The Alpha’s Teeth
1182 Words
Snow exploded beneath Kairo’s paws as he ran.
The forest blurred into streaks of black pine and white frost, branches clawing at his flanks, cold air slicing into his lungs. His heart hammered so hard it felt like it might c***k his ribs open.
Behind him—
Howls.
Not distant.
Not uncertain.
Close.
The pack had caught his scent.
And Ravik would not be far behind.
Kairo forced himself faster, muscles screaming. He didn’t know where he was going. Only that stopping meant death—or worse.
The mark on his chest still burned beneath his fur, pulsing like a second heartbeat.
Moon… marked.
The werewolf’s voice echoed in his skull.
Impossible.
Kairo’s breath hitched.
Had Ravik seen it? Had the Alpha always known something was wrong with him?
A sharp snarl cut through the night.
Kairo’s ears snapped back.
Too close.
He veered hard, leaping over a fallen log, landing awkwardly in deep snow. Pain shot up his foreleg, but he didn’t slow.
The trees thinned ahead, revealing a narrow gorge where a frozen stream carved through stone.
Kairo skidded to the edge.
The drop was steep.
He hesitated only a heartbeat.
Then he jumped.
Wind roared in his ears. His body slammed into the opposite bank, claws scraping ice. He scrambled up, chest heaving.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then—
A dark shape landed effortlessly beside the gorge.
Ravik.
The Alpha’s eyes gleamed like molten amber beneath the Blood Moon. Snow clung to his fur, but he looked untouched by exhaustion, as if the chase fed him rather than drained him.
Kairo backed away instinctively.
“Running,” Ravik growled, voice low with contempt.
Kairo’s throat tightened. “Alpha—”
“Do not speak.”
Ravik advanced slowly, each step heavy with dominance.
“You disobeyed.”
Kairo swallowed hard. “I smelled humans. I went to warn—”
“To warn?” Ravik’s lip curled. “Or to satisfy your curiosity?”
Kairo’s ears flattened.
Ravik’s gaze sharpened.
“You went alone. At night. Under the Blood Moon.”
The Alpha’s voice dropped into something almost… fearful.
“What did you see?”
Kairo froze.
If he told him about the werewolf…
No.
Ravik would kill him immediately.
“I saw nothing,” Kairo lied, forcing the words out.
For a moment, Ravik simply stared.
Then he lunged.
Kairo barely dodged as Ravik slammed into the snow where he’d stood. The Alpha’s snarl shook the gorge.
“You lie.”
Ravik circled, predator-slow.
“You have always been strange, pup. Too quiet. Too watchful.”
Kairo’s legs trembled, but he held his ground.
“I’m not strange.”
Ravik’s laugh was sharp as bone breaking.
“You are wrong.”
The Alpha’s nose twitched.
His gaze dropped.
To Kairo’s chest.
Kairo’s blood went cold.
Ravik stepped closer, nostrils flaring as if scenting something beneath fur and skin.
Then his eyes widened slightly.
Not with surprise.
With recognition.
“No…”
The word was barely a whisper.
Kairo’s stomach twisted.
Ravik’s voice rose, trembling with fury.
“You carry it.”
Kairo backed away. “Carry what?”
Ravik’s teeth bared.
“The curse.”
The mark beneath Kairo’s fur pulsed again, hotter now, like it could hear Ravik’s hatred.
Ravik snarled, voice cracking like thunder.
“The Moonborn filth.”
Kairo froze completely.
Moonborn.
The same word the werewolf had spoken.
Ravik’s eyes burned.
“You should not exist.”
Kairo’s voice shook. “I don’t understand.”
Ravik lunged again, faster than before.
Kairo twisted away, but Ravik’s claws raked his shoulder, tearing fur and flesh. Pain flared bright.
Kairo cried out, stumbling.
Ravik stood over him, towering.
“You think weakness is why you were cast aside?” Ravik growled.
“No.”
“You were cast aside because you are poison.”
Kairo’s vision blurred with pain.
Ravik lowered his head, breath hot against Kairo’s ear.
“My father told me stories,” he murmured.
“Of wolves who wore human skin.”
Kairo shuddered.
Ravik’s voice turned savage.
“Of monsters who broke packs apart from the inside.”
Kairo forced himself up, trembling.
“I’m not a monster.”
Ravik’s eyes gleamed.
“We will see.”
The Alpha snapped his jaws.
Kairo flinched, expecting death—
But Ravik stopped short.
Instead, he lifted his muzzle and howled.
A command.
A summons.
The sound ripped across the valley.
Moments later, shapes emerged from the trees.
Three warriors.
Large, scarred wolves loyal only to Ravik.
Their eyes fell on Kairo like vultures.
Ravik spoke without looking away.
“Bind him.”
Kairo’s breath hitched.
“Alpha, please—”
Ravik’s gaze was ice.
“Silence.”
The warriors advanced.
Kairo’s muscles screamed at him to run, but his injured leg faltered. He backed toward the gorge, heart pounding.
One warrior lunged.
Kairo dodged, teeth snapping.
Another slammed into his side.
He hit the snow hard.
Claws pinned his shoulders.
Ravik approached slowly, like an executioner.
“You will be taken back,” Ravik said softly.
“The elders will see what you are.”
Kairo struggled, panic surging.
“They will kill me.”
Ravik’s expression was almost satisfied.
“They must.”
The Blood Moon glared overhead, bathing everything in red.
Kairo’s chest burned.
Hotter.
Hotter.
The mark pulsed violently, as if something inside him was waking.
Kairo gasped, body shaking.
The warriors hesitated, ears flattening.
“What—” one growled.
Ravik’s eyes narrowed.
Kairo’s vision flashed—
A memory that wasn’t his.
A howl older than the forest.
A woman’s voice whispering:
Run, my son.
The world does not forgive Moonborn.
Kairo’s breath tore from his lungs.
Something snapped inside him.
The air around him seemed to tremble.
The warriors recoiled as silver light burst through his fur.
Ravik staggered back.
“No…”
The Moon Mark ignited fully.
A crescent of molten silver across Kairo’s chest.
The forest went silent.
Even the wind stopped.
Kairo’s body burned like fire and frost at once.
His bones—
Shifted.
Not into something else…
But into something more.
Power flooded his limbs.
He surged upward with a strength that was not his own.
The warriors flew back as if struck.
Ravik snarled, shock flashing across his face.
Kairo stood trembling, glowing beneath the Blood Moon.
His voice came out rough, broken.
“I didn’t choose this…”
Ravik’s eyes blazed with terror and rage.
“You are the prophecy.”
Kairo froze. “What prophecy?”
Ravik’s lips curled.
“The one that ends us.”
Kairo’s heart thundered.
The Alpha lunged—
But Kairo moved first.
Not attacking.
Running.
He turned and leapt into the darkness of the forest, faster than he had ever been.
Behind him, Ravik’s howl rose again—furious, commanding.
“HUNT HIM!”
The pack’s answering howls shook the valley.
Kairo fled beneath the Blood Moon, blood on his shoulder, silver fire in his chest.
Outcast no longer.
Now…
Prey.
And somewhere deep in Ash Valley, something ancient stirred awake, listening to his footsteps.
- Writer
