Fated to the Huntress

Chapter 6

“No one can kill an Alpha wolf except another alpha Supernatural. You always said even a fully trained and equipped Lodge would still have a hard time,” Vera scoffed. “No human has a chance.”

“You’ll have to be cunning, but I believe in you! You’ve seen these Alpha’s before. “Egotistical misogynists”, I believe, was your exact deduction of them.” Markus chuckled at the memory. Of course she’d said it after they had left the meeting place and all the mentioned Alpha’s were far away.

Vera chuckled too, but looked at Markus seriously. “I can’t kill an Alpha. Even if I thought I could, you taught me better than to attack without provocation. It only leads to more unneeded violence and it’s a vicious circle that will eventually come back to me.”

“True, this Alpha has not caused any issues since his ascension, but he is a problem. Once he took over, his pack more than doubled in size, and he trained every one of them in basic defense, and even more in actual combat.”

This made Vera pause. A larger than normal pack of warriors could be a problem in the future if they ever decide to turn on humans.

“But the Treaty-,”

“It has already been looked at, and this type of growth from a pack could be seen as a threat, so the one who deals with the issue is protected.” Markus finished quickly, while Vera only furrowed her eyebrows at him.

“It seems you’ve really thought this through, or the Council has.”

Markus sighed. “I confess I might have impure intentions. I would leave this up to someone else, but…I have no reason, really, to go against Xander…well I didn’t until-,” He gestured at her bandaged torso. “But I can’t deny he’s been getting out of hand lately. It’s taking more and more to make him not attack the peaceful packs and covens. I hate to think ill of my Lodge Mate, but if he were to take my place as Leader…” Markus paused again and held Vera’s eyes. “I can’t see this family surviving that.”

Vera looked at her hands on her lap. She knew how Markus felt, even if she didn’t always understand it. To her, Markus was her family, the Lodge was just the Lodge. Most of the members could and would leave and return over the years, but Markus was her constant. He had taken her in when she had no one, and had raised her as his own. He could claim that with several other members, but to her he was everything. Father, friend, mentor, guardian, and Lodge Leader.

If the Lodge meant that much to him…it meant that much to her too.

“Ok. I’ll do whatever it takes so he won’t take over….Just don’t expect me to like it.” Vera nudged him. Honestly, she still didn’t like the idea of being a Lodge Leader. She’d rather hunt. That was easy, that’s what she was trained to do.

“Oh, you’ll hate it, I know.” Markus laughed. “But you’re the best choice, and you know it.”

Vera laid on her cot gingerly and leaned as comfortably as she could against the back rest. She tried hard not to think about the pain in her side, or how close Xander had been to ending her. As it was, it would be days before she was able to move properly. She hated how weak injuries like this made her, but she knew it was part of the job.

Even if this one did come from a back-stabbing piece of human-

“Here’s dinner for ya, and you’d better eat the whole thing or I’m under orders to tie you down till it’s done.” Lottie bursts into the room with a piping hot bowl in her bare hands. “If you think I’m about to let you starve yourself ‘cuz you’re too mule-headed to come downstairs for dinner you’re more an i***t than I’d ‘o thought.”

“I’m in pain Lottie!” Vera tried to defend herself, knowing Lottie wouldn’t listen.

“I’m in pain every day but you don’t hear me crowing about it! So what you’re in pain? Have you seen the training that demon Brent has his group doing today? The pour souls won’t be moving tomorrow.”

“But you’ll be right there to make sure they do. Don’t lie, you torture us as much as Brent does.” Vera pulled a bit of blanket into her hand and accepted the steaming bowl. It smelled delicious, but as soon as she leaned her head back she felt impossibly weak. She knew this feeling well after being injured and doubted she would stay awake long enough to finish a bowl.

“Now don’t say that, or I’ll have to train them harder to keep my place as the Demon.” A deep voice came from the open door. In stepped a red-headed giant with a seemingly innocent smirk.

