“Was it only verbal abuse, or was there more?” Lexus asked, a rumble in his voice, his body was tense.
Lexus was bracing himself for what he thought was the worst, but he never in a million years would have been prepared for what Alora told them. Lexus was also sure that Alora was still only glossing over what happened to her. The things Alora was already telling them about were already stomach churning.
“Why didn’t you report them, you were just a pup, couldn't the Alpha have done something?!” Mason asked, almost desperately.
“Do you want to know what would have happened had I reported it?” Alora asked him, her voice low. Diamond Hard by Kerli was now playing.
He really wanted to know, but something in Alora’s tone warned Mason he wasn’t going to like her explanation. Still, he had to know so he said, “Yes.”
Alora studied Mason’s blue eyes, looking deep, and opening senses that only powerful Alphas had. Everything told her that Mason was a truly kind and caring being. The heart and soul of both him and his wolf was pure, not tainted by the decay that was so prevalent in most of their older Clan members.
“If abuse of a pup is reported, it is then investigated by the Werewolf Council. If evidence is found of the abuse, the pup is then taken by the Council and custody of the pup automatically goes to that pups Clan Alpha.” Alora told him, her tone grim.
Mason knew that Alora being placed in the custody of either of the Frost of Northmountain Clan Alphas would have seen her abused further. Still, he couldn’t help asking, “Couldn’t the Pack Alpha take custody? I mean, he is the Alpha of Alpha’s”
Alora shook her head slowly, “According to the Council Werewolf that the Alpha was consulting one day, he wouldn’t have been able to. Apparently, the Council had been trying to adopt more of the human laws as ours, and this was one of them.”
Everyone was looking at Alora and, because he was next to her, Darien. “I’m already planning to talk to my father in depth about this. I want the Council to be held accountable for this.”
Alora looked at Darien, the worried look he had on his face made her frown. “Darian?” she asked.
Darien’s gaze met hers, his eyes were serious. “If the laws of humans allow one pup to be abused the way you have, how many others could there be?”
Alora was stunned, and thought about it, then she tried to comfort him with, “I was most likely an isolated incident.” but her tone said she didn’t honestly believe her words.
The music stopped for a moment with an announcement. “...Only ten minutes left...” When the music came back on the song playing was Outlaw by Neoni
Darien called her on it, “You don’t fully believe that yourself, so you're not going to be able to convince me that there couldn’t possibly be more abused and silenced pups out there.” His tone was serious.
Darien’s voice may have been low, but there was anger there too. It wouldn’t have been obvious to anyone but a select few. The others of the Alpha Class also had serious looks on their faces.
None of them were happy that someone who had been right next to them for the last several years, had been abused in such a way. In their culture, pups were loved and protected, by everyone in the Pack. Not just by the pup's family or Clan.
“You changed your name before today for a reason didn’t you, not just because it was your birthday?” Mason asked Alora.
Alora looked at Mason and thought him intelligent. “You are correct.”
“If I’m not mistaken, the reason is the honor your Rank would have brought you parents among the Clan?” Mason asked, although the question sounded more like a statement than a question.
One corner of Alora’s mouth lived in a half smile. “That was one yes. I wanted to let the daughter they love and care for, determine their future status with the Clans.”
Mason nodded. “I get it,” he said.
“I think we could all understand that ma chéri.” Jamison said, then he pointed to the area. “Looks like we are about to get started, mes amies.”
The music stopped and Vice Principal Kalia was back to standing in the center of the fighter's platform in the middle of the arena.
“Well start the challenges, first with the challenges from those of the Reserve fight Class. Each fighter will be called up to fight the person they challenge in alphabetical order. During each fight, the information and pictures of each fighter will be displayed on the screens above.” Kalia’s voice boomed.
“Looks like we’ll get to enjoy a bit of a show before it’s our turn.” Jaxon remarked.
“The list of all the challenges that were issued will also be displayed above. The list will show who is challenging who and lists the challenges in order by fight class by Fight Class.” Kalia’s voice boomed again.
“Let’s see who’s challenged the Alpha Class.” Darien said, pointing at one of the screens. Each of the large three hundred inch screens had three split columns. The first and second were the individual fighters that would be taking to the arena soon.
The pictures of the fighters were in the upper squares of the two columns, their information and stats were below. The picture of each fighter changed every minute, displaying each fighter in all their forms. The third column had the list Kalia had talked about.
The Enforcer Rank was the lowest fight rank you could have and still challenge one of the Alpha Class students. So naturally all those of the Alpha class started their search from there.
Most of the challenges listed had the fighters going up against those in the Delta and Beta Class, it wasn’t till they reached the bottom of the list that they found the one and only fighter that had challenged and Alpha Class student.
“Goddess…” Darian gasped out in disbelief. “She can’t be that stupid, can she?”
Alora turned to meet Darien's baffled expression. Alora thought about it for a moment, asking her Xena *“What do you think?”*
*“I’m not really sure.”* Xena replied.
“Maybe not stupid in the way you're most likely thinking.” Mason said, gaining the attention of everyone.
“What do you mean by that mon amie?” Jaimison asked.
“Well…I don’t think Sarah was paying attention to Alora’s rank when she issued the challenge.” Mason said, he was still looking at the screen pointed in their direction.
Mason’s words had Alora thinking, with her eyes narrowed she said to Mason. “Explain.”
Mason turned to look at Alora. “Just a thought…but our lovely Vice Principal did say that you could search for a fighter by their first and or last name in order to issue a challenge.”
Xena, who was listening, let out a snort. *“Either that, or she thinks we wouldn’t dare to fight back in front of Allister and Bettina.”*
Alora looked to where Sarah was sitting, and a low growl settled deep into her chest. Alora felt everyone who was around her freeze, even Darien. Darien froze when Alora started to growl, there was something about it that said her last straw had been broken.
“I know why she did it, Xena said it.” Alora growled out.
Darien watched Alora’s eyes start to glow, her pupils and the violet color of her eyes expanded, and the silver became a very thin glowing ring. Alora’s teeth started to sharpen, her canine growing longer, thickening as they did.
“Alora…?” Darien asked.
“Sarah thinks I will just roll over and take whatever she wants to throw at me. She thinks I’ll be too afraid of Bettina and Allister to fight back.” Alora almost snarled the words.
Alora never raised her voice, keeping it to a low rumble. As soon as Darien saw the first bit of purple electricity travel from her scalp all the way down her braid, he decided he needed to distract Alora.
Darien racked his brain, then he kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. “I told Damien about what happened.”
Alora froze, her growling stopped, and her eyes and teeth went back to normal. Then she turned to look at Darien, her mouth was open, and her eyes wide.
“Why?” Alora asked, with a definite whine in her tone.
Before Darien could say anything else, Alora’s phone went off. At the ringtone, Alora gets an angry and panicked look on her face. The ring tone playing was the song Army by artists Besomorph, Arcando and Neoni.
Alora smacked Darien on his shoulder, hard enough to have him rubbing at the spot. “This is all your fault.” Alora accused, then she pulled her phone out of her pocket again.
The caller popped up and showed a picture of Damien she took of him leaning one shoulder against the trunk of a tall cedar tree.