Where the Predators Prowl [Ch 49, 50]

49: Proposition

The purring vibrated through my legs, a deep, contented, unexpectedly relaxing rumble.

Adelle's head was a warm, heavy weight in my lap, her orange-red hair soft against my hand as I continued to stroke it absently. The tense, coiled, spiky ‘I will murder you’ energy she ordinarily carried had completely dissipated, replaced by feline nuzzling that was more disarming than any of her biker-gang boss bravado.

For the first time since arriving in Ferguson, I felt a moment of genuine peace, a sense of stillness in the eye of the hurricane that was my life. Then, she suddenly shifted, lifting her head from my lap to look at me, her violet-blue eyes unreadable.

"Hey, Alpha," she said, her tone shifting from soft and vulnerable to something more direct, more primal, still interspersed with that deep purr.

"Yeah?"

She moved with a sudden, fluid grace, rising from my lap to straddle my hips, her weight pinning me to the bed. Her hands came to rest on my shoulders. The towel she wore slipped open, revealing the toned, spotted landscape of her stomach and the curve of her breasts.

"Wanna fuck?" she asked, her voice a low growl that was part question, part challenge.

"I... what?" I managed, my brain struggling to reconcile the whiplash from "vulnerable packmate seeking comfort" to "blunt sexual proposition."

Then again, I should have expected this. After all, this was Adelle.

"You heard me," she said, a slow, predatory grin spreading across her face. "You and me. Right here, right now. No strings, no bullshit. Just a way to... finalize the new hierarchy."

"Finalize the...?" I stared at her, struggling not to look down at her inhumanly fit prad body. "Sex is a part of your pack hierarchy?"

"It can be," she shrugged, leaning closer, her warm breath ghosting across my cheek. "For some packs. It's a way of showing loyalty, of sealing the bond between an Alpha and their packmate. The ultimate act of submission and trust." Her eyes gleamed with a challenging light. "Plus, you're a hella cute tater. And you saved my ass from bleeding out on the road. That's a powerrrrful combination."

My mind raced. Part of me, the primal, eighteen-year-old male part, was screaming a frantic, incoherent "YES!" But the rest of me, the endless-tree part that was now responsible for four very complicated pradavarians, knew this was a terrible idea at this junction.

The cheetah prad was definitely offering me her submission in the most absolute way she knew how.

But as I looked at her—at the faint, healing cuts on her cheek, the exhaustion still lingering in her eyes, the desperate sincerity behind her predatory confidence—I saw not just a challenger, but a packmate who was just as exhausted, lost and confused as I was. A packmate who was clinging to the only rules she'd ever known.

"Adelle," I said, my voice coming out way steadier than I felt, "I can't."

Her grin didn't falter, but her eyes narrowed slightly, her lips pursed. "Can't? Or won't?"

"Both," I said, carefully choosing my words. "Look, I do appreciate the... offer. And the loyalty. But that's not the kind of Alpha I want to be. Also, I understand what this means to you."

A flicker of confusion crossed her face. This clearly wasn't the response she'd been expecting. "You... do?"

"Yeah. I get it. This is your way of showing trust. Of proving your loyalty." I took a deep breath. "But we're not doing this. Not now."

"Why not? You not into me?" She demanded, grabbing her breasts and shaking them at me. “I see you staring!”

"Look, Addie," I said, shaking my head. "It's not about that. It's not about you, or me, or whether I'm attracted to you." I met her feline, slitted eyes. "It's about the pack."

"The pack?" she repeated. "This is for the pack! To make us trust each other more!"

"No, it's not," I countered gently. "Adelle, our pack is barely two days old. We might not look like it, but we’re a mess.”

“A highly functional mess!” She huffed.

“Maybe so, but still a mess. You just had a major emotional breakthrough. Candace is... well, you saw what happened at the farm. Kristi is at war with her own family. And Nessy..."

I paused, the thought of the husky girl and her quiet struggles solidifying my resolve. "Nessy is dealing with years of emotional manipulation from her friends and that damn temple. She's confused, she's vulnerable, and she's just starting to figure out and remember who she really is. She’s the heart of our pack, and right now, that heart is bruised."

Adelle's posture softened slightly as she listened, her head tilting in that familiar, questioning way.

