Fleetfoot

Asakiri remembered the day Fleetfoot appeared on her border. She was young and barely in her prime, had barely secured her position as the new alpha of her pack when she scented him. His scent was unmistakably that of a murderous pack who dared to call themselves an empire. They were known for invading territory of nearby packs and slaughtering any and all wolves who defied them or they deemed "unworthy". If a wolf caught a "noble's" fancy they would be forced into their harem, and if they already had a mate that wolf would be torn apart for the crows. Puppies would be taken away, and while they claimed they brought them to new homes with the help of the enclaves friendly bear…evidence had been found implying otherwise.

So when Asakiri found Fleetfoot, unmistakably one of the despicable empire's "nobles" (as evidenced by his somewhat fancy adornments), she nearly ripped out his throat right there. She ended up stopping mid attack though, because to her surprise, she met no resistance whatsoever. She pulled back after she heard him whimper pitifully and realized the young wolf was barely an adolescent! She growled and tried to chase him off only for him to grovel at her paws and begged her to either take him in or to kill him, as he could not go back to the empire. She assumed he was exiled and tried to reject him but he shocked her further by revealing he was the first born son of their alpha (or, "emperor" as they liked to claim) and had run away as he could not stand the empire's brutal tactics. He cried that he could be useful to her however she wished, that he knew a good deal about healing and herbal remedies. He even quietly whispered that his bloodline had always bore good stock if that was what she wanted from him. That had made her recoil in shock that he'd even think that would have been expected of him.

Asakiri had found herself torn. She could not send him back to the empire in good conscience. He'd probably just flee again or kill himself if the empire didn't kill him for running away. Or even worse, break him and mold him into the kind of prince they wanted. She'd sooner fulfill his wish and mercy kill him. But she found herself unable, as she was barely older than he and she so much of her young fearful self in him…if she took him in, she'd be risking everything. The empire would search for him and if they found him in her pack, they'd leave no survivors. She decided to take him back and ask her predecessor Namara for advice. Namara has offered her wisdom as the first alpha of their pack whenever needed after all. Plus if Namara agreed that the young wolf should die, she'd have her healer help her mercy kill him. Surely their trusted healer and friend Frost would be able to come up with a mixture to help him painlessly cross over. When she informed Fleetfoot of this he appeared slightly disappointed but also relieved she would not send him back and agreed. She had him roll in a patch of wild herbs to hide his scent so her packmates wouldn't rip him apart first.

But when they reached her camp she was met with earth shattering news. Her dear friend and parental figure Frost had been out collecting herbs when she had been killed by a cougar, and her apprentice that had been with her was not long for the world either. To make matters worse Namara was missing and it seemed the Cougar had a mate and kits of its own, and were clearly claiming their home for themselves. They'd all be prey for the cougars.

She'd burst into the medicine cave with Fleetfoot at her heels right as the apprentice breathed her last. It was a horrific sight. She doubted even her elite guards would have survived. They tried to find Namara in time but soon discovered Namara had become the cougars prey as well. They could not stay in this territory any longer. Swallowing her grief, she gathered the pack and had them leave the mountains to find a new home. They went east, Asakiri purposefully taking them further away from the empire's borders. Her pack, shell-shocked, barely questioned the foreign young healer their new alpha claimed she had found and brought along. After all, they needed a healer, who were they to deny help?

Somehow in a twist of fate, Fleetfoot went from a self-exiled and tragic prince, to prisoner awaiting death, to pack healer and then to the alpha's best friend and confidante. Through tragedy, Fleetfoot had been spared from his fate and earned his place in Asakiri's pack, where he was safe, fed and happy…for the most part. His feeling for Asakiri were becoming problematic. He knew he would have been killed had the cougars not come, but he felt no grudges about that and understood why that was Asakiri's initial choice. It had been wise and kind, in it's own way. No his feelings for her were taking a dark turn in a different way.

