BOUNTIFUL HARVEST

I closed my eyes and felt the soft water as it cleansed my entire being, but stopped when I felt it.

Someone is watching me.

Again.

You know that feeling when you can feel it in your bones when someone is staring at us?

That is exactly the same feeling. With my wolf senses, I could easily tell there was someone out there. I went into this river, which is just near our house, and chose this as my usual hangout place. It is nearing nighttime, and I'll soon leave this. I always went here to calm my nerves down but these following days, those stares I could feel from nowhere are irking me.

This is the day I will confront that person, whoever he is.

"Show yourself," I said bravely. "I can feel you staring at me. I know you're there."

Silence fell as the wind brushed past.

Am I talking to a ghost? What if there really wasn't one?

My werewolf senses tell me that there are two of them...

Just then, I stood up and grabbed the towel to cover my body. I looked at the bushes but there was no one.

Sighing, I put on my clothes and grabbed my shoes when I stepped into the muddy water, slipping and almost falling when a pair of strong hands caught me.

"Got ya."

I turned around and chuckled as I saw Mayhem's lopsided grin as he looked down at me.

"You really need to be careful, Arya." he said and sniffed his nose in the air, "Good thing I came."

"Or what? I'll get drowned or get face first in the mud?" I tried to joke.

He just rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, but where's my thank you? I saved you though."

I scoffed at him, "Yeah, yeah. Thank you for saving me from almost falling from the mud."

He then ignored my remark and escorted me back to our site. where we're temporarily staying for the week. Since we're night walker rogues, we're nomads. We jump into place and place and outside of any alpha's borders.

"How's your hunting, by the way?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Mayhem turned to me and said, "Oh, good. You'll never believe what we caught. We caught a huge one!"

I looked at him disbelievingly because he's mayhem, he's never serious. Plus, we all know the rogue's fate... We don't have a chance against nature.

Watch a crow turn white and you'll see that we'll never get to see some amazing hunting.

When we neared our site, everyone greeted Mayhem, as he's popular, being the second strongest, and soon to be the Rogue leader. Well, my father's the strongest and current Rogue leader.

"Thank you, Mayhem! With you, we'll never starve to death!"

They exclaimed happily as they chugged down some meat.

I blinked at the enormous amount of harvest they had, and Mayhem was smirking at me, happy at my reaction.

"See? Can't you just trust me a little?"

I stuck my tongue out at him, "Alright, I believe you. How did you even get this? "

Mayhem winked, "That's a secret. Only the strong ones know."

I gritted my teeth, "Hah, funny."

"Heyyy there, future leader!" greeted Livia, my best friend. She's an omega with pink-colored hair and red lips. That's her signature style.

"Hmm...all these amazing harvests, why not delay the wedding for you too?" Her eyebrows were wiggling playfully.

My cheeks turned red and I widened my eyes at her, "Wha-Livia!" She knows my weakness and teases me all the time.

Mayhem seems to love this, as he laughs, glancing at me.

I mean, I know Mayhem's love for me. But I'm more focused on getting the leader title from my father and being finally acknowledged by my powers. The problem is, I was just an omega before we built this rogue pack.

Although we clearly don't believe in hierarchies, it still reflects in our powers... I can't deny that Mayhem might have become an alpha already if we're on a normal pack.

"I'm just..waiting for the right time...." He trailed off and I knew exactly what he was referring to. It's blood moon night. And it will appear later.

Of course, the blood moon. The night where we'll wait to see who our mate is.

Mayhem was clearly gazing to me, and I dared to meet his eyes. Our eye contact stopped as I felt my father's hands.

"Oh, here's our future leader! What are you talking about with my daughter?"

Mayhem chuckled, "Good Evening, Leader."

My father turned to me and clasped his hand on my face, "My dear daughter, how are you?"

I rolled my eyes and pushed his hand away, "Father, enough of that drink, it makes you silly."

"What? I'm just celebrating. And don't you forget, we don't get drunk."

"Yeah, but you get silly when you drink that human drink.”

"Oh, but come to the hall. We've prepared a mini banquet." He invited, dragging me to the makeshift tent we made, and inside, there were long tables and all the members huddled in as they drank.

Some little pups gave us drinks and I just glanced at Mayhem to give him a "what is happening" signal look, but he just shrugged and replied, "Just enjoy the show."

"Cheers everyone!" My father raised his drink" For more bountiful harvests!"

"For more bountiful harvests," his members repeated.

Well, with Mayhem leading the hunt together with our hunters, the had found enough food for us for the first time in the year, after starving for months.

In a world where we're hidden, we have to stay concrete, and our food is always in short supply. Ever since Alpha Rufus from Shadow pack banished us from his pack, we fend off for ourselves, troubling no one and trusting only ourselves from now on.

"Thank you, leader!" One of the she-wolf pups came to give a bow to my father. My father is the rogue leader. A respectable man. He had a clear vision and hated hierarchy.

Living out here is rough, but we managed to make ends meet, even almost starving to death. I smiled at my father beside me, "I hope our whole year will be blessed like this." I said, not wanting us to starve anymore. I don't want to witness children asking for food, pregnant women losing their children, and men running into madness just because we lack the resources.

I felt my father ruffling my hair, "It will be like this. Mark my words, Arya."

I chuckled, taking a sip from the glass of wine. I felt like crying from the sweetness of it, wanting to experience this every day, and not just once a year if lucky.

We all paused as we waited for the blood moon. Mayhem guided me to the front for a clearer view.

Mayhem was holding my hand,

He was breathing deeply, and I could sense he was nervous a bit. "It's finally time.."

As soon as the blood moon appeared, Mayhem released a shaky breath.

"Did you feel that?"

I blinked at his question, "Felt what?"

"You're my mate!" he exclaimed happily, hugging me, and I was confused, not feeling anything. Is there something wrong with me?

"Mayhem-"

"I want to be with you-"

My moment with Mayhem was cut off as soon as my father's aid came back with a panicked voice, "They found us!"

We all stopped in motion, and I glanced at Mayhem, who instantly understood what was happening.

"Mayhem-"

Mayhem's hand instantly held mine, "Let's not panic." He then guided me to my father's aid and asked, "How many are there? How far?"

Father's aid didn't have the time to answer as he threw up blood and fell to the ground. I watched in horror as we shrieked, all the men surrounded the women and children, and I looked at everyone to make sure they are fine.

Damn. They are getting us now.

"Go to your father, I'll protect the borders." Mayhem instructed as he shifted to his gray wolf. He then disappeared with the other pack fighters.

The one thing I feared the most is suddenly happening on this lovely night. Time for battle. Goodness, there's not even a rest day for us.