"If you and I do this now," I continued, "what do you think that would do to the others? To Nessy, when she comes back from the mall? It wouldn't build trust, Adelle. It would create jealousy. It would create fractures. It would turn our pack into a competition over me, and that's the last thing we need right now."

"Hrm," the cheetah considered my words.

"I can't be an Alpha to just one of you," I finished quietly. "I have to be the Alpha for all of you. And right now, this pack needs stability. It needs all of us to be on solid ground. Especially Nessy. Her well-being... it has to be our priority until she's sorted things out."

"She's got Candy now," Adelle pointed out. “She’s not alone.”

"Which does seem to help both of them," I said. "But still it's not a permanent solution, more like taping a cracked mirror together. "It holds for a while, but the fractures are still there underneath. We're building our pack on trust, Adelle. On mutual respect and understanding. Not... this."

I gestured vaguely at our current, very compromising position.

"You're turning me down then?" she asked, one eyebrow arching in amusement. "After I just bared my soul and my body to you? Most guys would be all over this. Girls too. Hell, Candy was all over this before I even said anything."

"I'm not most guys," I said. "And you're not just some random girl. You're my packmate. My responsibility. And I'm not going to risk fucking that up for a... a quick roll in the sheets. I’ve no idea how the others would feel about this, especially Ness."

She studied me for a long moment, her violet-blue eyes searching my face. I expected anger, or maybe a dismissive scoff. Instead, she just sighed, a huff of air that ruffled the hair on my forehead.

"Hmph. Fine," she said, but there was no malice in her voice. "Your loss. I'm great in bed."

With that, she rolled off me, flopping onto the bed beside me and reclaiming her spot with her head in my lap as if nothing had happened. The deep purring started again, soft and steady. She didn’t bother to put the towel back on.

"But just so you know," she added, "the offer stands. If you ever change your mind, my door is always open. And my legs."

“I... Umm… Right. I’ll keep that in mind." I let out.

A silver notification popped into my vision.

[Achievement Unlocked: The Virtuous Alpha!]

[You have successfully navigated a complex pradavarian loyalty ritual without succumbing to primal urges. You have demonstrated leadership, integrity, and a surprising amount of self-control.]

[Loyalty of Adelle Sylvia Dallia increased from 61 > 62/100.]

[Note: She really is great in bed. Just saying. You might want to reconsider. Rawr.]

I blinked the message away, shaking my head at the System's complete lack of any kind of professionalism. Then I absently started stroking Adelle's curly orange-red hair again.

Sixty two? I thought to myself. What the fuck? How was the System even evaluating personal Loyalty? What parameters did loyalty have? How did loyalty number even show up in the Astral ocean… was it a flock of ghostly squid-fish swirling around the cheetah that the System tabulated or…

My thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of my phone on the nightstand. I picked it up to see a string of messages from Kristi.

[✨Stellaris]: Alec, you there?

[✨Stellaris]: We have a situation.

[✨Stellaris]: Scratch that, we have a fucking disaster.

[Alecai🌲]: fam meeting didn’t go well?

The reply was almost instantaneous.

[✨Stellaris]: no

[Alecai🌲]: gib deets

[✨Stellaris]: Katherine called him right after the sim to complain bout all the things. Told him about the bikers, the claim mark, you being our Alpha... all of it.

I considered how screwed I was. Lord Marshal Strand, the patriarch of the most powerful family in Ferguson now knew that I existed and that I had somehow bound his daughter to a pack.

[Alecai🌲]: How bad is it?

[✨Stellaris]: He's... not happy. He's demanding a meeting. With you. Tonight.

[Alecai🌲]: Tonight?

[✨Stellaris]: At our family restaurant. He wants to 'assess' you. That's a direct quote.

"Shit," I muttered, showing the messages to Adelle.

The cheetah's lazy expression sharpened slightly. "Lord Marshal Strand? Sounds like a fun time." She grinned, her canines flashing. "Nothing like a friendly chat with a pissed-off raptor mafia boss."

"This isn't fun, Adelle," I said grimly. "This is serious. He could have me thrown out of town, or worse."

"He won't," she said with surprising confidence. "Not if we're with you."

"We?"

"Duh," she rolled her eyes. "You think we're gonna let you face down a Strand patriarch alone? We're your pack. We go where you go. Even into the raptor's den!"

