Chapter 13

His senses were sluggish to be alert. Sucking in air, he peeked up at Nova sitting beside him. He glanced around and she smiled. “Omma said it’s okay if I sit with ye for now. I only been here a few minutes.”

He needed to shift and moaned, realizing he was on a reinforced cot that was just too small so most of him hung off it. His hand was expertly splintered and bandaged, and his chest was tight enough to prevent him from breathing too deeply. His head felt tight with a bandage meant to stop his bleeding. Maybe it was holding his brain in. It was difficult to keep his vision focused, so he laid his head back and closed his eyes. The last time he had felt this out of sorts was when he had curiously walked right into Nova’s trap.

Her tender caress on his snout brought him back from almost dozing off and he peeked at her.

“I really missed seein’ ye like this,” she said in a voice as soft as her smile. “I really missed yer voice.” She took his good hand with both of hers, placing it against her face, leaning into it. “I ... really miss yer touch.”

The wistful adulation in his gaze made her blush deeply, her ears flat to the sides. He stroked her cheek with his thumb, feeling his heart flutter.

“Oh, Nova,” he croaked out, his parched voice like grinding stones. “What ... were you doing out there?”

She glanced back at him before looking at her paws. “Oh, uh, well, Veka ... woke me up an’ said she ... heard ye callin’ for her.”

The groan came from a place far deeper than his injuries. Taking his hand back, he rubbed at his eyes, an aching tension in his body that he had to release with a exasperated sigh. “Not that I’m not grateful. You both probably saved my life.”

Smiling, she offered a dented canteen of delightfully cold water. “Guess that’d be twice, then, right?”

His brow furrowed, but he waited until she had helped him quench his thirst before answering playfully. “Making up for the times you tried to kill me?”

She giggled nervously. “Well, I guess. I were thinkin’ more like ... thankin’ ye for ... keepin’ me safe as ye could...”

His hand cupped her snout without pressure, but it was enough for her to fall silent. He shook his head. “Don’t, Nova. Don’t ever thank me for any of that. I didn’t do you any favors. I took you from this place. I should’ve stuck to the mission and left you alone.”

Her ears lowered, eyes darting about before anxiously fidgeting with her tail. “Well, I mean, wh-what if ... that’s kinda why yer here now? And ... isn’t that worth it?”

“I do like it here a lot better,” he agreed softly.

“A-And besides, if it weren’t you ... who else might it’ve been? M-Maybe someone else caught me. I’d’ve been like Veka. Maybe even ... selected for the ambassador,” she breathed the last part with a shudder in memory.

“But I weren’t,” she continued before he could respond, taking his hand again. “I ... I were safe with you. In yer bed.”

He looked up at her and there was the ghost of a knowing smile that pulled the side of his face. “You liked that more than you admitted.”

Blushing hotly again, she swallowed hard and stammered, “w-well, I-I mean...”

The searing, awful sunlight might as well have been a sword that stabbed Anubis through his brain. He groaned again, slinging his arm over his eyes.

“Oh good, yer awake,” Jack stated as he closed the door behind him. “It’s past lunch already.” He fixed Nova with a stern eye. “Time to get back to chores, Nova.”

“O-Okay,” she whimpered, glancing back from the door before hurriedly leaving.

Jack watched her go with a small disappointed shake of his head and took a pensive breath before scratching at his ear and scoffing with a bit of a smile. “Well, I already dealt with Paneesh. He’s Alpha of Dawson Pack. Ancient fucker. His boys’re always causin’ trouble. Ha! Shoulda seen the look on his face when I told him his boys assaulted my Honored Free, and I would demand restitution. Hooked ‘em each with a claw an’ they cried like pups!”

His dry chuckle died when he saw Anubis was not that amused, and shifted nervously a moment.

“Am I in trouble?” Anubis took the liberty of breaking the silence.

Jack blinked in surprise. “Trouble? What for?”

He shrugged. “Disobeying. Threatening you.”

