Alex moves to Chase’s side as soon as he stops them. Kiera pulls away from Chase, the recent affection dissipating at the sight of others. Alex nods a silent greeting to her before he turns towards Chase with a sheepish grin. “What’s this meeting for again? I don’t pay attention to anything people say.”
“Mock Alpha discussion” Chase’s fingers curl around Kiera’s, trying to pry them apart. “See who is fit to be the future alpha.” She keeps her hand fisted, refusing to let him hold her hand. Chase’s eyes narrow, making Alex frown, his right eye twitching.
“Ah…okay. Dude, are you constipated or something?”
“Yeah, Kada-wait? What did you just ask?” Chase pauses, warm fingers stilling against Kiera’s. She snorts in amusement.
Alex chuckles. “Nothing man, nothing. What are you doing anyway?”
“She won’t give me her hand!” Chase exclaims, spinning around. He jerks her hand up, showing her closed fist. “Do you hate me!?” he asks desperately. His fingers fumble over hers, looking for a way to pull them open. Kiera watches him closely, but aware of Alex’s sad, wistful smile behind Chase’s big fat head. Her fingers uncurl. “Huh!” he barks, shinning with achievement. His fingers curl around her’s gently, thumb rubbing her knuckles.
“You should really hold a girls hand tighter” she informs before pulling her hand free from his grasp easily. Chase whines, trying to snatch it again. She slides her hands into her pockets, turning away.
“Ki! Don’t be mean. I want to-“ before he can finish the doors the Alcrest manor door swings open.
Jordan and Eleanor step out. Eleanor looks regal as always, dark hair pulled into an intricate bun at the back of her head. Jordan looks much more rugged next to her, 5 o’clock shadow starting to show and his flannel shirt torn at the hem and hanging open to a plain white shirt underneath. “Good morning young wolves,” Eleanor greets voice smooth. “Please come in, the meeting is about to start.” Her heels click as she wonders down the hallway, but Jordan doesn’t move.
“I expect you all on your best behaviour” his eyes flick over the group, eyeing most of the girls before flicking to the guys. “Or your worst.”
Kiera follows the Alpha into the house, eyeing the others around her. Only half of them seemed around her age. Others were well into their 30’s. Chase’s hand suddenly finds her back, and when she glances at him in annoyance, he’s not looking at her. To one side are a pair of guys jolting each other, knocking into people as they play fight. Chase glares at them. After a long second Kiera looks turns away from Chase.
It takes a while for the large pack of young people to pile through the double doors into the small meeting room. Every chair in the room faces towards a low table set in the three quarters of the way up the room. Nearly a full circle, but the back wall is empty of chairs, like a mini stage or a wide walkway. The area around the table is cleared, and a something lays on the surface, something white and green.
Kiera finds a seat at the back, watching the crowd shift and move. Chase sits beside her, hands to himself again. Her patient’s ebbs as the last few people file into the room and find seats. Chase leans back on his chair, crossing his ankles. “Wake me when this is over?”
Kiera ignores him. She spots Dermot in the corner furthest from the door, leaning against the wall silently. He doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. He’s nothing but a spectating shadow, eyes drifting over the room slowly. When they finally meet hers, his eyes are dark, endless black. Desire to look away overrides her brain; as if she has to look somewhere else or her eyes will ripe from the muscle to do so. She dares to keep looking, feeling the brush of someone in her head, like a shadow of thoughts and feeling that aren’t her own.
Dermot doesn’t smile, but something in his eyes flashes amusement. His fingers lift just enough for her to see over people’s heads, his fingers flicking towards himself, one finger after the other. As his hand drops Kiera hears the door click shut behind her. She shivers.
“Not everyone can be an Alpha” Jordan announces, voice bellowing over the cosy room easily. Kiera turns away from the warlock, relived. Jordan’s situated behind the table, standing tall and assertive. His shoulders are back, head high, arms slightly turned out at the elbow as if trying to make himself look bigger. Ice trickles through Kiera, poking the wolf at her with cold fingers. “Not everyone can lead a pack. Males are the alpha’s because that’s the way it is, the way it always has been. In the bible men came first, and in wolf society, so shall we again. Men are more dominate, more aggressive. We don’t let emotions cloud our judgement.” His eyes cut over the crowd.
