Ronan threw himself over Elliott with a loud growl. Elliott replied in kind and displayed his claws to his opponent who did not seem to care. He soon found out why when Ronan increased his speed and send Elliott flying. Elliott had no time to recover though as the second strike soon hit.

Elliott groaned as the pain shot through his body when he felt a rib break. When the third strike came, he countered it with an elbow straight to the face. Ronan backed off with an agonizing grunt and Elliott slashed his face with his claws. A move that normally would have scared his opponents if only out of fear of losing an eye but it did not faze Ronan who replied with a bite to the neck.

Elliott let out a scream and tried to push Ronan away but he bit down. Blood dripped from Elliott’s neck and he could feel a piece of it being ripped away. He groaned and held onto his neck, watching Ronan spit out the piece he had bit off.

Ronan grabbed onto Elliott's jacket with a grin,”Brings me back, you used to love me giving you love bites.”

Elliott growled and pierced Ronan's abdomen with his claws. Ronan merely snorted and with a fierce headbutt he sends Elliott to the ground. Elliott felt dizzy and had a hard time breathing because of his broken nose. He cracked it into place with a groan as he watched with blurry eyes Ronan’s feet which stalked closer.

Elliott tried to get up, but he was weak because of the blood loss and his body tried desperately to heal his wounds. Something Ronan had no intention of allowing as a hard kick send Elliott flying.

“Yep, that’s another rib,” thought Elliott with a grimace as he struggled to get up.

“Finish him!” howled one of Ronan goons and the other’s started to chant.

Finish him. Finish him. Finish him.

“Go to hell, your bloody mongrels,” muttered Elliott and pulled himself up onto his knees. Ronan grinned and lean in closer to whisper in his ear.

“You always did like being on your knees in front of me.”

Elliott headbutted him with a growl which made Ronan laugh has he set his broken nose straight. He looked unharmed as the wounds Elliott had caused had already healed. It was obvious who had the most power of the two.

“But I think it’s time to finish this, love. Don’t worry, your father is next.”

“What are you two doing?” A meek voice sounded and Elliott's eyes went wide as he watched a small, white-haired boy with emerald green eyes walk towards them with a rabbit in his arms. This was not a good time!

*****

Blake watched the people in front of him with caution. They looked far from decent and stood in a ring clearly hiding something. As he called out, they shattered and Blake saw Elliott on his knees, bleeding heavily from his neck and nose. He held onto his sides like he had broken ribs which by the look of him was not an impossibility.

In front of Elliott stood the man who had glared at Blake during the Holiday. The man had been fearsome back then and he still is. Especially so now as blood ran from his mouth. Blake was fairly sure that the blood was not his which meant that it most likely was Elliott’s.

“Stay out of it, Blake!” Elliott shouted with a hoarse voice. Blake halted but did not leave. He looked at the scene so similar to the ones he used to experience and his frighten expression turned to one of determination. He would not leave Elliott behind!

“Leave, lad. Before I teach you some manners, “ the man growled and his eyes flashed yellow.

“Blake! Let me at him! I will rip the wolf apart,” huffed Coney in his arms and wiggled to get free. Blake heard several of the wolves gasp and he almost rolled his eyes. Why does every wolf seem frightened by Coney talking? They are werewolves for the love of God!

“Coney, go and get help,” whispered Blake and let Coney down who darted away through the forest without a second thought.

“Get the bloody rabbit!” snapped the man and several of his goons darted towards Coney. Blake let his hand touch his red Arsios stone and felt the fire rune heat in his palm. He raised his hands toward the closes wolf shifter who had followed Coney.

“Isra!”

The wolf shifter started to burn and rolled with screams onto the snow in order to extinguish the fire. He had pushed the other shifter down with him. This did not stop them for long but it was enough that they would not be able to catch Coney.

Blake turned to the man who looked rather calm and watched him with a musing expression. Elliott groaned and forced himself onto his trembling feet.

“This is between you and me. He has nothing to do with it, Ronan!”

The man called Ronan did not seem to listen. He had begun walking closer to Blake who had started to panic but then he sensed it. A presence of smoke and fire.

Two protecting arms came out from behind Blake and engulfed him into a warm embrace. Blake looked up at two eyes and the two irises moved like flames. All the wolves froze as they saw him manifest from a dark cloud. Many of them winced when the eyes of inferno met theirs.

