Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (18 page)

So Gabriel had been
looking for her my first night here, hmmm.

Jennifer shook her head,
“No she’s been out hunting. We normally send hunting parties out
once a week to stock up on deer and rabbits or whatever else we
need. Estella likes to come back with more meat than anyone else,
so she stays out a lot longer.”

“I normally just go to
Walmart.” I said.

Jennifer grinned at
me.

“We have a lot more mouths
to feed.” She laughed.

The pack was over five
hundred members strong, and it made good sense hunting in the
forest for the meat they needed.

“Well
,
I can see how the wind is
blowing.” I said. The small group was moving out of the tree line
and towards the house. “I’ll bet that Estella is not going to be
happy to see me and that Mary’s with her.” I stood up and shrugged
out of my jacket and placed it on the table. “Would you like your
first lesson on how to pick a fight?”

Jennifer jumped to her
feet, she asked, “What are we going to do?”

We walked through the
house and exited out the front door heading left of the party. I
was going to walk a wide half circle around the group and come up
behind them. Each member of the pack carried a kill. As a group
they had a couple bunches of rabbits, several deer, and a wild pig.
It would have been a sumptuous feast, if the meat had been fresh
and if I weren’t about to kill one or more of the
hunters.

“What you’re looking for
is weaknesses. If you watch the way Estella walks. You can tell she
is left handed. See how she leads with her left foot, and slightly
moves the left side of her body before the right side. See how she
carries herself? Arrogant, very confident in her place here and see
how people move away from her as she walks be them? On the other
hand, when we study Mary, we can tell that she’s right handed and
not as confident as her sister. See how she walks behind Estella.
Estella is the unquestioned leader. The rest of the group looks to
be the same type. Bullies
,
as you said.” I instructed her.

We were using the
buildings to shield us from their view as we walked around them.
If, Estella had seen us sitting on the porch, she might think that
we were still in the house.

“You can also tell, by the
way, she moves that she is a good fighter. She’s shorter than I am,
and she’s more muscular than I am. I’ll have to factor all that in
when we fight. Mary should have told her by now that I’m good with
a sword, and she has possibly heard about what happened the other
night in the forest.” I continued my lesson.

“Nobody knows all the
details of the fight in the forest. The Alpha told us not to talk
about it with anyone.” Jennifer said quickly.

“Good. She’ll think her
power is stronger than mine. Always try to keep the upper hand if
you can.” I told her.

We were almost behind
them.

“Now you have to find a
way to make your opponent give you what you want. I want a
challenge. I want to fight. So I have to make her challenge me.
That way Gabriel won’t get too mad at me.” I stopped and gauged the
distance between us
.

“Also greet your prey.” I
told her placing one hand on her shoulder and removed my
sandal.

“Greetings Estella, the
mighty huntress, and her little sister, Mary, welcome home.” I
called out.

The group stopped and
turned to face me as one. Now that I had a closer look at Estella I
could understand why she thought Gabriel would mate with her. Were
Mary was short and ugly. She was tall and incredibly beautiful. She
had black, glossy hair, sharp brown eyes, and a face that men would
go to war over. Her figure was like mine, but with more hard
muscle.

I handed Jennifer my other
sandal.

“You must be Gabriel’s cat
bitch.” She snarled at me.

“Yup, that’s me.” Oh, now
that was original, please.

“You attacked my sister
when she was training the puppies. Next to me, she is the finest
trainer in this pack. You think you can come in and fuck everything
up. Now that I’m back we’ll see what you can get away with.” With
every word, she had moved towards me.

Jennifer and I had backed
away keeping the distance between us. A crowd formed around us
while we talked, spectators waiting for a show.

“Always maintain the
distance that you want, even if your opponent thinks that you are
scared of them. They will learn the truth soon enough.” I
instructed Jennifer.

“If she were the finest
trainer in this pack, maybe Gabriel should hire someone from
another pack.” I called out to Estella.

“My sister is the best
trainer in the pack. I personally trained her for that job. What
are you telling your little bitch puppy? Run back to the house and
get Gabriel? Why do you keep backing way? Scared to fight me? This
is rich I was told that you thought yourself some kind of badass.”
She laughed. “After I’m done teaching you a lesson, I’ll teach her
one, about loyalty. She should have stood by her trainer.” She
snarled nodding to Jennifer.

“Is that rotting meat or
you’re ego I smell?” I studied her pack.

She and her party still
carried their kills. A week’s worth of meat and it didn’t look like
it was dressed out correctly and that meant it could make everybody
sick that ate it. She snarled again at me.

“I will tear your flesh
from your bones.” She promised me.

“Always make sure that you
get all details cleared up before you accept a challenge.” I told
Jennifer in a soft voice.

“Is that a challenge? Just
between you and me, not between you, your pack, and me right? Not
that it would matter much I could take all of you at one time.” I
assured her.

I watched the violence
steadily grow in her face and spread through her body.

“If you can, keep your
opponent angry, keeps you in control.” I advised Jennifer. “Always
stay in control. Let them lose their control. That way you can use
their mistakes against them and not the other way
around.”

“I don’t need their help
killing someone like you.” She growled at me dropping her quarry to
the ground.

“Make them give you what
you want.” I said to Jennifer as I rolled my neck and swung my arms
to warm up my muscles
.

“You didn’t answer my
question. Maybe you’re a little slow. Are you challenging me?” I
asked slowly as if I were speaking to a small child.

