🖤 Harsh Lesson in the Dark Desert
Discover more from Dark Tingles
🖤 Harsh Lesson in the Dark Desert
Respect your elders, young pups
They were so fucking weak.
He shook his head with disgust as he rode his KTM down the dark desert highway. Ranchers and farmers… What kind of life was that for a pack? No self-respecting Alpha would take his people down that path.
Well, he’d deal with them soon enough. He would set things right. They would join his pack and rise to a new age of glory — or die like cowards. He had no patience for the spineless.
But he needed numbers. They couldn’t spread themselves too thin. Moving against the Northern pack would require a lot of strength, which was something he didn’t have enough of yet.
Recruiting wasn’t easy in a place like this. There weren’t many people around here, and the ones he’d been finding lately didn’t have the right temperament.
Loners and losers. Thieves, rapists, and drug dealers. Potheads, crackheads, and tweakers.
The remote corners of the desert seemed to attract the dregs of humanity. Flying under the radar was already hard enough with the pack’s lifestyle and needs. The last thing he could afford was a recruit bringing the attention of the law into their world.
Now, his newest members were late returning from their first solo test mission. He wished he hadn’t let them pair up to prowl the interstate. He should have sent an elder with them.
Fucking kids these days… They had no respect for the old ways. These two were no different. They thought he hadn’t noticed their smirks and eye rolls when he assigned their mission and repeated his explicit instructions. But he’d given them the benefit of the doubt, which he now regretted.
Where in the fuck were they? Maybe they got lost, or their truck broke down. Or perhaps they got arrested, which would be an absolute shit show to fix.
In the distance, he saw the glow of the truck stops at the interstate exit. He could feel his rage rising. Those two would pay for making him come this far to find them. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed flickering firelight. It looked to be at the base of the rocky bluffs to the south. As he drew closer, he found an old dirt road leading there from the highway.
He killed his headlight as he turned down the rocky trail. With his vision, he didn’t need it, and he certainly didn’t want them to know he was coming. His KTM easily handled the bumps, potholes, and twists. Decades ago, it had been an active route to a cluster of oil wells that had long since tapped out. No one came down this way anymore, so he suspected who he would find.
Connall turned off the road near an old wooden shed, parked his bike, and leaned it against the weathered boards. He’d go the rest of the way on foot. He hadn’t lived this long by making stupid mistakes. An old wolf was a cautious wolf.
The fire was tucked between a giant jumble of massive boulders, barely visible from the highway, except by an enhanced being with incredible night vision. Their truck was parked nearby, and he could still hear the engine ticking as it cooled. Well, at least it shouldn’t attract the attention of any human visitors this time of the night.
He quietly climbed the surface of one of the boulders to peer over it from the top. A small fire was burning below, and two men laughed as they pushed a young woman back and forth between them. Each time she landed in one man’s arms, he would rip an article of clothing from her body. She was almost nude by this point.
They were so distracted by their horseplay that Connall could crawl closer until he was poised several feet above the scene. With a final tear of her underwear, the one who called himself “Lucifer” (stupid fucking kid) threw her to the ground. He laughed as he unbuckled his pants and drew his cock out.
“Oh, little girlie, this next part is going to be fun!” His smaller friend grinned and moved closer to watch the show.
Connall gathered his powerful legs underneath him and sprang out into the dark air. He landed softly in the sand near the fire, sending up a puff of dust. The two men spun around, and he could smell the sudden whiff of fear coming from their skin.
Fucking cowards. So many fucking cowards.
“Boys, boys, boys… What did I say about playing with your food? Have you already forgotten my laws?” He slowly stepped forward. “We don’t do that. I won’t allow it.”
Lucifer zipped his pants up. They looked at each other and laughed before casually moving farther apart. Ah, the attack pattern of craven men. How stupid did they think he was?
“Well, old man. Maybe we don’t care what you will or won’t allow. Maybe it’s time to change the laws. Maybe it’s time for a much bigger change.”
The larger man threw his head back and violently shook all over. As he shifted, his swelling and lengthening arms and legs ripped his clothing and burst through in another amateur move. Who could afford to keep buying new clothes every week? He screamed in agony as his snout shoved forward, and razor-sharp fangs erupted through bloody gums.
