn’t climb a tree like one of the cats who roamed the island, and she had very little chance of surviving a fight with something so big. She could only run, heedlessly unaware of where she was heading. She had bigger problems on her paws than the social pecking order of packs and claimed territories. Following the river’s path, Athena couldn’t stop long enough to look back, but she could hear the bear in hot pursuit, the puffs of breath and the snarl that sounded eerily like laughter in the wolf’s ears.

She was in a panic, legs pumping as fast as she could manage, maneuvering around the river rocks and plants that littered the shoreline, but it wasn’t enough to leave the bear in her dust. His gait was wide, his mind eager for violence, and he was soon filling in the safe gape between hunter and hunted. Outrunning the bear was no longer an option. There would be no reasoning with an animal like this one. Athena had to fight.

She knew that she was doomed the second she turned to face the bear, her lips curled back to expose her sharpened canines. The bear was upon the wolf within seconds, and despite Athena’s attempt to lurch away from the swipe, ebony talons ripped into the flesh along her shoulder. Overhead, lazy white clouds traveled peacefully through a bright azure sky – a sharp contrast from the violence taking place beside the river, and Athena was not there to admire the scenery.

The sound of the fight was chaotic. The bear’s roars echoed across the landscape, while Athena growled like a rabid beast, fighting through the pain. She mustered her strength and in a flash of silver, the fae lunged for the bear’s throat, her strong jaws clasping for his jugular. The surprised sound of the bear was defeaning, but Athena grasped as tightly as she could manage in a desperate attempt to strangle to bear. She was certain she had a hold of his windpipe, but it was not enough to stop his rampage. Claws like scythes ripped into the tender flesh of her right foreleg, cutting deeply into the tissue.

Athena could not choke down her agonized cry, which parted her jaws and released her grip on the bear. This was the end, she was certain. No longer capable of running or defending herself, she turned to look at the bear. He was bleeding heavily from his throat, she noted with feeble satisfaction as she awaited the final blow.

words: 862
tag: ryker
ooc: another beautiful table by Zenith <3

[Ryker]

Ryker had woken up early that morning and trudged his ass out to Kamari. After his "incident" with that white brute, Ryker couldn't be too careful about scanning the borders. He couldn't risk anyone coming in to his territory and harming his family. Although, he would need to start accepting other wolves in to the pack otherwise they'd all be related and God only knows how bad that would be. Ryker wasn't interested in pups at the moment. He was too busy trying to figure out how to lead this band of misfits and family members they called a pack. However, he wouldn't mind a release from his sexual frustration.

In the distance, he saw a flash of either white or silver and then a large lumbering bear chasing after it. Bears were normally relatively peaceful unless provoked but Ryker didn't give himself enough time to think. In a flash, his legs were pumping beneath him. Regardless of who this wolf was, he couldn't have this behemoth of a bear living in his territory if it was aggressive towards wolves. His smooth, lean muscles rippled under his pitch black fur as his large frame traveled across the prairie at a shockingly fast pace for a wolf his size.

Ryker had less than a split second to assess the situation before attacking. He could see the other wolf was badly injured and bleeding from their side. Ryker hadn't stopped running until his black frame collided with the bear's brown hide. His massive weight wasn't enough to completely make the bear topple over but it was enough to catch it off surprise long enough for the other wolf to escape, should they decide to do so. Ryker was an experienced fighter when it came to wolves but bears were another story. He hadn't even seen many of them in his lifetime but he knew they had blood and could die from blood-loss. Ryker sunk his teeth into the bear's shoulder and the roar that came out of the beast's mouth was deafening. Ryker held on to the bear's hide, knowing that should he fall, he'd be a dead wolf. It was stupid to fight a large animal like this from the ground. He'd have to take it down while on top of it. The bear weighed about 300 pounds which was 130 pounds bigger than Ryker. Ryker gripped the bear's neck with his teeth so he could get a better angle at his jugular. The black male's body was now laying on the top of the brown beast's back. Ryker snaked his head around the massive head of the bear to get a clean shot at the bear's jugular. Ryker bit down hard on the beast, hoping it would bleed out soon.

[Deleted]

Her burning eyes were fixed on the bear as he lumbered closer. She would not die with her eyes closed like a coward. The blood from the animal’s gaping wound dripped a steady scarlet trail in his wake, the pain blinding any sense remaining within the enormous beast’s mind. His maw opened, saliva dripping from his large teeth like a starving dog, and blood, her blood, still moist on his claws. She would face her own ending with courage. The fact that no one would notice, much less care about her sudden departure, didn’t occur to Athena as she faced the snarling brute. He was the first thing she had encountered that she couldn’t escape.

The final moment was interrupted by a swift movement when a flash of onyx and gold intercepting the bear’s path. Stunned, the she-wolf struggled against her own pain to focus her eyes on the ensuing battle. She could no longer run away, though she tried to move away from the fray, using her hind legs to scoot pathetically out of harm’s way. The right side of her body felt as if it was rebelling against the female; the deep wound rendered her front leg useless, and the gory sight of her own injury made her head spin and the bile rise in her throat. She could handle the wounds of others. This was different.

Flashes of the chaos materialized in her consciousness in a muddled mass of dark brown and black, but her mind and her body were in shock – both from the physical torment and from the female’s utter confusion. It was against all instinct to rush to the aid of a perfect stranger, to put your own hide on the line for someone unknown. Fighting a bear, even one that was slightly injured, was akin to suicide or sheer lunacy. Whoever the stranger was, savior or maniac, he seemed to have the upper paw in the brawl. Maybe the spirits were on her side, after all. In stunned silence, she stared as the powerful dark wolf overpowered the bear, who seemed as bewildered as Athena was as she watched the bloody fray.

