A Shifting Land

Chapter 35

"Shadow!" Firestorm called, her voice hardening, "I didn't dismiss you."

Her ears twisted back. Her snarl raised one edge of her lips. "I am an alpha. I dismissed myself."

"Shadow. To me." She ordered, booking no argument.

"Fuck. You." She snarls, tossing her head as she's forced to step into the room. "How. Dare. You. I have made no threat to you, and you order me to follow you? Do you rip into the minds of your own pack, forcing them to share what they'd rather not?"

Firestorm's tail lashed, her own fangs glaring between her lips. "Yes, Shadow. I would in a heartbeat to keep this barely steady pack I have. I don't hesitate to send kits to die, why would I hesitate with you?"

"Because I could be your heir, if you'd ever tried to convert me!" She snapped, barely catching her own words.

Firestorm's breath caught in her throat. "Heir? You expected me to try to convince you to be my heir?"

Swift flexed a paw, sounding decidingly like her father. "No. But your pack certainly does. Someone unrelated, proven to breed, and young enough to teach their way would be ideal."

Snowlily shoved her way in between the pair, knocking them both back with a growl. "ENOUGH! Haven't you two looked at one another? Shadow, where were you born? Who is your family tree? What is your age?!"

She spun on Firestorm, "These are the questions you should be ordering, not letting the harshly spoken words of a child get to you! What is wrong with you?!"

Swift gritted her teeth. "I claim no family. I claim no pack name aside from my own. I am a child of the water, nursed on its cruelty." She pressed her stub against Snowlily's chest, flexing it until the muscles danced on her fur. "I am the kit your alpha sank venom into, leaving another child to desperately drag her to safety." She looked down at her paw, the ugly mess of scar tissue and calluses that was once the tip of her foot. "And that is the direct cause of this. So please, go ahead and attack me again. Tell me I'm overreacting when I chose to trust Dukari loyalty to its own kind." She spat, her own venom smoking off Snowlily's fur like acid. "Tell me I'm overreacting, when my only fault for this interrogation is acting on my own instinct. Keeping your pack safe! I didn't want to be here in the first place. So. Back. Off."

"Snow, back off. If what she says is true, and I doubt she could lie with that much conviction, then she's right. We keep pushing and it's only going to get worse." Firestorm gives herself a good shake. "I tried to find you after that day. I didn't want you left with the effects when I lashed out." She frowned, something niggling in her mind. "I am sorry. I did not intend to-"

Swift shook her head, "I don't want to hear it. I have no use for someone forcing herself on others. Mentally or otherwise." She stalked out the door. "I'll come back with food or something. Don't bother with tracking me. You'll have no luck finding me."

Firestorm opened her mouth, her words dying on her tongue. She turned slowly. "We saw her what, around a year ago?"

Snowlily pawed the floor, scraping her claws against the rock. "You aren't going to like where that thought is going. Especially if I can't deny it."

She paced, 5 deft steps to each side. "Why did I react like that? I don't react like that. And what were those words? Brood stock. Someone to be manipulated." She drew her claws, spinning into a sit to catch her tail and hold it there, watching as it spasmed, flailing like trapped prey. "Snow, what is going on? Do you know?"

She twitched, wrapping a paw over her muzzle as she settled back to the floor. "No, I have no idea."

"Could it be something medical? Or-" She flopped down beside Snow. "Or anything, besides me going insane."