Baby

A Town Called Malice

"Wait, so your Alpha is a lady?" I asked confused.

"No our Alpha is a man...as only Alpha's can be men...BUT our pack's leader is a Luna, and a Luna who holds the power of the pack is called the Luna Grand." He filled me in. "So we have a Luna Grand, her husband is our Alpha...but again he doesn't hold the power so Alpha is basically just a glorified title."

I nodded my understanding.

"So you had asked about the Omega." He sounded, "that title and position were created a good while back..." he admitted.

He took a deep breath and sighed before he continued, "As I may have mentioned once or twice already...my family established this pack...and like I said, their bloodline basically began to dwindle down to, by their archaic standard...nothing."

I understood he didn't agree with women being seen as nothing but for the sake of his history lesson he'd keep to the Original telling of it, a story I'm sure he'd grown up hearing.

"The newer generation of Wilk's had basically all moved away as most of them were daughters and were married so that meant they had to follow their men...then by chance while traveling my great great grandmother fell in love with a Were that wasn't her mate, and they ended up having a one night stand...but he was a rogue and took off on her...-""

"Okay two questions..." I jumped in before he continued and I was left confused.

He nodded, silently encouraging me to ask whatever I wanted to.

"What are rogues...and mates?"

"Mates can wait a little for the time being..." he said with a wink and a small smile. "Rogues however, are packless Weres...they tend to roam and many are dangerous but not all of them can be called bad."

I understood. But it brought on another question, "I know you're werewolves...but do you ever call yourselves werewolves or just Weres?"

He thought about it, "to be real with you we know we are Werewolves as you said, and I'm pretty sure I told you I was a werewolf last night after the fight..."

I couldn't recall for sure.

But he shrugged, "Weres is the term we use most often because for no other reason it's just simpler, shorter, faster to say."

"Alright." I said, "just didn't know if you were ashamed and didn't want to admit to being a werewolf."

"Us Werewolves are a great many things: strong, powerful, intelligent, territorial, but ashamed isn't on that list...for us Wilk's at least, if anything we have more familial pride than most." He confessed. "Of course pride can be both a good thing and a bad thing."

I silently agreed.

"So..." he said. "Pregnant with a strangers baby, my great great grandmother came back here to stay with family, and gave birth to a son...and as his dad wasn't in the picture she gave her son her last name, Wilk....and he grew up and got married and made the next generation of Wilks, he had 3 kids, and then those kids had kids, and now we're here to me and my generation."

"So Maxen Wilk...you're the pack's Omega?"

He shook his head, "No."

I was kinda shocked to hear him say that.

"CC is..." he said with a smile now. "My grandparents have 3 children: My Uncle Marshall...CC's dad, he is the oldest...then it's my Dad Maverick, and then of course you already know my Aunt Myrtle, well she's the baby of my grandparents kids...So as rank dictates, even though I am older than CC...her dad was born before mine...meaning she is the one who gets to take on the Omega position."

"So CC's Omega, and her dad Marshall was Omega...-""

"And my Granfather and his father before him and so on." He muttered.

I could t help but feel like this was a sore spot for him. Maybe he wanted the Omega Position for himself?

"Does it irk you that your younger cousin is the Omega over you?" I found myself asking without thinking.

"Hell no" he smiled now, "CC is a good Omega...she's a fair leader and everyone around here loves her for her unwavering loyalty to the bayou folks."

I smiled as I thought about the way everyone had acknowledge CC as we made our way through the crowd last night, how they had respectfully made a path for us as we passed them.

"Now we down at the Bayou take the Omega position seriously and uphold it with the utmost respect as the Omega speaks on behalf of us."

"But to the rest of the pack...the Northside doesn't respect the position?" I guessed.

He sighed, "to be honest with you Baby...the Omega position was created as a form of ridicule, a reminder that we had high power once, but now we are considered the lowest in the ranks...Alpha is the the beginning, the future...and Omega is the end, the past...but the way we down at the bayou see it...even the Uptowners have to recognize that she has a seat at the table alongside the Luna Grand, the Alpha, and the Beta...more, those uptown fucks need us...because not only are we Bayou Brooders larger in number, but we're stronger mentally and physically given our strong and long lineage."

I looked at him, "so you said said everyone was protected and treated fairly essentially."

He nodded, "you see, given how the Wilk bloodline was brought back solely on the fact that the name was placed on my great grandfather and not because he was a direct born son of a male Wilk, but a son of an unmarried Wilk daughter...well they see us as bastards, which technically yeah he was...their sole problem with us is that they fear we'll try and take back the power one day, so they try and keep us under their thumbs, treat us like second class citizens, even kept us in the bayou...tucked away and out of sight."

He painted a vivid picture of the divided town and still he continued.

"As a matter of fact...Myrtle's Inn and Bar are the only properties you'll find in town from a Bayou Born pack member and that's because her Mate was some 5th son of an old prominent Were family from a neighboring pack down the way."

"Okay, time out real quick." I said trying to catch up now. "So you're telling me if you're a Wilk or born in the southern part of town you basically can't leave there...you have to live and work only n the southern part of town?"

He shook his head 'no.'

"Technically anyone from either side of town can leave anytime they want...no one is a prisoner to the pack...and those of us from the bayou can actually work on the Northside of town But very few people from the bayou actually work on the Northside."

"If it's a better opportunity why don't people from the bayou take advantage of the opportunity?" I wondered aloud.

He gave me a sad look, "if an opportunity were to present itself I'm sure some of the bayou folks would...as it stands, there aren't a lot of places on the Northside that are willing to employ those from the southern part of town."

I shook my head, it just didn't make sense. There had to be a reason, "But why though?" I asked in obvious frustration.

"We'll probably because of the order."

"The order...?" I sounded even more confused now.

"Well not a direct order specifically...but I mean it's no secret that The Woodrow's and the Wilks don't like each other...and I guess to stay in the Woodrow's good graces people from the Northside tend to look down on Wilks or anyone associated with us...so you can see why places wouldn't hire Wilks...it may not only be bad for business but the company could lose favor with the Woodrow's...and in a town this small, no one can afford to be outcasted."

I looked at him, "I can understand that...but you said order...like a Woodrow actually gave an order for the entire Northside to basically ostracize Bayou townsfolk and the Northsiders just went along all Willy-nilly."

He smirked.

"Just looking for answers." I reminded before he got too carried away and confused my curiosity for a luring sort of fascination.