The True Alpha Guardian of the Hunt

Chapter 10

Scottie's POV

After all that ruckus and the aftermath I went with Thalia and Artemis to the cabin where I was tackled by the young ones who were laughing the whole time, with them not noticing Hazel still attached to me. I made sure to fall on my bed so nobody got hurt thankfully, Hazel groaned but didn't say anything and the older hunters and Artemis all laughed.

"Tell you what, the first little hunter to tackle an older hunter besides me will be the first person to ride on my back while I'm in wolf form." I said and the older hunters seemingly vanished, meaning they stampeded throughout camp with the younger ones chasing them, Thalia leading the escapees and Rena leading the chasers.

"You really do know which cards to pull and when." Hazel commented surprised.

"Something just clicked in me when I met the little ones." I said honestly. "They give me a purpose outside of fighting and surviving, which is something I've wanted since I could remember." Artemis walked forward and hugged the both of us. "Thank you for the hug, Artemis."

"Anytime, we're mates and she's your other mate which means she's also my mate in my eyes." Artemis said softly. "I'm a little sad that Diana can't experience this."

"If you both want and allow it I am perfectly fine with it as well." I said softly.

"Yeah, I felt mean when Diana was around and she looked at Scottie with care in her eyes yet didn't freely express it while I was freely expressing it." Hazel said shyly. "I don't like feeling mean."

"You aren't mean, and Diana is a side of me so I'm perfectly fine with it." Artemis said with a small but certain nod.

"Do you guys mind if I get a little more sleep?" I asked them only for me to be pushed into a lying position with Hazel on one side and Artemis on the other, all of us snuggling close and soon I heard Hazel start lightly snoring shortly followed by Artemis.

Laying here, holding my mates close and knowing they're safe brings me a sense of safety in knowing that they're safe. I fell asleep and actually got a peaceful sleep for the first time since I was too young to remember anything.

3rd Person POV

Percy, Annabeth, and Malia were all hanging out when the older hunters ran past followed by the younger ones hot on their heels. Soon they passed by for a second time, and then a third. On the fourth pass Annabeth snagged Thalia's arm while the other hunters kept running.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked worriedly.

"Scottie is a demon." Thalia said a bit out of breath. "Offered the younger ones a ride on her back in wolf form for the first one to tackle an older hunter other than her."

"Sounds like something younger her would do." Malia said with a reminiscent smile. "Before the deadpool, the wild hunt, the Beast of Gevaudan, something she would've done shortly after I met her for the first time."

"Sounds like life has taken its toll on her." Percy said sadly. "Just like it has for the rest of us."

"Worse for her, we used to be blind and stupid when it came to her." Malia said sadly. "She's the true alpha and we all expected her to be perfect for whatever reason, and her being her she tried to live up to our expectations."

"But that's impossible." Annabeth said surprised.

"Yet she succeeded for a long time before she finally started to crack." Malia said sadly, remembering the time they almost lost her. "When all hope was lost we all placed our hopelessness on her without realizing we did that, yet she kept hope and she kept fighting until we found hope or she gave us hope."

"Sounds like she's an amazing leader." Thalia said with a gentle smile for the werecoyote.

"She is, and she's an even better sister." Malia responded without hesitation. "We placed such a heavy burden on her without a second thought until she snapped, but even then she refused to kill her enemies, that's something that's different about her now."

"Well, monsters can't technically be killed, we simply send them back to Tartarus where they reform and find their way back to the mortal world and try to kill us again." Annabeth explained and Malia nodded in understanding.

Just then the hunters passed by for their fifth lap around the camp when a small body slammed into Thalia's, taking her down without much issue since she was distracted and unprepared.

"I win!" Rena cheered excitedly and the other hunters stopped and stared at the little girl who tackled their lieutenant.

"Games over I guess, but that was a good exercise." Phoebe said, trying to stop herself from laughing at Thalia and failing miserably.

"I didn't hurt you when I tackled you, did I?" Rena asked, a little worried as Thalia hadn't responded in any manner yet.

"No, just thinking about what Scottie used to be like potentially." Thalia responded, still lost in thought. "Would she have been a carefree bean before all the werewolf business, an emo, a popular girl, a jock, what would she have been like by now if she never became a werewolf?"

"That's something we won't ever know the answer to." Annabeth said reminiscently, Percy having the same look in his eyes as Annabeth, thinking about how life used to be for them before the whole prophecy and quest business.

"She used to have this adorable puppy dog eyes look that she'd pull on people at random, even if she didn't want anything but to see peoples reactions to it." Malia stated, remembering the first time Scottie pulled it on her and how she melted right into it in an instant. "That went away when the scar on her eye showed up, she's never done it since and we don't know how she got the scar."

"The scar looks like somebody left it intentionally." Thalia voiced, still on the ground with Rena on top of her out of breath and seemingly about to pass out.

"She only had her father at home." Malia said confusedly. "Her mother died somehow, a long time ago."

"You mean her stepfather." Thalia corrected her. "The one we've been warned of by Athena herself."

"What's going on here?" Derek asked curiously, Braedon by his side.

"I'm starting to piece together Scottie's home life before she joined the hunt." Thalia answered, confusing everybody. "Her father was abusive, I can guarantee that just by what Athena said about him, but my question is how far did the abuse go, which line did he finally say 'I won't cross it' at?"

"There were no lines he wouldn't cross." A voice said sadly from behind the group, making them all jump in surprise. "I should know, after all I was forced to watch while I could not help my daughter."

"Lady Athena." Thalia nearly shouted in alarm.

"Mom!" Rena shouted excitedly, exhaustion long forgotten.

"As for how Melissa died, he killed her when she tried to stop him from abusing Scottie, using his knowledge and connections from the FBI to get away with it." Athena stated, voice filled with sadness and self-hatred. "I should've gone against my father and saved both of them from that monster."