CLAIRE POV
My little delegation approached the border in loose black linens from a nearby stash, dropping some spares that appeared to be for Tammy and Heinz, who opted to stay in their wolves. The clothes were really for me when I chose to drop in.
Sandra stood with the Triplets behind her, Tammy and Hanz flanking the triangle. I watched from the eyes of the Northern Alpha, who was keeping an open link with what I assumed to be his Beta, tucked behind a magnificently girthy oak. The Northern Pack delegates were in a similar formation, but all as wolves.
For a long minute no one moved. The faintest breeze stirred up pine needles and carried the aching sound of ancient trees shifting ever so slightly. I held my breath and resisted the urge to lift my head from the sleeping posture.
Then the opposing Alpha shook from shoulders to tail, and rippled into human form. A long breath of feather flavored air later, his entourage followed suit. The outer wolf dropped a bag at the Alpha's feet with dull brown leather loincloths for himself and the other humans. Their lean wiry bodies were twisted landscapes of muscle, bone and scars. Torn ears and missing fingers on all except the Alpha.
An Alpha that kept his body pristine whilst his warriors were maimed was either cruel or weak. He had a power profile that would have easily regrown the tissue maimed by violence. It wouldn't even take a week. Because healing injuries isn't just about aesthetics. Form follows function; as the form of a body structure is altered, so is the function. Nerves pinched unexpectedly and bones ached with the change in weather. We may be able to grow entirely new creatures in our wombs, but break an ankle...and it will never work the same way again.
Unless your Alpha deigns to aid the healing process with their power profile. It was one of the benefits of binding yourself, body, mind, and soul with a pack. The mark of a thriving society was measured by how it treated the weakest of its members. If this was how they treated the strongest of the pack, I shuddered to think of how those most in need of help were abused.
I squinted at the shadows under my wing with judgement. The exchange was meant to work both ways, but this joker appeared to only be withdrawing from the pack account.
Which was the opposite of myself. I don't think I had ever drawn from the pack, and was not actually entirely sure how. The way I healed my charges was a little different, but according to Becky, it was all just a similar flavor of power exchange.
"Where, is the. Fifth, Son?" The Alpha growled with a voice that crackled like gravel crunching underfoot. He used the right words in the right order but put stresses on the wrong syllables and used pauses all the wrong places. It was jarring to listen to and puzzling to decipher.
"Challenged and defeated." Sandra stated in a flat tone. The Fifth Son had been her mate and she had declared war to avenge his death. Just because she had no little recollection of any of this didn't make it any easier. I linked a soft mental nudge, and to my surprise, she leaned into it. It was interesting to see what came together, when other things appeared to be falling apart.
The Alpha of the Northern Pack did not react immediately, which was a reaction in itself. The normal manifestation of grief presents like a sucker punch that reaches in through the gut and crushes the heart. But this guy just cocked his head, bright eyes calculating away behind stark features.
Eventually the head shook in a mockery of sadness, even as the ghost of a smile lit up the downcast expression. Greasy brown hair plastered to the hollow divots carving out the bone structure of his face. If he spent most of his time as a wolf, maybe he just didn't have a handle on the nuances of human expression.
Either that or he was unable to emote on a level I understood. He certainly had other hallmarks for sociopathic megalomania.
"Yet not, claimed. By the, successor. Not enough, trouble are you to. Be worth, taking?" He walked up to stand menacingly over Sandra. "I will. Challenge. Alpha now for, pack and territory. For favor." He patted her condescending on the head. If I was reading this situation correctly, this Alpha was trying to say that challenging me to take over the pack would be a favor?!
"I don't think you want to do that." Sandra replied. If she had been unsure before this, being bullied by this mad-creature poured concrete into her resolution and all cracks disappeared from her voice. "It's not me you will be challenging, and it's not a favor to be under your power."
The ripped nails traced against Sandras face, to rest under her chin, and grip it in a menacing fashion. "Bring. Them to where I regain, honor for my pack. Trade. With a, weak, pack is weakness. All. You must learn respect. Or die. And die." He said, flecks of spittle flying from the last words as control gave way to excitement.
Now, I am no expert on how to disassemble the linguistic mess that this twisted creature was positing, but it sounded like he was threatening my pack.
