Rogue Wolf

Ch 44 what makes sense

Some part of me knew that if it was Alpha I was standing in front of instead of my Max, I'd be afraid. I couldn't bring myself to even fake any fear because I loved him too much. I couldn't help smiling at him as I slid on my pants.

"It all has to do with that door," I started, my voice briefly muffled as I slid on the shirt. "Omega, yes, but then what about Omega Steven? He doesn't live there, he has clothes, he has a job. Why is he an omega? Better question, why are there two types of omegas? Or are there? Omega, come here. No, the oldest one."

I waited until he was on the ground before me before I continued. I couldn't resist putting a slightly clawed foot on his shoulder over his scars.

"Now this omega, he isn't just an omega. He's a prisoner. He always, and I mean always, has a guard on him, unless Alpha locks him up. Even when he's with you, my lord, there's always a guard nearby. Now, look at that door and those slide bolts. No one gets out of there without permission from this side, except Alpha, who has his own way out. That area isn't a home for people. It's a prison, and that makes Alpha its warden."

I paused, letting that sink in to the others. I saw confused or disconcerting looks on a few, derisive looks on some of the rest. My Max just continued to gaze at me impassively. I felt almost foolish, as if I was just now reasoning out things that were obvious. After all, what was the purpose of guards? I plunged on, almost pleading with my Max to understand what I was driving at.

"Alpha's big on protecting the pack. That's what he's always done, and I'm betting he's had to be one mean s.o.b. to get the job done. He'd have to be strict, have tight regulations for the prisoners, to keep them in line, especially if they were allowed to work in the stores here.

"I could smell the old odors when we first got here. The people from the omega area always made beelines to wherever they worked. One worked in whatever shop was there," I said pointing, "and one worked back where the bar and pool tables are. Whatever he did, he did in the very back corner. Old scents, but those two were the strongest and most obvious. The majority of the old scents went in and out of the worker area.

"So I'm guessing Alpha was a damn good warden. Then the war happened, and the battle. I don't know what happened to the prisoners, but I know what happened to Alpha. He had the responsibility of suddenly protecting and raising the crown prince, as it were. So how did he go about it? The only way he knew. So he raised you, my lord, and the others, as prisoners in your own home. And when you brought in more people, he did what he knew how to do as a warden.

"The dog food, the chains? Repeating the rules? I'm betting that's how he started prisoners out, making sure they knew their place and knew the rules. But we aren't prisoners, we're supposed to be family, so none of us should have been treated like that.

"But we were. And as everyone came to terms with their imprisonment, their status got changed from prisoner to guard. But even that! No names, just a generic title. A tactic for prisoners maybe, but not people! That's why omega Steven has a name, because he survived from before. I bet he wasn't even originally an omega. But Alpha, he's in charge of omegas, and he was in charge, so he just made everyone either an omega or a guard. That's all he has room for in his territory.

"Then take the beatings," I pushed on, "and the cold temperature in the rooms... it's all geared to toughen us up. I was thinking when I changed to wolf a little bit ago, that I've gotten good at ignoring pain because of Alpha's discipline. Being able to handle any kind of pain makes for a werewolf who's better at handling the pain of shifting. But Alpha went about it all wrong. Pain didn't matter because no matter what you did, you got pain. You always got pain, pain and fear. I think the fear made it harder to change into a wolf, because you don't want to. Instead of working so we could accept the pain, Alpha's tactics had everyone trying to avoid pain because of the fear."

I groaned slightly in frustration as Max blinked at me, like what I was saying was nonsensical. My words weren't even making sense to me. It felt like I was talking in circles, unable to come to the point. The point was Alpha was an ass, but I couldn't just come out and say that. It wouldn't help.

"No pain, no gain."

I looked over at Michael. He had this wry little grin on his face.

"It's like when I practice my routines," he said, "you just have to keep going, even if it hurts, because you want to succeed. You want to improve your skills, push yourself to the limit. I bet you did the same with parkour."

I nodded, glad of the support. I decided to try focusing on Michael now instead of Max. Max might already know what I was taking about, Michael didn't. If I could get Michael to understand, maybe he could help reword stuff for the others.

"So becoming a wolf takes practice, like any other skill," Michael said. "It's like a workout. The more you do, the better you get, the less it hurts to do it."

I nodded again.

"And the cold?" he asked, then answered his own question. "Because you have an incentive to sprout wolf fur. Yeah, I get it. But it's not like you guys go around with fur all the time. Well, most of you anyway," he added, looking me up and down. "What about the kneeling all the damn time?"

"Puts you on the same level as a wolf, I answered. "If the alpha wants to exercise his right to get hold of you, or rub against you to put his smell on you, you're in reach. Even if he just wants to smell you, well, kneeling works better than smelling peoples' privates if they're standing, if you know what I mean. More dignified too. You got glands in your neck that put out pheromones, plus your sweat. The smell on the neck just gives you a better idea of how someone is feeling."

"What about looking down all the time?" Michael asked next.

"Has to do with being a wolf. Direct stares are challenges. Everything is geared to how wolves would react."

"But that's the problem, my lord," I said, turning back to Maximus. "We aren't wolves all the time. We deserve the chance to be what we are, and part of that is being people, or in our case, most of us, teenage boys," I added grinning. "That's why I don't insist Michael do all the rules stuff all the time. When we talk, it's just two guys talking. Being a scout, that means dealing with people, interacting with them as people to recruit them. Remember how we went out, the group of us?"

I waited until he nodded before I continued. "I automatically went down on my knees when Alpha called me over. You can't do that stuff around people, so for a scout, it isn't good to be in the habit of it, not so much so that it comes automatically. You don't want to screw up around regular people. That's why I allow Michael to only do it when he need to, to show respect, my lord Alpha.

"That's also why," I said, suddenly feeling a bit nervous, "the celebration I had planned for tonight revolves around doing human things, letting everyone just hang loose and cut up, maybe tease each other good-naturedly, not worry about rank, possibly pull a prank or two, throw popcorn at each other during the movie later..."

"In short, letting the wild side out," Michael interrupted with a little laugh.

I grinned back at him. "Yeah, if our Alpha lord Maximus approves. And if he does..." I let the phrase hang for a second... "you get to wear the hat!"