I was watching her and
Mary. If, Mary got a chance
,
she would attack me also. Goody, two for the
price of one.

“Yes
,
I am bitch. Gabriel will have to
pick a new mate after today.” She challenged.

Moving away from the crowd
and starting to change. When I changed it’s a fluid motion, due to
my control and the strength of my magic. When a normal werewolf
changes it can take up to a minute or better, so I had some
time.

“And never fight fair if
you don’t have to.” I told her stunned face as I showed her my
hand, just before I threw the black blade dagger at
Estella.

The power pushed dagger
caught her in the middle of her chest with enough force to knock
her off her feet. She continued to change as she hit the ground.
Werebeings are the most vulnerable during the change from one form
to another. I did try to use every vulnerable to my
advantage.

After a quick smile to
Jennifer, I ran towards Estella. By the third step I was a tiger,
Estella never had a chance. I leapt at her when she rose up and
slammed her back to the ground. My teeth closed around her throat.
Her blood filled my mouth and I drank it in. Her screams filled my
ears and it was the sweetest music
.

I heard a noise to my
right and waited for Mary’s attack. She hit me in the side. I used
the momentum of her charge to help rip out her sister’s throat. We
rolled across the ground moving the crowd back a few feet. When I
came to my feet she was in full warrior form, and I was still a
tiger. I made a presentation at of spitting the meat out of my
mouth. She looked at it and then at her sister’s body, I watched
her. The rage engrossed her so thoroughly it waved out from her. I
let it flow over my body and with a laugh I shifted to my warrior
form. She roared at me in pain and anger
.

“Want to play little
sister?” I asked her.

Almost all shifters can
speak in their warrior form. It’s not pretty to hear, but one can
be understood. “Think you can kill me? When so many before you have
failed?” I sneered at her. “Come and try little sister.”

She attacked.

I hit her in the nose with
the heel of my hand, knocking her head back and then I plowed a
fist into her solar plexus. She stumbled back, trying to catch her
breath. Giving me enough room to round house kick her to the side
of her face and she went down hard. I jumped on her back with my
thighs squeezing her chest, so tightly she couldn’t
breathe.

“No, I didn’t think so.
All talk
,
just
like your sister.” I growled in her ear.

Grabbing, her forehead
with both of my hands, I jerked it backwards, snapping her neck.
Game over.

I stood up and looked
around the stunned crowd
,
giving anyone else a onetime shot at
me.

“Is there anyone else?” I
called out to the silent crowd.

Gabriel’s angry power
flooded the grounds. During the stroll back to Jennifer, I picked
up my torn up clothes as I went.

“That is how you make a
quick kill.” I told her
,
wiping the blood off my face, “And now I have to
go and face your Alpha. Gather the boys we have some work to do
tonight.”

Shifting back to a human
form as I walked towards Gabriel, I looked at no one, but
him.

Standing before
him
,
nude and
covered in blood.

I said to him, “By your
own pack laws. It was a just fight. Challenge issued and accepted.
Mary should have never interfered.”

He nodded at my words.
“The pack will recognize you not only as my mate, but also as the
female Alpha.” He kissed my forehead. “Let’s get you cleaned up. We
have to go to the mall.”

NOOOOO!

Chapter 12

It was an enormous
structure of lights and sound. Like bees swarming in and out of a
hive. I watched in horror as people went in and went out of the
building. Smells of food, new items, and people over whelmed the
senses, even before you made it through the front doors.

Sales people trying to
draw your attention to the items they were hocking. If, you got to
close to the make-up/perfume counters they would spray you with
some awful flowery perfume. It would bring tears to your eyes and
clog up your nose. A lower level of hell didn’t provide as much
torture as walking through as mall did.

After two hours of an
intensely heated argument and almost coming to blows. I finally got
my way and Jennifer sat in the back of the SUV. I had promised to
buy the girl anything she wanted, and the price was not an issue. I
had also sworn to Luna above
,
to protect her with my very life forever, if she
would come with me. A laughing Jennifer agreed. I almost cried in
relief.

“Couldn’t we just cancel
and go to the next one?” This was only the hundredth time I had
asked the question
.

Gabriel squeezed my hand.
We sat, in the SUV in the mall parking lot. I just couldn’t make
myself get out. A cold sweat was forming on my back and my hands
had turned icy cold with a slight tremor.

I the Sōkjan, badass
werecat of the south, mate to the Alpha of the Castilian Springs
wolf Clan, and newly accepted Alpha female, was positively
terrified of the mall.

Who knows where
uncontrollable fears come from? Lots of people are scared of bugs,
animals, water, enclosed spaces and the dark. I like all those
things, maybe that’s why I’m afraid of the mall.

“No, I already told you
that my business partners want to meet you, and the party is in our
honor. I can’t believe that this is what you’re afraid of?” This
too had been asked about a hundred times, and he was amused every
time he asked it, “And you hunt monsters for a living?”

A new wave of cold fear
rolled over me.

“Why don’t we teach
Jennifer how to hunt vampires in the city? I’ll buy dinner and we
can stake out one of their haunts.”

“You know where their
haunts are?” Gabriel’s voice was as cold as my hands.

A dangerous question that
would, any other time, have required a well thought out and
carefully spoken answer, but not tonight.

“Well, yeah.” I was
staring at the mall and its neon lights.

What fresh horrors could I
expect to find in there?

“What else do you know
about the vampires of the city?” He asked again in his deadly
voice.