The Fallen Prince and his Human Mate

Willow

The air was so crisp at our campsite; however, I was warmed by its sizzling crackle. We were deep in the forest of a national park at the Iawee border, in the nowhere land that was Northern Missoura. I’d come on the stupid trip with my friends because they literally begged me to, and all they've done since we got here was Make out. I looked around at the scenery, clearing my throat to let them know that I was obviously not into being front row seats for my two best friends’ preemptive honeymoon.

I felt almost awkward since I was the third wheel. Amanda and Drew Begged me to come, claiming that this would be a ‘friend’s night out’, but all they’d done in front of the fire was have their hands all over each other. I didn't want to interrupt them, as the sky was very romantic tonight. The moon was full, and I could hear the coyotes in the distance happily playing in the moonlight.

It had been like this all summer, especially since Drew had proposed to Amanda not too long ago. I was still the only single friend in our group. It was not that I didn't try to at least be agreeable during dates, it was more that I never felt any connection with anyone that I'd ever met. No matter how gracious, rich, or even smooth the potential partner was, I'd never held a real interest in going farther than a first or second date.

I vowed to myself silently…. That if I Did find some mystery man like that… I wouldn’t hesitate to spend my life with him…. I didn’t want much… I was tired of the creeping loneliness…. That was never a problem until a few years ago… Since even as a kid growing up, I was naturally standoffish and aloof… But Then I didn’t get lonely….. Once it started, I tried ‘getting out of my shell’, like Drew would encourage.

…. I really wish I had that connection… I swear I wouldn’t pass it up if I found it…. I felt lonely watching them be so happy…

We'd have dinner, have the same interests, and even share a lot of the same favorite shows and foods. This would go on for maybe two, sometimes three months, and my relationships would sizzle out. I never felt like my date was the ‘right person. I never thought it appropriate to go any farther than one or two more dates, possibly even just talking.

Lord knows I really did try…. Why does it have to be so hard?

I found myself being a little jealous of the fact that we've been friends since grade school, yet regardless of that fact, two years ago they started seeing each other behind my back. How come they didn’t tell me till nearly the last minute that they’ve been engaged for six months? It made me almost question how close we really were. I've known Amanda since we were four. Her parents are my next door neighbors. They have been our entire lives, and Drew’s lived down the street since we were seven.

Yet, even with all that history, they still thought I would react negatively. They should have known that I was the loner of the group anyway. I honestly don't see how they still kept me a friend since in high school, they were the jocks. Amanda was head of the cheerleading squad, and Drew had a scholarship when we went to the University of Bison City in Jentucky. We all went there…. And all moved to Vermount together….

We all stayed friends, with me and Amanda being teachers at the same private school, St. Bartholomew’s, one of The most coveted spots in the state, and Drew, who worked in medical computer programing. It was actually him who organized this whole thing on a whim.

Of the three, I was the only one who was a freckled redhead who wore glasses, never socialized unless you made me, and this trip would have never happened had I not found this place since I was the designated driver.

The smell of their beers damn near burned my nose. They went shot after shot with vodka too until they were sloppily drunk, and I could feel as if the coyotes were getting closer. I swear I could almost hear laughing. However, I’d driven the truck in four-wheel drive for almost an hour, and we were a little ways off of even the dirt road that we encountered.

If there was anyone out here, it would likely be the property owner, but I don't remember seeing any ‘do not enter’ signs… As far as I knew, we should still be in the park….

“Do you guys hear that?” I asked as Amanda's blonde hair faintly reflected on the campfires light. She was actually a bleached blond, but people didn't know that. Her real hair color was actually black.

“You worry too much. It's probably just crickets.” Said Andrew reassuring me…. As stupid as it sounded, he was probably right on it being some random small animal.

We may have been women, but I felt safe enough around Andrew. Drew was fairly tall, being 6’3, and stocky being a former college football player. We've gotten a little older, however, not so old that he couldn't defend us if need be.

“Don't forget we brought my father's gun." Said Amanda, slurring her words. To be honest, even if we did have it, the only one sober enough who could likely use it and aim would be me, however I didn't know anything about firearms.

