Extra First Date Pt 4
As a human, I’d always understood that territory concerns were a major problem with the growing werewolf population. The human populace at large still outnumbered werewolves ten to one, but the typical response was to just sort of… shove the werewolf packs into a corner in an effort to forget about them.
Wolves were territorial, but the human aspect of the werewolf seemed to make everything worse. We were like the wolf… and yet, we weren’t.
I thought I’d understood the issues at hand as a human… but as a werewolf, things were different. I felt a huge part of me bristle in rage at the idea of pushing out any of our people, regardless of if they were Black Lake, White Point, or Wolftide.
“Keep your cool,” Aegis commented, likely sensing my rising anger. “We need to handle this as diplomatically as possible.”
“They don’t look like they want to be diplomatic,” I muttered. A large group of werewolves stood across from the attending citizens of Werewolf Hollow, and there was aggression and hostility rolling off of them so heavily, we could sense it from the car. Fortunately, no one had shifted, so we still had that going for us.
“I already know how this is going to play out,” Aegis said, and I looked at him in surprise. At once, I felt authority rolling off of him in confident waves, and there was assurance in his face. His lip curled as he took in the members of this new pack. “I can take one look at them, and I know why they’re here.”
I paused for a moment. I had to fight some other response that was currently flickering to life in my body. “What’s that?”
“Desperation. Werewolf Hollow’s hit mainstream recently. They’re expecting to find no resistance; they’re wanderers, and they’re hoping to be able to come in and intimidate us off of our land. We’re a small town with three packs crammed into a cramped selection of land, mixed in with humans. Many werewolves look down on this sort of settlement.”
I stared at him, and after a moment, Aegis turned to look at me. His expression returned to normal, soft concern filling his features. “You all right? You want to wait in the car?”
“No,” I said quickly, holding up my hands. A deep, heated blush crawled up my neck. “No. Let’s get moving. They’re waiting for us.” I couldn’t tell him that I found him incredibly hot when he was in full-Alpha mode.
The sounds of our doors closing were just about the only sound in the parking lot, and attention from the new pack snapped to us immediately. I imagined, for a moment, how we must have looked to these people: Aegis in his loosely formal apparel, striding in a near lazy confidence across the parking lot, accompanied by his mate in a fancy, green dress.
We either looked really bad ass… or we looked incredibly stupid and out of place. I was hoping for the former.
At Aegis’s approach, the gathered members of the three packs of Werewolf Hollow split like the red sea. Alpha Max, who I knew on sight, stepped up beside Aegis, though just behind; he was a tall, broad-shouldered man, older than Aegis. There was gray in his brown hair and crow’s feet at his eyes, which were usually filled with quiet mirth. He was the easy-going Alpha of the Wolftide pack, the smallest of the three.
The Alpha of White Point pack, a tall, muscular black man with dreads, moved up beside Max. This was Derrick, and he was the Alpha I knew the least about. They were the second largest pack in Werewolf Hollow; all three existed harmoniously… to a point. We were at our best when keeping to ourselves, so I knew that things were bad if they were moving with Aegis in this manner.
Our aggressors stood across from us as we approached the front. I felt both Lawrence and Paul move in behind Aegis and myself. Everything felt somehow right, like a command unspoken. It felt as if something within were commanding us all on where to stand, how to stand, and what position we belonged in. Paul and Lawrence were flanking me, and I was beside my mate- my Alpha.
Being a werewolf was strange.
“Well,” a man said, standing at the head of about a hundred well-worn travelers. Everyone looked weary, and there was a sharp cunning to the man’s features as he smiled, spreading his arms wide at Aegis. “Now that you’re here, we can begin defrosting this unfortunate misunderstanding.”
I looked at him, and I tried to understand him with my new worldview. This Alpha- for that, he had to be- was one of the most unassuming men I’d ever seen, and that instantly put me on my guard. My old employer had looked average, plain, and lacking, and he had caused real damage in the office.
This man was no different. He was about 5’5”, balding slightly, and had a face that could disappear into a crowd. He was a little pudgy about the middle; when I looked beyond him, I saw his beta, a woman who was twice my size in height and muscle. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she was looking at Paul with narrowed eyes, sizing him up. The omega, I could not see, and that was telling. A hidden omega meant the pack didn’t think the rank important.
“Whether this is a misunderstanding or not remains to be seen,” Aegis said, his tone light and even. “I’d like to understand why you’ve decided to breach Werewolf Hollow territory.”
