CHAPTER 3 Ravenous

Onyx?

The world is coming to an end, they say, with Opium Hills wolves dying out. Do I look like I'm dying? No fucking way. I'm twenty-two years old and I've just completed my engineering degree, but guess what they want? They want me here, stuck in a village on actual hills. Yeah, the place looks idyllic but I don't want to be here.?

"All young Alphas should stay in Opium Hills to find their mates," my dad says.

We are talking about this while on top of the hill where our house can be found. Instead of fields, our view are of salmon-colored rooftops over brown houses. They look better than they sound. Our house is the largest, with six rooms. We don't have a pack house like other werewolves, but a visitor can see that all three neighboring hills belong together.?

"I'm sticking with the human crowd, thank you. The mating thing is too primitive."

"Well, primitive or not, I know you just broke up with your human girlfriend."

"Huh?" I hate how scent werewolves are also good detectives apparently, but this time, my dad doesn't know what he's talking about.

"You just graduated. Got a job now, huh, Onyx?" dad asks.

"I have interviews and shit."

"Language. Respect."

"Sorry, sir," I say, refusing to go "Sorry, Alpha Kele" like some of the morons around here who still live in the 18th century.

I shift. That's it. I can run in the wild as free as a wolf can be. My wolf is even cool. We agree on just about everything - I think.

"Not really, dude," Blaze says in my head.?

I don't understand why his name is cooler than mine, but it is what it is. My name's Onyx because of my black eyes, which I inherited from Dad. We also have long, dark hair - not quite black but I guess Onyx just sounded good to my parents. I've gotten some trouble with it at the college, with people calling out, "Okay, who's that girly with that nice hair. What's your shampoo, honey?" After I punched all three of those assholes, one after the other, ending up in the dean's office was so worth it. Nobody bothers me in the human world nowadays. People say that my dad had my temper when he was younger, but now he's all for preserving the pack. The only thing my dad and I have in common nowadays is our looks. After my mom died, I knew that I didn't have a choice but to be civil to him.?

"Okay, traitor," I respond to Blaze, shaking my head in disbelief.?

"What do you think of Justine?" Dad asks.?

I think of the slip of a girl who arrived last week. She has long blond hair, reaching her waist. She's pretty, but again, I'm not into this mate thing.

"What should I think of her? Isn't there like a pull that you all were talking about? Something that will tell me she's my mate?"?

"That wolf trait has been dying out, Onyx," Dad says, and I almost say "thank fuck," but I hold my tongue. "We choose who we are attracted to."

"Like humans?"

"Like humans," he says sadly. "It's terrible what we have become."

"Dad, I know you believe I'm a rebel -."

"You're not. You graduated with honors. I'm proud of you," he says, his voice breaking. He's telling the truth.

"Then, why not let me be? I've earned my degree. Let me work. Besides, I don't like Justine since you're saying we are going to be doing it the human way - with attraction and what not."

"It's still different, Onyx. Humans can smell pheromones. They're not aware that's what's attracting them to another person. We are werewolves. We will still be attracted to what we like to smell. As scent wolves, we are right on top of that hierarchy."

He's right. Even at the college, I knew what I wanted. I fucked girls who attracted me, but then again, I never had that urge to stay. I lied about the girlfriend thing to get Dad off my back. I had nobody, just some random girls for one-night stands.?

"I still don't like Justine. I've seen Logan and Axel sniffing her. They want her."

"So, is it competition you don't like?" he asks.?

"I can take competition. If I were attracted to Justine, I would already be fighting with Logan and Axel," I say.

"Justine is a sense wolf like us, but her eyesight is her prime sense."

"Ah. Not a scent wolf."

"Exactly. So, maybe what you need is one like us."

I don't like myself but I'm curious. So, I ask, anyway,"Is there a chance that we will have some scent werewolf babes soon?"

"Don't disrespect women like that, Onyx."

"Disrespect? They are being brought her for mating. We are treating them like objects."

"Only those who consented will be coming."

What he says doesn't reassure.?

"Right. I think I may have heard that before. I think that is a load of shit."

"Give this a chance," he says, ignoring the swearing this time. He must be desperate.?

"So, mates are not a thing, but mating is? What's happening? What if there are only a few females?"

"Then, they get to choose."

I am in shock. Usually, the male werewolves choose from several females. Before that, everyone has that one mate. It's now in the past and we're all moving on, pheromones and all. However, the idea that a woman has to be wooed by several men intrigues me. It's different. I never think of the college woman I had sex with and how they move on to other guys because I'm done with them. This time, though, it will be different. A woman can decide if she's staying with me or not. If she chooses me, I may have to play house with her. Wait for the pups.?

"I see your competitive side is on the edge." My father smiles, reading me so well, it's annoying.

"We'll wait for the scent wolf," Blaze advises.?

"Is there a chance we'll have a scent wolf?" I ask again.?

"Perhaps. Domino said she might have someone, but she seemed on edge as if she knew that whoever it was might not agree right away."

Once upon a time, I thought Domino was fucking my father until I found out she preferred women and, sometimes, docile men. She's the sister of an infamous lone wolf, always traveling. She goes from pack to pack, but somehow she stayed with us the longest.?

"Blood ties. That's what's keeping me here," she had said, surprising me then. I don't see a resemblance. However, the wolves of Opium Hills have been said to come from one werewolf and one witch - all those damn years ago. So romantic. Maybe, there's something about this mating thing. I can certainly help with that. No feelings involved, Get those pups out.?

That night, after the talk with my dad, I feel ravenous. I walk to the forests beyond the hills. I don't know why I return to my old ways every time I'm in Opium Hills. In the city, I have acted like every acclimated werewolf. I eat at restaurants. Like every growing boy, I gobble pizzas. I also eat a lot of Chinese takeout and almost everything I can get hold of. Even veggies. You want a nice boy who eats their veggies, I'm your date.?

Today, though, something wakes up from within me. I look up to see that the full moon has just risen. I don't need it to shift, but I want it for the frenzy that's about to come. I shift. There's no pain. It's rapid. I go full wolf in a matter of seconds without the agony that some packs have to go through. I run. I quickly see my target. A deer. I bound toward it, saliva dripping from my fangs. I love the exhilaration every time I run. It's what I have been trying to kill when I was at college. I repressed it. Subdued it. However, Blaze is a force to reckon with. Strangely enough, the feral side of me comes from me - Onyx, the human.?

I open my jaw and snap the deer's neck. It twitches but gives up easily. I feel its blood trickling inside my mouth, but I want more. Tearing its flesh, I feast. I have always been a lone wolf, and I know why. I'm selfish. I can't share my meal. So, damn it. I don't know if I can share a woman with any of my pack members.?

"No feelings, Onyx. Should be easy for you," Blaze says, almost bored. Then, he descends into growling - the frenzy. The hunger. Just like me.

As a human, I eat food almost just as ravenously. As a wolf, everything is heightened. Taste. Feel. Emotions. Heartbeat. For a moment there, the deer's heartbeat blends with mine but is quickly gone. It's just me. Okay, there's Blaze, too.?

"We need more of this." Blaze heartily approves.?

After I'm done, I look at the wreckage of the deer's carcass. Will Domino's girl be willing to hunt with me like this? I hate myself. Most of the times, I hate my wolf side. But when I give in, I give it my all.?