Disclaimer: I don't own AMC's The Walking Dead. Everything belongs to whoever owns them, my wishful thinking aside.
Authors Note #1: This scenario is based vaguely off the end of 6x08 where we last see Denise and Alpha-wolf walking out of the door of the house and into the street. – Two part of my "WOLVES NOT FAR" series. And sequel to "Salt of the earth (type of dangerous)"
Warnings: Spoilers for 6x08, kidnapping/hostage situation, Alpha-wolf is not a good person, Denise is a puff pastry of goodness. I think you guys know how this type of stuff works out, animal death, canon appropriate violence.
Sow thy seeds (and learn thy lessons)
Chapter Two
Her hands were hunger-clumsy, but eventually she was able to mimic a basic knot snare. He showed her twice through before she picked up her length of rope. Forgetting to keep her distance as she slapped at his hands when he leaned down and accidentally blocked the way. So engrossed in the lesson that nothing else registered.
She was different than the others, the rest of his pack had not been like this. She was bright – intelligent. But forgetful and easily distracted. She asked questions and argued over where she thought they should place the final product until he bluntly asked her if she wanted to go hungry again. Watching her simmer with childish resentment as he showed her how to set it up, how to hide it in the leaves and camouflage the thin rope in the connecting branches of a dying birch.
She made his chest rumble.
But not with a growl.
It was…confusing.
He didn't like confusing.
It wasn't something a predator tolerated for very long before the balance had to be reset.
She would learn.
She would be pack.
He'd make sure of it.
Once she was pack everything would make sense.
While they waited he told her about the best times to set snares. How to make a dead-fall and how, with time, she would know the best spots to lay down her traps. He showed her with his hands how animals, even prey animals, had patterns - needs. And that once you knew them, you were one step closer to catching them.
By the time dusk fell and they checked her trap, the fat ground squirrel they'd managed to trap was almost free of the knot. Squealing and writhing at the sight of them as it pulled frantically on where its hind leg was still caught fast. Already twisted and broken from where the crude snare had pulled tight.
She hesitated. Distressed. Weak. Eyes leaking misplaced kindness like blood from a freshly slit throat. Chapped lips making a soft sound as the animal squealed and screamed at their feet. Inches from being free from the noose and dying slowly in the underbrush.
For a long moment he was prepared to let it happen. To let her learn. To let her go hungry tonight so she would never make the same mistake again. But for some reason he was already moving. Like the idea of her going hungry again was unacceptable on a level he didn't understand. By the time he'd internalized the flaws in his reasoning he already had the writhing animal by the scruff. Twisting until he felt the bones strain, then finally snap, going limp in his hands as she flinched. Looking up at him with wide eyes, one hand pressed virginal and horrified against her mouth.
He bared his teeth at her. Angry.
"Tomorrow you'll do it yourself or you go hungry," he told her, throwing the animal to the dirt at her feet before wheeling around and heading back to camp. Refusing to look down at his hands as the dirty tips twitched spasmodically at his sides. Fighting something he wasn't sure how to name as she choked on the beginning of a word before suddenly thinking better of it.
The aborted skittering of her scrambling to pick up her dinner and follow him was the only sound either of them made for a long time.
He handed her the rest of the spit after he sliced off a choice chunk – rich in fat – for himself as his share. A right that was his alone by status. It was a smaller cut than he would have normally taken from his pack's usual hunts. Judging her need greater than his. Still, even though he made no move to take more she ate fast and furtive like he might snatch it from her at any moment. Wary as the banked flames hissed and spat between them.
He just chuckled as juices dripped down her chin. Watching her through the dark curtain of his hair as he imagined what she might do if he just reached over and grabbed the rest of it. Would she fight? Bite? Would she challenge him? Or would she simply hunker low and whine? Prodding and annoying like a yearling pup in need of an attitude adjustment?
Every possibility was fresh.
Peaked and interesting, just like her.
She wasn't as quick of a study as he'd been.
But she was still breathing.
It took her four days to learn how to free herself.
The change in the way she sat was obvious, giving the game away before she'd figured out how to play the first piece. But otherwise she was smart. She waited until she thought he was sleeping – napping in the sun outside the den on the hammock his Beta had set up before the weather changed. Creeping up on him with a branch trembling-rough in her hands, ready to hit him and make run for it the moment he was down for the count.
It wouldn't have worked in the first place but it was bold.
It was her first real flirtation with violence and he was captivated from start to finish.
It was a war game.
A courtship.
A challenge!
All he had to do was wait for the perfect moment and-
He smiled without opening his eyes. Grabbing her arm the moment before the muscles could flex downwards. Feeling the wind as the branch nearly grazed his cheek. Catching her in the act as he used her weight to counter his own and let her pull him upright. Laughing into the wild of her hair as she cried out, struggling.
"Good," he hummed, enjoying the frantic pulse fluttering against his cheek as he dug the sharp of his nails into her joints. Forcing her to drop the branch before his knife returned to its favourite place – pressed liked a lover against the creamy-pale of her throat. "Now, do it again."
The look on her face when he tied her hands behind her back deserved a frame.
It was two days after that that she got free again. This time he rolled her in the dark of the den as the rock meant for the back of his head missed by a breath. Letting the damp soil and stinking blankets muffle the sound of her screams and frustrated yells as he dragged her out into the moonlight and dropped her against a tree. She salted the ground with her tears while he looped a fresh length of rope around the trunk, chest heaving as she refused to meet his stare. Stubborn and angry-stiff.
He held back the words that wanted to spill out as the steam of his breaths left him in a series of harsh, aborted pants as his side burned. Suddenly wanting to tell her everything. Wanting to describe even the warm thrum of pride that was rising in the back of his throat, threatening to choke him from the inside. Finding the contrast almost too much to bear as the sensation of ropes chafing across his skin burned like he was in her place. Like he was back there, desperate and biting on down on his own tongue to quell the rage building in his chest. Cornered and wounded as the Old Alpha laughed and kicked him hard enough that his ribs creaked. Dry heaving as his empty stomach rebelled again and again.
She didn't need his words.
She needed to learn.
And she would.
This time he tied the ropes tight enough that her fingers paled like angry ghosts. Lips twisting with discomfort as the circulation oozed sluggish-slow as she tipped her head back up to look at him. Filthy, wild and wrathful like some long forgotten god of old as he met her eyes coolly, completely unprepared for what happened next.
"You whimper in your sleep," she told him lowly, hissing it through her teeth like even she could taste the disgrace coated on them. Eyes glinting with furious, unshed tears.
The words were harsh.
Designed to wound and put him off balance.
An attempt to even the playing field and soothe her anger all at once.
They were not ineffective.
He didn't talk to her for the rest of the night.
But not because of anger or pride.
The truth was he didn't know what to say.
Authors Note #2: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Big thank you to gunslingerdixon for the dialogue. – This story is now complete. I am considering continuing with this series if there is interest. My aim is for this series to be read one story after the other in chronological order. And while it might seem odd to do it this way instead of by chapters, the point is that reach story is set out like a stage in this relationship. In where Denise and Alpha Wolf are at, both personally and in regards to one another and how they develop through the series.