The Challenger

Blue:

I get up and hiss at the pain in my leg. For three days I've been lying on the ground being fed whatever scraps the alpha thinks I should have. What did I do to anger her? My memory loss was caused by the blood loss from my injuries. I slowly began to get a vague recollection of the attack three days ago, but I don't remember angering her.

"Blue?" the small hatchling, Nara I remember, asks with genuine concern, "Is my daddy going to come back soon? I miss him."

I roll onto my good side and wrap my tail around her, "Of course. He has a reason to come back."

"What's that?" she chirps as I wrap my tail around her.

The green hatchling looks at me with pleading yellow slits. I genuinely take pity upon her, she reminds me of my sister and she endured so much trauma.

"You are his reason to return." I assure the young raptor, "He loves you."

"But what if he doesn't love me anymore?" she whimpers curling into a ball, "I made him mad when we were playing hide and seek the other day."

I wrap my tail tighter around her body and assure her, "Don't ever talk like that. He was mad because he was worried about you when he couldn't find you, because he loves you."

"Are you sure?" she snuggles closer to me and yawns.

I hope his reason for not returning is that he was lost and not because he went rogue. I don't want to upset a young hatchling with false hope. For all I know he could be dead. I hope that I am right.

Skaa:

Three days. Three long pain filled days is how long I've been waiting for the three-horn to die. This is the same three-horn that we attacked on the first hunt. My stomach has been empty and my ribs have been aching with every step I make. The mother of the beast is keeping a close eye on her young one.

I creep closer as the three-horn's injuries become a major factor in its starvation. I will bring it down, alone. Mother Alpha is probably pissed that I am alive. I wish I could say the same for Beta's mate. Poor guy never had a chance to have hatchlings.

"I'm telling you Alpha, it's still alive." A different type of female says to my left from the thick forest, "I've seen it hunting about."

I hiss to myself and use my tail to balance myself as I crouch lower to the ground. If they want my kill, I'll fight them for it. I have starved myself for days waiting to pay Blue for what she for Nara.

"Boss wants us back by sundown. Raptor activities pick up around here then." A new male speaks to the female. They don't chirp, squeal, whine, or bark like raptors.

The young three-horn collapses with a bellow as its mother nuzzles its unmoving form. Excellent. I squeal and run towards the body. The mother bellows and retreats from me. I stop at the lifeless carcass and tear into its flesh.

My stomach begs for me to fill it which I do as quickly as I can. My teeth tear into its hide and my knees tremble with the delight of blood filling my mouth. I rip another chunk of flesh from the beast and drive my muzzle in the hole I created.

"Look, a velociraptor Alpha." The female says as I eat enough meat to shove my head inside the three-horn.

"Track it." The male orders as I get a strange sensation in my stomach.

I turn to face the voices but don't see anyone. I stand as tall as I can get and look in the direction of the voices. Two large objects looking like rocks sit in the middle of the field; the scent of human comes heavily from the area. I make ready to investigate but my stomach churns. Before I could move a few steps, my recent meal spills on the ground.

"Did she just throw up?" the female asks as I regain my normal stance.

Of course I did. I ate too quickly and paid for it not long after. What kind of creature doesn't know what just happened? Even a lame brain tyrannosaurus knows what I just did! Did she just call me female?! I bark at the voice and face the three-horn and begin to eat again, slowly.

After taking my time eating I tear a large chunk from the small three horned beast and head to my territory. I successfully waited out a three-horn and didn't get trampled. Mother Alpha should be proud that I did something by myself. I chirp in happiness at the thought of seeing Nara after all this time. If I know my little girl, she is probably worried that I abandoned her. I would never abandon my daughter, adopted or not.

"Skaa, what are you doing out here?" Wylie asks as I enter pack territory, "Humans are on the island, they are taking packembers of the Bludgeoner pack and soon they'll move to ours."

I shrug the grey raptor off and head to the nesting area. Nara is curled in Blue's tail and both are asleep. Not for long. I stand directly in front of the blue streaked female and drop the large chunk of meat from my jaw. Blue snarls at me and protectively wraps her tail tighter around Nara.

"You know it's not nice to snarl at people who bring you dinner?" I tease as Nara perks her head up at the sound of my voice.

"Daddy!" she chirps out and hops over Blue.

I lower my head to the ground and let her climb on my skull, "I've missed you, Nara."

She nuzzles my neck and proclaims, "I missed you too, Daddy. I thought you didn't love me anymore."

I take her tail in my mouth and gently place her next to Blue, "Where would an idea like that come from? I will never abandon you."

I nuzzle Nara and turn to tease Blue, "That meal better be worth it."

She glances at the meat and sniffs it. Her face is covered in blood quicker than any of our kind can run. Blue acts as though this is the first time she's eaten today. I glance at her injured side and cringe at the hideous coloration of the injury.

"Have your wounds been cleaned?" I ask as Blue offers Nara some of the meat, "They're infected. We need to reopen them and clean them properly. Why weren't they cleaned sooner? It is a pack job to assist with an injured pack member."

She looks past me and faintly snarls. Whoever didn't clean these injuries has a lot of pull in the pack. Alpha!

"Why did you order the pack to ignore Blue's injuries?!" I snarl at my mother, "There are infected because of your command!"

She glares at Blue and turns to nuzzle me, "Skaa, you're alive. I…"

I sidestep her and hiss at her, "Ignorant bitch. Answer me! Why did you order Blue's injuries to go unattended?"

Nara runs behind Blue as the tension between mother and son becomes a match of strong willed fighters.

"I thought you were dead." Mother Alpha growls at me, "You were willing to die to repay a female you barely know."

I step closer and growl, "Usurpation. Tonight at the beach. Victor is alpha, loser is banished from the pack."