He was finding it harder and harder to resist his growing desire for his savior and his irritation that she had a mate bond with another male. His hatred for her mate grew every day as did his lust for her. Unlike the empire, wolves didn't easily break their mate bonds or have harems. The only exception was the stud male, but even he could not touch females with a mate bond. He found his thoughts frequently filled with "what if's" featuring him finding Asakiri as an older more confident crown prince of the empire and being able to claim her for himself. He'd have kept her safe, fed, healthy, she'd have his pups, she'd have been his empress…if only he hadn't fled the empire. If he returned to the empire and took his rightful place as crown prince he'd have the power to make her his. He'd just have to kill a few wolves to make that happen.

To his credit, he had balked at that thought when it first came. He was a healer. Not a murderer. He fled the empire for a reason. How could he even consider? And yet…he kept returning to that thought and soon found himself wanting to rule, so he spent his free time making plans, making traps for his pack mates in hopes of landing Asakiri's mate in his den where he could "fail" in his attempts to heal him. He found himself killing neighboring pack wolves to numb himself of death. He even began to mold the pups and young adolescents to become his followers under the guise of training. He had convinced Asakiri that while having one healer was good, every wolf should know a little bit about healing, and when she showed hesitation, he played on her fears and guilt by mentioning it was just in case anything like the cougars happened again. She had quickly given him full permission after that.

And so he had brainwashed the unsuspecting young thoroughly. The way the empire raised their young, but less brutally just in case. After all, the brutality scared him off and he had to be careful. He replaced brutal punishments with quiet and psychological manipulations, those who acted wrong would be outcasted by the rest of the group and treated as though they were saddened by their fate, and when they corrected themselves they were rewarded and treated as though they were picks of the litter. It worked to a terrifying degree. Soon all the pups and adolescents were HIS to command. Sure, they considered Asakiri the alpha female, but Fleetfoot was the alpha male and first in command to them. To top it off, they believed Asakiri's mate was evil incarnate who had stripped the glorious empire's crown prince of his divine right and would face punishment. They were Fleetfoot's loyal puppets and worshipped the ground he walked and desired nothing more than to destroy whatever irritated or stood against him, but they did as he wanted gave no indication of their true allegiance to the rest of the pack. They would get their moment eventually.

But after failed attempt and failed attempt, the wrong packmates kept getting stuck in his traps (he'd killed the last two who did so in frustration before they could be rescued from the trap.) he could bear it no longer and sent a messenger pigeon to the empire with a letter revealing his survival and framing his departure as him wanting to find himself and better himself so he could be a worthy ruler like his father. That he was now ready to take his place as crown prince and future emperor. But that he had also found a female worthy of him but could not claim her or return as they were being kept captive by a savage pack as well as his devoted attendants. He knew the empire despised "savages" and would thoroughly destroy Asakiri's pack while sparing him and his followers if they believed he was being held captive. They would also not believe Asakiri was in charge, as female alpha's were scoffed at in the empire. No, males were in charge, females were not. (Even his mother the Empress had little in the way of power. She was mostly a glorified figurehead for other females to aspire to.) Asakiri's mate would be assumed to be the alpha and killed. Fleetfoot wagged his tail at the thought, hoping the soldiers would let him do it. The soldiers wouldn't dare harm Asakiri, the wolf their future emperor had deemed worthy of him and would become their future empress. Even if she attacked, they'd merely subdue her. And if she attack him, (as he expected she would, she was always a feisty one) she'd be subdued and put into "training". He would have his empress one way or another. The thought made him giddy. He kept up his appearances in the pack, no one suspected anything of him. He just had to wait for his soldiers a little longer.




Poor Fleetfoot had no idea he had inherited more than just his father's royal blood. After so many generations of inbreeding, Fleetfoot had been doomed to lose himself to the empire one way or another. Truly, it would have been kinder and better for all of wolfkind if Asakiri had killed him that day. But she didn't, and they were about to pay the price…