Ahriman was far from amused by the scene.

“The big bad wolves came to hunt a rabbit but this one is not theirs to hunt,” he said with an annoyed click with his tongue. Ronan had stopped in his tracks and his eyes slowly narrowed. Apparently even he knew that this one was not his equal but his superior.

Blake started to wiggle in Ahriman’s arms and the people stared at the peculiar scene of the short boy looking like a little rabbit trying to escape the fiery-eyed man's embrace. Ahriman himself only looked delighted at the little boy in his arms.

“Creatures like you should not meddle in the affairs of men,” Ronan said and paced around them looking for an opening. Ahriman’s eyes followed the wolf with a smirk.

“And what do you know of creatures like me, mortal? What do you know of the boy in my arms?”

“The boy wants to be released!” Blake panted and Ahriman gave him a gentle smile.

“Denied.”

Blake gave up with a pout and instead pointed at Elliott. “Help him!”

“Denied.”

Blake bit down on Ahriman’s arm with every bit of strength he could muster and Ahriman rolled his eyes.

“I don’t need to help him.”

As he said so, two shadows dashed out of the woods. One carried a little rabbit and the other carried the two men who had rushed after Coney.

“Alex! Hadrien!” Blake exclaimed, but silenced when the two bodies Hadrien carried was thrown at Ronan who dodged without caring for his men. Hadrien growled with glowing yellow eyes at him and fangs and claws flashed as he stalked furiously closer.

“You attacked my brother!”

Hadrien’s voice had become dark. Inhuman. As he was somewhere between human and wolf, unable to keep his human form in his furious state.

“Now, now. Protect Blake,” Alex said and Hadrien's eyes darted to Blake in Ahriman’s arms. He immediately put himself between Blake and the rogue pack to ensure some distance between them. While Alex swaggered closer to Ronan who had started to shift.

“No need for that, mate!” Alex said and flashed his eyes with a low growl and Ronan shifted back to his human form. It was clear from his surprised expression that he had not meant to do so and he glared at Alex who merely smirked.

“Alex, Elliott!” Blake tried to intervene but Alex only shot Elliott a quick glance before turning back to Ronan.

“I don’t care if you mutts want to piss on each other's yards but this one-“ Alex pointed at Blake behind him,” is off-limits.”

Ronan sniffed the air and grimaced. “Cat.”

“Asian Golden Cat, bloody twat!” Alex gave him the middle finger.

“Charming,” Ronan muttered and turned to Elliott who brushed off his clothes as most of his wounds had healed.

“Fine students you have here.”

“The finest if not the brightest,” said Elliott and Blake frowned. A tad more gratitude would not have hurt. “Let’s end it. I will not allow children to be dragged into our fight.”

Blake could hear someone call them cowards and Blake shot a nasty glare at the man as he was not able to do anything else in his current state. Hadrien was a tad more aggressive as he growled and displayed his claws to the Beta who whimpered at the sight of the Alpha.

“Enough, you children should not be here,” Elliott said and pulled on Hadrien’s ear. Ronan and his goons moved into the church and all of them started to walk away. Alex perused Elliott’s state and snorted.

“From the looks of it, you should be thankful that we were. You got your arse handed to you and that man did not look like he would hesitate to finish you off.”

Elliott grimaced at the keen observation of Alex but gave him a stern glare,” it doesn’t matter. Even if I’m killed, it’s my business, not yours.”

“It is if we are going to be bossed around by that mutt,” Alex said and gestured towards the church that slowly faded in the distant. “Who was that anyway?”

“An old… acquaintance. He has come here because of the incidents last semester. Apparently, he thinks I’m a lousy choice for next Patriarch as I wasn’t able to handle the situation back then,” Elliott said and Blake felt a wince of guilt.

“Is it because of me?” he said weakly. Elliott gave him a stern but gentle gaze.

“No, it is because of Fingal Keir. You are the victim. Remember that, Blake.”

“That’s all fine and well, but what do they think?” Alex said and made another gestured in the direction of the church.

“Ronan Walsh thinks that Blake is an asset but he needs to be controlled. Preferably with a strong mate,” Elliott muttered.

“Fuck, he is one of those…” Alex growled and Blake watched them both with confusion. This time it was Ahriman who answered.

