About two hours later, they left the cars in a car park that was apparently where most of the Bloodmoon pack kept their vehicles.
"We're gonna go fast from here on, if you're too weak to keep up and end up getting lost I'm not coming back for you." Korū's introduction wasn't even an introduction, until he added, "It's just rocks, trees, and grass, mostly. It's pretty easy to get lost so if you don't want to you better keep close." With that, he was off, heading into Mount Tsurugi.
"I mean, we could just follow his scent trail… can't be that hard." Alina mumbled, stripping and darting off after Korū, with the three Alpha-to-bes hot on her trail.
Hikari, Kumori, and Kaito didn't strip before shifting because they had clothes at their houses within their pack's territory. They went after the guys and Alina, easily overtaking them due to their familiarity of the terrain. Kumori was the fastest, though. She did have wings after all, one of the perks of her grandfather's dragon blood overpowering her werewolf blood. Also because Kaito wasn't even trying to keep up.
Alina rolled her eyes and caught up with them, the top of her wolf's head only reaching their shoulders.
She caught Cole's wolf looking inquisitively at her. "Fuck off." She mindlinked him, highly defensive. He quickly looked away, a small puff of air escaping his wolf's mouth as he somehow managed to sigh.
Snarling ahead caught their attention. Two guards, in human form, stood in front of a small cave. Korū faced them, growling. Apparently they'd stopped him when he was going to enter.
"We need to confirm that you're a member of the pack," one guard said, earning an annoyed sound from Korū.
Kaito huffed and went over to his nephew, Kaguya clinging to his shoulders. The guards blinked when they saw him, then retreated into the trees.
Korū had a disgruntled look on his face. Hikari and Kumori, both carrying Kage and Kagami respectively, gave him wolfish grins as they caught up.
Alina, Linda, Cayne, Cole and Liam all approached cautiously.
The guards didn't reappear. Korū entered the cave first, leading the way into a network of caves and tunnels deep underground. He gestured to a collection of small dens. "Shift back in there," he mindlinked them. He entered one and reappeared in less than a minute, walking away after saying something along the lines of "I'm gonna go find the Alpha."
The rest also quickly got changed, and stood around awkwardly to wait for their hosts to do something.
Kaito had gone off to find the other Epsilons because he still had stuff to do.
Korū mindlinked his friends and the two "idiots", as he called them, that his Alpha wanted to see them. Kumori led them to one of the bigger caves, pulling open a door to reveal the Bloodmoon pack's Alpha sitting at a table, Korū standing in front of him. "Alpha," Hikari and Kumori said in sync, bowing before assuming straight-backed stances next to Korū.
"Evening, Alpha." Linda greeted, stepping forward. "I'm Linda Jones, the Gamma of Tranquil Bloodlust. This is one of my warriors, Alina Moore. And these are…"
"Cole Sawyer, Predators' Bane."
"Cayne Dylan, Moonlight."
"Liam O'Connor, Silver Arrow."
All three of them introduced themselves. The Alpha's face remained as expressionless as chiseled stone, though his eyes seemed to gleam. "Moonlight?"
Korū looked like he wanted to speak, but kept his mouth shut, staring straight ahead.
Everyone was silent.
The golden eyes of the Alpha slid to Korū. "Explain."
"Alpha. The Moonlight pack sent him to make peace, he means no harm."
The Alpha's mouth quirked up into a small smirk. "Peace? After they killed so many of our warriors?"
"Alpha-"
"Silence." He called two Etas over and gestured at Cayne. "Take this one to one of the holding rooms."
"Alpha, wait," Korū growled. Narrowed eyes landed on him. "He hasn't done anything wrong. You can't just dump him in one of the cells."
The Alpha seemed to consider it, then said, "Fine. Show all of them to the guest rooms. You," he glared at Korū. "Come with me." The Alpha swept out of the room, heading towards an arena-like structure in the middle of the entire tunnel system, Korū following with a muttered "fuck".
"Oh, and you may let them watch our 'training'," he told the Etas.
Hikari and Kumori relaxed from their positions, looking too worried for it to just be a training session.
Alina's eyes glinted from the challenge of a challenging Alpha. Everyone else mirrored Hikari and Kumori's concerned expressions as they all trailed the two of them solemnly.
"You know the drill." The Alpha said curtly.
Korū hissed softly and padded to one end of the arena, facing the Alpha. One of the Zetas stood at the side, then yelled, "GO!"
The Alpha pounced, a sword in his hands, the blade slicing through the air towards Korū. Korū parried the strike with his own katana, teeth gritted.
A brown-haired woman with startling blue eyes came up to stand beside the Zeta. "Fukuya. Don't you think this is going a little too far...?"
The Alpha, Fukuya, clearly had heard, but chose not to respond.
Alina narrowed her eyes at the scene, mouthing the words, "What the actual fuck?" Linda laid a hand on her tense shoulder, and everyone watched on.
"Does he always go around fighting his own pack?" Liam asked quietly. No one answered. "Oh."
Korū was bleeding from his left shoulder and cheek. Fukuya stood in front of him with his sword raised. Eyes gleaming with fury, Korū lunged, slamming the hilt of the katana into the Alpha's jaw. The man snarled, kicking him in the stomach, earning a deep slash in his leg.
If anything, Alina became stiffer, and Linda frowned at her. Even Cayne wasn't reacting too badly. That is, if being white as a sheet is "not bad". At least he wasn't stiff as a board.
The two dropped their weapons and shifted, snarling at each other. They were locked into a tussle of glistening fangs and thorn-sharp claws, though Korū was at a disadvantage. If the entire fight was based on size, he would have died already. He was pretty large for his age, but the Alpha was an entire head taller.
More blood spilled onto the arena's floor as both males tore at each other, neither willing to give in.
A few minutes later, Korū was on the ground, pinned, the Alpha snapping at his neck.
"Surrender." The Alpha commanded through mindlink.
He got a glare.
"He's not gonna give up, is he?" Cayne muttered.
Linda pursed her lips.
Alina sighed and surprisingly, her entire body relaxed, causing Linda to glance at her in shock. "Thought it might happen too fast." Linda heard her whisper, seemingly to herself.
Just then, the Alpha growled, and went for the kill.