Lucius

8

The alpha sends the kids to running. Lucius can't believe how slow they are. Wolves love to play and run, he doesn't understand why they are so slow.

"Faline don't hold back, come on. Show these slow pokes up." Lucius tells her.

Faline nods her head and goes from the middle of the pack to the front and sets a much better pace for them all.

The alpha stands next to Lucius and bites back an oath, "How long can she keep that pace up for?"

Lucius shrugs, "This isn't her top speed, this is our normal running speed. We generally run for an hour or so everyday, but she's never huffing and puffing like those wolves are. I don't understand why they are so out of shape. Don't wolves run all the time?"

"Running for fun isn't something we press the speed on."

"I've been slowly increasing her speed over the last year. Even before I started working with her she could do better than this. Keep in mind that even as a slave she was able to run the twenty some miles from that pack to the city and she was hurt and starving at the time. This is pitiful." Lucius is more than a little pleased to tell the alpha that. 

The alpha on the other hand doesn't like that the vampire has a valid point. He's embarrassed and more than a little mortified that the girl that's sent to them for training is already better than the wolves. He perks up at the thought that the wolves are likely to be able to take her down when it comes to sparring with her one on one.

Lucius keeps his smirk well hidden. He knows the insult he dealt the alpha and knows that the alpha will be training the children harder for it. He'll want improvement by the time they come next week. So does Lucius. If not there won't be a reason to bring Faline back.

The alpha has the children go in sets of two and start practicing their moves. He pulls Faline aside and teaches her the basic moves and makes sure that she knows them before pulling out one of the boys to spar with her.

Quinlin, the beta's son, is less than pleased to be sparring with the vampire's pet. Remembering the warning his father gave him the day before and again this morning he keeps his words to himself. He just smiles and faces off against the bitch.

Faline watches him and can tell that he's out to hurt her and not just spar like the others. She prepares herself and when Quinlin comes after her takes him down.

Quinlin doesn't like that and so goes after her again. Faline again takes him down.

By now Quinlin is angry. He's being bested by not just a girl but a vampire's pet at that.

The alpha and Lucius are watching intently as Quinlin tries again and again to take down Faline and instead finds himself on the ground.

Lucius narrows his eyes in anger at the words Quinlin spews at Faline once he finally loses his control.

Faline coolly looks at the wolf before her and hits him once knocking him out.

Lucius turns to the alpha, "Call his father here. The children only get the ideas from their parents. I know for a fact that it's not his mother that feels that way. I warned you..."

The alpha calls in his beta. He shakes his head, "You were warned. Quinlin shouldn't have called Faline a vampire whore just because she's better at the training than he is. I and Lucius both know where Quinlin heard those thoughts and gained those feelings. Now you get to go against Lucius. You'll find out the pain that little girl suffered. Learn from it and lose the anger towards her."

The beta looks at his alpha like he's crazy.

"This the one?" Lucius demands coming up to them after talking to Faline, making sure that she is alright.

"Yeah, this is the boys father. My beta, Joseph Metcalf." The alpha says. Lucius just looks him over and dismisses him just like that. Joseph bristles at the insult.

"Get inside the practice arena." Lucius orders the offended wolf. "It's time you all learned what Faline suffered."

Lucius is very careful to hold back on his punches, he doesn't want to kill the wolf. Not this time at least. But he does want him to understand just what hell Faline suffered before she managed to get free.

All other activity slows to a stop as they all watch Lucius toy with their beta. They could all hear the bones break. They could see the blood fall. They understand why Joseph collapses when Lucius is finished kicking him. "Now add in clawing and biting and whipping and you'll have a fair idea of what she went through. Then on top of that she ran over twenty miles starving to get to my territory. I don't want to hear any more derogatory remarks about her again. She's suffered far more than any of you and managed to survive. Next time it won't just be a lesson, I'll kill the wolf that insults her. Is that clear?"

There is absolute silence from the group as they take in the violence the young wolf suffered. They can't speak but nod their heads rapidly. The younger wolves especially. They can't believe that a wolf, a young wolf and a female at that suffered so much and was still able to run. 

Some of the kids come up to her afterwards, "Did you really get beaten like that?" One of the girls ask wide eyed.

"Yes, sometimes on a daily basis."

"You were starved?" Another boy asks. Food is very important to wolves.

"Sometimes I'd go several days before they'd feed me and then only small amounts of whatever was left over. Sometimes the other slaves would sneak me some food, but it was never enough."

"That's why she's so much smaller. Although she's regaining much of the lost height she should have had." Lucius comes over to her. The other kids melt away.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. It's seems that they actually want to make friends with you." Lucius says and Faline just shrugs. 

"I think they just want to know just how bad I had it. I don't think they really want to be friends with me.

"Can we go now, Lucius?" Faline says plaintively. She doesn't want to be on pack land any more than necessary.

Lucius smiles at her. "Sure, how about we race home?"

Faline readily agrees and the two take off.

Lia comes out to her husband as they watch the two leave, "I had known, but still hadn't realized just how brutalized Faline had been."

"It's a miracle that she survived. Lucius has reason to look down at the kids. Half starved, beaten to the point where Joseph can't even sit up and she ran away from her abusers, twenty plus miles. That takes a very strong person. She must have alpha blood in her."

"None of the papers Lucius salvage tells anything about which pack she came from." The alpha says frustration evident by words and his body.

"It must be as frustrating for Lucius as well."

"I don't think anything frustrates Lucius. Unless it's supernaturals coming uninvited to his territory."

Lia snorts, "Just wait until Faline hits her teen years and again once her wolf presents. Then you'll see a frustrated Lucius."

The alpha looks at his mate with wide horror filled eyes. "A calm Lucius is bad enough, a frustrated one isn't something to look forward to."

Lia watches as her husband leaves her and goes back into the pack house. She hopes that Faline and Lucius can teach all the males of the pack a few things. She already knows that Lucius will not tolerate Faline being treated like the females of the pack are. He'll never accept a wolf for her mate if he doesn't treat her better than these wolves do.

Then again, she doubts that Faline would allow any male to treat her bad. She'd teach them how to treat a female. It should be an interesting few years.

Lia's looking forward to it.