Hector and Kaycee head towards the administrative wing of the compound to see the Guild Master, Hector swinging his arm over Kaycee’s shoulder as they walk. “Do you think dad is going to throw a gasket when you tell him you where you’ve been?”
Kaycee looks up at Hector in confusion, “What do you mean?”
“Well, he is a bit disorganized and may not be clear on you being at the pack house. I mean he did try to put us on assignment for a psychopathic Vampire that was targeting humans at one of the night clubs in Brighton while you were gone,” he tells her.
“We can’t even go to Brighton since Heather and James completed their mating.” She says with an eye roll as they enter the main offices of the Guild master.
“Why the hell would it matter having James and Heather complete the mating since he had always just stayed back before, which is stupid since Kaycee still goes,” a gruff voice snaps. Kaycee turns to see the Guild Master standing with arms crossed in the door leading to the filing room at the back of his office. The man stood at the same height as Hector, his shaggy greying brown hair and blue eyes showing his kinship to the grinning Hector, who sat upon a well worn black couch pushed against one of the walls leaning back as if to watch a movie.
Kaycee rolls her eyes at Hector's childness before addressing the Guild master “Well sir, Omegas are not truly part of the pack hierarchy, thus most packs or prides don’t care when an Omega enters their lands. James, however is a threat as he is a Cappa for Blue Moon and thus has to petition to even step foot onto another pack’s lands.”
“Told you to stop calling me sir,” the Guild master retorts, taking a seat behind the messy oak desk, his own mango scent perminating the room he spent so much of his day in. Stacks of paper filled folders, held down by several paperweights, covered the entire surface leaving just a small portion uncovered to allow someone to work. Other than the desk, chair the Guild Master was in and couch Hector was sitting on, the room was bare. “Explain how you can be out of this hierarchy crap and not James when he’s practically a Hunter since he spends more time here than with his pack.”
Hector chuckles as Kaycee sighs beginning to explain as if giving a lector, “Packs are made up of one Alpha, one Beta, Cappas, Deltas, and Thetas. Alpha’s are like a Guild Master, overlooking the whole operations of the pack. Betas help the Alpha by overseeing the Cappas who are the pack...umm...” Kaycee pauses glancing at Hector who just shrugs before she continues, “I guess the best way to put it is they are the warriors of the pack. They strive to protect all the weaker members, and can be used by the Alpha and Beta to enforce rules that are meant to protect the pack from danger. Deltas are the administrators, running the pack finances and insuring the whole pack is healthy, fed, clothed and has a place to sleep. Some Deltas do end up as doctors, but mostly they focus on the planning for the pack’s cohesion and balance. Thetas are the life and soul of the pack. They do all the jobs that allow the pack to grow and survive in secrecy from the general human population.”
“ That doesn’t explain…” The Guild Master starts to interject.
Kaycee interrupts in annoyance, “No offense Guild Mas...” Rolling her eyes when he glared at her, “Fine, John. No offense, but you and I both know this is not this first time I’ve had to explain this to you so let me finish the whole explanation before you start telling me what I’m not explaining.”
Hector laughs when John shifted pensively in his chair at Kaycee’s insertion, “In fact I’m quite certain Dad that you have a file of all this in the file room somewhere, written out by one of Mason’s Deltas so you would stop asking her the same questions every time you saw her while she was here to help train Kaycee.”
The Guild Master glared at his son who just kept smiling. With a shake of his head he motioned to Kaycee who continues, “Alpha, Beta, Cappa, Delta and Theta do not move freely over pack lands usually as each pack trains their people differently. In Blue Moon Pack we are all able to defend ourselves to a higher level than those of our rank in other packs. Alpha Mason feels that a stronger pack is one where the pack does not have to depend on the Higher ranks for protection. Some of the other packs have similar views, but do not have the same level of trainings that we do. Thus they worry that we might instigate a pack war by attacking them if any of our pack members enter their lands, especially Cappas like James, are seen as a threat of a possible spying to discover their weakest points.”
Nodding John leans back into his chair holding his chin in one hand, pondering before looking for clarification, “they would see it as a hostile movement?.” Kaycee nods in agreement. “But where do you come into this?”
Hector leans forward on the couch, as Kaycee groans and sits on the couch “Dad, remember how when we were all training a few years back and one of the teenage girls from the pack shifted, Lucy I think her name was, for the first time after being nicked by one of the throwing daggers that went off course?” Getting a nod, Hector continues as he sits back again, “First shifts are supposed to give enough warning to get the young Were to a place of privacy so the newly turned Were can relax before facing the rest of the pack, let alone our Hunters Guild. Shifting where Lucy did sent her coyote into distress which triggered the protective instincts of her father who was growling and snapping at anyone who came near them, even Doctor Maira who kept trying to tell them she just wanted to make sure the Lucy was okay.”
“Yes I remember that, why bring it up now?” John asked his son, looking between him and Kaycee.
“I rushed out of classes and over to training because I felt Lucy’s distress, following Cappa William Guarst who had felt the same thing. I wasn’t compelled to turn though, like he was, so was slower in reaching the training area. I made it in after the girl’s father, Cappa Eli Tristen, and Cappa William had already started fighting each other. Even though both of them were trying to protect her, they ended up seeing each other as a threat instead.”
“Kaycee was able to literally walk right between them squaring off for another rush at each other and straight past Lucy’s father, without being attacked, to sit with the new Were. The others calmed down and were able to shift again within minutes of Kaycee just walking into the room and up to Lucy. That was the Omega Power at work, a calming influence in a sea of hot headed fighters.” Hector cuts in, earning an amused look from his father, while Kaycee stared at him in astonishment. He shrugs nonchalantly, “I listened in when James’s mom was talking to you about it afterwards and you were explaining that you were actively trying to calm the other wolves even though you had been terrified, which should have made the whole thing worse since your wolf was already pushing forward wanting to soothe Lucy.”
