Talons

Chapter 59: The Field

Rhea’s POV

 ----Trigger Warning 16+----

After checking my grandfather’s feet, fatigue started to hit me in waves. I know I need rest, but it's really a struggle to find sleep.

My mother scolds me about experimenting on my grandfather, and she and my grandmother have begun bickering about it. 

I hate when they argue, so I jump into the conversation, just as my grandfather called Robin to his side.

I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I overheard him asking her when she planned to have pups. She pretended to be confused by the way he asked, but it was clear as day to me.

I find myself leaning into their conversation, and my mother slaps the top of my head, scrunching her face up at me to let me know that I’m being rude.

Feeling aggrieved, I whine that I’m hungry, which is a trigger topic for my grandmother. She makes my mother stop what she is doing to fix me a plate and my mother points a finger at me to tell me that she knows what I just did.

I smile to myself, feeling victorious, but my grandmother then slaps the top of my head, making my grandfather react.

“Hey, why is everyone hitting my little girl?” he asks, and I crawl over to him, going back to massaging his feet with a yawn that gives Robin an opening.

“Grandpa, B hasn’t been sleeping. Can you ask her to get some rest?” I look up at my sister in shock.

I know I should tell them that I can’t sleep because I’ve been having nightmares, but that would only worry them further. As it is, they already have enough stress paying for my hospital bills, although I plan to find a way to secretly pay them back.

My family doesn’t know that I have my own company, and I plan to keep it that way. Not that I’m being greedy, but I’m worried about how Alpha Newt will react. He may insinuate that everything that happened between us was staged to benefit my future, and while being given acres of his land helped, it certainly is not why I’m successful.

“Baby girl, please go get some sleep for your grandfather.” I whimper aloud as I pull myself up. I go to the kitchen and eat the food my mother fixed before heading into a guest room.

As soon as I close my eyes, images of the rogues I killed start flashing through my mind, and I break into a sweat. I arrange pillows to look like my body and climb out of the window. 

I didn’t know where my feet were taking me, but I ended up at the edge of the territory, standing in the flower field that caused so much trouble. 

The soil looks grey, and I can tell just from looking that the quality is poor. I pick up a handful and grind it between my fingers. I don't remember what the flowers I planted smell like, but I remember they were the first step in me perfecting the scent blocker. 

They don’t grow well on their own and require lots of pruning and trimming. I distinctly remember a time when only six male buds bloomed in the field, and I had to carefully collect the pollen from them so that I didn’t lose the entire garden.

I used to visit the field anytime I just wanted to cry about my missing wolf, and now that I think about it, I was probably helping them to cross pollinate every time I came and disturbed them. I don't ever remember seeing butterflies in the area, and I guess the rogues must have mistaken science for magic.

I hear a branch break from behind me and I spin, relieved to see two omegas that work in the orchards. They are not much older than me, and I have never had a problem with them, but the way they are looking at me tells me that something is wrong.

“Everyone is saying that it's your scent that lured the rogues,” one of the boys says, and I look down in shame. I feel guilty about the omegas the pack lost, and while the boys in front of me don't know the facts; it’s true that it’s my fault.

“I’m sorry,” I say, folding in my shoulders to show the boys that I’m not holding onto my pride in this matter. If I hadn’t been on pack grounds, no one would have gotten hurt.

“So you admit it then?” the other boy asks, and he shoves me violently. I don’t allow myself to fall, but the boy then backhands me across the face, and I trip over something. I wasn’t expecting him to strike me again, but it becomes clear why when he starts ranting about his mother.

He starts screaming about how kind his mother was to me, saying that she loved how respectful I was toward them, and how she had even wanted him to consider me as a mate. The boy kicks me, and I curl up into a ball, unwilling to defend myself.

The other boy he came with starts telling him to calm down, but the boy keeps kicking me until he isn’t satisfied. He then stomps on me before bringing his foot down on my ankle. I squeal in pain and can hear his friend trying to talk sense into him.

