Chapter 8

I have been writing a lot lately, so I figure why not just post. Hope you enjoy!

Head warrior Axel in the picture

Axels's pov

"Put more force behind your punches," I tell the young warrior fighting with one of her pack mates "just because this is training doesn't mean you should hold back your punches, that's what the doctors for. You're werewolves for Goddess sake, you don't die easily". With that, they both get back to fighting and as instructed they don't hold back. "That's right, in a battlefield hesitation will get you killed, so you have to train without it as well, that way you are prepared when you are in a real combat situation!"

I take a look around me and take in the sight of people in training, some in human form and some in wolf form. The sounds of snarling, growling and whining, as well as the smell of adrenaline, sweat and blood surround me,  I'm itching to get a piece of the action.

"Beta, with me!" I instruct, why should they get all the fun? He hesitates for a second, I'm known for not showing any mercy even when training, but it's not like I have ever killed anyone outside real battle.

He comes to stand in front of me and we start to circle each other. This is a waiting game, the person to make the first move is more likely to be vulnerable, and patience is something I have a lot of. After a little while my opponent moves in for the first strike, he tries to punch me, but I move back with no problem, giving him a little grin in the process to throw him off, it's really helpful if the opponent gets a little riled up, it makes them lose focus. It has the effect I was hoping for, and with a growl, he moves in again, this time he tries to swipe me off my feet. I easily get past his defenses and land a punch to his jaw, now he is really pissed. And I make my next move, with a quick motion I swipe out my leg catching his and easily drag him to the ground. Then I throw my body on his, grab his neck and position my self with his neck in the crook of my arm and the back of his head on my chest, I start choking him while landing hard punches to his ribs, stomach and face. He tries to fight back but soon the lack of air makes him go limp in my arms, I wait till he is still and I can hear his heart beat slower. Then I release him and push him off me, "someone get the doc, looks like the Beta needs his attention!" I yell over the noise of the training field. Pretty soon the Betas still unconscious body is being carried towards the pack hospital.

"Was it really necessary to put my Beta in the hospital?" training is over for the day and I'm discussing the results of the day with this packs Alpha, Gregory.

"Necessary? No. Fun? Yes!" I tell him with my trademark grin. It's not like I'm a sadist or anything, but I like to inflict some pain, especially in a fight.

"Fine, it's not like he won't heal, but it won't make him love you any more that's for sure," he tells me with a chastising tone.

I know the Beta doesn't like me. The first day the whole pack treated me like a child, just because I'm young. But it's not like I got the job as Head Warrior in such a big pack as Moonstone without proving my worth, I'm good, and I know it. Soon enough everyone else did too, and now they are smart enough to respect and fear me.

"You have done an amazing job training my warriors, Axel. I'm very happy that Alpha Anders let us borrow you for a while." He seems to have gotten over me injuring his Beta already, "have you decided when you'll be heading home?"

"I'm not really sure yet Alpha Gregory, but I will be leaving within the next few days" being away at the same time as my own Alpha was not ideal, but the meeting he had to attend had been moved up at the last minute. Alpha Gregory had been invited as well, but he had chosen to send his son instead, since he would soon be taking over as Alpha.

I'm now I should be going back sooner rather than later, but I have to say I'm enjoying my time here. I had enjoyed plenty of fighting and found some excellent bed companions. No, I'm not the type to keep myself pure for my mate, I want to enjoy my life until they come into my life, and I'm hoping they are doing the same. To each his own I say.

"Well it has been a pleasure having you here, and I'm sure my own Head Warrior has gained quite a lot of knowledge from you". I hope so, that guy is an idiot. He thinks he knows it all, and he certainly was not happy to have me interfering with his way of training

"Thank you, Alpha," I tell him standing up from my chair. "I am enjoying my stay as well, and I'll let you know when I have a date of departure."

"Yes, I have been told that you are enjoying your self, thank you for respecting me enough to stay away from my daughter," the Alpha gives me a wink and waves me out of his office.

Just as I exit his office my phone starts ringing, and when I see that it's my Beta calling I get a little worried. It could mean that something has gone wrong in the pack.

"Hello Carl, whats up?" I know I should address him as Beta, but he doesn't seem to mind as long as I stick to the formalities in public.

"I have some really good news Axel" his voice is high pitched and excited "we finally have a Luna!" Wow, Alpha found his mate?

"That is good news indeed!" I know, hell everyone knows, how much he wanted to meet his mate. "He must be over the moon".

"Oh yeah, it's not completely uncomplicated though..." Carl seems a little hesitant to tell me more.

"Oh, yeah? Whats complicated?"

"Weeeeell," ok, now I'm worried about whats next "he's a tigershifter".

"What? Are you kidding me? Those pricks cant be trusted, how the hell did that happen?"

"You know as well as I do that this is not Anders's decision, its the Goddess who decides and she wants this guy as our Luna. We need to give him a chance, he seems like a good guy. His sister is more of a loose cannon though..." Sister? So now there's two of them?

"Please don't tell me that the Alpha welcomed them both to the pack?" The Luna I might tolerate, but a second tiger in the pack? That just spells trouble.

"Look I know you are no friend to the tigers, but this is the Alphas decision, and you just have to suck it up and deal with it. That, or you leave the pack. But no one wants that." Leave the pack? The pack I helped train to become the most deadly and influential anyone have seen in a long time? Could I do that?

"I'm heading home, I'm leaving right now and will be back tomorrow. You keep an eye on those slimy creatures, do not trust them!" I shudder at the thought of the trouble those things can make in my absence, the rest of the pack are too naive, they're gonna accept them just because he is the Luna and shes his sister. I know better.