I don't even know why they brought it, especially since we were in a National Park. “If it's a bear or something, would it be illegal if we shot it?” I asked honestly.

They both were too drunk to really think about my question, however, Drew did respond at least.

“Not if we're defending ourselves.” He slurred. “Maybe turn it in, and in the morning I can drive us to the House of Pancakes. It'll be like old times, and when we get home, we can all share a funny story about how we saw Bigfoot to Uncle Joseph.” He snickered.

“Now that's just mean,” I said shaking my finger at him. “You know that your uncle will believe anything about cryptids. He's still looking for that $1,000,000 bounty on the King of the Forest.” I said rolling my eyes, reminiscing about the time that he claimed he literally saw a werewolf.

As if they were real. I almost laughed.

They eventually went back to kissing, however I felt like we were being watched. The passive sensation was nothing like I'd ever felt before either. It made the back of my neck sweat… There had been instances where I was working, goofing off at work, then being caught by my boss during my break. Like the time I was on WeTube instead of making the lesson plan during my planning period… but this was nothing like that. It felt almost as if I were a rabbit being watched by a fox.

It felt like I could almost visually image a predator circling us, licking its chops. It was hard to ignore when I also noticed that the ambient noises of the forest quieted. It was almost as if the stage was set for something terrible to happen and I would be its witness.

“Humans.” I heard behind me.

The men around us were Naked… At least five of them surrounded us, with the tallest of the group leaning lazily on the hood of the car…. So no gun.

“You trespass.” Said the tallest of them.

All of them were muscular, however with him it seemed that he was definitely the strongest. He had his greyish brown hair in a buzzcut…. All of them were massive… Now that I thought of it, all of the men that were around us looked as if they were ex military, or some sort of militia group.

They stood nearly at attention, but the ‘leader’ leaned on the truck, looking at us as if we were meat.

“Hey, we didn't mean any trouble. We'll be out of your hair.” Said Andrew standing up, though so drunk that he staggered a bit.

He still stood in front of us, shielding us as best as he could, even though we were completely surrounded.

They laughed.

They laughed as if he'd said some inside joke that we didn't know. It made me uncomfortable, understanding that us ‘trespassing private property’ meant that they would do something nefarious to us in our eyes.

Amanda and Drew were now sobered up. I hadn't had any alcohol and even I was sobered up too. And in the light of the moon, and the overcast of the campfire, I swear I saw fangs. Their leader took confrontational steps to Andrew, and put his large, seemingly clawed hand on the top of his head.

“Unfortunately, by you being here, by you breaking the law, you are now property of OpalMoon. Our Alpha is out, our Beta is busy, and our Gamma is off in training. Hell, even our Warrior Commander is in another one of Alpha’s packs. Which means that something they would usually handle, I have to handle, not that I mind.” He pointed to himself with his thumb…His cackle made the hair on my neck stand… He Definitely had claws….

Maybe Drew’s uncle was right…

They chuckled. Again, they all laughed at some inside joke that we wanted no part in but would be part of regardless.

“Like I said we’d leave. Don’t be dicks, there’s girls around.” Said Drew, fed up with their antics.

He thought it was a prank or some sick joke, however what wasn't was seeing him decapitated in front of my very eyes. He screamed a gurgle, and blood splattered the faces of me and his fiancé…He was ripped clean in two, with his torso being flung to the left, while his waist and legs plopped on the right… both oozing a slow pool of thick blood to meet in the middle again.

Amanda screamed and I did as well.

She ran, and I saw two of the men turn into enormous wolves to chase after her, while I stayed there dazed, frozen, Begging my legs to move but instead I only looked their leader in his color changing eyes. I was unable to look away. But the only thing I could see was his eyes go from a dark brown, to a vivid orange.

I couldn’t look away… I shed tears. I don’t know why, but oddly enough it wasn’t for my friend… I heard Amanda scream her last, as I could hear the gurgle and ripping… I shed tears because my body nor mind could not process what was around me…

“I don’t want to die…” I mumbled.

“Too bad. Your people shouldn’t taste this good.” He countered. He took steps toward me, and I tripped over the blood and gore of Drew’s still horror encased face….