Born For The Alpha

The last thing Arthur expected as he aimed his hunting gun at a deer was to hear the cry of a baby. Under the glare of the full moon, amidst the sound of chirping crickets in the forest, the animal stood beside a tree, completely oblivious of his presence and the danger he posed for it.

Arthur was about thirty-five years old and of average height with a kind face. Between keeping his gun aimed at the deer, he wondered how a baby could come to be in the woods in the dead of the night. Perhaps, the baby’s mother was with it, he thought or maybe they were lost. Whatever the case, he did not appreciate the distraction. The deer he had in his sights was plump and he could already picture the savory meal it would make.

As he kept monitoring his impending kill, it became obvious that the animal could also hear the baby’s cry. It craned its neck, looking like it was trying to decipher the direction of the sound, at the same time, turning its back on Arthur and leaping forth into the bushes but not before being struck on its flank by a bullet from Arthur’s gun.

It let out an animalistic yelp and Arthur watched the deer blindly gallop forward and clash headlong against a tree. It staggered backwards, only to hit another tree before tumbling sideways, frantically kicking out its limbs for a bit and finally going numb on the grassy ground, blood seeping out of the smoky hole from the gun shut.

Arthur could still hear the baby’s cry and it was coming from the direction ahead of him where the deer currently lay. Holding onto his gun, he hurried forward, following the desperate sound of the baby’s cry.

He marched past his game on the ground and moved cautiously amongst the trees in the bush as the sound of the baby’s cry got closer. It caused him to increase his pace and from moving hastily, he had broken into a run, his heart racing with uncertainty.

He jumped over a log of wood and a fallen tree crossing his path before sighting a hill twice his height. He could tell that the baby’s cry was coming from the hill. Could the child be alone? He wondered. Who would leave a child by itself?

Standing behind a tree, Arthur scanned the area with his eyes and he was grateful for the full moon which allowed him to see better. He could find no one and neither could he make out any movements from the surrounding area.

Quickly, he breezed forward, covering the space between him and the hill. Then he circled over to the other side of the hill and gasped as he found a newborn baby girl on the lap of its dying mother.

The woman looked to be about his age. She was seated on the ground, her back leaning against the hill, her eyes barely open, and her face sweaty. There was blood around her and she could barely move. Her hands were bloody and she was clutching a small knife in one hand. He could see that she had been trying to cut the umbilical cord connecting her and the baby. She had already tied makeshift clamps - a thin cloth around the cord in two places just apart from each other.

Arthur quickly retrieved the knife from her limp hand and cut the cord at the middle of the makeshift clamps. The woman barely winced and twitched but he heard a faint “thank you.” from her lips. He gave her an understanding nod and with a great effort, she slowly began moving her head leftwards.

At first, he was confused but quickly got to discern that she was trying to communicate something to him. He looked around in the direction she was moving her head to, thinking with fear that someone was there but he found no one.

“Down.” she managed to whisper and he looked down on the ground at her left side where he saw for the first time, a paper that appeared to have been torn from an old book.

When she nodded, he picked it up and quickly read the words out.

“In turmoil, a child will be born under the full moon. The moon will leave its mark on her. The moon child is destined to mate the Alpha…” Arthur stopped because the paper did not contain the rest of the words. It had been torn off from that point. “The words are not complete.” he said, looking from the paper to the woman who nodded as if to say, I know and so he stuck the paper inside the pocket of his slacks. He knew that there was more of the prophecy but there was nothing he could do for now.

Staring up at the full moon, the only thought on his mind was hope for the survival of the woman because he just could not see himself as the right person to raise a newborn baby, especially one marked by prophecy.