"Ok, ok, calm down, they're under surveillance, but I'm telling you, they seem like nice people." Oh, great, he's already been sucked in by their treacherous charm.

"Not likely, keep your eyes open! See you tomorrow." He hardly has time to say goodbye before I hang up the phone and storm outside. I strip my clothes and take off running mid-shift and head for the surrounding woods.

I run flat out for the better part of an hour before I slow down to a trot and finally stop when I come to a field. I lay down resting my head on my paws and cant help the whine that comes out of my throat.

I let my mind drift back to the moment I realized that tigers are pure evil.

Growing up I had many friends, but just one that I would call a best friend. Tommy was the most amazing, kind, funny person you could ever imagine. We were best friends since our diaper days and did everything together. When we were eleven we came across this guy in the woods while exploring on our own, we were both a little taken aback by him cause he had a scent none of us could place. The guy told us he was a tigershifter and you can imagine how cool we found that, we had both heard stories of the rare and fierce tigers, so to meet one in person was amazing to us. He came off as a cheerful and friendly kind of guy and we both liked him a lot. He convinced us to not tell anyone about meeting him though, he told us that the tigers had an undeserved bad rep and he didn't want to get in trouble with the pack. We didn't either, so of course we told no one. After spending the day together we said our goodbyes and he went back across the pack borders.

A few months later I noticed a change in Tommy, he became more evasive and closed off, his smiles became rarer and after about eight months he was like a shell of the person he used to be. I would ask him every day if something was wrong, but he denied that anything was going on. And I was just a kid too, so I didn't know how to handle the change in him. We drifted apart more and more, until we hardly spent any time together and I would just see him about, hanging around by himself.

One night, two years after that meeting in the woods, he came to my house after I had gone to bed. He snuck in through the window like he always used to. I was really happy to see him, for a little while I thought I had gotten my best friend back. But that hope was short lived.

He sat down on my bed and started to silently cry, after a little while he started to talk, it was like a dam broke and it all came gushing out. He told me that after our first meeting he went back to the woods by himself, he wanted to meet the cool tiger again. And meet him he did. At first the guy had been really nice, telling him cool stories about his travels around the world, teaching him cool fighting and hunting techniques, he gave him treats and told jokes, Mike started to really adore the man. But slowly he started to change, he had started to tell him dirty stories, showing him things he shouldn't be looking at and then he started to touch him inappropriately. That escalated over time, until he one day raped him. He had threatened that if Tommy told anyone he would track down his family and do the same thing to his kid sister, and that he would find and kill me. And that the same thing would happen if he stopped coming to the woods. He was too young to understand that it was empty threats, he was a wolf and had been taught from a young age to protect his family and his pack. So he kept quiet, and he kept going back.

On the day he showed up in my room he had brought a knife with him, and with a great deal of luck, he had managed to kill the man. After he finished his story Tommy looked at me with a small smile and told me he had missed me, he gave me a hug and with a small "bye" he climbed back out my window. It was a huge shock for a thirteen year old boy to be told this kind of story, and I had no idea how to deal with it. So I did nothing, I went back to bed and had a restless night.

The next day as I was eating breakfast before going to school my mom received a phone call, I heard her greet Tommys mom, and after a moment of silence tears started streaming down her face. Tommy had gone to a cliff just on the borders of our pack lands and jumped, ending his life. He had left a letter telling his family that he loved them, but he was in too much pain to go on. He didn't tell anyone besides me what had happened, and have I kept his secret to this day.

So I know, without a doubt that tigers are the worst kind of predator, they are evil and can not be trusted. If the Moon Goddess has seen it fit to make one my Luna I will accept that, I will never trust him, but I'll suck it up. The female, however, needs to leave, and I will make sure that happens!  My wolf, Arlo, hates the tigers as much as I do and a growl shakes our body as he thinks about what is going on in our pack while we're not there to protect them.

I head back to the packhouse, informing the Alpha that I will be leaving that same day and go straight to my room to pack. Booking a ticket for the first flight out I get a ride to the airport and board my flight.

Arriving at my destination in the middle of the night, I head straight to a car rental and waste no time getting started on my drive. It's a pretty long drive so I won't be back home until the morning. I make a couple pit stops to use the restrooms and eat, but I feel like I have to get back, something is pulling there. Arlo is feeling it too, he's anxious and pacing, but can't explain why. "Just get us there Axel," he keeps telling me. I figure it's the idea of my pack having that filth right in its midst.

Finally, I'm home, driving up the familiar road leading to my pack house I feel a great sense of relief from being on my own land. I park the car at the back of the house, and the second I open the car door I'm almost floored by the most intoxicating scent I have ever smelt. I move towards the smell and it takes me to the front of the house, I know it can only be one thing "MATE" Arlo is howling in my mind "MINE, MINE, MINE." He is so frikkin loud. "For fucks sake Arlo, shut up! You sound like those crazy seagulls in Finding Nemo!"

As I round the corner I see her, and she is gorgeous, absolutely perfect. But she is hurt, she is bleeding and her clothes are torn, "who hurt our mate?!?!" Arlo is pissed and makes a menacing growl. That's when her head whips in our direction and I look in her eyes, but its also when something about her scent dawns on me, she's a dirty feline!

"Oh fuck! This must be a joke!"

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Well look at that, Leila has a mate too, I guess karma really is a bitch. But he's not a cat person, that might complicate things....

Do you think his reason for hating tigers is understandable?

Now we have met all our main characters, who is your favorite so far?

Vote, comment, share!

A little reminder for those of you who have forgotten the seagulls in Finding Nemo😉