When the end was finally near, the bear’s life ebbing away beneath the wolf, the fae’s attention turned back to her forearm and the gash left by the dying bear. Her empty stomach churned. The thought that Athena had just fled straight into claimed lands had not yet entered her tenuous consciousness. The combination of physical exertion and blinding pain threatened, and between heavy blinks, she could still make out the black wolf who had saved her. All she could smell was the thick stench of mingling blood. ”Why...? Who are you?“

words: 451
tag: Ryker

[Ryker]

The black and gold alpha could feel the life draining from his bear opponent. It was drifting in and out of consciousness and it's steps were wobbly. It's breathing varied from very heavy to very shallow. Sarin had taught the male well. He owed much of what he knew about fighting and beating larger opponents from her. No matter how large the animal was, it still needed to breathe and have blood in it's system. Ryker was working on cutting off both of those necessities by having his razor sharp teeth in an iron lock around the bear's throat and major artery. The bear fell to it's knees and then finally to the ground and gave it's last breath. It's body went limp and his eyes went blank. Ryker released his jaws and looked down at his slain opponent.

Why had he just done that? He had just risked his life for no reason. He could have left Descai without an alpha, leaderless. Of course, Vorilye and Atriell probably would have stepped up and took over but his father was aging and couldn't keep up with the fast paced life style of an alpha anymore. He had made a quick second decision and that decision could have led to his death. That bear could have killed him in seconds if Ryker hadn't been careful and remembered his training. Adrenaline was pumping through his system and his breathing was heavy. Strangely enough, he felt much better than he had in a while. The thrill of the kill had lifted Ryker's spirits. Endorphins had released in his brain, giving him a sense of pleasure and happiness. Perhaps the reason why he risked himself was because he had been feeling stressed and confused and he just needed a release.

Then, he remembered the white wolf the bear was chasing. For a split moment he thought it was Angel, that stupid femme would aggravate a bear. He looked over at the wolf who's life he'd just saved. Her smell was distorted by the smell of blood but all other signs pointed to the white wolf being female. His emerald green eyes scanned her and it was obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain that she was badly injured. She needed a Shaman but unfortunately,he hadn't seen Sarin around in a while. Her eyes were... shocking. Almost disturbing. He had never seen a wolf with such orange eyes. He couldn't stop looking at them. They were so different. However, he wasn't looking at her in an affectionate manner, it was more of a curious manner. Sort of how people would looked at the bearded lady at a circus. She appeared as so she was loosing consciousness, perhaps slipping in to her own demise, when she asked him who he was. "I am the alpha of this pack," he stated without giving a name. "You're badly injured, unfortunately our Shaman hasn't been seen in some time. You've also lost a lot of blood, you're probably going to die unless you have some medicinal knowledge that could help you." Ryker was blunt and distant. There was no point in formalities. This wolfess was going to die dispite her efforts. However, she would die with honor. Not many wolves would have survived that long against a bear. For that, he secretly commended her. He thought about offering the dens here in Kamari for her to die in if she'd rather be out of this field but he doubted that she would be able to walk. Even if she could, it was likely she'd die on the way anyway. There was nothing he could do.

What did he care? He didn't know this wolf. Perhaps he had given her false hope in saving her. Perhaps it would have been kinder to let her die quickly at the paws of the bear instead of slowly from blood loss. In the end though, it wasn't his problem. He had killed a bear for his pack to eat.

[Deleted]

Her savior had subdued the massive bear, and he now looked down upon Athena with cold green eyes. The frantic panic was momentarily halted as an old, creeping memory surfaced – her mother had never cared for Athena, and she could see the same in this wolf who offered only his title. His words stunned the injured female, but Athena had known cruelty before, and her surprise disappeared as quickly as it had made itself apparent on her visage. The alpha seemed to be a troubled soul, she could sense as much despite her ever-weakening state.

The fae had saved several lives during her travels, healing wounds and aiding the sick. Sometimes all she could do was put those poor souls out of their misery. It would be just as easy for the dark alpha to end her life now as it would be to walk away. She could only save herself, but she could not possibly do so alone. The lack of empathy, the distant look in the male’s eyes was difficult to miss, even for one without Athena’s intuition. ”No – No, I can do it,” she spoke haltingly, fearful to waste any more of her draining strength. The situation was dire – undoubtedly, the alpha wolf could see it for himself, but he had no reason to care whether the outsider lived to see another sunrise.

Her strange eyes darted about the area with mounting desperation. ”All I need – I only need...” Her cognitive abilities were waning fast, and she blinked hard once again to keep herself awake. ”I can heal this – I can heal you –“ she said plaintively. ”I have the knowledge, I can... I can help your pack in return, but please...”

If he walked away now, she was finished. But Athena had come too far, suffered enough to give up. The pain was so intense, she whimpered unconsciously, her bleary eyes the color of the setting sun fixed on his emerald orbs. He seemed so calm. The fae’s silver form trembled involuntarily. ”Moss to stop bleeding. And calendula – it’s a plant with large flowers, same color as my eyes, see?” Either he helped or he walked away. The feeling of vulnerability had always made Athena uncomfortable, but if the alpha had no will to spare the stranger’s life, she already knew – it was all over.

words: 389
tag: Ryker
ooc: sent ya a pm!