"Hmm, mindless twits," Connor mumbled and glanced at Zev who walked down the steps to the men who were still beefing and smashed their heads together.
They stopped fighting for a moment and listened when he spoke to them, they weren't accomplishing anything by trying to step on each other's tails. The sooner they reclaimed Sirio Lupo, the better.
The full moon struck and none was in their human form, some other days most could control their morphing better than others. But that day, no one was above the other regardless of ranking. Like wandering souls and slaves to the moon, they went out either to hunt or search for a mate or bring the next victims to their knees. They were on each other's way nevertheless, Garouche or Lobisomem.
A few hours after the full moon, the Garouche were in search of prey and Sirio Lupo was wreathing with them, a herd of deer could be seen grazing on the soil near a river. The three rogues crawled low and just the mere sight of them and the smell of blood brought on a surge of strength and energy.
The rogues were also tensed by the next set, three grew into four and four grew into nine, after keying into the ploy to cross the borders against Zev's wish, their number increased.
"So who's actually in the ring?"_The ring was their territory_ One questioned them. Counting their strength, Zev would notice.
It brought about the fear of getting distracted but the thoughts themselves were the distractions. Meanwhile, the Lobisomem were gathering a hunting party, getting ready.
Beta Jackson snoozed after a hard day's work, the people were asking for more hands to renovate their homes after the war, as it seemed, some of the Elders were killed and the rest were afraid that their judgments had put them in jeopardy. Even Efilian was double-minded at the time he was injured but he realized that everything happened for a reason. Slowly, he was getting his toes to move again.
He sat at his home musing, a cabin with decent lighting, fur hanging here and there, his eyes flickered and he didn't seem to stop thinking about Gia. The perfect lover. Well, he thought wrong.
His hand curved on a blade on the desk, the memory burned inside his mind like it was sealed with red hot coal. The remorselessness in her brown eyes when he confronted her was daunting even after two-timing, he blamed himself for being blinded by her charm and he would reckon that he never really knew someone even after years of courting. It still happened to him like a dream, this shouldn't be real but the scar on his 'left side' should be substantial enough to knock him back to reality.
The knock delved into his thoughts and he kicked forward at the call.
"Jackson!" There came the knocks again as he would just have to break down the door to get an answer. Jackson carefully opened the door to Ray, his breathing was harsh.
"Come inside,"
"There's a handful of them, you were right,"
Jackson's eyes searched his face and his hand clenched on the door.
...
Their eyes clashed and the deer had long scattered, the rogues were outnumbered as the pack of hunters surrounded them. "It's okay, we know yous are just youngsters," One commended and trod forward in his human form.
"We don't want any trouble, just turn your backs and leave," An announced saidtop of a rock amid the bushes where the others were poised and indeed they were young.
"Yeah, we don't want no trouble either, either you leave or we beat your ass,"
"Then you leave us no choice," He said.
Jackson was outrunning the sentinels and his ears flicked, taking a right in the midst of trees while birds flew away at the uproar, he stopped at the hunters retreating and the other sentinels changed into their wolf forms with yellow eyes.
"Don't you goons ever learn?" He said adjusting his neck, a few flinched because they knew he was capable of singlehandedly beating them to death. To simply challenge a Beta was a death wish.
"Unfortunately for you, we did and we happen to be taking our interest in the prey," He shrugged.
Jackson's claws grew out "That pact was over the moment you slaughtered tens of us," He pointed.
"Well good riddance to you but for a fact, your old man sealed it days ago,"
"So?" He raised an eyebrow and they exchanged 'what the fuck' looks and growled at him.
"So, we ain't leaving!" The one to talk stepped forward.
"How do you expect to beat me when you can't even speak proper English?"
"How's about you come over here and say that to my face bitch boy?" He gestured to himself.
...
Jet was seated on the floor of the pen cut off from the others, they were so cheap that they couldn't afford to let her occupy a room, the quartz on the wet ground bit into her trousers and she pushed upright looking over the pen, at the others fighting in the open field.
She winced at the splash of water from a bucket, shuddering at the cold water, her hair was stuck to the sides of her face and she sniffled.
"Take a shower, I can smell you from a mile away."
As long as Jet lived here, she couldn't be useless as they put it. Doing some chores might save her life.
For Jet, doing chores did save her life, while she was bunking with a guardian named Lovota. On some other days, she wasn't so lucky to escape a beating.
She used to live with her since she was a year old, she knew Lovota couldn't be her mother by way of appearance, Lovota was a big lady with a round face, barely a few inches of neck and she didn't wish to be trapped in her big arms especially when she had night terrors.
She started to face the reality when she was eight, she had to do her share of menial jobs but when she was being starved and beaten, that was a whole new level of abuse.
If Lovota was having an important guest over, she would have her serve them food as filthy as she was without showers and the ones bold enough to say would reprimand her for poor hygiene and some days, they would blame Lovota. That was where she knew that she was going to have a good time taking hits. When truly, Jet deemed it to be her fault.
If she was beaten to a blackout, she knew Lovota would come up with a ridiculous tale to the salutary about her trying to hunt alone and getting stomped on. If she had friends over, she would refuse and give some excuse for her not to go outside except for when she was training.
Lovota had no kids_Not a big surprise_so there weren't any bizarre displays of affection or gifts. The one named Joe who used to work for her, left early. Sigh. She figured her hatred for her was beyond just being an Omega.
While things could get much worse, she was happy that she wouldn't have to face Lovota's fury anymore.