shot on my Samsung A20, edited on canva

Ruffle

Thud!
Luna startled me as she dropped a sizeable deer behind me.
"Where is the soup?" She growled in-between pants.
I turned to face her, Luna was an aggressive one. I remember the night she first turned, it took three of our strongest to hold her down, and they didn't walk unscathed. Her eyes burned into me right now, she was gone for the past 4 hours, hunting for deers, and she asked me to make the soup so we could eat. Unfortunately, I didn't..

"Baaaaby, I've missed you. You look feisty...rarrrh"

"What were you doing?" She asked, resigned.

"Well, the pack came looking for you, I told them to follow your scent and you know how Ralph can be, always wanting to show off his toothpick biceps"

She sat beside me, and pulled my chin to make me face her.
"What happened, did you hurt him too much?"

I laughed.
"Not in the least, I was evasive till he was tired, then let him have a mouthful of dust"

"Did they say why they wanted to see me?"
she asked.

"Isn't it obvious? you are to be the next Alpha's mate, and I'm not going to be the next Alpha from exile."

"They'll have to kill me and drag my hide to mate another werewolf, especially Ralph".

"The soup is inside" I said grinning.

"Fool!" she said as she smacked me on the head and hurried inside to bring it out while I roasted and carved the deer.
We had dinner silently and while in bed, her head on my chest, I tucked her hair behind her ear with my free hand and caressed her face

"They'll be back" I said, frustration concealed in my voice.

"I know" she said, and silent, the air hung, till she drifted off to sleep in my arms.

I reminisced on how we got here. I was to be the next Alpha, I made friends with vampires, our sworn enemies and hoped to surprise the pack with an alliance. The Dracon of the vampire clan played on my naivety as a teenager and stole information about our territory. On the day I tried to show my father the new "alliance", the vamps launched a full-scale invasion. It wasn't a full moon and we weren't at full power, we fought well, but they got the Larcen Field. This Field was our everything. We did coronations, got stronger, and performed important rituals under the full moon on this ground. Taking over this place gave the vamps the upper hand, and rightfully, I was stripped of my birthright and exiled.

The Ultimatum

The morning was a harsh one. The echo of howls through the forest was enough to send chills down my spine. That was an Alpha's call...

"Dad..." I muttered as I scrambled out of the bed.
"Luna get up! Jack is coming"

"grrrr" she gave a low growl as she tumbled out of the bed.

My father was the Alpha, a no-nonsense man. He was staring daggers at me, when I greeted him with a big grin, like I didn't know he didn't come for pleasantries. He ignored my greeting and asked for Luna.

"Why am I being disturbed this morning?" Luna coming out from behind asked

"Luna, you have an obligation to fulfill. Come home and be done with this folly" my ever-emotionless dad said.

"It's nice you got to change, and run all this way, good exercise." Luna stated, "but its unfortunate you have to leave now, I'm busy" with that statement, she walked inside the cabin.

"It was nice seeing you too dad" I said, and entered the cabin, i was losing the door when I felt a strong arm on mine.

"come" Jack said.

We walked some distance then he started
"I'm too weak to lead this pack. The vampires know this and will attack sooner rather than later. Ralph needs to take over the pack. We need to do this in two days, the vamps are converging globally and will leave Larcen unguarded. My informants tell me this could be our only chance"

"I'll talk to her" I said, and left him with words unsaid.

The conversation with luna was a violent one. She accused me of not fighting for us. fangs and claws came to the table. After the long fight, she finally crashed into me crying. we both knew that was the right thing to do.

Bloodbath

The ceremony began, all 794 werewolves from the pack were present. I watched from a hilltop, across the plains. I had tears in my eyes as I saw Luna knelt beside a very happy Ralph, face looking like she could rip a mammoth into 2. First, they both exchanged wolf teeth, gotten from their personal hunts. Then the wolf dance began, they fought until one was able to pin the other to the ground. It took one hour for Luna to pin ralph, but she did and the crowd cheered.

They both stood, and after a long speech, my dad said "and now I pronounce you the..."

"Vampires!"
"Ambush!"

dark figures moved swiftly, cutting through us in multitudes. It was a full moon, on the larcen Field, no way we went down without a fight. My dad turned, alongside Luna, and heart after heart there tore through the ribcages of the vamps. the battle lingered and we were losing. I turned and scanned the area for the dracon. I found him and went after him. Derek. The crowd separated as if to watch us fight.

"Little fool" he said with a smirk. "still here? last I heard u were hunting deers"

"Yeah, just came in to take out the trash".

We fought, he threw quick jabs at me and I lost focus. He taunted me, encircling me, then came with his foot to the side of my face. I dodged the assault barely, and he landed on his foot hard, losing his balance. I rushed him and slashed at his chest. blow after blow on his face and as I moved to dig in, I felt a sting on my neck. A vampire was at his aid, about to drain me from the carotid. his fangs weren't fully sunk in and i felt his weight lift and a loud thud on the ground. I knocked Derek cold and put a stake in his heart, this left him paralysed and i stood up to see luna standing over the corpse of the vampire who wanted to play dirty.

vampires started scampering away, seeing their dracon taken prisoner.
"Grrrrraaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuu" I howled, absorbing the intensity of power surge from the full moon

Luna spun me around, and kissed me. I could taste blood on her lips, and I kissed harder. groans of approval came from tired and injured werewolves on the floor.

"Now that's an alpha's howl" my dad said, in pains, his face bleeding. He knelt and howled.

all other wolves, including Ralph, followed him. I pulled Luna in, and reminded her lips who the Alpha is.