"Good morning, Marik!"
Marik opened his eyes slowly, still feeling drowsy from the restless sleep. As he lightly rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he saw a beautiful woman with silver-grey hair smiling at him from the entrance-way while holding the cloth noren open to the side. Her golden yellow eyes watched him lovingly as he began to slowly rise, but the twitching of one her wolf ears on her head belied her impatience at his pace. She calmly wiped her free hand on her skirt as her tail swayed gently behind her.
"Daren and Sara are already up and almost done with breakfast, you know."
Marik struggled to rise more quickly before his siblings got all of the best parts of the meal. He still felt groggy but tottered towards his mother as she stepped aside to let him by. His mind was in a bit of a haze as if he'd spent an entire night exercising but his body felt mostly fine. As he approached the dining room table, he saw his two raven-haired siblings, two years old like himself, shoveling meat into their mouths as fast as they could. Marik sat down next to his brother and reached for what seemed to be the last of the haunch meat.
"You were kind of squirmy last night," his brother, Daren, said between mouthfuls.
"Mm, I feel tired still."
His sister tried to add to the conversation but with a mouthful of breakfast it only came out as a bunch of muffled 'Mmph's.
"If you three are going to stay up late, then maybe I should tell your father to hold off on the night-hunt a little longer."
"""NO!"""
Marik and his siblings has been looking forward to their first night-hunt for almost a moon now and none of them wanted to miss out on it.
"Why should we have to wait because Marik was bad?!"
"Yah," his sister agreed while letting small bits of meat grease drip from her mouth.
"I was the first one in bed and asleep, though," Marik pouted. "It's not my fault!"
"Hmm," his mother hummed in thought with one hand on her chin. "Maybe you just had a night terror but try not to sleep too late from now on, okay?"
"But I even made sure to go to sleep before I heard you and dad making your grunting noises last night," Marik said, still pouting.
His mother's face immediately began turning crimson as a loud laughter filled the room. Everyone turned around to see the large wolfkin man standing at the entrance. The lack of clothing other than shorts showed how well muscled he was and the markings of the pack tattooed into his skin accentuated his built body even more, giving him the look of a powerful man. The man's face, which normally held a stern look, was now painted with complete mirth as he continued laughing so loud that Marik thought anyone many strides around would be hearing it. The laughter finally began to calm down as the man gave their mother a smirk.
"I think Marik's got you there, Sira. Seems if anyone's to blame for them sleeping late it's us."
Sira gave her mate a scolding stare, her face still somewhat red with embarrassment. With a grunt and some light mumbling that Marik couldn't hear, she turn back to the children in an attempt to calm her mood.
"So, we get to go on the night-hunt, right?" Sara asked in the cutest voice she could muster towards their father.
"Yes," their mother answered in his stead. "But only as long you promise to do what your father and the other hunters say."
"""Okay."""
Sira nodded approvingly then began shooing them away from the table with her hands so she could begin cleaning up the tableware. Marik grabbed one last piece of meat to shove into his mouth as he stood up with his siblings to head back to their bedroom. Behind them was the sound of clanking tableware as their mother cleaned up and the low murmurs of their father saying whatever things to his mate he didn't want his children to hear. As soon as they entered the bedroom, Daren immediately raced for the spear leaning on the wall.
"I'm bringing this tonight," he announced, making Marik scowl and Sara pout.
Before Marik could open his mouth to complain Sara leapt forward and grabbed both of the remaining short swords while shouting "MINE!".
"No fair. Give me one so I can go, too."
"No! Beta says I need two swords."
Marik changed his scowl to a pout and thought. Beta was one of the only 3 wolfkin who could freely order any other wolfkin. The others were the male and female Alpha. Normally any wofkin male could talk to or about the male Alpha or Beta, and the same with the female wlfkin and the female Alpha and Beta, hence why rarely if ever was there a need to distinguish a difference between the 2. In their pack right now, though, Beta was slightly special in that there was only a female Beta. Several candidates for a male counterpart had come in the past, and supposedly their father had even been one, but eventually for one reason or another none had actually become the male Beta, and so Beta had merely become a second mate to the male Alpha.
Their father had managed to get 3 weapons for them to bring on their first night-hunt, but now that Sara had claimed 2 of them, Marik would be a prime target for teasing unless he could get one away from his sister, which wasn't likely, or convince his father to get another, which also wasn't likely. Then inspiration struck. He should just convince his parents to take one away from his sister.
Marik immediately turned around and began marching towards the dining room where the sound of his parents was still coming from. Sara seemed to figure out his plan almost immediately and started running to try and beat him there, ensuring they arrived and began protesting their individual circumstances at the same time. Their parents turned towards the sibling pair as the last, Daren, strode up behind proudly clutching his own claim. Sira had her eyes wide open as she tried to discern the particular problem while their father just stood calmly with his more typical stern-faced look, seeming like he was listening to both at the same time.