My phone buzzed again.

[✨Stellaris]: He also wants to meet the rest of the pack. At the Pines Restaurant. Especially the 'low-brow breed dog', 'biker delinquent' and the 'harlot fox'. Again, direct quotes. Kat has been very... descriptive.

"Pff. Sounds like he already loves us," Adelle purred, looking thoroughly unconcerned.

Silver sparks suddenly ignited all around us in the air.

A semi-transparent fuzzy figure holding a guitar appeared intersected with the bed. The figure focused itself into Nessy as the Voicecast spell fully connected via the Dagaz rune.

“Sup guys?” she asked, without opening her mouth. “I’m done setting up. Going to musicate now. Ads, why are you butt-nekked? Are you trying to seduce Alec without me? Tsk tsk tsk.”

Adelle, who had been unsubtly half-draped over me stared at the magic-woven projection of Nessy. "I wasn't seducing," she huffed, her voice a low grumble of feigned innocence. "I was... providing supportive body warmth."

"Uh-huh," Nessy-Candace's thought-voice was a perfect deadpan. "Sure. Keep telling yourself that, you orange heat-lamp. Just save some of that supportive warmth for after the show, okay?”

“Fine,” Adelle huffed. “I was seducing. It didn’t work. How are you even talking to us without opening your mouth?” She asked.

“Modded the Voicecast to Thoughtcast,” Nessy replied. “Also Vistacast. With full color for your viewing pleasure. Now shush. Getting in the zone. Annnnd… done. Okkay, it’s musicating time!”

She opened her mouth and began to tap her leg, strumming her guitar.

“They build their walls of doubt so high,

Beneath a cold and judging sky,

They preach of paths you have to choose,

Of games they play where you will lose.

They whisper lies of what is weak,

The silent words you shouldn't speak

But in my chest a wild heart beats

A rhythm for these old stone streets.”

As the lyrics danced around the room, the scene around her came into even greater focus, the view expanding outward across the bed and past it, zooming out rapidly and gaining color like a massive hologram painted across my eyes.

The husky girl stood within a gothic-style gazebo made of black iron lattice work, her acoustic guitar cradled in her arms. 

“So let them talk their talk of shame.

Let them try to speak your name,

With voices dipped in cold despair,

And act as if they truly care.

We know the truth, we know the score,

We're not the ones they're looking for,

We're something new, a different flame,

And we will never be the same.”

At times her voice seemed to wobble ever so slightly and almost split into two, then converge into one.

A small crowd was already gathering nearby, drawn by Nessy’s song. Prads of all species—a few raptors in designer jackets, some wolf students from the university, a few owls, a bear prad couple out for an evening stroll—paused to listen, their expressions shifting from idle curiosity to rapt attention.

In front of Nessy, under several large wooden signs that read "LOOMCO NEW AGE BOOKS: FIND YOUR PATH," were several green-draped tables with LoomCo logos and books in wooden cases. 

Several Krishna monks in their distinctive orange robes, wooden bead necklaces and headscarves manned the tables, their faces fixed in beatific smiles, presenting gold-text delver books standing upright in clear plastic frames. I recognized Zheniya standing next to Sage and Vivianne at the central table. The fox and owl were tiny compared to some of the wolf monks who were basically half-crouched behind their tables to fit in.

“A storm of emerald, sharp and fast,

Whose lonely thunder couldn't last.

An orange fire, born to run,

A shadow fading from the sun.

But you're our roots in hardened ground,

The only solace that we've found.

An astral tree, ever-deep,

Where all our broken secrets sleep.

The weaver learned to trust her thread,

The tempest bowed her weary head,

The wildfire found her hearth to warm,

The singer found her long lost form.”

Nessy's song swelled, as if in direct opposition to the tables filled with smiling monks. Her voice rose, stronger now, laced with fire that was pure Candace.

“So let them speak their words of shame,

And try to burn away my name,

With voices cold as winter rain,

And say this love is just my pain!

I know the truth, I see the score,

I'm not the path they're looking for,

I'm something new, a wilder flame,

And I will never be the same.

I won't be severed, won't be tamed,

By a future that they've falsely framed,

My soul's a compass, true and bold,

You are the dream for which I'm sold.”