“Putting the romantic notion of a soulmate beside, they are talking about their version of marriage. Just like humans, to them it was a good way to control rowdy wolves. They forced them to become mates and then kept them in line, often with violence.”

Blake shuddered at Ahriman’s words.

“Only the old traditionalist still believe in dominating their mates,” Hadrien muttered. Blake knew that Hadrien also had some traditional views, but those came more from the legend of chosen mates that existed among the French wolf packs. Blake preferred the thought of having a destined mate than dominating their mate.

“And Ronan is a strong traditionalist,” Elliott sighed and rubbed his head like he had a headache.

“Will he be a problem?” Alex asked.

“He already is. I had hoped to handle it by beating him. Diminishing his power, but you all saw how that went.”

Blake looked over at him with a frown. “It went badly. You were cover in blood and from the looks of it, not his!”

“Very astute of you, Mr. Oakley,” said Elliott sarcastically.

“Not to question you but I always assumed that you were the strongest in your family as you are the heir but…” Alex peered at Elliott. “Seems that you got to be heir because you are the eldest.”

“Well, that cheered me up,” Elliott rolled his eyes. “Bloody punks.”

“I don’t mind as I’m not part of your pack but it becomes my business when that rabid dog is aiming for a takeover and from the looks of it, succeeding,” Alex said and came to a halt. He stared Elliott straight in the eye without blinking.

“If this is not something you can handle then let us other shifters handle it for you, the wolves may have laid claim to these lands but it is still our home. Let us help you defend it.”

“We hope to keep it just between me and Ronan.”

“That ship has sailed. You lost, rather miserably, now you will need to win with your pack and asking us other shifters for help will be beneficial. Many of my kind is disgruntled that we aren’t being asked about anything that concerns us. We knew nothing of a rogue wolf last semester. Or the witches being harassed by wolves. Still it concerns us as we have to take the blunt of that blow. You wolves aren’t our leaders. You are our allies,” Alex said sharply before turning and walk away.

“You do well to remember that, Elliott Price.”

*****

Jaxon stirred on the sofa and Kai kicked him.

“What?” Jaxon exclaimed with a wronged expression.

“Stop fidgeting! It bloody won’t help the situation.”

“And drinking yourself under the table will?”

“Both of you quiet,” snapped Owen who stood by the window waiting for his son’s return.

“We should go and help him!” said Jaxon.

“With what? Looking weaker? He will need to do this on his own,” grunted Kai and Jaxon threw him a sour glare.

“We are supposed to be a family. Shouldn’t we do this together?”

“This is-“ Owen didn’t finish that sentence as the door swung open and a pale Elliott with a bitter expression on his face, came into the room.

“You lost.” Owen didn’t need to ask. He could see it on his son's face.

“According to Alex Lloyd, miserably,” grunted Elliott.

“Alex Lloyd?”

“An Asian Golden Cat and a friend of Blake Oakley,” Elliott muttered as he pulled out ice from the fridge and put it on the few bruises who refused to heal.

“What the hell did he do there?” asked Kai as he crossed his arms over the chest.

“He came to save Blake.”

“Blake?” Jaxon’s eyes went wide.

“He is fine. More than fine. The boy handles himself rather well. Enough to save me and even put some fear into Ronan,” Elliott said bitterly before throwing the ice bag into the wall.”Maybe we should ask him to be the next Patriarch.”

“Elliott-“ Owen begun but Elliott stopped him from speaking any further with a glare.

“No need for empty comfort right now, dad. We need to handle this mess.”

“What did you mean when you said that Blake saved you?” asked Kai. Elliott snorted before leaning over the table.

“Ronan isn’t just here to defeat me. He tried to kill me.”

Owen growled, “how dare he? That is not how the challenge should end. We do not kill our opponents.”

“We used to. Which is all that matters to a traditionalist like Ronan. To him, the new ways are weak and all such thing should be eradicated,” said Elliott while he pulled back his hair with a sigh.

“Then we can’t solve this by a mere challenge. We will need to fight, pack against pack,” Owen concluded.

“Mr. Lloyd agrees with you and says that even the other shifters should be involved.”

“That’s ridiculous! This is a wolf matter,” Kai snorted.

“No, it’s a shifter matter. The result will affect all of us,” Elliott corrected him and Jaxon felt himself grow cold. They spoke of war. What about those who aren’t involved? Like Blake? They are always the first to fall when two shifter packs battle.

Who will protect them?