“Why not?” She growled and looked at our mother. She pushed me back, so that she was in front and I was watching next to Megan.
“She has been very unsettled since coming back.” Megan turned to me. “I can’t blame her. She has finally shifted so her Alpha aura, and your hormones have put her on a knife’s edge. And then there is me. She has been dealing with me mourning my mate and trying to claim him simultaneously.”
“Megan?” I looked at her, really looked. Her fur was a little patchy, and she looked exhausted.
“She did what she had to. She held me back from claiming Brandon and I don’t regret it. It’s just hard. Shannon pushed her too far and now she will get her retribution.” Megan turned and limped back into my soul forest, where she could rest. She would not fight Nix for this. She made it very clear that she was siding with her.
I turned back to the matter at hand and watched as my mother begged for Shannon. “I asked why not? Why can’t I put her in her place?” Nix’s anger surprised even me. Normally, we shared the same mind, and she was the voice of reason. Unranked wolves were weak. They don’t need to be pushed down any more than they already are. Their wolves have the instinct to roll over and bear their stomachs whenever an Alpha or Beta comes into the same room. As ranked wolves, we don’t need to exert our dominance over them.
“Nix, she is unranked. Her wolf is weak.” My mother pleaded with my wolf.
“Is she? I don’t know. Her human is rather prideful. She walks around here, and this pack forces stronger wolves to do her bidding by using her Beta father’s rank over the entire pack. She has learned to flex her father’s rank, not her own, to get what she wants, and everyone falls in line because Morgan supports her.” Nix growled out.
My mother’s hand fell. “What do you mean?”
Nix’s head snapped up. “Do not play dumb here, Mother.” Her voice was a little vicious, and that’s when I pushed forward. I had nearly pushed Nix back when the door exploded open. Morgan, Vince and Brandon rushed in, skidding to a stop seeing how big my wolf was.
“What the fuck is going on?” Vince’s power slammed out, trying to take control of the situation.
Nix’s eye glowed, and she let out a bloodcurdling growl. “Do you want to measure aura for aura Alpha? I think I’ll win.” Nix slowly turned to face the men at the door, and I watched as Brandon shivered.
His eyes blew out with heat, and I wanted to gag. I heard a low, mournful howl from deep in my soul and knew I had to take hold of this situation, or everything would be ruined. “Nix! I need you here for Megan. I’m not strong enough to fight her back.” She ignored me, but I felt a flicker of worry. I heard another howl, and this one was a little closer, like Megan was making her way back.
“Get off my daughter.” Morgan started forward, but Nix let out a vicious growl.
“Who are you to tell me what to do?” She looked back to the Alpha. “Your Beta steps out of line to protect his pup. This one…” Nix pressed her paw into Shannon’s face. “Struts around this pack, making demands higher than her station. She thinks your son and her father will protect her from ranking battles.” Vince turned and looked at the two men.
“Is she telling the truth?”
Nix chuffs. “Morgan has hospitalized four she-wolves, including the Beta female, Sydney. Brandon has scared the entire school to listen to her pathetic demands.” I pushed forward.
“Nix, I will make your point.” I looked back to the forest as Megan breached the trees. She was limping but increasing her speed. “I will say whatever you need me to say, but you need to handle Megan.” I screamed out and pushed forward again. This time, she let me slip past her and take control.
“You are lying.” Vince’s anger was directed at me, and I chuffed out another laugh.
“I’m not, ask them.” I flexed my claws, pushing them into Shannon’s face, but not breaking the skin. I looked up at Morgan. “Tell the truth, or I will blind your mutt of a daughter.”
“She’s telling the truth.” His words were whispers.
“A little louder Beta, no one can hear you.” I yelled.
“She’s telling the truth. I put Sydney in the hospital last year because of Shannon.” He cut his eyes to Vince. “She is just a pup. My pup.”
“She is weak!” Vince screamed.
“Dad…” Brandon started.
But Vince turned full circle to stare at the two of them. “You both abused your rank to protect an unranked wolf when she was overstepping. We have ranks for a reason. There is a pecking order for a reason. Ranked wolves are to protect the unranked wolves. Unranked wolves are supposed to fall in line. They are the backbone of the pack, but they need to know their place!” Vince screamed. “You had a weak child, Morgan. You mated an unranked wolf and had an unranked wolf. That is the chance you take when you mate outside of your rank.” Vince turned back. “But you do NOT allow your unranked daughter to push around the ranked wolves. You throw the entire order of the pack out the window when you do that.”
“She is my pup.” Morgan tried again.
I growled, tired of his shitty excuse. “And what?” I tossed out. “She is your daughter, but no one was trying to fight her. No one was abusing her, which, by the way, runs rampant in this cesspool of a pack.” Vince’s eyes tightened at my words, but he kept quiet. He thought it was still my wolf in charge, and he knew what I was saying was true. “She was kept apart from all of that, out of respect for your rank. It was only when she threw her status of the Beta’s child or the Alpha apparent’s girlfriend around to push wolves to do her bidding. Her homework, stealing their money, their clothes, abusing other unrankedwolves for pleasure, that others stood up to her. Even they found what she was doing disgusting. But she ran back to the two of you, and like fucking pawns, you came running to fight, or abuse, your own rank to make the others fall in line.”
“Nix, it isn’t like that.” Brandon tried to come forward and I growled again. “I, I, I did it, Father.” Brandon turned to his dad and nodded.
Shannon screamed beneath my feet. “Brandon, why?”
“Because she is right. We turned our pack into a fucking circus placating to you.” He tossed out and dropped to his knees in front of Vince. “I knew at the time that it was wrong. But Shannon had convinced me that the girlfriend of the Alpha apparent shouldn’t be seen as weak.”