"Calm down and be quiet," their mother demanded before pointedly looking at Sara as if to ask for her side first.
"Beta said I have to have 2 swords."
Marik was almost certain that was not what Beta said. At least not exactly. However, now that the claim had been made, Marik was sure he had no way to stake his claim further without someone talking to Beta. Since Beta was out preparing for the night-hunt, that meant there was no chance until it was too late. Now his options were to either convince his parents that Sara was lying or to get another weapon in time for the night-hunt. As he pondered his options, his father began speaking.
"You say Beta told you to bring two swords? Are you absolutely sure?"
Sara nodded enthusiastically, bringing a downhearted look to Marik's face and an exasperated look to their father's.
"Unfortunately, I doubt I can get another one for Marik for another two days. Sara, when did Beta tell you this? If I had known ahead of time then I could have tried to get one more."
"Umm," Sara had a slightly panicked look on her face as she realized she might still get in trouble even though she was using Beta to get her way.
"The night before last. I think."
Their father sighed lightly, keeping a stern look locked onto Sara, while their mother let a slight scowl begin to form.
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"Marik. I'll make sure you have a weapon for the next hunt, but for this night-hunt you'll have to go without."
Marik opened his mouth to protest, but his father's look told him there was no room for argument. His siblings immediately cheered in recognition of them getting what they wanted and they immediately ran outside before their parents could scold them. Marik's shoulders dropped, and with a heavy sigh and last glance at his parents, he followed his siblings' trails out the door.
Outside was a large group of children ages 2 through 4. The 4 year-olds were acting as the seniors by giving some light advice here and there while watching the rest. The 3 year-olds were acting proud that they now had a new group to act as seniors to. The 2 year-olds, including his siblings, were showing off their weapons to the older children and listening to advice and stories in excitement for what was coming tonight.
Marik tried to be somewhat stealthy as he drifted towards his siblings and hoped that nobody noticed his lack of armament. Much to his chagrin, he failed shortly before he could hide behind his brother. The group of 3 year-olds and 4 year-olds that his siblings were boasting to noticed his approach, along with his empty hands. Marik pushed his brain to try and come up with any good excuse that could also count as the truth before the inevitable conversation came to be. However, all 5 of the 4 year-olds in that group were the sons and daughters of Alpha and Beta, and thus they were always quick and ready to try and act as their parents.
"Hey, where's your weapon?"
Alpha's only son looked at him with surprise. Marik wanted to blame his sister for taking the weapon his father had gotten for him, but his increasingly annoying sister beat him to the punch once again.
"Beta said I need it."
All of the elite group looked at Sara with something like awe. In their understanding that Beta would see the potential of greatness in one of the children of an elite hunter over even her own children enough to order a specific weapon set was something amazing. They also understood that telling one sibling to take another's weapon before their first night-hunt meant that she had seen how little potential Marik would provide, after all Beta was that amazing. Of course, these were children all under the age of 5 years old, so their understanding was wrong, but there was nobody around that would tell them that.
For the rest of the day Marik was ignored by everyone including the other groups that the word of his situation had somehow gotten to. He hoped that either his father would be lucky enough to find another by the time of the night-hunt or at least convince Beta to fix things and clear whatever misunderstanding his sister had. He spent the time feeling miserable, uncomfortable, and neglected until it was time to go home and prepare for the night-hunt. One look around his home and at his father told him that he would not have a weapon tonight. A last thought bloomed and quickly sprouted in his mind, though.
"Father, can I just wait until the next night-hunt?"
"No. I promised the three of you would have your first together, and everything is prepared for tonight."
Marik sighed in resignation.
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In a small clearing between the town and the edge of the forest, Marik walked behind his father under the light of the full moon. His siblings walked proudly on either side of their father, excited for their first night-hunt. As they approached the center of the clearing, Marik saw Beta split from the group her children were a part of and approach them.
Beta was a woman who was almost as beautiful as their mother, but she had an extra look of wildness and ferocity to her as well as an air of superiority as if she nearly owned everything and everyone nearby. Technically, she did nearly own everyone and everything so the aura she wore was not entirely misplaced. Her hair and the fur of her ears and tail were a light brown flecked with black tips here and there and all groomed oiled to make her stand out even more. Many women would have been envious of how much better she looked if they hadn't already received proof of how much better she was. After all, she was Beta for a reason.
"Gior," she called to their father, causing him to change course and head in her direction.
As he left to meet Beta, he motioned his children to continue over to the center of the clearing in preparation of the night-hunt. Marik sighed as he followed his siblings, expecting things to be as bad if not worse than they had during the day. Unfortunately, his expectations were not betrayed as his siblings were pulled away in excitement into the middle and he was shoved away then ignored. Somehow he knew that if he tried to make a scene or complain that it would only incite actual ridicule, so he decided to wait until his father could get everything cleared up with Beta.
