Elise had stayed on the stairs just before the basement door, listening to Greg's little speech. At first, she thought she had missed something. She hadn't heard anything particular about the alpha's mate being afraid of wolves – though that fact wouldn't surprise her if it was true; humans were notorious cowards. But she also hadn't heard anything about Mark forcing a mating. –Though this alone wouldn't surprise her either; Mark was sort of a douche...
-Okay, she would be a little surprised to find out Mark was a rapist douche, but then again, alphas took what they wanted.
–Not a big deal for unmated lady wolves, as any of them would be ecstatic just to be with an alpha... even if he was a douche, but for humans... well, she could see the problem.
It was a bad idea in any case though – setting the tone of a mating by starting it with a rape? Elise was getting more and more perturbed by the situation, when she finally realized what Greg was doing.
He wasn't merely there to upset the little omega. –He wanted the omega to commit suicide by alpha! Luna, Greg is probably lying, she said to herself. She wondered why the guards hadn't kicked his ass back upstairs, but realized that they were probably as confused as she was, and probably had the same thought she did - that Mark was in fact a douche.
That's when she heard Trent give Greg notice of his challenge. She growled to herself; Greg was manipulating the wolves around here like puppets on a string, and one of those puppets was going to be the alpha? What an ass! She crept back up the stairs hoping Greg wouldn't notice her. She was totally going to spoil his plan-
-Only, it occurred to her, manipulation or no – Trent had issued a challenge to the alpha, and Greg wasn't the only one to hear it. The guards and the prisoners all knew.
And Trent – that poor stupid omega, he really did believe the strange human was his mate. –This much wasn't Greg's doing.
"Shit," she said to herself, reaching the main floor and eyeing the alpha's office. "Greg's plan is going to work."
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Kate just stood there, in the relative darkness of the library, for entire minutes. The old wolf had forgotten how many books the pack had. She was staring at two dozen rows of bookshelves, all taller than she was, and long as a football field. At first daunted, a smile slowly crept over her face as she began to smell the lingering scents of old readers – wolves she had known long ago who devoured books like meat. Her second mate in fact, had been the type to fall asleep drooling in all his books, and she could scent that, among the dusty pages and smell of other booklovers.
Kate took a steadying breath and set to work. She had an idea what this Leah was, but she wasn't entirely sure. There were many things in the world other than werewolves and humans. –Many, many things.
-At least there had been.
Kate couldn't remember much from her earliest years living, but she still maintained patches of memory – her first mating, her first hunt. She could remember her mother making her a dress. She could remember salt in big barrels and meeting another wolf pack for the first time. And she sort of remembered the talk from back then.
She remembered old talk, old talk about disappearances. Her father couldn't tell who had disappeared because they had become extinct, and who had simply wanted to disappear. They had tried to make a list, her father and the others, to keep track of things. But it was still mostly guessing.
Fairies, for one thing, were a mystery.
Elves, probably gone.
The small gods – they had been banished.
Trolls, killed. Hopefully.
Fallen angels had retreated to hell, with a few exceptions.
Angels all had been called back to heaven, with a few exceptions.
Vampires lingered.
Griffins and gargoyles saw what happened to the dragons and got the hell out of dodge.
Sea nymphs, mermaids, sirens, sprites, who knew?
The soulless had died out.
Gorgons and furies, orcs and ogres, they were probably dead...
Heroes, the old-timey kind, they had all died in a suicide pact.
Witches lingered.
Wooly Mammoths – those damned telekinetic monsters - had been crushed under the weight of their own minds.
Weres lingered.
Man thrived.
And then there were things that couldn't leave if they tried. Ghosts, of course... but also...
Kate held onto the memory as well as she could, knowing it might take some time to find the book she needed.
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"Are you a witch?" Mark asked, a strange thrill of fear tingling up his back. He watched the thick girl in purple pajamas pants walk back to the bed and sit, wondering if this perhaps wasn't the mating pull, if this was a spell or... No – no it had to be the mating pull; he had never felt anything like this before. She was the answer to his problems – putting children in her would ensure such a line.
"No," she replied, swiping a hand through her hair, before twisting it up into a makeshift bun.
"What then?" he asked, wondering if she was another kind of were, a new kind of were. Holy shit, he thought, what if she's a government experiment like in the freaking movies? What if his mate was the million dollar woman?!?
"Mark Mark Masters, geez. You wouldn't believe my story if I told you, and we don't have time for it. You need to release those women."
This was a bucket of water on his musings.
It would have been one thing, if there was any practical way that he could release the women.
It would have been another thing, if she had simply asked him once and let it be once she had been given his answer.
But this continual harassment on a moot point – he began to think it wouldn't matter if there was a practical way, that it didn't matter that she wanted it. Mark was the alpha. It was his decision.
"No," he growled. "And I hope you realize that there's plenty of time for you to tell me this story – because they're not the only ones not leaving."
"Bluh," Leah replied. "Two 'nots' in one sentence. There's rules against that, aren't there? But besides that, I hope you know that I have a faculty meeting coming up – you know, the semester's starting any day now, so... I can't be here forever."
"You'll stay here and be my mate forever," Mark replied.
"Mark Mark Masters, I'm needed. -By the masses. I teach cartooning. They need me out there. You think the Sunday funnies draw and write themselves? You think anyone can just make a picture and a caption and be the next Family Circus? Of course they can! But who would want that, Mark Mark? Who wants MORE Family Circus? I don't. I really don't! But if we don't shape those young people out there to be... interesting, and... and funny, Mark Mark Masters, we may just end up with more Family Circus... more cartoon children just... stating the obvious. –And their cartoon parents just standing there under speech balloons filled with nothing but puns. Puns, Mark Mark Masters. Puns."
Mark looked at her. She seemed genuinely concerned about all this. "I don't really read the paper," Mark admitted.
"I never imagined you did," she replied, "I only read the entertainment section and advice columns and cartoons."