“Oh no you don’t, you! She needs food and rest, and you’ve done enough damage. She came in near dead two days ago from that course you set in the woods and now look at her. Much more and your next training will be digging her grave!” Lottie scolded, but he held his hands up in surrender.

“I’m just here to check up on her. I’m done for the day and all the whelps are nursing their injuries downstairs. Except for Xander.” He grinned at Vera. “He’s preparing for our night training.” If there was anything worse than Brent in the day, it was Brent at night training. Vera was convinced that it was because he took out some kind of inner anger during the night. He always hid it with a smirk, but she just knew night training was his way of making them pay for some anger he carried deep inside. She’d been subjected once, and she had all her things packed and ready to leave the Hunter life behind the next day until Lottie had stopped her.

“Is that why you’re in a good mood?” Vera questioned.

“It’s been a while since Markus let me do this. You were one of the last, if I remember right.”

“So you’ll be having Xander make up for the lost time?” Vera smirked hopefully, and broke into an evil smile that matched the one on Brent’s face.

“Aye, lass. Keep an ear out tonight, I want to know if you can hear a soul break.” Lottie rolled her eyes, and after reminding Vera to finish the whole bowl, left with another glare at Brent and a slam of the door.

“She’ll never like you if you keep that up, you know.”

“Good.” Even though he said that with determination, he still sent puppy dog eyes at the closed door before turning back to her. “So, when do you think you’ll be training again?”

“C’mon, Brent, I just got sliced! Give me a couple days before hounding on me!” Vera whined, causing him to chuckle. He patted her leg as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, alright, but only because I know you’ve been working hard lately, and it’s about to be hard on ya…Markus told me what he wants you up against. Of all the whelps, I think you stand the best chance but…” He sighed. “I once went against an alpha. Tried to at least, but he had me beat almost immediately. I was lucky Markus showed up before he finished me. Your best chance will be to defeat ‘im off the battlefield.”

“Why were you fighting an Alpha?”

Brent sighed and looked at his clasped hands. “I’d rather not get into that, lass, if you don’t mind. Just know this Alpha is said to be more powerful than the one I went against. That’s why I’m saying this. His pack is very mysterious, and he’s rumored to be very closed off, even to his own kind.”

“I’m not going to stab him in the back for a trophy. I’m not like that.” Vera didn’t like the insinuations from Markus and now Brent. Taking a trophy in anything but a full-on fight felt more like assassination than hunting.

“If you don’t, we may end up doing it eventually anyway. The pack is growing and if he goes bad, or someone else takes over, there’s enough power there to cause a lot of problems for us. Maybe more than we can handle. You should take this opportunity to at least make sure Xander isn’t the one who gets more power.” Brent made sure to look in her eyes when he said this.

Vera paused. “Why not you…You’ve been in the Lodge longer than almost anyone, you’ve trained all of us, you’re respected in the community…”

“No, no, no. I train. That’s it. I’ve no interest in leading a bunch of ruffians. I’ll leave that to you, gladly”, Brent laughed. He joked with Vera while she ate, until he saw the sun setting. He left with an evil grin, telling Vera he wouldn’t be back until he had to drag an almost lifeless Xander back.

Vera settled into her pillows after setting her bowl aside. She knew Lottie would come in at some point to get it, but without Brent keeping her up, the exhaustion hit her like a wave and she just wanted the release of sleep. She adjusted to keep as much pressure off her side as she could and closed her eyes, relishing the warm breeze that reached her through her open window.

Just as she thought she could finally drift off, a deep howl reached through the air to caress her. It was low and would be barely audible to anyone else, but her small hairs stood up and a shiver ran down her spine. Sleep left her as she wanted, desperately, to go to the howl. She stood with caution and peered out the window, not thinking she’d be able to see anything in the darkness.

Only to see a pair of bright silver lights shining at the edge of the trees…