“But an Alpha can’t all be about the muscle and dominance he possesses. He has to be a born leader, someone who can make sacrifices, someone who thinks for the pack. He can’t be a push over, can’t be lead astray by absurd desires and dreams. Therefore, this meeting is to see who has the potential for being an Alpha. For this meeting, all males are equals, regardless of age, up bringing or rank.” Jordan grabs the map suddenly, lifting it beside him. The corners fold in, but he ignores it. Blue dots are splattered over one side mostly, and blue ones stretch around the very outer square which appeared to be the wall. “The red dots are where the Revokers are spotted, the blue places where they have gotten out. It’s been 5 days since the last attack, three times that of normal rest time. Discuss point of access and ways to improve the security. Females must not participate.”
The room stays quiet and still as Jordan steps back, positioning himself against the wall. Eleanor’s blue eyes flicker around the room.
Someone in the front row leans forwards, chair tipping towards slightly. “The red dots are congested around the west area. They must be getting in around there.” He stands, pointing at somewhere on the board. “Maybe there getting in the same way they get out. Over the walls.”
“That would be too obvious” Someone else says. “Within a minute someone on patrol would stop them. Hell, no one needs to be on patrol to see that, it’s in clear view of everyone”
“You got a better idea?” the first snarls.
The second guy argues back, but Kiera’s distracted by the person in front of her. A guy named Andrew a few years older than her. He used to come around to see Jess. “I never get this. It’s not like anything’s ever done. It’s always the same, there’s a boring argument for a few hours, someone gets angry, a fight breaks out. We all get kicked back outside and that’s the end of it til a year later when it happens all over again. His friend agrees curtly
Kiera tears her eyes off the man’s head, looking back to the main discussion. Someone else had jumped up and joined, but Kiera can’t be interested. She glances around wishing she had something to do. She would have settled with counting tiles, but the floor is carpet, a plain, pattern less carpet.
Dermot seems anything but impressed with Andrew, as if he had heard him from across the room. He turns away without saying anything.
The discussion stays boring and slow for another hour it seems, the same idea’s being mentioned again and again. Eventually Alex blows out an annoyed breath. “If we are having problems seeing the Revokers, why don’t we get rid of all the trees and bushes? Than would make them easier to spot. Can we leave now? We get it’s boring to be an Alpha, why can’t we leave?”
Kiera snorts, leaning around Chase. “I’d rather not cook burn to a crisp in summer while on patrol, that’s why the trees are staying. And as for you being bored; really? At least you can join in with the argument; I’m not even allowed to add my opinion.”
“You have a lot of those” Chase grins.
Kiera only smirks at Chase, flashing her teeth briefly. “I do. And one of my opinions is that I think you should stop pointing out the obvious. But, that’s just my opinion”
Chase rolls his eyes while Alex snorts. “Not letting females in on the discussion. Stupid” he snarls, the motion to so odd from Alex that Kiera leans back, surprised. “Sexist bustards. You know, if ‘Mr big bad alpha’ had a girlfriend, I bet he would listen to her opinions about this!” He says slightly louder than Kiera would dare. She curls back, almost waiting for Jordan to charge through the seats like a bull and attack Alex for disrespecting his roll. She glances at Chase, catching his gaze and share a knowing look.
This was about Romy.
“Calm down man, this isn’t-“
Alex’s chair smacks the ground as her jumps up, suddenly looking like a werewolf wanting a fight, rather than the calm, easy going Alex Kiera knew. “Hey!” He shouts over the rumble of the crowd. “What’s with not letting females into this discussion? Are you sexist? Females could be the reason the Revokers could still be attacking! Just because their ‘emotions cloud their judgement’ means jack shit! Females should be allowed in this discussion because they have idea’s too! They are not just things to look at!”
“Alex!” Chase hisses, pulling him down.
Alex points an accusing finger at Jordan who was standing straighter now, already growling. “You don’t look out for the pack! You look out for males, if anyone! You don’t care-“
Suddenly Kadar’s standing too, a twisted smile marring his pretty face. “Sit down kid, you’re just sooking because your girlfriend was sent away. You shouldn’t be included in this conversation; you’re just like the girls. Pathetic!”