The song crested, her voice soaring into the final chorus with a power that sent a shiver down my spine, a wave of pure, unadulterated beautiful defiance.

The crowd exploded with applause and bravos.

I felt a warmth spread through my chest. The lyrics were a direct, unambiguous message meant for me, a song about our pack. In the gazebo, Nessy's eyes were closed, her smile wide as she enjoyed the applause. She was singing for me, for us.

“Damn,” Adelle said, her orange and black striped tail wagging. “That was hella swank. That two voices thing is the shit. I’m ‘effing in love. Go Ness n’ Candy!”

“Yeah, that was pretty amazing,” I added.

“Why thank you,” Nessy-Candace mentally answered with that same duo-tone.

The crowd around Ness grew as people applauded. More prads and a few humans arrived at the stone platform next to the gazebo. Across the plaza, I could see Viv and Sage standing by their LoomCo booth, their arms crossed, expressions filled with mild disapproval and grudging admiration. 

Sister Zheniya’s serene smile was still on, but her eyes had a look of intense, conflicted contemplation as she tried to process the lyrics to understand what Nessy was even singing about.

Vivianne was the first to come to her senses. She disconnected from her booth and rapidly arrived at the gazebo, orange fox tail twitching. "Ness? How did you make it sound like that song was in two separate voices for some parts?"

Nessy didn't miss a beat. "New Riffweld technique," she fired back, her fingers flicking across her guitar strings. "Vocal layering. Adds... depth. Just learned it today. Cool, ain’t it?"

50: Archangels

“You know,” Adelle commented. “Those lyrics were perhaps a bit too on the nose if you’re trying to fool the monks.”

“Eh,” Nessy laughed mentally. “It’s fine. I bound the mental perception of some of the words. The crowd would have heard whatever they wanted to hear. Only you two heard the real unmodified lyrics.”

“Aight, you do you,” the cheetah stretched. 

“Yeah,” Vivianne muttered from the magic projection. "That dual-voice thing is… cool, I guess. You've been holding out on us, Ness." she said.

"Mhmm." Nessy-Candace replied with an airy wave of her paw, not missing a beat. "Just, expanding my artistic horizons. Gotta keep the fans engaged!" She flashed a dazzling smile at a passing fox student, who stumbled slightly before giving her a thumbs-up. "See? Effective."

Viv seemed to accept this, for now. The growing crowd and the potential for book sales seemed like a more immediate concern. She turned back to her spot behind the LoomCo table, shifting into sales mode.

As Nessy launched into another song—this one a more upbeat, catchy tune that had prads unconsciously tapping their claws and the scene evolved into a masterclass of spiritual consumerism. The music was the hook, drawing in passersby with its infectious energy. Once a decent-sized crowd had gathered, expanding outside of the platform next to a white church behind the gazebo, a friendly-looking monk would step forward from the booth.

"A free book for you, friend!" he'd declare, handing a lavish, ‘Delvers 2020’ volume to a curious onlooker. 

The moment the 'customer' accepted the free offering, the trap would spring. Sister Zheniya would glide over, her expression serene. "I see you have an interest in the path of new age enlightenment. The soul is a garden, you know. It must be tended." 

Then, Viv would pounce, a whirlwind of sly foxy charm. "Hey, friend! Did you know that since you're already here and got one of our books, you're halfway to earning credits for our Shookstore membership program? Do you have a membership? Because if you did, you could get this rare Skill-raising grimoire, imbued with gold hexagrams and made with genuine dungeon-reclaimed vellum, for HALF OFF! That's a steal!"

If the customer looked skeptical or voiced a lack of interest in spiritual discovery, Sage would materialize at their elbow, his grimoire tome's eyeball swiveling to fixate on them. "If you're not one for spiritual pursuits," he offered in his academic tone. "Perhaps you are an appreciator of the mathematical elegance of consciousness? This volume of ‘Infinite Loops’ explores the fractal nature of the soul and how it interacts with the world and limitless dungeons."

The final nail in the coffin would be one of the oversized wolf monks, smiling beatifically. "Perhaps, we will see you at the temple next Sunday? Our novitiate Nessy will be performing again, you know. And we're having catering, courtesy of our talented Culimancers, the best, freshest dungeon-produce funded by the Noon family of LoomCo!"

