[TAMIKO]
"What was that, Tamiko?" Danny said, once the alpha and the trio had left.
In all their time in the pack, he had never expected that of all the things the alpha would frown upon, his son cutting the outcast orphan's hair would have been one of them. It was so unexpected and Tamiko was confused as hell.
The alpha had been cruel to him from the moment he had learned to speak his first word and was able to recall everything. This very alpha had somehow managed to make sure everything Tamiko tried to do, ended up as a failure.
The school Tamiko worked so hard to get admission into, alpha Ashton recommended his expulsion and in exchange, he donated more funds to the school. At the pack, he had promised to make everyone's life hard, if anyone so much as considered giving Tamiko shelter.
It was also the very reason that even though Danny was Tamiko's best friend, he couldn't help Tamiko with a residence, and he wasn't also allowed to go see where Tamiko lived.
Tamiko was in a literal hell, and alone.
As a result, the outcast orphan had to live in the woods, isolated from the pack, but he also had to report daily to the pack, to be their community servant. He was leading one of the cruelest lives possible, and no one had ever bothered to defend him, at least not until today.
But then again, the alpha hadn't defended him.
The alpha had come a little too late, but was he a little too late, or had he just shown up on time, to stop them from shaving Tamiko bald, so he could keep on protecting the one secret he had been keeping from everyone all these years?
"I have no clue... I need to get to work, Danny. I'll see you later, alright?" Tamiko said as he picked up his hair from the ground, before heading towards the woods, where his lone shelter was.
"Be careful, Tamiko," Danny shouted, and Tamiko just gave him a thumbs up and a stiff smile, before continuing to the woods.
Having been the outcast, Tamiko was abandoned in all aspects by the pack. He literally had nothing to his name. Instead, he had been allowed residence in the Grealor woods, the very woods that the wolves wouldn't even go alone.
The Grealor woods were dangerous and had so many wild rogues. They were known for harboring the worst of their worst and honestly, sending a young Tamiko to the woods to live there for the rest of his life had to be the cruelest thing that Alpha Ashton had ever done.
Granted, he couldn't exactly babysit the young Tamiko, but he could have at least given him a guardian, just like the orphaned wolves who had no one to be there for them.
The Grealor pack had a stellar reputation when it came to their humanity. They were praised for being the most selfless and most understanding pack in the region, but frankly, it was questionable in so many ways right now.
Of course, the people who lived in Grealor knew that it was all false and a shit show, but for the sake of their pack, they had bought into the narrative and made it such that people wanted to come to Grealor.
The wolves who were kicked out of their homes unlawfully were allowed and given a place to lay their heads in the Grealor pack. This was the same pack that treated Tamiko like he meant nothing to them like he was just another thorn to them.
Could it be that there was something about Tamiko that made them wonder if they could accept the young boy into their home? And if they didn't want him that bad, if they hated and never wished that he would be one with them, why was it so hard for them to let him go?
Besides, it wasn't like Tamiko being in Grealor was making them any better, but what if it was?
What if the outcast was the one reason that this damned pack was still reigning after all the years that passed? Oh, but there were so many secrets with his adoption and acceptance into Grealor that it was almost impossible to understand plainly.
"Just a few more steps, Tamiko," the poor boy said as he walked the woods, his anger making him feel like he needed to punch things silly.
So instead of going to his shelter, Tamiko walked deeper into the woods, to a place that only he knew about, a section of the woods where he went to let out all the pent-up anger he had.
He may have been patient in front of them, but away from the damned pack, and into the woods, Tamiko was something else.
He was the man that Grealor thought he hadn't already grown into. He was the angry warrior who would punch the trees and make nature scared of him. He was someone that Grealor itself was never going to be ready for. He was raging.
It was the only way that he knew that he could let out his anger, because if he didn't, he would find himself murdering someone in the goddamn pack and honestly, as thrilling as that was, Tamiko didn't want to hurt people just because they had hurt him.
Tamiko believed in kindness and he was hoping that someday he would be able to spread love even though he hadn't grown up in love.
"Aaahhh!!" Tamiko growled out angrily when he reached his rage space and started kicking and punching things. He wanted to ruin things and so he did. He broke trees, ruining the wildlife there.
He made it so that anyone who came here would think like they had a monster living with them, but then wasn't that the truth? Hadn't they collectively worked on this and hurt Tamiko more than they needed to have?
"I'll be fine. I have to be fine, just a little more," Tamiko whispered when he was done rating.
He knew that he didn't have that much time away from the stupid pack, so when he was done growing his lungs out, the poor outcast walked back to the pack, to see if there was anyone he could be of service to; to see if there was someone who still wanted to stand on him and make him their slave.
"Someday, Grealor, someday I'll cut more than just your hair," Tamiko whispered softly as he came out of the woods, his hair neater than it had been earlier.
His hair always grew at an alarming rate and he was just thankful that this time, it had slowed down. Maybe it had to do with the mating ceremony that evening, but was that all there was to it?
Well, whatever it was, Tamiko was just glad that it had slowed his hair's growth rate because it would be really hard to explain how the fuck his hair had grown that long and neat when he hadn't done shit to it. But only he knew that anyway, right?
"Hey Tamiko, you're needed back there," one of the older women in the pack said to Tamiko and he just nodded, put on a fake smile, and walked to where he was needed.