Unspecified Rage

Steamroller

Julia's bare feet slapped the floor in a happy little tattoo. She wondered briefly who it could be at the door but opened it without checking. Thankfully no sinister foe stood outside, instead it was Mrs. Baumberg. Julia blushed to the roots of her hair at the Old One's knowing smile.

"Well I'm glad that's out of the way." The Old One announced and stepped inside. "I'm sorry to interrupt you but it was too chilly for these old bones to stay outside while you two romped around the bedroom again. Make us some tea would you?"

Julia gaped at her in stunned silence, then closed hte door and went about making tea. She rinsed the cups that she and Enrique had used earlier out and set out a new one for Abuela. Enrique came out of the room, hearing the Old One's voice. He stood near his Mate and watching the Old One. "So you're alright with this?" he asked, gesturing between himself and Julia.

"Oh yes. I know I should support the Alpha in all his edicts, but lately.... I've found some of his orders quite questionable. I spent the morning calling on all the energies available, Pack and outside of Pack to help with young John's leg. He will keep it, and the scarring will limit his use of that leg, but it will not be amputated. In fact I had to have out Pack doctor take over his treatment so that no one in hte hospital could become suspicious due to his accelerated regenerative abilities." Abuela smiled at Julia's obvious relief. "Because I had already been....saturated in energies that were not Pack, I had the extra strength to circumvent the Alpha's orders for your two to not complete your Mating. He doesn't know you've compelted the bond and he won't know for some time. It's a delay tactic, but it gives you both sometime."

"Why are you helping us?" Julia asked, trying to settle her body comfortably. She'd been pain free for a while, but it was creeping up again, an ache throughout her bones and joints. Not all consuming but definitly distracting.

"Because my Pack is under attack. Adam won't tell you, but we've been systematically loosing our most subordinate wolves for months now. And there's something else, there seems to be a growing maddnes withing almost every wolf. Enrique has experienced it the longest." Abuela gestured. He looked unhappy that she'd shared his secret.

"Maddness?" Julia asked, concerned.

"His wolf. All were wolves eventually face the day when their wolf will take over and the mind is no longer human. It's animal and beastly. They tend to shift and never return to human state. Young Enrique here started to experience symptoms that this was happening far too soon to a wolf as young as he and returned to this country to find me and see if I could help delay the process." Abuela explained.

"I'd been running with the Spanish wolves since my family returned there. In fact that's why I left." he looked at Julia, trying to explain things on different levels. "My parents knew what I was, what my grandfather had been. And they knew to bring me back to his Pack. But then someone killed our Omega wolf. Then killed the Old One there. The other wolves started to feel the maddness growing in them and we had most of our submissive wolves murdered despite our protection. My family moved me back here and we found a Pack that was experiencing the maddness as well, but none of hte rest. I petitioned to join, and they accepted. It's only been in the last year that the murders have started to reach even here."

"Wait. This is a lot to take in." Julia waved her hands in hte air. "First, what's an Omega? Second, are you saying there is a group of were wolf hunters out there? And finally, is this maddness contagious or caused?"

Enrique struggled to try and answer Julia's question, but was still bound by Adam's orders. He snarled in anger at the force keeping him from telling his Mate the truth. His shoulder slumped. "An Omega is a were wolf who has no place in hte hierarchy of a pack. A were wolf that is dominant fights for their position in the pack and protects those that are more submissive. A submissive wolf doesn't have that urge to fight for position, instead they're the glue that holds the dominants together. Without them, all the dominant wolves would start to tear each other to shreds trying to fight for position. Submissives allow the pack to have balance and calm. The Omega wolf is the only wolf that can counter the Alpha. He or she never needs to fight for position, and so acts as submissive, but also is able ot protect and acts as dominant. They help the human side deal with the wolf, the dominant and the submissive and restore that very precarious balance to all aspects. They are a treasured member of the pack due to the specific role they play. But for many years now, the Omega wolves around hte world have been attacked, shunned and slaughtered. Alpha's no longer want them in the packs because they do not have to obey." he pushed hte edges of hte Alpha's order, testing it. "A girl I know can pretty much do and say what she wants to the Alpha. He has tried to order her around and she told him that she'll treat him like any other authority figure, to be treated with cautious respect and otherwise ignored." he looked at Julia intensely.