The next few weeks had been boring by Sabeen's standards. Ange had disappeared from the house swiftly after her loss to Sabeen, and the word had gotten out about how badly outclassed she had been in the fight. The only time Sabeen saw her was when she was slinking around with Theo. Those times Ange cringed and left the general area as quickly as possible. Her lesson had been learnt.
Theo only cropped up occasionally, but those times made her skin crawl a little. She took a look at him with her mind one afternoon, and he scared her.
Many shifters had some very small power to enhance their own natural one. Hers was a bit of a temperamental gift, sometimes she'd look and see nothing, and sometimes she'd get a small glimpse of power or inner thoughts. In her head Theo had looked like a black oil covered wolf, slowly advancing on her. She explored the similarities between him and her not so fond memories of Robbie in her diary, and made a decision to stay the fuck away from him for as long as possible.
Theo hadn't made any moves yet, but she was beginning to doubt that Marcus's influence would hold him back much longer. Marcus didn't seem to have the iron hold on his entire pack that he once did. She didn't for a second discount Ange's influence in Marcus's waning leadership. The woman was cunning and well liked (for unknown reasons) amongst the pack, and many still considered her an Alpha, despite her loss at Sabeen's hands. It didn't help Sabeen's suspicions that she could be found on the fringes of any trouble that erupted.
Marcus had fallen into a new routine with Sabeen in the house. Usually he was more of a late morning sleeper, but he had adjusted his schedule to hers - it was more out of necessity than anything else. He had discovered Sabeen to be a loud morning person. It wasn't intentional - she was just extremely clumsy for a cat. From the moment her feet hit the floor at 5am in the morning (on the dot every morning) until the moment she got outside for her morning run she crashed into walls, stumbled over her own feet and slammed doors.
He found sleep somewhat impossible through all the noise and so ended up running most mornings with her. It definitely was not a company thing, she was barely there in the morning so spoke very little and did not have much of a reaction to his presence but he found it incredibly peaceful. At that time in the morning he could almost believe that today's trials would be non-existent and the Pack would take some strides towards going back into is previously tight-knit family unit.
They had suffered huge losses while on the Council's mission, as he'd known they would. His original second and third in command had been brought down leaving him in a vulnerable position. Theo's father was killed early in the mission, and Marcus had seen the changes this brought about in his former friend. Many of the partnered male wolves had been killed, leaving Marcus with far too many widowed women. He was aware of how they looked at him, and when the bitch-fights had begun to crop up he had been forced to choose a mate. He had gone for Ange, who at the time seemed like a sensible choice. She was beautiful, unassuming, the women respected her, and the men wanted her. Looking back now he could see the blaring mistake he had made in assuming that she didn't want him for his power. She had definitely wanted power, she was just better at hiding it than some.
Sabeen enjoyed their morning runs a little more than she probably should have. Mornings made her feel foggy and stupid, so the first time Marcus had met her at the door and joined in she had blinked stupidly at him and strived to appear unaware of him for the rest of the run. Ignoring him was hard at times, like when he shook his hair out of his eyes, or when he stripped off his tee-shirt in an attempt to cool down. But then no self-respecting woman would ignore those things.
Running was a good excuse to map out the areas around her and familiarize herself with the normal scents and sounds of the area. But more importantly it established a routine. If any wolf or cat did a little homework they could see that morning was clearly the best time to ambush her. She was loud and clumsy in the morning, but some of it was played up for the wolves around her. She could be surprisingly onto it when she had to be, and actually preferred to fight in the morning. With the routine set up the way it was, chances were, if she was attacked at anytime, while she was running would be it.
She slowly eased into the wolves lives, and despite her reservations, she found that she liked quite a few of the them. Finn was very funny and great company, and Bucky had a true heart of gold. Marcus's third in command, Rob, spent a fair bit of time around the house, mostly with Bucky and the three of them got her into the habit of drinking scotch with them semi-regularly.
She did wonder, when seeing Rob and Bucky together for the first time, if there wasn't a little more than friendship happening. Both wolves were older than her, in their early thirties. Bucky was short and on the slender side with a serious dislike of fighting, and so was almost at the bottom of the pack heirachy. Living with Marcus gave him enough protection to avoid being bullied by most of the other wolves.
Rob was a big Cuban looking man, and seemed to have appointed himself Bucky's official protector. She couldn't find a tactful way to enquire about their relationship, so didn't end up asking anyone.
The house was a bit of a meeting spot for all the wolves, and they often stopped in to chat to their leader before heading out for a run. Marcus encouraged it, and spent large amounts of time circulating through his pack. Finn had explained to her that a wolf pack leader was constantly proving his leadership to his pack, and could be de-powered at any time - it was a little more unstable than the pack Sabeen had come from. Marcus was working harder than usual because of the new rifts in his pack.
Sabeen thought that many of the problems in the pack could have been healed by the banishment of Theo, but understood Marcus's reasons for not driving the man away - to an extent. Theo made her skin crawl, and she was extra vigilant about knowing where he was at all times. She didn't trust him, but had no clear evidence to take to Marcus (not that she was sure he'd listen to her).
Finally one night about a month after she had arrived in the house she found a genuine reason to hate Theo. Finn, Bucky and Sabeen had been watching old movies in the rec-room and she had fallen asleep on one of the couches. The men, not wanting to wake her, had left her there and turned out the lights.
It was late when she had woken up, and she could hear someone moving inside the house. She sat up, ready to investigate when Theo swung around the corner.
"Sabeen, nice to see you." He grinned his predatory grin.
"I was just looking around for our glorious leader... Where is Marcus?"
"He's out on a run with Rob and a few of the girls." she said as Theo moved further into the room.
"You aren't jealous are you? He's entitled to his... friendships. As are you. We all know that you two certainty aren't claiming each other as mates." Theo said greasily.
She injected a little sarcasm and scorn into her words. " Thank you for your concern Theo, but no I'm not jealous of Marcus, and I feel no need to embark on any 'friendships' here."
"So then we are not friends?" He asked blatantly raking his eyes over her body.
"That would really be a pity Sabeen, because I have been dying to take a taste of what Marcus has been refusing these past weeks. You certainty are a good looking piece of ass, even if you're not quite broken yet. To tell you the truth I like em a little wild, and I think you'd enjoy a little pain." He grinned wider, and she saw his teeth lengthening.
"Not a chance in hell. Back off." She growled circling away from the couch and more to the centre of the room. Marcus would be pissed if Theo bled on his couch.
"I'm going to enjoy this cat."
Theo jumped at her, much faster than she thought the lout would be able to move. She swiped at him, leaving red streaks down his face, but missing the arteries in his neck that she had been aiming for.
Theo didn't pause, he jumped at her, catching her off balance. She ended up on her stomach, with the half changed wolf pinning her against the couch. Sabeen was very close to losing her temper entirely.