The Alpha’s eyes got wider for a moment. “Wait, were ye threatenin’ me? I just figured ye were mad at me.” When Anubis realized that he had never thought there was much of a difference, it must have shown on his face even in the dim room. “Yeah, see, I didn’t think so. Ye just got big teeth, is all. Fuckin’ shiny. All that meat, no sweets.”

He then scoffed and shook his head, throwing up his hands. “Besides, even if ye were in trouble, what could I do to ya? Take ye out an’ flog ye? We ain’t even got a whip. There’s fuck all I could even do to ye. That’s why this slave thing feels so ridiculous. Shit, I couldn’t even stop ye tryin’ to take the alpha spot the way the Wogtal do.”

There was a moment of clarity for Anubis. “I don’t want to be alpha, Jack,” he assured softly as the effort to talk hurt. “I never wanted to be alpha. I just ... wanted the suffering to stop.” In an even quieter voice he added, “all I really want is Nova.”

Jack’s lips set in a hard line even as there was a noticeable release of tension in him. He was thoughtfully quiet for a moment before he took a step closer, sitting in the chair beside his cot. He leaned over to glare into Anubis’ eyes, his words deliberately enunciated. “I’ve been an ass to ye, Anubis, but there’s a reason. It’s plain as the day that yer a good man, and I can accept the man that ye are today, the one layin’ here in front of me. I’m even sorta startin’ to like ‘im. But, that don’t erase the man that ye were and the things that he did. I want you to look me right here in the eyes and tell me, as a good man, that you never raped Nova.” Inhaling sharply enough to hurt, Anubis turned his eyes away. Jack nodded knowingly. “Uh huh, see? Yer a good man, and ye knew it was wrong, and ye still did it.

“Now, I can accept that ye were a victim, too,” he hurried to continue when Anubis opened his mouth to reply. “The things those two’ve told me makes me so uncomfortable. Even considerin’ ye livestock made me so uncomfortable. As a good person, that had to be hell for ye and then some. But, yer not innocent. You-- raped-- Nova, and ye raped those women, and maybe that was normal to ye, but ye knew it was wrong, and ye still did it. And that’s why yer here, as our slave. And that’s why I have to find a way to be okay with it.”

Leaning back, he slapped his knees. “And to get this mutiny under control! Fern thinks I’ve lost my mind. Nova won’t talk to me. Cloud growls at me. Denver won’t change outta his feral form.”

Anubis groaned and put his good hand over his face. “That boy.”

Jack stared at him and shook his head slowly. “I thought it’d be you challengin’ me, but instead, it’s my own pack.”

“I never meant to be an inconvenience,” Anubis muttered with a hint of sass that made Jack roll his eyes.

“A inconvenience? We might not starve this winter cuz of all the work ye’ve done. Ye single-handedly set this pack up for success for a century, at least. Inconvenience. Not a inconvenience. Just a ... a discomfort. It’s not how we would handle what ye’ve done.”

Anubis peered at him. “Enlighten me, because I can tell you exactly how my pack would handle it, and I have doubts they are the same.”

Staring at him thoughtfully a moment, the side of his face curled up. “Well, I could tie yer balls to that fancy new tractor ye paid for and use ye to clear some lines.”

Anubis could not contain his smile. “Certainly not how we did it, but that seems fair enough.”

“Oh, good, Fern’ll love that. I hope yer prepared for that much fondling.”

He really wanted to laugh, but his side hurt so badly that he moaned and grimaced instead.

Again Jack shook his head. Standing up, he returned with a small vial and needle, measuring out the liquid as he spoke. “Look at’cha! Big pup. Ye were just gonna let ‘em kick yer ass. They might’ve killed ya! Ye coulda let ‘em go. If they were after the tractor, we got traps all over that thing. Got traps set so far out they won’t think to start lookin’. Woulda made lots o’ noise.” Sitting back down, he rolled his eyes at the growl his stab elicited. “Last time I looked somethin’ like this was after my fight with Red Paw an’ his posse, an’ that was a 5 against me.”