I spiraled down from the treetops. My mates protested loudly as I injected myself into the situation. If you don't have something helpful to say shut up or I'll shut you out. I snarled viciously. They shut up.
Sandra wrenched her face away from the mad creature and stepped back. The Northern Alpha pulled his mouth into a smile that sung of violent thirst for victory. I dropped into the place Sandra had previously occupied. Taking my time, shifting effortlessly from owl to human. Allowing my legs to extend first, then feathers shimmered and stretched to wrap around torso, head and arms. Physically, I was comparatively tiny, the man was at least 7 ft tall. Even with this differential, I stood undeniably unshakable in the face of his attempt to radiate power.
It did not improve the situation. In fact, it very quickly spiraled out of control, if it were ever truly in control anyway.
"Owl? Owl! Is not even, a. Real pack with such. Leadership. I challenge. You now. Travesty." The maniac yelled in my face. Spitting the words with trails of saliva, but I didn't have a chance to react to how gross that was. Because in the time it took for the thundering of his voice to recede through the trees, twenty scarred and scraggly wolves surrounded all of us. Spaced out in an inescapable ring as they circled around us two wolves deep.
Not good. Not good at all. I snatched up the spare clothes and stuffed my shaking legs unceremoniously into the loose navy blue slacks and long loose shirt.
"You Accept fight. Challenge me or all of them fight your champions!" The Northern Alpha roared in my face again.
Clarification needed Sandra. I linked, hoping against hope that I was not correct in my assumptions here.
So either you accept the challenge and fight this Alpha now, or the seven of us faced down with the fifty something wolves here. Alpha Claire I need you to know right now that I did NOT set any of this up. She linked back rapidly, racking her brain for ways to deliver us through this unscathed.
I know Sandra, the thought never even crossed my mind. I linked back reassuringly. The thought, in fact, had crossed my mind, but she didn't need to know that. Not when it could very well be one of the last things someone said to her about her.
In the deafening silence that followed I tried to link my warriors in the pack. Maybe I could stall the fighting for long enough to get backup.
Nothing.
I couldn't reach them.
I couldn't reach anyone that wasn't within a few meters of me. Shitshitshitshitshit.
I spun around with panic pounding a frantic rhythm through my veins. Sandra, the Triplets, Sammy and Hanz were still there. I could see them, but not connect with them. My eyes scoured the surrounding evergreen trees for some way out. What I did see were two roughened men way up in the branches with clunky radio looking devices. Cackling at some injoke as they raised the radios above their heads and cranked up the dials. Pine needles raining down as they bounced on their perches with enthusiasm.
Radios. Radio tower. Altered mental abilities.
A flurry of connections made themselves so quickly I got mental whiplash. Altered frequency altering my pack abilities. Lupine and canine creatures are more susceptible to certain frequencies. Brain waves are just frequencies. Brain waves can alter the chemical messages in the body. Radio tower in my territory. Radio tower taken out right before Sandra broke into the territory of the Blood Moon Pack, and catalysed the reaction that resulted in me as their Alpha.
The only thing that made sense for this attack here, today, was if the Northern Alpha had set up the tower. Had planned to remove the frequency at some point anyway, and let the pack tear itself from the inside out... Then challenge for territory.
That was the ticking time bomb that had been hanging over the head of the pack. I had been wrong. I had been so wrong. It wasn't just Sandra that had been using, the whole pack had been drugged out on these frequencies.
"No cheating tiny Alpha. Pack linking gone." A manic laugh followed the statement, it reverberated around my head until all I could hear was the undulating sound. An immeasurable amount of time passed as I floated on the psychedelic roll of colorful noise.
The idea of cheating eventually surfaced, and I latched onto it. He was cheating. Not me."Yet you are surrounded by your chosen?" My tongue felt thick, like it knew how words were meant to taste, but couldn't quite conjure the right shape of flavor. My tongue was cheating.
Kneel. The bastard linked, pushing the power of an Alpha command into the demand. It had the same strength of all three Triplets working together, which should have been easy to simply brush aside. Instead, I found knees knocking in an attempt to stay strong.
It would be so easy to just give in, all my body wanted to do in that moment was please the Alpha who had given the sommand. All my legs wanted to do was to sink to the floor and kneel before him. But that way lay madness, because although my body was in the thrall of his command, my mind was still my own. Mostly. Enough to know that weakness in this moment would be giving up on so many more ceratures than just myself.