“This has nothing to do with Romy! And you’re sexist too, just as much as he is! No, you’re worse than him! You only think about yourself and think females are lesser!” Alex spins to Jordan again, words hard to understand from all his growling. “You sent her away because you were scared. You don’t let them talk because you’re scared females are better!”
“Alex, sit down,” Chase tugs at Alex’s shirt, looking panicked.
“You were scared Romy was going to challenge you for Alpha, you were scared you were going to lose-“
Kadar barks a laugh. “Alpha? That little puppy? Are you kidding!? She was all bark and no bite! Girls can’t be alpha’s, males are stronger in every aspect. Maybe you should listen to your new girlfriend and sit the hell down because you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Chase’s jaw clenches, but Kiera’s already turning on Kadar, wishing she could tear him apart. “Oh shut up Kadar! You’re all bark and no bite too! You’re nothing but a little show pony, a pretty boy prancing around! Alex and Chase had more balls than you can even dream to have!”
Kadar snarls. “Letting your girlfriend fight for you Chase? Always knew you were a wimp, but come on!” He turns on Kiera next, eyes flashing a brilliant, fiery orange. “As for you, bitch, you wouldn’t know what a pair of balls looked like. I’d invite you to have a look at mine, but I’m scared you wouldn’t know what a dick is either!”
Chase’s hand appears on Kiera’s shoulder, physically stoping her form lunging out of her chair. He looked beyond vexed, and like he was about to have a heart attack. Instead she snarls, nails digging into the plastic chairs. “You’re a dick, full bloody stop!”
“You little-“ Kadar starts, but Alex growls looking just as ready to fight as Kiera.
“Shut the fuck up, Kadar! You’re a sexist pig and everyone knows it! You think you can be alpha but trees havr more brains than you-“
“Brains?! He doesn’t even know what a brain is! His head is empty except for the shit that keeps falling out!”
Kadar stalks forward, but a guy pushes against, him, almost stopping him. It takes two guys to hold Kadar still, but he continues to snarl. “You have a lot of nerve, the both of you! I could ripe yous to shreds within seconds! Put you out of your misery cause you obviously have something wrong if you’re so fucking delusional!”
“Sit-“ Chase pleads before Kadar has even ended talking, but Jordan’s suddenly Alpha again.
“Sit the hell down!” He bellows, and as if she’d been slapped Kiera drops into her set. Her arm hurts were chase had been restraining her and the blinding fury wavers. She drops her eyes, unable to look at Jordan. Guilt and regret drown her, smother her til she feels like her chest is being crushed. “I said sit!” Jordan repeats, making Kiera glance at Kadar.
Ever so slowly, he lowers himself into his seat. Cody reaches for him, as if wanting to calm him, but his slaps her hand away. She doesn’t look worried though, and turns to Jordan, but the fury spikes again in Kiera. He had slapped her, only her hand, but the fire rages. How dare he lay a hand on Cody!
Jordan’s dominance demands silence, respect so much that Kiera feels her throat close. Her eyes flick to him again, watching as he takes in the room. “This is ridiculous. You can’t even discuss this without a fight.” He pauses, eyes suddenly stabbing into Kiera. “Take a look, females letting emotions rule them.”
Heat flashes across Kiera’s cheeks and she lowers her eyes, unable to meet anyone’s eyes. In a single second the fury and angry vanishes, and the shame sets in hard. Foolish. Foolish girl. Ruled by emotions. Her throat squeezes painfully, and she wishes everyone would look away, but the eyes stay on her, watching and harsh, stabbing her with the disappointment and hostility. Foolish.
Jordan leave the attention on her for a long while, as if waiting for her to sweat or break down, after a satisfactory time of Kiera looking pained and shameful he motions to Alex. “Love struck male who hasn’t realised that the female was too aggressive. She didn’t know her place, and for a moment, neither did he”
Kiera’s relieved, feeling the eyes swivel off her. Chase looks red, hands clenched as if he’s the one being stared at instead. Quicker than Jordan had for her, he moves on to Kadar. “And the boy on his high horse. He thinks he knows everything, that muscle and words are all you need. But he has a lot to learn” Jordan stops, looking across the room flatly. “No one, I repeat, no one, in this room is fit for Alpha,” His eyes roam over room, looking at everyone quickly.
