Prologue 2 - The Sundered

"Julius! Luna damn you, you watch where you're running and you apologize to the– " The tirade ended abruptly with a gasp.

Setting my jaw, I looked down at my feet. A small, fuzzy tail was now wagging between my ankles, sticking out from beneath the hem of my skirt.

"Julius" I said, "look at me."

"Bark!"

I rolled my eyes. The pup's bewildered, happy face soon emerged into view, ogling the sky just above my head. His look changed as it recognized me, however.

Realizing his impertinence, Julius dashed out from under me with a whimper and ran toward the now-silent woman, whom I recognized as his mother. He stopped halfway, as if uncertain whether to continue.

His mother, Tira, stood stock-still watching me. She stared between myself and her pup before opening her mouth to speak – but Rufias and Surry broke the silence first as one.

"Tsk!" The male made a sharp sound from between his teeth, glaring at the boy, while Surry said "Tira! Step towards the Alpha."

Both woman and boy jerked to attention. Tira quickly did as she was instructed, walking forward and practically hoisting Julius into her arms along the way. Claws had begun to form upon her hands in place of fingernails, I noted, and I hoped she wasn't hurting her pup.

"Alpha" she said a bit breathlessly, "please pardon my son. He is young and doesn't have the sense not to be a bother yet, but I'll see to it that he will. It's my fault for not being a strong enough presence, but that changes this very day, so if you let m– "

I cut the woman off with a growl that left her eyes widened with fear. Even Rufias stepped back a pace. Surry, perhaps knowing me better, gave me a hard look, but said nothing.

I quickly softened my voice and spoke to the terrified mother. "Please relax, Tira. Nobody deserves punishment here. Your Mate is gone. I am Alpha now, and I am not him."

I also directed what I hoped was a reassuring smile at Julius, still wriggling around panicked in her grasp. His ears laid back, but he met my eyes. "And you too, Julius. You're also a part of my Pack, and are therefore under my protection. Don't dash around anymore without looking, alright? It's an easy way to get stepped on, and I really don't want to see you getting hurt."

Tira looked on the verge of tears as she managed a weak smile. I stepped in a little closer, lowering my voice. "I'm sorry for snarling at you. Please understand; it isn't you I am angry with."

The woman gave me a somewhat over-enthusiastic nod, tears now beginning to form around her eyes, but she and the pup both looked greatly relieved. I leaned down and gave Julius a good scritch behind the ears; he growled softly, seeming to forget everything else.

I bade the pair on their way and smiled at Surry. As Tira turned to leave, however, the unexplained marks on her neck stood out like a knife in my ribs.

Unexplained, perhaps… because they didn't need to be. I knew exactly where they came from. And from whom.

Surry leaned in closer and spoke in a low voice. "She's trying, Rayla. She still has scars. Always will. Her pup, too."

“I know.”

A sudden and familiar sadness threatened to creep over me. "I wish, Surry, that Tira was just being an overbearing mother. That she was having a bad day and scolded her pup a little too harshly for things like this."

I breathed in deeply. "That later, if I were feeling nosy, I could sit down with her, ask her what the trouble is and give her a hug.

"We could sit down beside the fire and talk about boys, and men, and how much she loves her son and how she wishes she were the perfect mother. And I would pat her arm and ask how I could help. And it would be as simple as any other day. I wish that. Luna above, I wish that."

I turned to face my companions. "We're all scarred, some more than others. My hope is that some of us live to see those scars heal. At least in our young."

Rufias stood motionless, with an unreadable look in his eyes. His posture was slumped.

"Alpha?" He gestured. "May I?"

On a nod from me, the three of us resumed walking. Rufias seemed headed to a lone tent on the edge of the camp. Most were constructed of leather and wooden poles, and hide canvas. Some had thatched roofs where they could support the weight, but all had open patches along the edge which allowed rainwater to fall freely into channels in the dirt, preventing buildup. The last thing anyone wanted was their shelter collapsing on them in the middle of a storm.

As I looked around however, there still showed more signs of damage than just from the weather. Despite our pack's efforts over the past few days, many tents still had a broken post here, a puncture there. A long rent from a sharp pair of claws, scoring hide and wood alike. I growled low in my throat. How could anyone... weren't we supposed to be a PACK?

~

"We need more food" Tando rumbled. "The other males, like myself, are hungry. We're going to hunt more, Rayla; you and all the females need to be working harder, starting now. Spend too much time coddling the brats. How do you expect them to grow strong, to fight? Unless teaching them to hunt isn't what you want. I wouldn't be surprised."

He snapped his jaws. "Training nursemaids. Little pips in dresses with scrapes on their knees. I won't stand for it. Get your heads with the Pack, or I will start taking them."

That pushed me over the edge. I bristled, snarling, and said, "the WOMEN, like myself, will keep raising our future packmates like we always have: not by coddling them, but by sharing our lives with them. So that one day, they may be whole enough to fight AND to pass on their values to their own pups. MEN like you seem determined not to understand. Or is it that you can't see past your cock with how mud-crusted it’s become?"

With a snarl like a rabid dog's, Tando rose from his perch, standing up to his full height. He was Shifted; he was always Shifted. But somehow, at this moment, he seemed even more. More than man, more than wolf... A demon in fur.

Though he towered above me I refused to bend. My knees quaked, but I was far too angry to care. Something had changed that night, had finally become clear to me.

He shoved a claw at me, stopping just against my throat. "YOU are MY BETA" he practically moaned. "I am ALPHA. You are treacherous to my PACK. Little bitch. With a bitch's logic. You will obey my commands, little bitch. You think those pups belong to you? Think again. Who do you think feeds and defends this Pack? Think about your own words. You expect those dogs to learn how to hunt while you bring them table scraps? With dulled claws."

He spat at me then, laughing with mockery. "It's hilarious. You're so stupid. Try seeing reason for once. You're lucky I haven't thrown you to the ground and broken you. You wouldn't let me last time… Maybe I should try again? Beta-bitch."

Howling with fury, I stabbed my claws deep into his groin. Slicing. Tearing. Screaming.

With a roar that shook the mountains themselves, our entire camp exploded with fury.

~

Rufias held the flap open as we reached the tent, allowing first myself to enter, then Surry, then himself, as it should be.

I turned on him with a snarl the moment we were all inside the dim space. "So why do you bring us here, he-wolf? Spit it out already."

Rufias' face went visibly ashen. Fur climbed along the tops of his ears, elongating, flattening to his face. He rocked backward as if fighting the urge to flee.

Shit.

When had my hands become claws, the nails now sharp enough to score ivory?