The young woman shrieked and crawled backward to press against a nearby boulder. She covered her face with her hands, her nude breasts heaving with panic. As bad as this night already was, it was rapidly becoming something from her worst nightmares.
The small man stepped back and stripped out of his clothing as quickly as he could before he, too, shifted into his Were form. Smart. Connall could appreciate that. But he would still receive a lesson this evening.
Connall slowly clapped. “Impressive show, lads. I am so very frightened. If I hand over control right here — right now—will you let me live?”
Lucifer spread his massive fur-covered arms wide, deadly claws grasping and throwing his enormous head back to roar at the stars above. But, he who hesitates is lost. In that fraction of a second, Connall shifted faster than any Were they had seen in their short lives with the pack.
Sigh… his favorite shirt was ruined now.
With an inhuman leap, Lucifer sprang at Connall across the fire. He was startled when the old Were thrust his closed snout forward to meet the attack and plunged it deep into the jaws of the younger wolf, who promptly clamped down and tried to crush him with his inhuman teeth. The other Were stood by in amazement, finding it hard to believe the fight was over before it had barely begun.
The vitality of youth always crushed the old to make way for a new future.
Connall slammed his massive arms around the younger Were and dug his deep talons into the heavily-muscled back, locking in and holding them together in an obscene embrace. Suddenly, Lucifer roared in surprised agony and opened his jaws. He desperately tried to break free, but Connall thrust his muzzle deeper and held on. During the last century, the old wolf had learned a new trick from an ancient enemy.
Adapt or die, he always said.
The essence of the young wolf flowed into Connall as he devoured his soul. The Were shrieked and whimpered as his life poured into the elder, his back paws scrabbling and digging as he tried to pull loose and escape. His form slowly collapsed in on itself like a deflating balloon, hair shedding and dropping in massive clumps and muscles shriveling and pulling into taut, dry strings.
Connall threw the dry corpse into the blazing fire with a contemptuous shrug.
The other Were had flooded the sand with his cowardly piss. He trembled and shook as he shifted back into human form. He stepped backward and dropped to his knees, hoping and praying.
“Oh god, please don’t kill me. I’m not like him! I didn’t want to do this. I’ll follow you! I’ll do anything you want!!”
Connall strode over to the man’s kneeling form and looked down into his tear-filled eyes. He placed massive paws on either side of his head.
In a barely understandable, guttural voice, he said, “Close your eyes, son.”
Then, he stomped down on the young man’s legs, pinning him to the ground. With a swift ripping twist, he pulled his head from his body. Leaning forward, he gulped the gushing blood that spouted from the quivering torso.
Mmmmm… god. He had to admit the young were delicious. Tender and sweet with a new tang he couldn’t quite place. Probably the influx of exotic cuisine in the past few decades.
So yummy…
He kicked the gory body to one side. Fuck. He’d have to dispose of that later. The old oil wells should do…
His large erect ears picked up the sobbing of the young woman huddled against the rocks on the other side of the fire. Oh, right. Another mess to clean up. Those fucking boys…
He shifted quickly back into his human form, reaching down for his discarded, shredded shirt in the dirt. He used it to wipe his mouth and face, scrubbing the blood from his broad hairy chest as best as possible.
Smoothing his long, dark hair behind his ears, he slowly walked closer and stood over her. He was already feeling younger and stronger from absorbing Lucifer’s essence.
Lucifer. He chuckled. How ironic…
“Hey, I took care of them. You’re safe now. They weren’t supposed to treat you that way. I apologize. Let’s get you out of here, ok?”
He reached down to gently take one of her hands. With a fluid motion, he quickly pulled her to her feet and brought her in for an embrace. The young woman resisted but finally collapsed against him in shock. She quivered in his strong arms, terrified of what he was but relieved by what he had done to stop their assault.
“Th-thank you for s-s-saving me.” She could barely get words out.
He stroked her long, blonde hair and softly responded in a soothing tone. “Shhh… it’s all over now. You’re safe. You never need to be afraid again.”
He snapped the girl's neck with a quick twist of his powerful arms. He held her gently, smoothing the hair back from her beautiful face. She looked so lovely in the faint starlight of the desert sky. Connall loved this moment when they appeared to sleep peacefully — right before he fed.
He was merciful, but he would always be an apex predator. However, these poor humans would always be prey. And frightened prey never tasted as sweet as those who felt loved.
Continue the story using the link below…