Kaycee rolls her eyes at him before returning her attention to Guild Master John, “there’s more to it, but it's a big reason Omegas aren’t feared as being war scouts by the other packs. Though it's stronger with wolves from our own pack, all wolves feel a sense of safety around an Omega who is either calm, happy or using their powers to calm others. The extent of our powers cannot be fully grasped as each Omega seems to focus their power differently than the others. The only thing that stays the same is that we calm agitated or terrified wolves and can actually use that calming power to reverse Rogue Syndrome if we come upon it soon enough.”
“Rogue syndrome is the Were equivalent to Alzheimer's.” Hector puts in, seeing his dad’s confused expression before rethinking his answer, “Right?”
“Sort of, if Alzheimer’s made you kill people in wolf form” Kaycee says shrugging.
“If its medical jargon don’t tell me. I have a hard enough time remembering all the supernatural races details. When I was active we just killed the ones we could prove were killing for fun and left the rest alone.” John grumbled rubbing his temples. Looking between Kayee and Hector he sighed, “So we couldn’t send James to Brighton, but the rest of you could’ve have gone.”
“No, ‘cause Heather is James’s mate and they can’t handle the kind of separation Brighton would cause this early in their mating. Heather, being a Vampire,could have gone since they don’t feel the separation the way Weres do, but then I still wouldn’t have been able to go as James would need me here to keep his wolf from tearing this place apart. Thus no matter what it would have left us with a team of four and its against Guild policy to send teams out with fewer than five members, from section 18….. ” Kaycee tells him.
“ I hate when you quote policy at me,” John interrupts with a sigh, running a hand forward though his hair before leaning onto the desk. “Fine, I’ll make sure you all don’t go on immediate action assignments off Blue Moon Pack lands. Now explain where were you ‘cause all I got out of James’s explanation before he rushed off to the gym was that the pack had called you in. Three hours after, I might add, after you had apparently left without explanation.”
Kaycee stood up, Hector joining her and standing just behind her left shoulder as she moved to stand once more in front of the desk to begin her report of her visit to the pack medical center, “Cappa William was in need of an Omega. They had thought it was Rogue syndrome but his abrupt Manic Rogue state led them to believe something else was happening. They still asked me to come, and needed me there sooner than me informing you would have allowed. Once I left it took me those three hours to arrive, touch base on what was happening and calm William to the point that the doctors could focus on calling his family, at which point they asked James to let you know what was going on,” she informed him.
“What do you mean by his abrupt Manic stage?” John asked sitting straighter in his chair.
“He had no symptoms of the Aggressive Rogue beforehand and was actually showing the later symptoms of Manic Rouge. They had even confirmed that his eyes should not have been as ringed in black when his wolf was forward as they were since they had been completely normal just the day before. I could barely get time to rest outside of the room for most of my time there as everytime I left he became more agitated than before.”
“What was affecting William then?”
“I’m not sure, I didn’t really have a chance to see what the any of the tests showed as I was constantly in and out of his room in the last week and needed to return here once we were able to stabilize him to the extent of me being out of the room for most of the night and day. I do know that whatever it was it is affecting his aura. His natural amber was tainted with almost metallic veins as if someone tried to force a part of themselves upon him.”
“Wait? What’s an aura,” Hector asks confused, not remembering discussing anything about them with Kaycee before.
Looking over her shoulder she smiled softly, “It's the visual representation of a supernatural’s race and powers. All Wiccans, Mages and Fae can see auras as easily as breathing and because I’m half Wiccan I can see a glow about a person and know at a glance their base race or if they are a hybrid, how powerful they are and for fae what their specific power focuses are. I grew up knowing William’s aura almost as much as his scent, thus I could easily tell it was off when the Pack Doctors would have no clue since none of them are hybrids.”
John frowned, glancing at his paperwork, “Has Alpha Mason talked to the other packs about your findings or the conclusions of the pack doctors?”
“Not that I was made aware of. I did get her permission to bring back my team to help the pack doctors figure out what is going on and find a way to prevent it from occurring again, with your permission of course.” Kaycee replies firmly. “I have to go back for now anyway after briefing you of the situation in case of a relapse.”
“You aren’t going to ask for permission for it” John says leaning back in his chair with a teasing smile playing upon his lips.
Kaycee grinned in response, shaking her head, “Under article 53 section 12 in Guild Policy, any supernatural Hunter with ties to their original race are not to be under Guild dictates on matters that concern the pack, pride, conclave, clan or coven they belong to.”
With a nod John stands up and rifles through his paperwork. “Your team has my permission. Now go get them organized while I try to find and fill out the forms for a Pack Allied Mission.”
Kaycee steps forward and pulls the right forms out of the stack on the far right corner from John and hands them to him with a nod before turning to leave. Hector bursts out laughing at the astonished face of his father, ducking under the paperweight John throws at him before rushing after Kaycee as she heads out of administration.
“I love watching the two of you interact over Guild stuff” Hector says, throwing his arm over Kaycee’s shoulders once more.
Kaycee just rolls her eyes, letting her mind wander as Hector led her to the barracks to pack up their personal missions bags. She missed her sister greatly in that moment. While it was nice how her friends tried to fill that void, without knowing it was there to fill, she couldn’t help but wish Katherine was the one hanging off of her. A small sad smile graced her face as her thoughts turned to contemplating Katherine’s rank if she lived, wondering if she would have been a Delta like everyone thought or would she have been an Omega too. Mentally shrugging Kaycee glances up at Hectors smiling face and enjoyed being close to her friend in this moment.
Comments (0)
See all