Welcome the Darkness (PAFP)

As soon as the man left he turned upon the other lycans and growled at them in irritation, they had gone against his direct orders and that ticked him off to no end. Without thinking he surged forward and grabbed the wolf that had attacked Gabriel around the neck, he was furious that his promise had almost been broken because of some idiots. "If you ever go against my words ever again I will end you." Anger glinted in Alex's eyes as he shoved the wolf to the ground, with another growl he stalked off still fuming, he was furious but it would soon blow over...hopefully. He pushed back the flap leading into his den and headed down a corridor that entered another room that was filled with equipment and maps. He slammed his hands on a desk in irritation as his lips curled up into a silent snarl. "Okay...well since that's taken care of I'll have to wait a few more days to know what the King says." He muttered this to himself as he scratched the top of his head, his expression turned dark as he shook his head. He was tired of all of the responsibility that he now had but he had to deal with more due to him becoming the next Alpha in line.

He stiffened then relaxed at the familiar voice that seemed to help calm him down, he sighed loudly and leaned against the desk as he rubbed his temples. "Yes, I saved your friend Gabriel who by the way sends his regards and misses you dearly. But I was too late for one of the men." He slumped against the desk and closed his eyes as yet another sigh escaped his maw. He was mainly furious with himself for not getting there in time to stop what had occurred but it was a unpreventable situation. He glanced over at Catherine for a moment, his eyebrows scrunched together in concern as he noticed something was wrong. "Enough about me, what's wrong with you, are you hungry or is something else wrong?" He padded forward so that he was in front of Catherine and gently moved a stray hair out of her face. He patted her head then smiled at her as he forced himself to shift into his human form. With a huff he reached around and grabbed a set of caribou clothing and slipped into it. He grabbed a pair of boots and gloves before slipping both of them on. "Wanna go hunting with me? I could show you a few tricks." He raised a brow as a playful grin appeared on his lips as if challenging her to the occasion.

A chuckle escaped as he grabbed a bow with some arrows, he decided to grab a small knife as well and pocketed it as he slung the bow and arrows over his back. He playfully poked both of her cheeks before maneuvering around her and exited the den. He put his hand up to the sun with his fingers in the shape of a L, he nodded to himself as he looked at the sky and figured that he'd try to hunt near the forest nearby that had a few herds of deer. "So, ready for a adventure? It'll take a while but I could give you a piggy back the entire way." He smirked a little at what he said, he wasn't good at talking to anyone especially girls but he was one to tease which rewarded him in laughs or giggles sometimes even blushes which could lead to some simple flirting. He wasn't much of a flirtier but he knew how to with the right people but he liked to keep it normal and fun instead of something gooey and romantic. He was one to get too attached to people and he hated that after the death of his younger sister who was murdered because she fell in love with a human. He promised himself he'd never fall in love because some day they'd be torn from him and that was one of the things that he feared the most.

He laughed softly as he chased after her and tickled her sides before picking her up and settled her onto his shoulders instead of his back, he gently grasped her legs to help her keep balance as he walked towards the woods at a slow pace so that he wouldn't jumble her around too much. He kept away from the low hanging limbs or ones that could potentially smack her in the face albeit it would have made him have a few chuckles but it could cause her to get hurt and he didn't want that to happen. He pushed past a few bushes and looked about as he sniffed the air, even though he was in human form his sense of smell was impeccable compared to that of a humans. The scent of deer wafted through his nose, as he neared he drew his bow whilst grabbing a arrow and secured it within the bow and pulled back on the string to test if the string was still firm. "When pulling back always breath out and focus on your target." He whispered softly as he gave hints to her, he pulled back the string and after a few deep intakes and outs he let the arrow fly which swiftly punctured the deer's pelt. The beast groaned but didn't make it far before falling down and didn't move from that spot. The rest of the herd scattered like flies at the revealed danger. He calmly walked over to his kill and bent down to help Catherine off of his shoulders, he pulled the knife out of his pocket and showed to Cat, it was made of bison bone, it was one of the strongest knives because of the thick bone that the bison had. "I'll show you how to cut into the belly then you do the rest." He placed the tip of the knife near the chest before putting pressure so that the skin broke, he swiftly cut down the chest towards the abdomen so that only half of the stomach remained to be cut. "Here. Now put pressure downwards and drag the knife across its stomach." He transferred the knife to her hand and wrapped his own large hand around her smaller one and directed her through the process.

He watched as she carefully sliced through the pelt with some assistance from him but other than did he thought she did excellent, he bumped her with his shoulder as he smiled down at her then retrieved the knife as he scooped out the guts and carried them over to a nearby stream to wash them and empty them so that the pack could use them for something, most likely they would be used for more water pouches. "Excellent job by the way, for a beginner you're good, I bet you'll be a pro." He looked over his shoulder to send her a wink, after he cut open the cuts he laid them out in the baking sun to try then walked over to the deer and began to strip the pelt off, it was a difficult and sometimes hard process but he whistled through it and set the pelt aside as he began to dress the carcass and cut off slabs of flesh that he and Catherine could carry back to the pack. This was more of a solo hunt than a pack hunt where multiple members would go out and kill three members of a herd, they'd never kill a buck unless he was old and would certainly die during the winter. They aimed for the does since there was more of them but they never killed a yearling unless they absolutely needed to. They believed that killing the young that would make up the next generation was a sign of bad luck.

