Alpha Xander: His Contracted Luna

***NEW WOLVES***

When the sun was down and the shadow of the moon was dominating the shore. The boys jumped over the fence and ran on the private beach. Manny was fast and stealthy. The lifeguard barely caught a glimpse of him. The latter was half asleep with his shades over his eyes.

“Wait up bro,” Jamal meandered behind.

“Keep your voice down man,” Manny hushed behind a boulder. “That nigga is gonna wake up and see us if you don’t shut your mouth,” he said lowly, creeping away from the boulder and climbing the lifeguard’s loft.

“I don’t give a-”

Manny hushed, “Shut up man.”

Jamal lowered to the ground, “Don’t tell me to shut up.”

He dropped his knee on a sand mine the lifeguard set on the beach after hours. It burst at his face. He coughed loudly, the sand got all over his hair and underneath his shirt. He scampered around and undid his buttons, making his way into the water.

All the whistling fuss startled the lifeguard. He pointed his flashlight to the hollering body of the bitch, “Hey you, what are you doing here?” he slowly stepped down the steps. “The beach is closed. You are trespassing young man.”

The obvious reason he didn’t rush his footing down the wooden creaky steps was his weight.

Manny crawled away from the steps and jumped away to hug a palm tree bark. As the lifeguard got to the sand, he took a swift move to his footing. Jamal was all soaked and wet in the water. He was enthused by the waves and the floating blue. His body was light and cool.

He turned to the beach to see the dusty kicks in the sand. A big man with a bald cap and a whistle dangling on his bare hairy chest, “Don’t move boy. I already got you now,” he pointed his flashlight straight into Jamal’s eyes.

“Screw this bozo,” Jamal squinted. He swam back away from the direction of the lifeguard.

He dropped the flashlight pulled over his whistle on the sand, and dived into the water like a bald eagle. Luckily for Jamal, the chubby lifeguard was a better and quicker swimmer. Jamal swam on the surface and stared down into the water.

The lifeguard was close to him. He was underneath the surface of the water and swimming right at Jamal.

“I’m screwed,” Jamal’s eyes widened. He continued swimming but that didn’t do him any good. The lifeguard got a hold of his foot. Manny was on the shore staring at them. He couldn’t swim like Jamal. He could not swim at all, “Aw shit Jamal,” he palmed his head. They wanted to get the keys to the inner sanctum. An enclosed area next to the beach where the rich people come to spend their time away from the sun during the day. They ruined the whole fun of a beach; why stay in when you came to stay out on the warm, dry sand and play beach ball, enjoy a mocktail or two with shrimps and delicate seafood they had to offer?

Their plan was down the drain now. Manny was trembling in fear. Men of his skin color would face hard and long jail time if they got caught for trespassing. A theft charge will be issued no matter what. Jamal would suffer the same cause but he didn’t want to leave him behind.

From the extended roof of the inner sanctum protruding to the front of the water, a loud blast hit the ocean. Jamal was sent flying from the impact. The lifeguard was thrown farther into the ocean.

“Jamal!” Manny ran to his friend’s tumbling body on the sand. He hopped onto him before he hit the boulder having a fatal detriment.

Manny turned Jamal over. “Man that was hella crazy,” Jamal smiled with his teeth wide open.

“You stupid nigga,” Manny pushed Jamal’s head to the ground. “You could have died. Literally,” he pointed to the boulder next to them.

“I know it was scary as shit,” Jamal chuckled with a sniffle. “It was kinda funny right?”

“Nigga you be clowning for real.” Many threw a shirt at him, “I grabbed this from the loft.”

“Thanks, man,” Jamal gleaned at the shirt’s collar. “It says, ‘Lifeguard’ though.”

“Shut your ass up and walk fool,” Manny said sternly.

Jamal and Manny rose to their feet to wonder what exactly made that impact.

***

After a moment of watching the turbulent water settle, they got a clear view of a body afloat in the water. Face down all clothed in black.

Manny stepped forward, “What do you think you are doing man?” Jamal held back his hand.

“Saving him of course,” Manny glared.

“You can’t even swim nigga,” Jamal furrowed.

“Then you go save him,” Manny shrugged and jerked away to the shore.

Jamal walked from behind dragging his feet in the sand, “Alright, alright… I will pull him out.”

They were at the ocean front and Jamal leaped into the water. Manny watched him for a second and felt he could do it too. He jumped right in after Jamal.

“Who is the stupid nigga now?” Jamal looked behind him. He was closer to the floating body, he turned back to Manny.

Manny struggled in the water, “Shit, shit, shit…” he gurgled water.

Jamal took his arm right before he sunk, and swam with him back to the shore. The waves hit Jamal’s legs as he stood over Manny. The floating body came ashore with the waves.

Jamal ran to pull the latter away from the water. He turned him over on the sand. Manny came fast to his side. The man was young but was older than them. His brows were thick. His hair was deepened in a black mystique down to his shaved layer of beards.

“You think he’s dead?” Manny shouldered Jamal.

Annoyed by Manny’s peskiness, “I’m not a freaking doctor man.” He scoffed, “Check him out or something, I don’t know.” He stood up and walked away from the body.

“You just gonna leave man?” Manny opens his palms in confusion. “We could frisk him for some flashy shit… even money bro,” he raised a brow.

Jamal threw his arms in the air, “I don’t get funky with all this white people shit.” He hissed, “You the nigga, who is always concerned about shit. All of a sudden you got interested now?” Jamal folded his arms and looked back at Manny next to the body.

The young man on the ground burst out an exhale. His eyes popped wide open. Manny tried to move away but Xander got a hold of his arm and bit into it.

“Fuck!” Manny shrieked.

Jamal turned his back on his friend and ran. Xander shoved Manny away to wallow in pain. He chased after Jamal. Jamal stubbed his foot on a rock and fell on the sand. His clothes were stick wet and the sand sort of molded his shirt and shorts.

Xander pounced on him and bit him in the open unbuttoned layer of his shirt. Jamal felt a rush of adrenaline pump in his body. The pain was felt all over his torso but he just laid on the ground with his mouth a gap wide, and his eyes darting into deep space.

***

Xander hauled them in the trunk of his pickup truck. Manny was like a maimed man in the thick plastic compartment of the trunk. His eyes were drooping, his mouth was drooling and he shivered in shock at the pain in his left arm. Jamal laid limbs apart and his face up. His eyes were taken by the stars in the sky.

It was a long drive till the truck made a stop. It was almost daybreak. The cold was gone and the warm moist air kicked in. Xander had them carried in by two of his betas; Jackson and Eric.

For the time they were sitting on the couch in the living room, Manny and Jamal were silent. They sat upright when Xander walked in and a red-haired lady slammed the door shut. At least now, they have been offered food and something to drink.

“I thought I was dead,” Jamal muttered to Manny in the ear.

“I thought I was dead too,” Manny bobbed his head.

“No one died, you just got bitten,” Xander sat across them. “Most would have died after the bite, but you guys were different.”

Jamal and Manny looked at each other and stared back at Xander. They were fraught.

“Maybe these puny humans are worth a shot in the pack after all,” Faye snickered, sprawling on the sofa.

“They don’t look like Delta material to me,” Shawn scoffed, leaning back in his chair by the fireplace.

Jackson came into the living room, holding the door handle, “We have started a bonfire to initiate the new wolves of the Alpha pack.”

It came as no shock to Manny and Joni. This life would be better than the unfair life in the human world.

“Over to you first beta,” Xander glanced at Faye. “They are under your command as from today henceforth.”

“On your feet,” Faye snapped her fingers.

Manny and Jamal jolted upright staring up at the painting of the burning man.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.