Heads UP: Sorry for the long delay, I have had some family and educational issues. I am however back on the writing track. I hope to have chapter four out soon probably the before the third week of December. Keep an eye out! So I needed to alter the time line in order to fit the events that I want to happen before the matting, in. So at the beginning of this chapter three weeks have past and we have an extra two weeks before the mating and that will, or should cover the next two chapters. Also my editors were a little swamped, but hoping that the editing that did take place worked out. I apologize before hand, but I delayed it a week to do some extra editing myself. I hope it helped.
Silent :)
*****
Darting between trees, Victoria was elated. Her senses were reeling with the smells of fall. The women of the pack were hunting. The blurred streaks of grey and white, dappled with the filtered green light of the sun through the trees, moved with a purpose towards their usual hunting grounds. Victoria paid no attention. She loved the feel of the sun on her coat and the contrasting coolness of the dirt beneath her paws. The smell of the flowers and maple trees left her head spinning as she let the stress of the week dissipate. Fall was woven into the air, the crisp spices so much stronger with this nose. The smell of decayed leaves and the sounds of small rodents in the underbrush worked in tandem with her stride.
She felt the pull of the pack as they moved to the left, closer to the edge of the forest, but she resisted it. She had no desire to go that way, even though it would cost her with the current alpha female. Catalina was a bitch in every sense of the word. She ruled over the women of the pack with quick snaps of her jaw and idle threats, but V didn't have to worry about that. Though her fighting prowess did most of the work, it only helped that Antony had laid such a strong claim on her. The worst "kitty cat," Victoria's new nick name for Catalina, was liable to do was yell her too skinny ass off, and that was some meat she couldn't afford to lose. Victoria chuffed, imagining Catalina falling flat on her face due to lack of ass. Yes kitty cat was nothing to really worry about. For now she was enjoying the freedom of running.
The pack had long since pulled left. She could feel the angry buzz of Cat trying to yell at her in the back of her mind. She ignored it. The presence of three wolves behind her was no surprise either. It hadn't taken her long to make a few good friends. She slowed her pace and allowed them to catch up. Natasia pulled up first on her right; the silver wolf shimmered in the light. Like most wolves her movements were fluid, but with Natasia she was always more graceful. A dancer by nature, every move she made, whether it was as animal or human, was art. On her left, Vanessa fell smoothly into step. Her butterscotch fur was tipped in a deep chocolate brown. Victoria's introduction to her had been...interesting to say the least.
Victoria had never been one to talk about her problems, but with Natasia it hadn't taken long to make that connection. It felt weird how easy it was to open up. One day they had been sitting in one of the more private commons areas, towards the back of the compound. Vanessa had obviously over heard the conversation and promptly came in to tell her what's what. With that they were friends and Vanessa quickly became a rock in the stormy mess that was Victoria's life.
Kariah was a character. A socialite with more energy and charisma than most, she had not been born to this pack. She had been found abandoned outside a hospital in a duffle bag. Though the pack had gone through great efforts to find her lineage, nothing ever surfaced.
As babies, especially in the first few months, shifting was involuntary and spontaneous. All pack was born on pack land for that exact reason. How do you explain a baby shifting into a wolf cub? One of the neonatal nurses on duty that night was pack and had scented Kariah. After watching her phase back and forth she quickly arranged for the pack to come and pick up the baby girl. Despite her rough entrance into the world, she lived happily in the pack.
Never in her life did Victoria expect to have friends like this, but they had made it hard to resist. She felt the soft brush against her mind and they all melded in her mind as one.
"So where are we going?" Natasia's voice was the first to pipe up.
"Nowhere, if you guys wanted to hunt, you should have gone with them. I just want to run."
"Well that's boring. There is a spring up a head, there might be something up there we can sink our teeth into." Kariah chuckled at her own joke.
"Ha Ha, that is hilarious Kari. Tori you down for that?" Vanessa asked.
Victoria rolled her eyes and altered her course for the spring. Once they were close she could smell elk and white-tail deer. There were rabbits on the edge of the woods, but she heard them scamper as they approached. They all slowed and split, Natasia and Vanessa to the left for the deer and she and Kariah for the elk.
It had been a while since Victoria had actually hunted. Though it wasn't a skill you could lose, she was none the less nervous. She did her best to keep that at bay. Kariah had silently moved to the other side of the creature and waited for her signal. With one whispered thought they moved corralling the animal in until the final bite could be taken. Victoria leapt and twisted, exerting enough force to snap the creature's neck. She reveled in the taste of the elk's blood on her tongue. The power flowing through her veins was exhilarating. Movement on the edge caught her attention. She let a growl loose; no one would take her kill. She felt the hesitant touch of her friends at her mind. She quickly shook herself and began to drag the animal back toward the compound. She had never felt so protective before.