Anubis raised a brow and looked him over. “Really?”

Jack gave his doubt a sharp grin. “Never underestimate a man with a cause. I been takin’ care of this pack long ‘fore I became alpha.” He glanced at the door, his voice almost wistful. “Been takin’ care of Nova since she were a pup. She’s always been real good at slippin’ away. Would get her into all sorts o’ trouble, though served me fine. She’d come out to the river lookin’ for me. Always talked about how she couldn’t wait for me to be an Alpha someday. She always been more submissive than the others. Likes that power play. Think that’s why she stays an omega.”

He fixed Anubis with a bitter eye, his snout slightly wrinkled. “But then ye came along an’ snatched her up an’ there weren’t a damn thing any of us could do about it. That’s a real helpless feelin, when ye can’t do nothin’ for someone ye love.”

Staring up at the ceiling, Anubis let out a solemn sigh, his good hand resting on the ground since the cot was so low. His headache was already easing, his breathing getting a little easier. “I can relate.”

Nodding, Jack leaned back in the chair. “Yeah, she told us ‘bout yer sister. Fuckin’ sick. If Iron Gale ever had a thought like that, he’d be feedin’ the flowers with his blood. He’d be marked as a Banished. Every pack would attack ‘im as justice. Took yer shitty brother to give her some justice. At least I can relate with the asshole brother, but I don’t think there’s a shred of sacrifice in Red Paw. He ain’t a lost soul, he’s just a dick. Don’t wanna participate in civilized pack society.”

After a brief pause, his expression grew serious, and he leaned forward again which made Anubis look at him. “I don’t know exactly how the Wogtal handle their pack affairs, I always heard ye folks fought over it, but among us, it’s a vote. I stay alpha only so long as the pack agrees it’s in their best interests. If there’s more teeth against me than for me, I gotta go. An’ right now, there’s too many teeth pointin’ at me for my likin’, ‘specially cuz they cut the deepest.”

With a contemplative breath, he shook his head. “I ain’t got the authority nor desire to go against Khade’grr’s wishes. Yer stuck as our ‘property’ far as the other packs are concerned. But, the letter did say that I ... get to decide what to do with ye within our pack. An’ what the pack wants, I gotta make happen. So ... I’ll give ye the chance to earn rank with us.

“I ain’t gonna let it be easy for ya, though,” he added with a stern glare. “Yer startin’ from this, nothin’. I’m gonna make it the hardest one to get out of. Outside the pack, it don’t mean nothin’ so keep to yerself. But this pack don’t know how to consider another wolf a friend an’ a slave in the same breath an’ it ain’t fair to expect it.”

It took Anubis a moment to ponder this. His head was still foggy, and the gnawing in his stomach was making it difficult to concentrate. “We ... gain rank mostly through competition. How do I gain rank here?”

Relaxing back into the chair, Jack smiled at him. “Same way we all do. Take on responsibility. Find things that need done with nobody askin’. Finish yer chores in a timely fashion with no one needin’ to check up on ya. Bein’ where yer supposed to be when yer told to. Ye know, all those things Nova don’t do.”

“So, I’m ... not an ox?”

Jack rolled his eyes with the hint of a smile. “I think I were inferrin’ that, yeah.”

There was really only one thing he thought it might also infer, and he figured it was worth asking. “Does that mean I can spend time with her?”

Jack’s face became as cold and hard as any statue he had ever seen and leaned closer than before, fixing him with a dangerous stare, his snout wrinkled, teeth only barely covered. “I don’t usually talk ‘bout what my pack mates confide to me, but I want ye to know, I asked her why she had feelin’s for ye after what ye did to her. I never done nothin’ like that to ‘er. She says ... she can’t explain it. And then she cried. Sobbed. On her knees. Somethin’s broken in there, Anubis, and you broke it, whether ye meant it or not.