“Get out of my sight, all of you, except you three”
Chase stands. “Ki…”
“Just go” she glances up, forcing a smile to hopefully ease him. “Don’t worry, my opinions got me in trouble again, that’s all.”
He pauses but nods. He punches Alex’s shoulder lightly before disappearing into the throng leaving.
She feels Alex’s eyes on her, curious and shameful. She doesn’t look at him though, and doesn’t say anything. Instead she listens to Jordan and heads up the front when he calls them. The room’s empty and quiet. Eleanor watches without a word from a few feet away. Dermot’s silent and still in his corner.
“Thankyou for being my examples” Jordan shakes his head, hands in his pockets. “But I still have to yell at you all for your insolence.” He’s quiet for a while, than steps forward, invading Kiera’s space. She ducks her head, heart picking up speed. “You,” he snarls. “Need to learn your place. Every year I say no females partake, and every year, someone has to disobey. Learn your place, female, because if you keep forgetting who the Alpha is around here I’ll send you away too. Get out, and you too Kadar; wait outside”
Wounded, Kiera turns tail and almost stumbles over chairs in her hurry to escape. She couldn’t breathe, knew she had to obey quickly. Her muscles are working without command, pulling her out of the room quickly, but not fast enough. Only when she’s fled through the door does some of the fear and panic dissolve.
Before she can get out of the house altogether, Kadar grabs her arm painfully, ripping her around to him. She snarls, but he lets off a sound just as challenging and Kiera falls silent. Fear flashes through her briefly. “You think that was funny? You know what else is funny?” He suddenly drags her to his chest despite the clear disapproval. “When I teach you to respect those stronger than you,” His hand claws against her thigh, fingers digging in her thigh. She stiffens, feeling exposed and dreadful all at once. “And then you’ll be screaming the right things, not some bull-”
Suddenly the door opens, and Dermot appears. Kadar doesn’t move his hand, doesn’t seem fazed that he’d been caught. Kiera struggles, feeling both relief and fear. “Let go of her, Kadar. You are not the Alpha, you don’t get to do as you please.” Dermot reminds.
“Yet” Kadar grins crookedly. He leans into Kiera, nails biting into her leg painful. “Don’t worry, I’ll get another chance to teach you things in the future. I won’t forget, and you better not either” His nails, suddenly sharper, pierce her skin. She jumps. The cry gets caught, and when Kadar realises her she almost sprints down the hallway in shame for being touched like that, shame from not fighting.
Chase isn’t waiting for her outside, and neither is Cody.
She hurries through the snow, feeling blind as she stumbles through the knee high icy powder. When she finally looks up at where she’s going she’s surprised everything’s so high, than realizes she’s shifted without thinking about it. Her eyes slice through the frozen world, and she suddenly spots something familiar and feeling of relief flicker. Chase disappears behind a group of trees, tail low and paws silent on the ground.
I wasn’t the only one to shift so quickly she thinks numbly and starts after him. She hasn’t caught up to him by the time they near the wall, the pale sandstone rising into the grey sky overhead. Out of nowhere Chase freezes and glances around.
Kiera cocks her head, watching as he looks around quickly. She moves closer, wanting to ask him what he was doing, but not really caring. She wanted to grab him, pull him to her and just apologise. He had tried to stop her, tried to make her sit and she didn’t listen. If she had, maybe Kadar wouldn’t have touched her and made her fee low and dirty. If she apologised to anyone, it would be him.
She doesn’t get a chance to catch up through. Suddenly Chase jumps forward, and like a curtain had been thrown over him, disappears. Kiera freezes, stunned for a minute. She lurches forward, everything forgotten suddenly. She lowers her head, sniffing around as she follows his scent. She whines, pawing at the ground questioningly.