It was a brilliant, multi-pronged assault of social pressure, intellectualism, and fomo. I watched on as they convinced a burly bear to walk away with seven books on meditative breathing, dungeon speed running, accelerating level gains and a premium Shookstore membership.

"Heh," Adelle whistled from her spot on the bed. "They're good at pushing shit onto people."

"A well-oiled machine of book peddling," I agreed.

“Ugh,” Nessy’s thoughtcast voiced. “I’ve been singing at these events for a while now and yet I’ve only now realised exactly how much of this is a scam.”

“What, the books don’t help?” I asked.

“Some of the books might have decent advice,” Nessy lamented mentally as she continued to strum a cheerful tune. “But it’s definitely overpriced. You could literally Pawgle all of this stuff for free. Most of those books won’t raise anything skill-wise since they’re poorly made low level artifacts. Their binding is super shoddy. Like nowhere professional Binder level! Slayer, now I feel awful about peddling these things for so long for Sage’s family.”

A group of raptors swaggered through the crowd with an air of excessive entitlement that could only belong to a particular family I knew far too well now. 

Katherine Strand, flanked by Kirra and the rest of her 'monster' squad, pushed her way to the front of the gazebo.

"Ha! Though I heard a familiar sing-song voice at the market," Katherine sneered. "If it isn't the temple's pet mutt, singing for her supper. What's the setlist tonight, doggo? 'Ode to a Human Knob'? 'Ballad of the Loser Pack'? Where's your human captain? Not here to watch you embarrass yourself?”

Her raptor cronies snickered. The crowd shifted uncomfortably, sensing the impending confrontation.

From her booth, Vivianne's head snapped up. Nessy didn't falter. She finished her song with a final, defiant chord, then pulled her guitar over onto her back, slipping down and sitting down on the edge of the gazebo’s stage with an overly-cheery swagger that could only belong to Candace.

"Sup rapteronies?" she said. "Still sore about getting your ass handed to you in the sim? Or is this just your usual 'I'm a miserable beerch so everyone else has to be too' routine?"

The crowd gasped. Katherine's beak dropped open, her gold-green eyes wide with shock. Nessy Whitepaw, the quiet, shy, dreamy Bard, had clearly never spoken to her like that before.

"What did you just call me?" Katherine hissed.

"A miserable beerch," Nessy repeated pleasantly. "Or would you prefer 'feathered knobfold with a daddy-funded superiority complex'? I'm flexible."

"That's it! You're dead!" Katherine started to move forward, claws out.

"Don't, Kat," Kirra hissed, pulling her sister back. "In public? With all these witnesses? And Krishna monks? She’s obviously baiting you!"

From across the way, the fox and owl were staring at Nessy. Viv whispered something to Sage, her aquamarine eyes narrowed. Sage nodded. The eyeball in his grimoire swiveled, its gaze locking onto the husky girl.

The fox and the raptor got from behind their table and walked over to where Nessy sat.

“Sup guys?” The husky smiled. “Want to request a song?”

"Necricuss," Sage suddenly declared. "Dispel Glamour! Pierce the Veil. Part Binding!"

In the Vistacast projection, I saw a flicker of something flash from the book in the direction of Nessy. For a split second, her face wobbled, and the binding glamour over her left eye—the one concealing Candace's silver iris—shattered. The crowd didn't seem to notice the change, since most of them were on the platform on Nessy’s side.

The Owl boy recoiled as if he’d been slapped.

“What?” Vivianne demanded. “Why is her one eye silver?”

"It’s high-order Animancy!" Sage gasped, his feathers fluttering. "Necricuss says that her soul... it's intertwined with another prad’s!"

"Ness! What have they done to you?!" Viv snarled. 

“Who’s done what?” Nessy tilted her head.

“That damned Binder fox! Rhinehart!" Vivianne barked. “I knew this was going to happen! I told you not to hang out with that fox fuck and that human, but noooo…”

The raptor sisters, seeing their opportunity, immediately pounced on the accusation.

"Ha!" Katherine's malicious laugh cut in like a sharp knife. "Of course! I knew it! The pathetic mutt doesn't have the backbone to talk back like that on her own! She's been turned into a meat puppet by that junkie fox!"

