Crimson Wild: Lycans of Grayville

Four: The Blood of Night

The afternoon flew by and so did training. Ele did not manage to land me in the clinic this time, so I would count that as a win—as much a win as I ever get with Ele. Clay was off trying to pound some sense into his brother, who had not been veiled in his intents towards me. Ele was not doing anything, or saying anything about the younger Wells alpha male. I knew Ele though, she would defend me, if she felt it was necessary.

Sometimes, being the second highest ranking she-wolf in the pack was frustrating, because Ele would not protect me. She would make me prove that I am second, least someone undermine her through me.

I decided to pay Ruby a visit, she deserved the warning I was to deliver. She was sitting in the back garden. There were summer roses blooming in red and yellow. Ele and I were not much for "girly" stuff, but we both loved a little bit of gardening, when we were not killing stubborn males.

She was sitting in the neatly manicured law, our gammas of lower ranks tended to do a lot of menial pack chores, so our law was always well groomed. We did not force lower ranks into such things, we protected them from all comers, so they did it as a pack curtesy. Ele and I spent our fair share of time helping the lower gammas pull weeds last month, as with cooking, no member was above the needs of the pack.

Ruby looked up at me, she seemed to be expecting me, or so the look on her stormy face told me. I waved, trying and failing, to be as casual as possible. I finally blurted out, "Ruby, I am going to have to kill your son, if he does not relent on his insanity."

She looked up, still weary and dark, but she nodded and pat the grass, so I took a seat on the soft late Spring lawn. She sighed and shook her head slightly and said, "I'm sorry, we were warned that he would have to keep himself in line, but he has never been this bad before. He is fine with our pack females, but we don't have any alpha females, besides myself."

I nodded and said, "Well, I admit that it has to be troublesome for an alpha male to keep his head on straight, especially around so many possible alpha females, but we are not sides of beef either."

She let out a gusty breath and said, "I know, I remember being your age and bothered by alpha males. They will not relent, not until they find a mate, die or you pick a mate. I know that Angela could stay single for over three hundred years, but she was the exception, not the example."

I sighed and said, "I am getting sick of the attention and it has not even been a year since I became an alpha, or well, re-became I guess. I am not backing off, but it is tiring. Ele is constantly worried for me and for Cam. Hell, Cam is only thirteen and old ass guys talk about wanting her all the time now. It is fucking disgusting."

Ruby gave a weak smile and said, "Welcome to the real world of lycans. There is little that can be done, part of it is their animal instinct. They want the choicest mate, so they can have strong pups, not uncommon."

I groaned and said, "Well, I would love to have a damn candy bar every time I go to the store, but you don't see me pillaging the store to "claim" what I perceive as mine."