Suddenly a bush gives out, revealing something dark and deep, leading into nothingness. A whole. She paws at the edges, forcing the resisting branches aside. They poke and prod her, but she ignores it. The whole is fairly large, big enough for an average sized wolf to get through. Kadar would get stuck she thinks harshly.
She hesitates, than, carefully, she pounces into the whole, scared she’s going to smack face first into something, or worse the whole was much deeper than she thought and she’d breaks a leg or two.
Her paws smack the ground quickly though, sending a jolt of paint up her legs and into her shoulders. She’s suddenly dissatisfied as she overbalances, and she crashes onto her shoulder. Pain laces up her side and radiates up her spine as her hip whacks the ground hard.
Ugh, shallow whole, hard ground, she makes a note. Pulling herself up right she peers into the darkness. She wonders forward slowly, surprised when the snow gives out to dirt, cold, very hard, very frozen dirt. A small light from the end coax’s her, but she glances up at the again covered hole. Pale, patchy light flitters through the finger like branches of the bush.
The hole is colder than outside, her paws numbing against the ground.
She’s relived when she finally reaches the end and can see an irregular circle of light, and beyond it, a pale flat sky . She pulls herself out easily, sighing in relief.
Outside, the she pauses. Slowly she turns around, her ears lowering when she spots the wall towering over her. Confused she turns back around. She was on the wrong side. She takes in a deep breath and follows Chases scent, the unmistakeable honey, pine and wolf. Nothing else smells like wolf, but a wave of scents attack her. Deep, musty scents and others thick and woody. Bugs and birds, rabbits and animals she can’t name.
Uneasily she wonders forward, following Chases smell into the forest. It’s oddly quiet without the chatter of people, the sound of wolves running and constant playful growls of young werewolf fighting.
She’s so on edge, so out of her element, she jumps and growls when something moves in the snow. The sound patters out as something small and red darts into a tree. She watches it climb into the tree, bushy tail hanging down. It scurries into the trees quickly after pausing to peek at her. She keeps searching. A flock of birds startle out of the trees as she yelps, thorns caught in her thick fur. Somewhere something wonders through the forest. Fear flickers through her.
Revokers? Or something else? Some sort of predator?
She whines again, glancing around. She’d never wanted Chase so much. What the hell is he doing out here? Trying to get himself killed seemed like the only reasonable answer.
She doesn’t wait for whatever moved to come to her, she heads off after Chase at a jog, doubling back when she loses his scent or followed an old one.
She lifts her eyes, again looking ahead. Chase obviously knew where he was going, he’s been here before. Something stabs at Kiera’s heart, making her feel once again foolish.
Should I go back? She wonders quickly, but when she glance back the wall is nowhere in sight, making her feel worse. What the hell am I doing? She screams in her head. I could get lost, or killed or- She shakes her head. Pull yourself together, Kiera, don’t be a coward.
But the fear doesn’t go away. And suddenly she knows why, but it’s too late.
Her head jerks up, a growl rips from her throat in half fear, half anger. A sharp prick stabs into her flank, making Kiera snarl. She jerks around, clawing the dart free. She looks up, baring fangs at the figure in the tree. Kiera leaps against the tree, but doesn’t even make it halfway towards him. She lands hard, her knees giving out under her. The snow does nothing to soften the blow as she lands on it like a sack of potatoes. The world spins as Keira struggles free from the ice. Her legs feel like jelly as she plants them against the ground, refusing to fall again. Something heavy hits the ground behind her.
She growls, but the sound patters out. The world greys, the light seeping away as the darkness invades. A foot presses into her ribs, almost knocking her over. No she thinks brokenly, refusing to go down. Desperately she makes herself stand. Falling was wrong, shameful, weakness. She will not give in so easily, she would rather die.
A foot smacks into her behind this time, forcing her legs to buckle as her tumbles forward. The pain is dull, fleeting as her nose hits the hard ice. Fruitlessly she tries to move her numb limbs, trying to stand.
“Hush, wolf. Stop fighting it” A hand curls into her fur, neither comforting nor threatening.
Sadly, Kiera has no choice in the matter. The darkness folds over her, pulling her into numbness before she really feels the pain lacing down her neck and spine.