Kirra joined in, pointing a claw at the now-confused crowd. "Ha! Deffo! Candace Rhinehart and that trash human outsider, Alec Foster, are using her, controlling her like she's some kind of wind-up toy! Probably using the dum dog for their own sick, twisted amusement! She smells like she spent the night with em!"

The raptor sisters' words, amplified by their natural authority and social standing, rippled through the onlookers. Murmurs of shock and outrage danced across the gathered crowd.

"Rhinehart's a known troublemaker," one of Katherine's other cronies added loudly. "And Foster? He's a claimed human gangster! They're part of a gang trying to infiltrate our lovely town!"

"They forced themselves into our school, somehow got into our advanced delving class, beat us up!" Kirra added. "Who knows what they're planning? They must have some kind of agenda, some vile purpose!"

Sage and Viv looked horrified, their earlier concern for Nessy curdling into righteous fury directed at me and Candace. 

"They need to be stopped!" Viv declared. "This is beyond a simple prank—this is soul-tampering! Zheniya! We need your help!"

Before Nessy could defend herself, the monks moved with a swift, coordinated grace that belied their size. Two of the massive wolf monks flashed onto the gazebo and grabbed Nessy by the arms, their grip gentle but unyielding.

"Hey! Unhand me! I don't…!" Nessy-Candace began.

Sister Zheniya flashed to Nessy's side, her expression calm and sharp. In her hand, she held what looked like an obsidian pyramid, pulsating with a cold, blue-black radiance that drew colors around itself from existence.

"Hold still, child," Zheniya said. "This is for your own good. We will sever the magic that holds you hostage. Nullify.”

“No, I…” Nessy yelped.

The wolf-monk pressed the nullifier pyramid against Nessy's forehead.

The Vistacast projection in my hotel room fizzled and died, the image collapsing into a shower of silver sparks that winked out, plunging the room into a sudden, tense silence.

"Fuck!" Adelle swore, sitting bolt upright.

A moment later, a choked gasp came from the bed. Candace's eyes flew open, wide with panic. She scrambled upright, clutching her head, her body trembling violently.

"The angels!" she shrieked, her voice high and panicked. "Oh Slayer, the angels are real! They're piloting them! All of them! Abyss damn it all!"

"What angels?" I demanded, moving to her side as Adelle rushed to hold her steady. "Candace, what are you talking about?"

"The monks!" she gasped, her gray eyes darting around the room as if searching for unseen threats. “They’re… they’re being piloted by Astral Angels!”

"What?" I pressed, trying to make sense of her panicked words.

Candace took a deep, shuddering breath, her mind clearly reeling from the forced separation and whatever she had just witnessed. "When Zheniya used that nullifier, it didn't just break the soul-bond... it created a momentary nullification backlash. An Astral shockwave that revealed hidden things. For a split second, I saw the truth." Her voice dropped to an angry whisper. "They're all being piloted, Alec. All of them. There are... things... outside of them and in them."

"Things?" Adelle prompted. “What are you on about Loops?”

"Giant... mushroom things," Candace stammered out. "Glowing fungi, with what looked like thousands of tendrils that burrowed into their hosts' brains, their spines, everywhere. Archangels. They’re defined as Archangels of Krishna in the Astral. That's why the monks are all so big and strong without doing much delving—it's not natural growth, it's the parasite screwing with their bodies. Something that has to do with… feeding on sacrifice."

An icy dread washed over me as her words connected with what Nessy had said about the Well of Severance. "They're sacrificing more than just memories," I said.

"They're sacrificing everything," Candace confirmed. "Prohibition… The Archangels are Astral parasites… feeding on prohibition! Love, passion, desire, entertainment, free will, their very souls. They eventually trade it all for what the Archangels offer them!”

"And what's that?" Adelle asked, quickly pulling the silver dress on.

Candace looked at us, her glowing, brilliantly silver eyes filled with a terror so profound it seemed to eclipse everything else.

"Power," she uttered, silver fractals spinning in her corneas. "And the promise of a world without pain. The promise of breaking the cycle of Samsara! Of escaping the binding loops to be reborn on Goloka Vrindavan… on Arx! We have to stop them! We have to get Ness from them before they drag her to their temple and erase her love!”