His father soon arrived, noticing him separated from everyone else. Marik's hopes began fading as he saw the complicated look on his father's face. The look of confusion, resignation, and a myriad of other feelings quickly passed as the stern face his father usually wore returned before a light sigh. Marik looked his father in the eyes, hoping for good news of whatever sort after such a terrible day, but holding a feeling that the night was only going to keep getting worse.
"Marik, you will be going with Beta's children. Since I wasn't able to get you a weapon before tonight, she insisted you be placed in a group better able to watch and protect you. I admit this is partly my fault, but don't be discouraged. Just go out and show them that you're ready, even if you don't have a weapon."
Marik almost asked again if he could just go home and come back next time, but then he remembered how his father had said that since his siblings were going he wasn't allowed to not go. So he closed his mouth shut, hung his head, and walked over to where Alpha's and Beta's children were grouped. This was supposed to be one of the greatest and proudest nights of his young life, where a parent takes their children out to learn of their first hunt and prove that they no longer could be called a mere cub. Instead, he was now being sent to be protected like some fragile artwork that nobody wanted to acknowledge much less look at. It was quite humiliating.
As he approached, he saw the group glance his way with sneers and snickers, which only dampened his mood more. However, his father had said not to be discouraged and to show his worth, so he took a deep breath and held his head up. He had rarely spent time with children other than his siblings, since it was only proper to do so after your first night-hunt to prove you're worthy. However, as soon as he opened his mouth to greet them, the girl with a staff whom he was sure was Alpha's daughter cut him off.
"Don't speak. You have no right to do so. You barely even have the right to participate. The only reason you're here is because of how kind Beta is. So keep quiet, follow us, and don't slow us down, or else."
"C'mon Tiak," said Alpha's son. "That's a horrible way to treat the poor cub. His father and Beta both said so. He probably wouldn't understand anything beyond simple orders, so trying to explain stuff like you did probably confused him."
"Ah, you're right. Sorry Onal."
As Onal and Tiak sneered and snickered, the rest of the group broke out in obvious mirth. Marik, however, was completely confused. He knew Beta had somehow at least slightly acknowledged his sister, but this was the first time he heard anything about Beta thinking of him in a bad way. What's worse is that apparently his father also believed that. It was hard to believe, but they had been treating Sara better today while ignoring him. Maybe that also meant that when his father had told him to show he was ready, that he meant this was his only chance. He'd heard some of the adults say things about people who couldn't hunt and how their families disowned them. Now he was starting to feel nervous and scared.
Beta's howl, signaling the beginning of the night-hunt, tore him from his thoughts. Everyone else began joining in to the chorus towards the moon. Marik opened his mouth to also join in, but a quick, light, and slightly painful knock on his chin from Tiak's staff made his mouth close again. He looked over and saw her looking back at him with an indignant look. Her eyes and body language said that if he even tried to join in again that she would do more than tap him with her weapon. Then the chorus ended.
"What's wrong, Tiak?"
"Nothing Alpha. Poor cub thought he could join in, so I was just making sure he knew his place."
"Hahaha. Poor guy. Too stupid to even realize he's useless. Ah, also, don't forget that I'm still Onal until father retires."
"Right, right. Let's just go and get this over with."
The group, ignoring him completely, all turned towards the forest and began running. Marik took a second, since this was his first night-hunt, then realized he was supposed to be going as well. He immediately began sprinting to try and catch up, which meant he was already out of breath when he did. Now he just had to keep up with a group who were all older, bigger, and faster. Although his breath was ragged and his limbs felt like they were going to fall off, he somehow did manage to keep up behind them. Then Tiak looked back and noticed he was still there before whispering something to Onal, which Marik couldn't hear over the sound of his own breath.
They had been running for several minutes when some sweat dropped into his eyes, so Marik blinked and wiped it out. Upon opening his eyes, he noticed Tiak was now next to him with her staff already swinging in his direction. There was no time to even fully register what was happening, much less react in time. There was a whooshing sound, which he assumed was the staff cutting through the air, then a crack, then incredible pain in his left shin, and then the ground was flying towards face. Or his face was flying towards the ground. Pain and confusion made everything too uncertain at the moment.
The impact from ground meeting skull caused him to black out for a split second, but the popping snap from his neck as his head flew back up brought his consciousness back. There was nobody in sight in the spare moment he had to see around him, meaning the group had left him behind. As his face fell back forward, his body rolled and part of the ground gave way near his waste causing him to practically fold in half and fall. There was another cracking sound and pain in is left arm, his head hit something hard, whether floor or wall or something else was unknown with his senses reeling and no light even from the moon. Then there was nothing.