“Bro, you are going too far. She is Alpha Lark’s sister.”

“So f*cking what? I studied the law. She is a rogue, and if something happens to her; the worst he can do is sentence me to isolation.” I start trying to crawl away from the boys, realizing that the one who lost his mother is ready to kill me. 

He’s right; as a rogue, I have no rights that pack members have, and I doubt his friend will stand up for me in front of the council. The best chance I have right now is to run away, but my ankle is sprained, and Sylvia is too weak to focus heal it.

“Where the f*ck do you think you are going?” The boy growls, and he flips me over. I try pushing him away and he straddles me, continuously slapping me in the face. At some point my glasses come off, and I’m begging him to leave me alone, but that just seems to encourage him. “You’re a prostitute, right?” The boy says. He starts unbuckling his jeans and I look away. “You want me to stop, right? What gift are you going to give me when I do?”

“Bro, you're crazy. You said you just wanted to scare her. She has always been nice to us. Stop now, and maybe she won't say anything.” I nod vigorously at the friend's words, but the aggressor simply smacks me again.

"You’ve got to fight him," Sylvia says, and I close my eyes, knowing she is right. I don’t want to kill anyone from my brother's pack, but the teen on top of me has clearly lost his mind.

Colton’s POV

For days I've gone to B's field wanting to see if I find any children. I have yet to speak to Lark about the picture I found at the rogue colony because he and my father have been negotiating a settlement.

Our alliance is only as strong as our relationships with one another, and my father has failed. By alliance law, he has to pay for the damages the rogues cost the Claw pack. 

Alpha Lark, however, is in a difficult position. If he sets the price too high, he will look like he is instigating the issue further, but if he doesn't insist on something, he will look weak.

In the end, they settled on replacing the pack members they lost with triple the number of omegas from our pack. The ones who were sent were drawn by lottery, and I can guarantee that each one was excited to leave.

The Claw pack is good to omegas; they work hard, but they are respected, and they are allowed to live amongst themselves to avoid bullying from stronger wolves.

I remember when I found out from Raven that omegas had private sleeping quarters. She took me to see the area and I was shocked to see how peaceful it was.

There were guards posted all around, but they didn't seem bothered to be protecting the omegas and if my nose was right, some of them even smelled of each other, meaning they were in relationships.

Most wolves avoid omegas to prevent the moon goddess's curse from spreading, but at Claw, they ignore it completely. Robin has even told me that a lot of their omega born members present with wolves; that is so rare that I still don't believe she was telling me the truth.

As I wrap up my search, I hear a male voice and quietly head in its direction. I arrive just in time to see what could only be Brain being shouted at by a teen who has a faint hint of omega on him. 

The male shoves her, but it's the smack to her face that makes her fall. I know from Mandy and Carter that the girl was injured during the rogue attack and spent a few days in the hospital, so I don't expect much from her.

The boy starts violently kicking B and Orlin starts to stir uncomfortably. We can't understand why the girl isn't at least trying to fight back and my wolf is pushing to come forward.

He is extremely agitated by what we are witnessing, and I remind him that we are trespassing on Lark's territory.

I try to sneak away, but Orlin violently starts fighting me for control after we hear the omegas threat, and I turn just in time to see the teen unbuckling his jeans.

“You want me to stop, right? What reward are you going to give me when I do?” The boy's friend keeps trying to talk sense into him, but he is too far gone in his rage, as am I.

I shift and step forward with a menacing growl. Both boys flee at the sight of me, and B shakily stands trying to run as well, but the ankle the boy stomped on must be seriously injured because she immediately hits the ground.

"I'm sorry," B cries. "I'm a regular rogue; I can't help." Orlin eyes B suspiciously as he takes a step closer to her, hoping that she will catch our scent. 

She thinks we are a rogue, and we want her to calm down, but she starts whimpering as we approach, and we assume she is too scared to refer to her senses.