Enough to pour resolve into the shaking limbs and cut the command trying to bind with my power of will. All of a sudden the pressure pulling at my legs abated, washing into the ether of unspent power, but a crushing sensation about my temples reamined. The vise tightened fractionally until I was sure my head would crack right down the middle. Brains would spill over shoulders.
That is the Alpha Challenge Claire. You must accept it. Alexi's voice sounded faintly underneath the pain, muffled through the veil I kept between our souls.
"I accept your challenge." I spoke through gritted teeth and the vice disappeared. Leaving me with a tired wave splashing through clenched muscles, and a memory of pain. I gripped the hard packed earth with dusty toes, rather suddenly unable to recall what the challenge was, or why it was so important. Fog misted through the landscape behind my eyes, obfuscating what was sure to be pertinent details of the current situation.
Why was I here?
Dappled shadows played on the Northern Alpha's skin; Patterning his chest with the scars he would have had. Should have had. But why should he have scars again?
Glittering eyes stolen from the night skies shone in the face of the Northern Alpha, telling my altered mental chemistry that something else was at play. Play. I liked to play. With air currents and basketballs.
Claire? Came an echoing, one word, refrain that bounced around the fog.
Alexi? Your voice is bubbles. I chimed along our mate link, which I opened up to its fullest extent for the first time forever. Why hadn't I done this before? The rub of his soul against the soft swirl of my own was enchanting. Especially since my head was empty of the voices that made me whole. Empty. I danced, laughing through the cavernous spaces of my mind usually filled with wolves, a little bat and one lumbering bear.
Sandra and the others were being dragged to the outer rim of the fifty chosen fighters. They glared at the mangy wolves that had taken their human hands in the wolfy mouths, but did not object to being led elsewhere. Sammy and Hanz were head butted along behind, drooping tails twitching with agitation. I hope they were going somewhere nice. Alphonso started singing a bawdy drinking song that was entirely at odds with the sharp and pointy expressions being linked by the Northern Pack.
Shit, Xavier, she has been drugged. I used to get the same orange haze over the links from Sandra before... before it all. An echoing voice sliced through my dance and I huffed petulantly at the interruption.
At the angry frightened words. I don't like angry frightened words. Not when the alone spaces were cold instead of nice and warm. Not when the echoes of his hard consonants resonated over and over and over and over.
Maybe if I just put the angry voice in the black box of nothing. There. I patted the top of the box with my flat palm. Time out time. All better now.
A flying elbow connected to my unsuspecting nose with a sickening crunch. Hard legs swept into my knees at the same time, which crumpled immediately and completely. Providing just the right circumstances for the ground to introduce itself to my spine with a jarring snap that radiated up my spine. Right up to my head, which bounced painfully against the flat packed ground and blood fountained from a broken nose.
I swore loudly as sharp colors and nerve pain drew the world around me back into focus.
Terror flooded through my veins with icy shards as the elbow covered in my blood fell at an alarming speed, aiming at the soft flesh of my neck. I rolled away and jumped to a crouch in an unexpectedly reactive move. Finding myself watching the Northern Alpha howl in pain as his elbow met the hard ground and promptly dislocated itself. The expectedly squishy flesh of my neck having been removed from where he had lain it out so nicely.
Claire Xavier's voice rang with an air of command. This was good. I needed help. I had no idea what was going on here. Your mate link has not been shut off. Let Alexi back out of the box.
I opened the black box and suddenly the pain of a broken nose and life threatening terror was gone. The world was all ok again. Just look at the sunlight streaming through tiny chinks in the canopy. Barely getting though, but trying their best anyway. Look at them go.
What a silly little scare, I certainly had terrible daydreams. To pair with my terrible night dreams I supposed. That was balance.
The loin clothed man was jumping around and screaming in what looked like rage, but had to be excitement. Or a new kind of interpretive dance. Either way it looked like fun, so I copied the moves, and added my own howls to the soundtrack. Puffs of the dry forest floor clouded around our feet as we lept to meet each other on the impromptu dance floor.
Then a flash of white on the ground caught the entirety of my attention. It was beautiful. I bent over to pick up a rock that looked like a lumpy owl.
Issy would love this.
** A/N There is a piece of my soul in everything I write, and would really appreciate a vote or a comment about something that stood out to you, or made you smile :) **