Mine, ch 21
A/N; So, here we go another chapter. Thanks to everyone who's still reading this, I hope you're still liking it. Enjoy, peeps.
Once they were even with Randy and the others, Max and Jeremy stopped, grudgingly greeting Randy and completely ignoring everyone else.
“That's not very nice,” Ted murmured, semi amused at the insult.
“It's definitely not,” Mike agreed, a low growl in his voice. He exchanged a look with Shelley and they both looked at the brothers with identical smirks and disdain written on their faces.
Shelley's eyes were black and Mike's were brown and glowing, and Shelley's fangs were out, but it was clear to anyone who was looking that they were both pissed and ready to do something about it.
Randy noticed but didn't say anything to them; he knew they weren't going to start anything until after they found out what was going on. Besides, even though it should have been Sabin giving the dirty looks, Max and Jeremy had insulted them -and everyone else. A beating was the least of their problems once they were done talking.
“You know, I get the feeling that he didn't get the message the first time you beat it into him,” Chris said offhandedly, his own fangs down and his eyes black, reacting to the anger he could feel from his mate.
He was practically daring Max to say or do something, and when Max stepped forward and snarled, he stepped right into Chris's trap.
“Now, that's really not nice,” Chris commented, squeezing the hand he had around Max's throat tighter. “You might want to rethink that before you end up castrated.” And the look on his face told Max he meant every word of it.
“Alpha,” Max managed to choke out, his face red. “Please.”
As much as he didn't want to, Randy put a stop to it.
“Chris.”
Only one word but it was enough to make Chris drop him and sit back down. But he kept his eyes on Max and his fangs didn't retract.
“Max,” Randy went on, his voice cold. “Showing such blanket disrespect for someone who ranks higher then you is a big mistake; one even a pup knows better then to make. If you do it again, I'm not going to stop him from teaching you a lesson that you won't forget. Understand?”
Max nodded, scurrying back until he was by his brother. He was sullen and Randy had the distinct feeling that he resented the fact that he had to go to him for help.
“What's going on?” Randy asked, looking past the brothers to Dan and Josh. He made sure his voice was even and maybe a little curious; the last thing he wanted was for them to think they were in trouble.
“We were running the western border,” Dan explained, taking the lead once him and Josh had greeted their Alpha and everyone else.
Randy noticed the way he stood slightly in front of Josh and the confident way he spoke to him.
You're right, Randy told Chris. He's definitely a dominant, and a good one, too, judging from the way he's trying to protect Josh in case I lose my temper. Once he grows into it some more...
Of course I was, Chris told him smugly. And I've got my own theory on him and Josh.
“Josh told me that he saw these two running for the border,” Dan sneered, looking at Max and Jeremy. “Running like someone was trying to kill them, but that no one was following them.”
“I didn't see anyone after them,” Josh confirmed when Randy looked at him. “It's all flat and clear by that side and I've got pretty good eyes.”
“Better then mine are,” Dan murmured, sharing a quick smile with the younger wolf.
“He said he had a funny feeling about it, so I told him to stop them until I got there. Even though they technically didn't do anything wrong it seemed suspicious to me, especially if it was setting alarms off for Josh, too.”
“It was a good plan,” Adam assured him when he paused. “You should listen to your instincts; if something feels wrong it usually is. You're ranked now, too -you have to learn to deal with things and then bring them to one of us if it feels like we need to know.”
“That's what I thought,” Dan said, relieved. “So, Josh told them I said to stay there and they fought him on it.”
“Did they?” Ted asked, raising an eyebrow.
Disobeying an order from someone who outranked you was worse then not greeting your superiors. The list of beatings the brothers might be receiving was slowly getting longer and longer; if they weren't careful they were going to be in some major pain.
And judging by the looks on their faces, and the desperation rolling off of them in waves, they knew it.
“Max went after Josh, and while Josh was busy with him, Jeremy jumped him from behind,” Dan went on, a growl in his voice.
“He interfered in a fair fight?” Jay asked, disbelief and disgust both very evident in his voice.
While it wasn't unheard of for two or more wolves to attack a stranger in their territory -all strangers were dangerous, and were treated as enemies until proven otherwise; if they survived that long.
Amongst the pack, if the wolves were close in dominance, it was against their laws to interfere. One of the things that held the pack together -any pack- was the hierarchy among them. If everyone interfered, no one would be sure who ranked who and the fighting would be catastrophic.
The only exception to that was for mated pairs, and even then unless they were submissive, most of the dominants let their mates handle themselves.
To break that basic law was unheard of. And Randy knew that the chances of Max and Jeremy walking out of here, at all, were slowly dwindling.
“That explains Jeremy's neck,” John mused, nodding toward the healing bruises on his neck. “I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you got Jeremy off of Josh.”