His eyes caught a concern of glow in them once he glanced over at her when she had said his name in a question. At first he had thought she was asking a question so he hadn't looked at her but after a moment of silence he had looked at her and quickly grew concerned. He dropped the piece of flesh that he had been doctoring up and crawled over to with, he cradled her face in his slightly shaking hands as he gazed into her unseeing eyes. He wondered to himself what was going on as he tried to snap her out of it but nothing seemed to work. He tried to keep his hands from shaking as he maneuvered her into his lap and once again tried anything to help her out of whatever was going on. At first he made her close her eyelids and even rubbed her eyes through her eyelids but nothing seemed to be working for her. "Just relax and try to calm down, whatever is going on will be over sooner or later." His smile faded as he tried to convince both of them, he didn't know what was wrong and he felt so helpless because he couldn't do anything about this problem that seemed serious.

He shushed her as he pulled her taunt against his body while he stroked her hair in a attempt to comfort her, with his other hand he wiped her tears away while still attempting to comfort the sobbing girl that sat upon his lap. He scooted backwards so that his back was leaning against the tree, he relaxed his legs and pulled her tighter against him in a tight hug as he softly cooed to her in a attempt to calm her down. "Shhhhhh, it's alright. Everything's alright, you're okay." He rested his chin atop her head as he closed his eyes, a sigh left his mouth as he rubbed the back of her neck then returned to stroking her hair. He had never been in this position or situation before besides when he had to comfort his mother over his sisters death but he had never witnessed something that made no sense to him especially when Catherine couldn't see and began to talk in riddles that didn't make sense either. All of what had occurred didn't make sense to him but he still sat there in complete coolness attempting to calm down a frightened girl that was sitting in his lap crying from fear. He hated that he couldn't do more than just hug her to him and stroke her while whispering that everything was being to be okay in her ear.

He shushed her once more and pulled her chin up so that he could look her in the eyes as he smiled down at her as if trying to coax her to cheer up. "Don't be sorry. Everything will be alright then I'll be the one to tell you so. But I'll keep what you said in mind." For emphasis he tapped the side of his temple, he leaned his head down and placed a delicate kiss on her nose before he pulled both of them up into a standing position. He once again stroked her tears away as he pulled her into a hug that he hoped to comfort her with. He was never good with the ladies, there was always too much drama within their ranks. Back when his parents tried to set him up with a mate the females would fight for him and try to seek his attention though he was never interested in any of them well besides his best friend growing up. The two had been inseparable until she moved on and found a mate for herself. It hurt to watch her fall in love with another and then raise a family but he soon realized he had dodged a bullet and moved on with his life. But he was deeply worried with Catherine, he wanted to hide her from all of the dangers in the world and keep her all to himself but he knew that he could never do such a thing. If he fell in love with her it would doom both of them and cause chaos between the two forces that fought each other. But if he could just live these happy moments for just a few seconds longer then he wouldn't mind at all.

His eyes widened slightly when she kissed him on the cheek though it turned to a half grin as he rubbed her back in a soothing manner, he pulled away and stroked her cheek before disentangling himself and went to tie the unfinished deer onto a good sized branch that he could carry back to the pack. He grabbed the guts and laid them out on the branch as well before he made his way back towards Catherine. "Are you ready to go your highness?" He playfully bowed before her, a cheeky grin formed on his lips as he winked at her, it was fun to mess around like a teenager again. He was so used to taking care of business instead of having moments like these where he could become himself instead of his father. He began to walk back to the pack, carcass in tow as he whistled a nursery rhyme about the moon goddess and the god of the hunt. Together they created the Lycanthropes which was a gift bestowed upon the nomadic tribes that were not use to the freezing cold and were beginning to die off even though they fought hard to survive. It was a happy story, one of their happiest in fact because they could relieve the beginning of their ancestors who hunted in the great wilds with enormous beast as their prey.

A happy sigh left his partly opened mouth as he gazed up at the sky, the weather was excellent and it was barely cold out at all which was a good sign that perhaps the weather would warm up for a little while longer which meant that he could enjoy swimming in the great lake that wasn't far from the territory. "My deepest apologies for keeping you waiting madam." There was a smirk on his face as he glanced over at Catherine, bantering with her was indeed fun since she returned his jokes right back. It lightened his mood and made him carefree like that of a child, he knew when he returned to camp he'd have to change that attitude quickly and appear more stern like his father. It was one of the main things he couldn't stand but he couldn't look weak among his packmates or they'd turn on him in a heartbeat. A weak leader was a bad omen and they would never allow that to happen that's why before his father reached the ripe old age of sixty they'd have him removed and Alex would take his place which wasn't that far away seeing as his father was only 58. The strange thing about Lycanthropes is that they don't look like their age, his father looks like he could be in his twenties maybe early thirties the same goes for his mother.