Vicious Submissive (BoyxBoy)

Winter Festival: Cyrus POV

Today was the first round of the winter festival, but I was preoccupied. Well, both of us were. The feral attacks had started up again and had become even more frequent. We were busy with heavier patrols, plus this competition that we had to do. There was no way to get excused from it, which is ridiculous. There are more important things that happen besides a fighting competition. While Mical and Leo worried about how to better prevent the attacks, I was trying to figure out why it was happening. There was no reason for them to attack us specifically. Well, I couldn't necessarily say that they were doing that. Most shifter communities were having to deal with these attacks, as well as some vampire clans. The only ones who had yet to come in contact with the ferals on purpose were the two dragon prides.

I ran my fingers through my hair as I examined another dead feral. This one was a fox which was strange in and of itself. Foxes weren't known for being particularly aggressive and rarely went feral. Compared to most shifters, their mental fortitude was quite strong. Arms wrapped around my waist as Leo kissed my neck,

 "Baby, we need to go. The competition is starting in about 50 minutes."

I nodded, but pointed towards the body of the fox shifter,

 "I want this body examined, along with maybe three or four others of the ferals that recently attacked. Something's wrong with this situation. It's weird and since nothing else is coming up, in terms of the area around us and the other packs, clans, and shadows' experiences, I think it might be something biological. Maybe a disease or something? Also, has anyone informed the council?"

Bringing up the council brought to mind the fact that I had yet to report...that bastard. I ran my hands over my face. When it rains, it pours, doesn't it. There was way too much shit going on right now. This tournament. The ferals. Our pup. Training. Patrols. It was a miracle I didn't have migraine or, better yet, hadn't completely passed out by now.

 "What do you think, baby?"

 "What?"

I hadn't heard a single thing Leo had just said. I turned and met his eyes apologetically before laying my head on his shoulder,

 "Could you repeat that? I didn't hear anything. I'm sorry."

He held me close and kissed my cheek,

 "It's okay, love. There's a lot going on right now. I said that Fin's shadow has sent out a call to the council on behalf of everyone in these territories. They sent a response to all of us via email. My dad was going to talk to us about it after we got back from the prelims."

I nodded. It was the best we could do for now. He kissed my lips before we headed to his car and headed to the school. Instead of parking in the front like he normally did, Leo headed towards the back of the campus, where I saw a larger parking lot as well as a stadium. I haven't the slightest idea why I'd never seen the space, but I'm not surprised. First off, it seemed to be used for this event only. Secondly, most of my time was spent inside of the school with the focus on either my mate or trying not to kill that stray cat-looking bastard. The parking lot was filling nicely, apparently, everyone looked forward to this event. Still, I felt that they expected more than they received since half the lot was still empty. It just showed how the feral attacks were affecting everyone.

We got out, and I followed Leo as he led me through a maze of hallways to the locker room. When we got there, he led me to a shower to change my clothes while he stood guard outside. I smiled at his protective nature as I stripped down. Once I was shifted, I shook out my fur and stretched. I walked out and came face-to-face with Leo's golden muzzle as he licked my cheek. I purred briefly as he took my clothes and shoved them into our locker. I glanced around as we walked out; wolves, lions, vampires, hybrids, and two or three dragons meandered around the space. I was surprised to see the dragons. They had four forms, one of which being a smaller version of their full size, which made them closer to the size of a lion rather than half the stadium. The problem was that most dragons couldn't master the skill until they were about 40 or 50. Seeing that two or three dragon shifters close to my age had done so made me cautious of what other skills they mastered. I mentioned as much to Leo, and he nodded.

As we exited, I was met with a wall of sound. The general hum of the crowd seemed to make the cheering louder. What were they even cheering for at this point? We had yet to fight or even be introduced as competitors. I huffed and shook my head as I flattened my ears to my head, trying to block out the annoying sounds. Leo guided us to our small section of the sideline where I laid down. Leo stood over me, licking my head and cheek before simply standing and watching calmly. I closed my eyes trying to will this to go faster. My mind kept going back to the ferals. Was there some sort of disease? What if the pack became infected? How could I protect Ciara? What cou-

 Mate

I purred at the sound of Leo's wolf. He laid on top of me carefully, his scent surrounding me and calming my thoughts as he spoke again,

 One thing at a time, mate

He was right. I was worrying myself over something I could do nothing about at the moment. To make matters worse, I was coming up with baseless conclusions without any evidence at all. I purred as I responded,

 One thing at a time

Leo and his wolf purred, the vibrations coursing through my body, warming my heart. Our nice moment was interrupted by the raspy growl of an irritated jaguar. Opening my eye just a crack, I was met with the sight of annoyingly familiar neon green ones. I growled a warning before closing my eyes and dismissing Tyler. I heard the rumble of that raspy growl start up again, only to be cut by the sound of Leo's fangs snapping before he growled slightly louder than I had. I was just annoyed, but Leo's wolf was more at the forefront since he was shifted, and a dominant alpha was much more temperamental. Especially with their mate nearby. At this moment, he felt nothing but a sense of being disrespected along with his mate. My wolf and I found it amusing as we watched from slightly cracked eyes as Tyler slinked away with his head held high. An angry, protective alpha was nothing to fuck with.

I chuckled before licking my baby's paw, pulling his attention back to me. He rubbed his cheek against me as he licked my muzzle. With Tyler completely forgotten by my mate's wolf, we went back to slightly cuddling and waiting. After another thirty minutes, an announcer suddenly came on over the speaker,

 "Welcome to the preliminary rounds of the Peace Valley Winter Festival!"

The crowd yelled, screamed, howled, and roared in excitement. I blinked and looked forward at nothing in particular as the crowd died down a bit and the announcer continued,

 "We like to wish our competitor luck this year as they strive to make their families proud!"

More cheering. Leo stepped away, and I stood up beside him. All competitors stood, and we bowed our heads in acknowledgment of the cheers and well wishes. The crowd died down again, but we stayed standing. The announcer continued,

 "Now let's begin round 1 of the Winter Festival, shall we?"