“Yeah, I may have over reacted,” Dan said, a little sheepishly. “But once I got them separated, and made sure Jeremy wasn't going to jump in again, I ordered Max to tell me what the hell was going on. When he wouldn't, I remembered that Ted told me to come to one of them if I needed help with anything.
“So, I told them to Change back, and that we were going to see Chris and Shelley.” Dan finished.
“How'd you get them to Change?” Alex asked curiously, eying the other wolves with distaste.
“I told them I'd beat the hell out of them and drag them up here if I had to.” Dan answered, smirking.
“Why bring them to us instead Ted or one of the Three?” Shelley wanted to know, shifting a little closer to Chris so their sides were touching.
“They're afraid of you,” Dan answered simply. “I figured it'd be the easiest way to get them to talk.”
“We're not afraid of them!” Max hissed, snarling.
“Shut up,” Josh told him calmly, kicking him in the back. When Max turned and glared, Josh just stared at him until he turned back around, looking at the ground sullenly.
“Alright,” Randy said quietly, his voice authoritative. “I want to know what the hell is going on. And don't even think about lying to me.”
“Thank god you guys are here,” Cody said, dramatically throwing himself to the ground and then rolling over onto his side so he was facing the two newborns. “I used to be so fucken bored at these things.”
“Really?” Justin asked, watching Cody's antics with amusement. “Why's that?”
“Because it's always about the same thing,” Cody answered. “How to attack someone, where to attack them, the borders, blah, blah, blah.
“Does it look like I care about any of that crap? As long as Teddy's there to protect me, I could fucken care less who guards what, and who's moving up in the ranks.”
“What if someone decides to go after Ted?” Evan wondered, smiling a little. Justin grinned; being mated was agreeing with his friend. He hadn't seen his friend this happy in almost a year.
“Yeah, right,” Cody snorted, completely confident in his mate's abilities. “First they'd have to beat the Three and Sabin before they could challenge Teddy -and I don't have to tell you the likelihood of that happening.
“And even if they managed that, there's no way they could beat Teddy. I'm more likely to turn into a cat, then that happening.
“And, honestly, do you guys care about any of that?” Cody demanded, sitting up and looking expectantly at his companions.
The newborns looked at each other, shrugged and said, “No.” “Not really.” The three of them burst into laughter.
“Hmmm, now that might be interesting,” Cody commented, looking over to where the dominants were.
“Who's that?” Evan asked, looking over with him.
“Well, the two in front are Max and Jeremy Buck,” Cody informed them, wrinkling his nose slightly. “You remember them; they were the ones who spoke out against you joining the pack.”
“Oh, yeah,” Justin answered, remember something else. “What're they doing here? They told Randy that they wanted to go to Virginia for a while.”
“They must have wanted to go roaming,” Cody mused. “The other two are Dan and Josh. They're younger then we are; Dan's twenty and Josh is nineteen. But they're ranked pretty high. Teddy has Dan running the border by himself already, and let him choose who he wanted to work with him.”
“That's a big deal.” Evan guessed as they eagerly watched Chris grab Max by the throat and lift him up.
“Oh, definitely. Maybe he'll hit - No, Randy made him put him down,” Cody said in disappointment. He smiled at the surprise on his pack-mates faces. “I'm not really fond of the Bucks; they're obnoxious and annoying and they're forever picking on anyone who's ranked below them. I'd love to see them get smacked around, again.
“But, anyway, yeah, it's a huge deal. Especially when you consider that wolves aren't considered adults until they're eighteen or nineteen. Well, unless they're mated, of course. That's, like, an instant grown up card.
“Added to that, the borders can get dangerous. Not the western one as much as the northern one -which is where Matt and Jeff patrol- since we're friendly with the Alpha on that side; but even with that, things slip through. So, whoever Teddy puts in charge has to be able to handle themselves. And patrols are always in twos; so Teddy letting him pick who he runs with, it says not only that Teddy trusts him to handle himself but that he trusts his judgment.”
“You know, for someone who doesn't care very much, you certainly know a lot about it.” Justin commented, raising an eyebrow.
“Ugh, don't remind me,” Cody told him. “I don't want to know any of that crap; I was forced against my will to learn it.”
“Right,” Evan said slowly. “And I'm the Easter Bunny.”
“Bunny, huh? That's my favorite.” Cody smirked right before he pounced on Evan playfully.
With a laughing shriek, Evan tried to roll through on it so he could reverse it, but Cody held strong. Justin grinned and jumped on Cody, joining the fray.
At the excited laugh, John glanced over at his mate and had to grin at the sight of all three of them rolling around.
Calming down a little, they paused at the sound of Randy telling the Bucks to explain what was going on.
“Those two wouldn't know the truth if it hit them.” Justin said, rolling his eyes. He turned to say something to Cody but was met with the sight of Cody sitting there, his gaze empty and his body rocking back and forth.
“Cody?” Justin said, his voice worried.
Almost instantly, Ted was at their side, gently moving Justin away from his mate.
