Chapter 17 Vanessa #3
“My righthand man.”
I frowned. “Are you saying shifters have a pack structure like the one by Dr. Mech that’s been debunked for years?
” Not everyone knew it, but the man’s premise had been flawed from the start.
He had theorized that wolf packs were led by an alpha male and female who fought for that position of dominance along with a whole bunch of other erroneous things.
It wasn’t his fault, though; he hadn’t known his research would be completely skewed by studying captive wolves.
Also, it had been many decades ago. Science and animal knowledge had improved by leaps and bounds since then, especially with the technological advances.
In fact, I remembered Dr. Mech had released a paper refuting his old book a few years ago, but unfortunately, most people never really wanted to learn anything past the basic concepts they were taught in school.
“I’m not familiar with the name, but I know what you’re talking about.
Shifter wolf packs do follow a hierarchy of alpha and beta.
In a perfect world, the alpha would be either a matriarch or patriarch of the pack—gender doesn’t really matter—and everyone within the pack would be either related to or adopted by them by blood or by oath.
The beta also can be of any gender and is generally the alpha’s total support.
Kind of like a vice president. Occasionally, there’s romantic entanglements between alpha and beta pairs, but more often than not it’s simply a deep, platonic bond that existed even before either part of the pair expressed their designation. ”
“Designation?”
“That’s what we call alpha or beta status.”
“So, it’s a genetic thing?”
I greatly appreciated that Leo never seemed annoyed when I peppered him with questions, because I certainly had a lot.
“Dunno. Might be. Might be magic. It’s hard to say with the whole shifter thing.”
Yeah, that did make sense. “You mentioned in a perfect world that the alpha is related to everyone in their pack either by blood or oath.”
“I did.”
“Well... We don’t live in a perfect world.”
He let out the tiniest huff of a laugh, dry but not entirely bitter. “That is certainly an understatement.”
“So, what happens when things are imperfect?” I had a feeling I was brushing up against a topic Leo didn’t really want to speak about, and if he told me he didn’t, I would stop. But I couldn’t help my natural curiosity. Leo was a walking mystery made flesh, and I wanted to learn so much about him.
“Lots of different things. Sometimes awful things happen. We shifters heal fairly well, but sometimes sickness will wipe out an entire family line. Infertility can stop a bloodline in its tracks, especially if they’re purists who don’t want to adopt.”
I wrinkled my nose at that. It figured that even in magical societies there were still douchebags who cared so much about a person’s biology, they’d rather have their family line end than adopt. “And sometimes, there are coups.”
“Coups?” Now, there was a loaded word if I ever heard one.
“Yeah. Some alphas aren’t good people. They try to take over other packs. Occasionally, this is done diplomatically between two groups with dwindling numbers or resources, but some alphas try to force it.”
“Why would someone want to do that?”
“Power. Greed. Having a large pack is a status symbol. It means you’re strong and a good warrior, that you can provide for a lot of shifters, which is becoming more difficult to do, what with humans expanding and improving their tech.”
Part of me whispered that I should drop it, especially with the serious tone in his voice, but I kept going. “Is that what happened with yours?”
“I think so. It’s not very clear. I remember being very young and having to fight, but I can’t remember who or the circumstances.”
What an incredibly heavy burden. I gently squeezed Leo’s shoulder, hoping he’d take some comfort from it.
“I’m sure you’ll remember soon enough.”
“I am sure as well. The question is, do I want those memories back?”
Phew, now, that was a heavy idea and, honestly, I couldn’t answer it for Leo. Try as I might to empathize, I hadn’t been and hopefully would never be in his kind of situation. It was an impossible and complex sort of issue that no doubt was pretty traumatizing.
“If they’re of Ricky and other people you love, I’m sure that getting them back will be a net positive.”
“You’re right,” he said with a nod. “I do wish I knew where Ricky was, because I’m pretty sure you could find a way to break his curse, too.”
I didn’t want to rehash the argument that I hadn’t been the one to break his own curse, so instead I just nodded. “Maybe I can help.”
“Help, how?”
“Well, I imagine you’re not the best with a computer, and I’m pretty handy with ye ol’ search engine, so maybe I could find some clues.”
Leo’s eyes widened. “Really? You would do that for me?”
“Of course! Just tell me all of the details you can remember. I’ll type it into the notepad on my phone and then see what I can dig up. It’s a long shot, but there’s no harm in trying.”
Leo let out a breath that was something between a laugh and a wistful sigh. “You really are incredible, you know that?”
I felt myself flush from head to foot. “It’s no big deal.”
“It is to me.”
Yet again, I couldn’t quite bear the intensity in his gaze, so I opened the notepad on my phone before looking expectantly to my shifter friend. “Lay it on me.”
“I don’t remember much,” he started, graciously giving me another reprieve.
“Ricky’s only a year younger than me, a bit shorter, and wirier.
He’s got dark brown hair and eyes.” He described him some and gave me some other general information.
As he spoke, his tone shifted, like he was remembering something particularly unpleasant and trying not to visualize it.
“He was fast; incredibly so. Worked well to balance me. I’m a bit of a tank but, man, could he cover distance I could only dream of. He had a great mind for analyzing things. I always thought he’d make a great alpha, but I think I remember him saying it wasn’t for him.”
It touched my heart to hear him reminisce about his friend, yet it also filled me with dread because I knew how the story ended. At least for now. He could only avoid it for so long, because eventually he cleared his throat.
“The last thing I remember is someone putting a collar around him. I was screaming for him, but it’s like he couldn’t even understand me. Like he was just an animal.”
“So, he was cursed like you?” I asked, my heart aching for the man. He was around the same age, but he’d already been through so much.
“Yeah, I think so. They led him away on a chain like he was a pet. It was disgusting.”
“Who are they? Do you remember?”
“I… I’m not sure. I know they’re the enemy.” His voice grew surer as he spoke, as if expressing things to me or making things clearer within his own head. “Yeah, that’s what they were. The enemy. I can’t remember how or why, but I know they’re the ones who hurt my pack. Who cursed us.”
“Can you remember anything about them?”
“No, it’s all too hazy.”
“That’s all right, you’ve given me a lot to go on. You can always try to remember more later. I think it’s best not to force these things and let them come naturally.”
Leo nodded. I could tell from the look on his face that his thoughts were still quite heavy.
I couldn’t save him from them, however, and it was a natural part of processing what he had gone through.
We finished up our food, occasionally throwing a tasty morsel to the cats, who had never stopped attentively watching our food despite the serious conversation.
Leo and I lingered in bed a bit longer before finally deciding it was time to get out of bed and get our day started. As he was helping me carry the tray and everything else down to the kitchen, he froze mid-step, his face going pale.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” I asked, worry swamping me.
“I remembered.” His voice was so soft, as if he was afraid he’d scare the recollection away by speaking too loudly. “I remember the name of the man who took Ricky away.”
“Holy shit! Really? What is it?” In an instant, I had my digital notepad ready.
“Chadwicke Plutus,” he said with so much derision I was surprised actual acid didn’t drip from his lips and burn through my floor. “That’s the bastard who collared my friend.”