All of her previous hunts had been with a larger group and she had never really gotten to take the honor of doing the kill bite. The heavy weight between her teeth slowed her pace, but she moved quickly all the same. Her mood was dark with her overriding need to prove her strength to her friends.
Natasia touched her mind, "Imagine what Catalina is going to say when she sees this. You managed to bring in a larger kill than hers."
"And how exactly do you know that?"
"I touched her mind to see whether or not they were on the way back to the compound. They are and we aren't too far behind them. She is going to be seething, but she can't say shit."
"I don't know why you sound happy about this. She is just going to take it out on you. Come on let me throw a little influence your way. 'He' might as well be good for something."
"Nah, it'll be all good. While doing whatever extra chores she gives us, I'll be imagining her face when we showed up."
Victoria couldn't help, but laugh, Catalina's face probably would be priceless. Still she wouldn't let her friends take the backlash of her actions. She would figure something out.
Vanessa's thoughts slipped in, "I don't know why you keep resisting him. I wouldn't. Hell, the man is gorgeous and strong. Plus the power that comes along with him, damn straight I would have hopped into the mating circle quick as lightning."
"I can't."
"You mean you won't." They all said in unison.
They moved in silence the rest of the way, enjoying the scenery, but Victoria's insides were twisted. The mating ceremony was two weeks from now and it was getting harder and harder to resist her wolf's instincts. Everyday Antony overwhelmed her with his presence, appearing out of thin air and throwing off her groove. It was part of the reason she came on this run. He couldn't go so she could have the time to clear her mind. She pulled out of her deep twisty thoughts and focused as they reached the edge of the woods.
The pack was already assembled and howling. Antony stood proudly in front as Catalina's group deposited seven deer at his feet, not a bad haul. But Victoria could see what Natasia meant. Kitty Cat's large buck lay in the middle, but it was definitely smaller than the elk, that hung between Victoria's jaws.
She knew the minute that he picked up her scent. His eyes shifted and head flashed towards where they still stood within the confines of the woods shadows. Victoria didn't like to admit it, but she had a strong flare for the dramatic. She walked head high from the woods. The elk dragging at her side and the two bucks hanging from Kariah and Vanessa's jaw on either side, only added to the insult Victoria was dishing out. She paused a little behind Cat and waited.
Antony moved to stand in front of her while the other deer were moved to the back of the house to be skinned and dressed. Victoria took a few steps forward and placed the elk at his feet. Vanessa and Kariah quickly followed. He touched each of their heads as they walked forward, showing his approval. He shifted and faced her. He rubbed the length of her and licked her snout, causing a shiver to run down her body. Then she heard the snarl. Catalina had turned to face them crouched low. She snarled again and Victoria responded. The pack's howling and celebration of the hunt went silent as Antony stepped in between the two. Deep rhythmic snarls lanced the air as the three wolves glared at each other. As he moved to step forward, Victoria pushed at his mind.
"No! She is mine to deal with."
Victoria never wanted to be Alpha Female. She had never wanted to take the position from Catalina, but it was about to happen. She hated listening to the bitch long enough, she couldn't stand the way she treated people. The only way to fix that was to show her who really was boss. She snarled again, her anger rising. Victoria had resolved a conflict between two pack members and Catalina had forced her friends to pull Omega jobs for a week. When the Alpha had cancelled his and Catalina's runs, to fence with her, Victoria's friends were in charge of pack trash for a month. Three weeks of this bull shit. It was hard enough to keep friends when you didn't keep getting them into bad spots. Petty bitch wielded her power willy-nilly.
Not anymore. The outrageous demands and constant posturing was irksome. Either you could control your pack or you couldn't. Now it was Victoria's responsibility to show her just how much power she didn't have.
Catalina leapt first.
The fight wasn't effortless by any means, but Victoria didn't struggle. She never lost a drop of blood, but Catalina was bleeding from several slashes by the time Victoria took her neck between her jaws. She struggled before finally submitting. Victoria held her jaw tightly for a moment longer, growling to let the message sink in, before letting go. The pack took up the howl once again, rolling onto their backs as they went.
A vicious snarl met her ears and she turned in time to see Catalina jumping at her and Antony snatching her out of thin air. She fell to the ground a whimpering human. Victoria crouched low to the ground, growling low and deep. Her fury pushed at the edges of her ribcage and choked her throat. She watched as Antony stood over her, his teeth inches away from Catalina's face. That wasn't enough, she needed to die. Victoria watched as Kitty Cat's eyes filled with tears. Watched as she began to frantically shake her head, Victoria watched as the woman who had sent so much malice her way in such a little time, begged for her life.
As she was carried away, Victoria watched, unforgiving. As she screamed, begging for forgiveness and for mercy, she knew what he had done. Catalina had lost the right to bear Gaylen as a last name. She was banished from the pack. He would tell other packs of her treachery. She would have a century to think on her deeds. Then maybe she could return. It wasn't long enough.
"I know love." Antony's voice was balm to her anger.
