Toying Alpha

"Woo! Get him Jamie!" "Tap out man! Tap out already!" "I can—I can take her!" "Of all the days you choose TODAY to be stubborn!? Did you forget what's happening tonight? She's gonna rip your throat out!" "I can still–hrk!" Jamie snarled lowly as Brandon just kept on talking big, despite the fact she had him on the ground in a choke hold. "Tap out!" she demanded but Brandon was almost as stubborn as her in all the wrong ways. "Never…!" he wheezed. "Then you can pass out!" "Alright! I'm calling it, both of you, out." "What?!" Jamie released her hold on Brandon who rolled over and started to cough. She looked to her dad as he blew the whistle, giving her a look. "You know the rules I gave you if you were gonna fight today. No maiming, no clawing, and no prolonged suffocation. This is sparring, not a cage fight. Now on the bench." Jamie groaned before dragging herself over to the bench, watching some of the pack haul Brandon to the other, keeping their distance. She didn't bla

It was 11:00AM, and Jamie was still trying to smother herself into her pillow. Unfortunately, despite the existential crisis she was currently suffering through, Jamie had no intention of dying so easily and giving the pack more reasons to talk. And God did they talk. Three days had passed since her disaster of a Shifting Ceremony. Yet, if anything, the pack only got louder, wanting her parents to give them answers, an explanation, anything at this point about what it meant for the pack. Jamie didn't exactly blame them; this wasn't exactly normal, but could they not back off for a moment? They weren't the ones who had their life turned upside down, shifted for inches to the left, with everything burning down on top of that. There was enough vitriol with what was coming out of their mouths about her to keep that fire going. No one would shut up about her...her canis syndrome. There was no rhyme or reason to it. It seemed to hit randomly, and you never knew who had it until they sh

It was a relief to all of them when Logan stopped driving, arriving back at the territory. Andy and Valerie were quick to scramble out of the car and Jamie might've felt guilty except she really wasn't. There hadn't been a shred of empathy for her situation, so she wouldn't bother showing any for their discomfort. "Well, welcome to the Northeastern Pack. You'll love it here." Logan jumped out of the car, grinning playfully, and Andy cut him off from his approach. "Uh, yeah, about that…" "So....we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Valerie Travers, I've been with the pack for four years. We're about 60 miles to the East and 10 miles up from your Western pack, and we're 'bout…25 strong." "Bit small," murmured Jamie, looking around at the pack community. It was smaller than the Western pack, but the buildings were well maintained, and there was a rather pristine medical building as well. There weren't that many people milling about, maybe two kids that hadn't had their first shift, the

"Ah!" Jamie gritted her teeth as Andy poked and prodded the area around her shoulder and collarbone, also pressing against her ribs. Valerie had left her to the pack medic's tender mercies, but he sure as hell wasn't tender. "I have to say, that punch was impressive." Jamie did a double take, looking at Andy, waiting for the rage, but he lacked anything of the sort. All he seemed was amused."I punched your alpha." "Yeah, and it was glorious. He hasn't had anyone challenge him in a while. He was starting to get cocky, so good on you for putting him in his place." Jamie blinked, staring as Andy bustled about for a few more tools, shuffling through bottles of medicine. Now that the anger wasn't so front and center, she was able to think more clearly, and this was not usually how a fight with the alpha went down afterwards. "Why are you helping me? I thought you were the pack beta." "Uh, yeah? And the medic? It's kind of my job?" "I mean, usually the pack beta's on the alpha's si

It hadn't changed, the way the Northeastern pack treated her that is. Jamie had thought it might after what had happened, but they were still nice. They still welcomed her into their territory, their home. They asked about how she was, if she was doing okay after being injured, and it left her reeling. In her father's pack, if someone had challenged him like that out of nowhere and lost, let alone a member of his pack doing that? They'd be treated more than just a little coldly if not outright punished for the improper conduct. Here though? Despite how poorly Jamie acted, they still treated her with kindness, and it made her feel…guilty, over how things had gone down. They both could've handled all of this better, but it wasn't all on them…that they didn't know. Logan had no one to teach him, and Jamie had no one willing to tell her. Tell her she was leaving, how the new pack worked, what was expected of her, if anything was at all. Was it fair? Oh, God no. None of this was fair.