Pack and Pride

Chapter 4 Matrim

I dig my claws into his side, fur and blood coating senses. I growl and toss him through the air. He flies through until he meets the ground in a thundering impact. I charge at him again, teeth bared. My enormous grizzly bear growling low. I use my powerful jaw to latch onto his shoulder and throw him again. His back and shoulder muscles ripple with the action. The slightly smaller bear again goes flying. Enough is enough. I contact him through mind link. Shift while you are in the air, damn you. I approach again for a final throw. As he is tossed in the air for the umpteenth time today I finally see the light indicating a shift. He's finally trying... and failing it seems. I shift into my human form and a pair of shorts are thrown to me. I slip them on and walk over to the battered bear on the ground.

Upon my approach he slowly shifts into his own human form. "You must learn to be faster. The shift should be second nature for you and your bear," I scold him.

"Of course, sir. Apologies, sir," he says with his head bowed in respect.

"Don't apologize," I growl. "Just fix it." With that I turn and march out of the training pit and aim for the clan house, modeled after the BloodFang home. I have a shit ton to get done today, I certainly don't have time to throw a soldier around for hours hoping he will learn to battle shift. A snarl plays on my lips as I throw the door of the house open and climb the stairs. Each footstep thunders against the hardwood flooring and I ascend.

I yank the door to my office open and hear the hinges wine as I do so. I sit in the large, leather chair behind the old desk and take a calming breath. I look above the door and see two small wings in a frame, a slight smirk plays on my lips. Wereagles are so pompous and high on their perches. We sure brought them down. The smirk on my lips drop as I think of the consequences. The war. The aftermath.

My father was a strong leader, feared, but strong. When the dust of the war had settled, the new bitch of the flock demanded the head of my father or mother as retribution for her brother. My father wanted to resume the fight right then and there and kill her too. But that old shifter, the king cobra--last of his kind-- said enough was enough. He drafted the treaty and the blood price had to be paid. My mother sacrificed herself before my father got the chance. It broke him. He lost his mind, he lost his will to live. He went wild.

We bears are by far the strongest, but our strength is because of wild bears. Our inner bears have power. It takes years of discipline and mastery before a bear is truly in control of his inner self and even then it is a thin line we walk between control and savagery. So naturally, we are the first to go wild. My father gave up on humanity. He gave up... on me. I had to be the one to hunt him down and put him down. He would only hurt humans or the innocent if her was left to live. That bitch of the flock cost my not one, but both of my parents and she knew it too. She knew it the moment she demanded the blood price.

My bear growls within me and begs to kill her. I hold him back, if only because we don't have the army we used to. We have always been few.

A knock at the door scatters my thoughts and I grunt. A signal for the person enter. It's my cousin, Angela. The leader of my scouts and seated on my council. She is wearing black leggings and a black t-shirt. Her self imposed uniform for the job, no matter how often I tell her she doesn't need to, she does it anyway.

"What is it, Angela?" I ask as I shuffle through a few files. Leader work. Angela throws herself over one of the chairs opposite my desk and lounges. She is the only person who would dare lounge in my presence. Most others only fear me, honestly I wouldn't tolerate it if another did but I've always had a soft spot for Angie.

"Oh, I just thought, that maybe you would like a report from your scouts... but if you're going to snap at me maybe you don't," she muses. My head snaps up and I narrow my eyes at her. She smiles at me knowing that now she has my full attention. She cracks her neck before speaking again "the flock was on the move today. We tracked them over the lion territory and then lost them. I'm assuming that your two favorite leaders are meeting." She throws her legs back over the chair and moves to stand up.

I clench my jaw, those two should not be trusted together. I don't know much about the lion girl, she was grieving her parents at the time of the treaty. I had heard she was a fiery and cunning, but all I could think was that she seemed subdued. "So what does that mean?" I ask, trying to keep my temper in check.

"Oh I would think it means that you should be afraid. Very afraid," she smirk at me before turning away and looking at the encased wings. She glances over her shoulder and frowns, "you really should get rid of these." I know Angela has always hated them and every time she comes into my office it's the same sentence and every time I refuse. They are the last reminder of my fathers rule that I truly have. A reminder of our former glory. I huff out my nose and wave her away. I don't want to deal with it right now.

I spend the next few hours getting office work done and getting bills in order. Work I hate but work none the less. I check my phone after I send off my last emails and notice the time 10:41. I have spent the better part of the day cooped up in this office. I pull out the file I wrote about the flock movement in and read it over again. It's very rare for the she-devil to leave her precious stronghold. I decide to send Argra a text. If our enemies are meeting I figure we should too. After I send the text a minute later the response shows up:

Fine. But this couldn't wait until the morning? Really man? -A

I smile at his annoyed response before plugging my phone in and heading to my room for bed. Being a leader means long days on top of long days. I walk into the bathroom and wash my face, relishing the feeling of the cool water on my neck, trying to relieve stress that seems to live deep in my bones. I shake it off and shut off the lights before tumbling into bed. Two seconds later I'm dead to the world.

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