Chapter 80: Where Is Our Meat?!
The corrupted beast was still twitching when the reddish-black wolf tore out its throat.
Calis’ massive jaws clamped down on the pulsing, blackened flesh and ripped sideways with a wet, crunching sound that echoed through the trees. Dark blood sprayed across the forest floor as the wolf shook the chunk of throat free and spat it out.
The monster finally stopped twitching.
It was massive, and easily four times the size of Calis’ wolf form, which was already larger than the others. Deep. Jagged cuts ran across the monster’s hide where the wolves had slashed it during the fight.
Calis stood over the carcass, his red eyes sweeping across the other wolves to check for injuries.
Two had minor wounds, one was limping slightly, but no one was dead.
That was acceptable.
Three more wolves leapt out of a massive pit they had been digging right beside the corrupted beast, their paws caked in earth.
This was the second corrupted beast they had killed since migrating to this region two years ago. The first had been smaller but faster, and it had taken out one of their younger males before they brought it down.
The wolves hauled the dead creature into the pit and started pouring the dug-up sand back inside to bury the corpse.
Burying corrupted beasts had been drilled into every beast from birth. The earth nullified the corruption as it decomposed. And over time, the ground above the burial site would sprout a single flower that would absorb whatever remained of the corruption. And the moment the flower fully matured, it would wither and die, taking the last traces of corruption with it.
The wolves finished filling the pit and packed the earth down with their combined weight until the surface was flat and firm.
It was done.
Calis turned away from the burial site to see two more of his wolves, in their human form, dragging a trembling male towards him.
The beast man stumbled, neatly falling before they shoved him to his knees in front of Calis.
Draymon.
Calis’ lips curled.
This bastard had cost the pack nearly twenty animals.
Draymon whimpered, "Alpha, I didn’t mean to—"
Calis shifted, and before the Draymon could finish, one sharp backhand sent the wolf sprawling sideways into the dirt.
The wolves who had brought him forward looked at Draymon in anger.
He pressed a shaking hand to his reddened cheek and looked up at his leader with wide, terrified eyes.
Calis towered over the male, his body streaked with dark blood. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with tanned skin that stretched over hard muscles. Dark tattoos curled over his arms, across his back, and around his neck. Symbols of his pack and rank, along with two small black markings that sat beneath each of his crimson eyes.
His hair was black, thick and unruly, falling past his jaw in dark waves. But when the fading sunlight caught it, it revealed the deep red undertone hidden within that looked like drying blood.
His eyes were the same red. They missed nothing.
"How many?" Calis’s words were a low growl.
Draymon flinched. "A-alpha, I—"
"How many escaped?"
"S-seventeen."
Seventeen animals out of the fifty that the pack had spent the past two years building up. Two years of careful rearing and maintaining a herd large enough to feed forty-seven wolves through seasons when hunting was scarce.
Animals were rare after the Collapse. It had taken them years of migration just to find a region where living creatures still roamed. When they had finally discovered this territory, with its forests and streams and actual animals wandering the land, Calis and his wolves had made the decision to stay despite the corrupted beasts lurking in the deeper woods.
The risk was worth the reward. His pack needed to eat.
And now this fool had let seventeen of their precious livestock escape because he had fallen asleep on watch.
Calis grabbed the wolf by his hair.
"You slept while you were on watch! The animals you were supposed to be guarding slipped away!"
"I—I didn’t sleep, Alpha! I only closed my eyes for a moment—"
"QUIET!"
Draymon’s breath came in short, panicked gasps. His face was already reddening from the strike.
"I’m sorry, Alpha. I’ll find them. I’ll bring them back—"
"You couldn’t keep them in a pen while awake. What makes you think you can track them through corrupted territory?"
Tears welled in Draymon’s eyes. "Please, Alpha. Please. I’ll do anything—"
"I should kill you," Calis said quietly. "A male who endangers the pack through negligence is worse than useless. He is a liability."
Draymon’s whole body shook.
"But our numbers are too low for that." Calis released him, shoving him back into the dirt.
He then turned to the two wolves and ordered them. "Take him back. He gets no meat until every lost animal is replaced or found. However long that takes."
The wolves grabbed Draymon and hauled him away. The male didn’t resist. He just kept crying softly, his shame and fear bleeding out.
Punishment aside, it could take months before those animals were replaced.
Calis turned away in disgust.
Forty-seven wolves, four females, fifteen pups, and seventeen fewer animals to feed them.
This could not have come at a worse time. The pack had been careful. They had survived the migration, the corrupted beasts, and harsh seasons. There needed to be enough meat for the young and breeding females.
And one idiot had ruined it in a single night.
Draymon was better off sleeping while fighting a corrupted monster. At least then the creature would have done the job of finishing him off, and it wouldn’t have cost the pack seventeen animals in the process.
Calis rolled his shoulders and turned to the seven wolves who remained.
"We move out. Spread in pairs and cover as much ground as you can. Track every scent. Any animal you find, you bring back alive." His red eyes swept across them. "Do not return empty-handed."
The wolves dipped their heads and scattered into the trees without a word.
Calis shifted back into his wolf form. His massive body hit the ground on four legs, and he lifted his muzzle to the air, pulling in scents from every direction.
He had a pack to feed.