The Alpha smiled warmly, though it didn’t meet his eyes. No one in his pack moved; eyes flicked between all of us, taking in every body, every build, every weakness they could sniff out. “Come, now, do we look like we came for a fight?”
“Yes.”
The man sighed. “A common misconception. We are merely travelers; we are wary of established packs. We do not wish to stay in your territory long, only to put up for the night if we may.”
Aegis crossed his arms. “It’s customary for visiting packs to formally introduce themselves.”
The man paused, then smiled. “Might I have your name first, then?”
My eyes narrowed. This was a power play. He was insulting us by asking for Aegis to introduce himself first; Aegis was clearly the leader of Werewolf Hollow. This stranger was an interloper, and he was inadvertently suggesting that his position was above Aegis’s. It was a play to lay a claim to our territory, and, potentially, to oust Aegis from Werewolf Hollow.
I waited with baited breath, and sure enough, Aegis’s amber eyes flickered like a furnace lit from within. He tilted his head, and the aura that began rolling off of him was that of a volcano releasing building tension in the form of slow rolling magma. Dangerous, lethal, hot, and angry.
“This,” he said, voice pitched low but heard across the lot, “is my land. Introduce yourself, or leave.”
No matter what cards this other Alpha had up his sleeve, he was, in the end, no match for Aegis. I watched that smile flicker on his face, slide off, and the sweat break out on his forehead. A battle of wills was occurring between the two of them, unspoken and silent… and while he was sweating, Aegis was standing calm, lip slightly curled, wrath building.
“We… are the Windward Pack,” the man ground out at last. “We… do not seek-“
“Name,” I said. My voice cracked out across the lot, and the Alpha’s head snapped around, eyes landing on me. They glowed, but they were like slate. “The Alpha asked for your name.”
He licked his lips, his eyes taking me in. His attention darted back to Aegis, and if he had been a volcano, the magma would have been setting fire to the man’s shoes by now.
“Matteo,” he said finally, nearly choking on his own name. He offered nothing else.
At once, the volcanic pressure receded; the metaphorical magma returned to the vents from which they’d been expelling, and Aegis gave him a smile that could have been pleasant. “You are addressing Alpha Aegis Black of Black Lake. I’m the head Alpha of the region. We have no room here for any other packs. You will need to move on and find new territory.”
The man’s eyes flickered with contempt, and I watched as his gaze touched on me once more.
“I hear your people welcome humans into your territory,” he said. I saw contempt on the faces of his packmates, and I began to piece together exactly the sort of people we were dealing with… and these were not people we wanted in Werewolf Hollow. Not at night, and not when they were already heavily challenging Aegis on his word.
“Werewolf Hollow is a hybrid territory,” Derrick said, speaking for the first time since we’d arrived. His arms were crossed. “They are welcome, as are all misfits.”
Matteo smiled beatifically. “Then, are we not welcome as well?”
“No,” Aegis said flatly, and the smile slid off of Matteo’s face.
“We need a place to rest before we can move on.”
“If Alpha Max relents, you may stay within this parking lot,” Aegis said evenly. He tilted his head slightly in the direction of the other Alpha, and I knew exactly what he was doing; he was offering deference to Max that he had not offered to Matteo. The line in the sand was clear: Max was one of ours, but Matteo was not. “Max? What say you?”
“If they will agree to a full guard and a ban on shifting,” Max said, voice low, “then we will not deny them the parking lot.”
“That is not agreeable terms,” Matteo said immediately.
“Then the answer is no,” Aegis said. “You heard Max. Those are our terms.”
“Are you not the head Alpha?” Matteo’s lip curled. “I hear you are all talk. You nearly let a random rogue get the best of you, and your mate is one season shy of a thin blooded milkmaid-“
Immediately, all of the Black Lake werewolves reacted. Before I could so much as process the insult- werewolves of Matteo’s type preferred a class system of sorts, based on the “vintage” of one’s werewolf blood, and the depth of their generational curse- Aegis’s form snapped apart, ripping as quickly and explosively as a too-large rubber band ball. He wasn’t the only one, either; Paul and Lawrence both shifted the second Aegis did, and half the wolves present shifted.
The response from the encroaching pack was both immediate and telling. Matteo did not shift, instead crouching defensively; his Beta leaped in front of him, halfway between snarling and crouching in deference to Aegis’s surge of volcanic wrath. The pack behind him immediately hit the floor, lips curled… and forms in tact.
They had shown who was the true Alpha here.
“What say you, Max?” Aegis growled, never taking his eyes off the cowed attackers. “Are they still welcome?”
“Invitation rescinded,” Max said stiffly. “They are not welcome.”