“I'm right here, Baby Boy,” Ted said soothingly, kneeling next to him and rubbing his hand down his mate's back. “It's alright. What do ya see?”
“Blood. The pack betrayed. More blood. The pack stands strong.” The words were clipped, the tone emotionless.
“Don't worry; Cody's fine,” John reassured Evan, putting a hand on the small of his back. “He's just having a vision. He'll be back to normal soon.” Evan leaned into the touch but his face stayed worried.
Justin looked at Randy. “He's really OK,” Randy murmured, shifting so he was brushing against his mate even as he kept his eyes on Cody. “In a few minutes he'll be done.”
“Shit,” Chris cursed when he caught the look of pure terror on the Bucks' face. “I think I just found out what they're so scared of. Randy,” Chris called out, inclining his head towards the brothers when his Alpha looked at him.
Randy narrowed his eyes but before he could say anything, Cody was talking again.
“They will be here. Soon. Pain and anger. Blood will be shed. Us and them. The pack will win.”
Cody shuddered, his breath catching before he opened his eyes. “Teddy.”
“I'm here, Baby Boy,” Ted assured him, he exchanged a look with Randy before looking back into his mate's eyes. “Do you remember what you saw?”
“There were two guys,” Cody said slowly, trying to remember everything he had seen. “They were taller then you, maybe Randy's height.
“I was afraid of them; but they reminded me of Chris and Shelley a little bit. I mean, they've never scared me, but these two had the same sense of...” Cody paused, at a loss for words.
“Being, maybe?” Alex suggested, exchanging a long look with Chris. “Like how a wolf feels like a wolf, even if he's from a different pack and you don't know him?”
“Yes,” Cody agreed excitedly, sitting up and looking at them. “It was like that.
“They were tall,” he repeated, trying to concentrating on the small details. “One of them had dark hair and....I think dark eyes; he was really pale, too. The other one I didn't see to well.
“He was shorter then the other guy, but he had more muscle. And I got the feeling they were looking for something, they were very urgent -wherever they were headed.”
“Oh, I think we can guess where they're headed,” Randy said grimly, standing up and turning toward Justin.
“Wade. But how -” Justin stuttered, looking terrified. Evan whimpered and turned his head into John's neck.
Randy rubbed Justin's back before he turned toward Max and Jeremy, his eyes a glowing green.
“Maybe now you'd like to explain what the fuck is going on.” Randy snarled, his power flaring out.
He advanced on the Bucks, his power growing with every step he took. By the time he was actually in front of them, they were both cowering on the ground, whimpers coming from their throats.
“Don't,” Randy said as Ted and the others went to stand next to him. “I'm going to do this alone.”
The look he threw Ted had the other man nodding and dropping to his knees. Everyone else followed suit, dropping down and showing their necks.
“What. Did. You. Do.” Randy demanded, every word accompanied by a slap of power that would have hurt anyone.
Cody whined, low in his throat, and wrapped himself around Ted's legs, needing the anchor of his mate. Evan was wrapped around John, but he kept one of his arms free to wrap around Justin's shoulders and pull him closer to him and John.
Adam pulled Jay closer to him when he could feel him start to falter, his arm around Jay's waist. Mike kept his hand on his mate's back, trying to keep him from falling over. Josh was completely wrapped around Josh, his head tucked against Dan's chest.
The vampires weren't unaffected, either; Chris kept a death grip on Alex's hand, making sure to keep in touch with him the whole time Randy was putting on his power show.
Randy kicked Jeremy to the side before he picked up Max, his claws slicing out and cutting his throat.
“What did you do?” Randy roared, his hand going tighter around Max's throat.
“I didn't mean to,” Max whimpered, trying to breathe. “He was -”
“I don't want to hear your fucken excuses,” Randy snarled.
He moved Max until he was even with his eyes. “You betrayed a pack-mate, willingly, for nothing. Out of jealousy or disgust, it doesn't matter.
“You've endangered all of the pack, not just Justin and Evan. Do you think if they managed to get to Justin and Evan that it would stop with them? No, they will attack the whole pack, including the pups!
“For what you've done, what you've intentionally done, I hereby cut the pack's ties to you and your ties to the pack.”
What happened exactly, Justin couldn't tell; all he knew was that there was silence and then a low, mournful howling came from the brothers. It raised the hairs on the back of his neck, and was the saddest thing he'd ever heard in his life.
Looking at the wolves around him, he saw the same mixture of pity and fear on their faces -especially Adam and Jay's.
'To be without a pack is the worst thing in the world for most wolves.'
Justin knew Adam had said that to Evan once when they were talking about matings; Evan had told him the next time they saw each other after that. Dimly, Justin began to understand what it meant for them to be cast out of the pack.
“You have twenty four hours to get out of our territory. Or you you will not leave breathing.”
With those last words he turned back to Justin and everyone else, determined to get past this without losing any other members of his pack.