Everything over the summer had been difficult but they managed, hell they did good. Then Buffy came back and hell, he was shoved aside as the useless donut boy once again. Everything he had worked at was thrown away. He was so tired of being treated like an outcast by his own friends, as useless.
Mainly though, he was just tired.
Another person however was hiding in the stacks and listening in on the newest scooby fight or rather the newest Xander put down. That individual got angry and a spark of something dark inside of her flared in anger. No. This could not continue. She was pretty sure others would agree.
Xander was shocked when Heidi Barrie came up behind him. she slipped her hand into his and he nearly pulled away, but she just pulled him out of the school, he reluctantly followed. "Barrie what's..."
"Shush Alpha," she said causing him to nearly trip. Her comment of Alpha ended his protests. Some part of him just couldn't ignore his old pack.
Finally, they ended up at the zoo and she climbed over the fence. "What do you want from me, to feed me to the hyenas?"
"No," she returned, "If you still care about the pack at all jump the fence Harris."
He took a breath, the part of the possession that never faded demanded to know what he was waiting for. With a breath, he climbed over jumping down. "Alright Barrie. I'm coming."
She gave a mischievous grin as she ran back to the hyena pin. He followed, only faltering for a second as he went through the door. "Didn't think you'd come back," Tor admitted, "Heidi thought that you'd come but we honestly didn't believe you'd come back here."
"What do you all want from me," Xander demanded glancing down to the floor, only a slight barely visible stain of the marks remained. "Why did you bring me here?"
"We want you to come home alpha," Rhonda said causing him to freeze. "We want you to come back to us."
"Us?"
"You belong with us Harris," Heidi stated. "Not with those idiots who don't treat you right. Alpha, you belong with your pack, your family. We want our pack back. It's all we have. It's the only good that ever came out of the hell that happened. We want our pack back, we need our Alpha and you need us Harris."
"The hyenas are gone, there is no pack," Xander stated.
"The hyena, the uncontrolled parts gone," Tor agreed, "But if you let yourself feel it, the rest is still there. It's not gone away. Come on Alpha, tell us you can't feel it. Tell us you don't feel connected to us. We may no longer be hyenas, but we are pack."
Xander looked at the 'mean kids' and froze. He couldn't say it. Even now, just being near them brought up old feelings he had thought faded. "Tell us if you don't feel it too," Heidi demanded. "Come on Xander. Can you tell us?"
"No," Xander said finally. "No, I can't."
"Come back to us, please," Heidi said. "You deserve better than that gang of yours. Join us. Become pack again."
"Look Boss, I'm with them," Kyle stated. "Your one of us and we sure as hell are not going to stand by any longer and watch you get treated like shit by your friends. Your pack."
"My friends don't..."
"I took a nap in the stacks, woke up to hear that little blond girl act like she is king shit," Heidi returned. "Both Kyle and I were there. I mean it's not the first time we took a nap in the stacks and overheard things we shouldn't have. We can't stand by any longer. Hell Harris. What the hell happened to the guy who beat up Tor when we were 10 because he shoved that redheaded witch into a mudpuddle? What happened to you man?"
"Nothing."
"Bullshit, you've lost your fight man, we need our Alpha," Rhonda pouted
"That wasn't me," Xander protested, "That was the hyenas."
"We tried to pretend it was," Tor said. "Sure, it was it acting but it was us too. Even as a Hyena you were a better person then we were. Just...we need our alpha back. Not the submissive dude who does what his little band of females say and who doesn't fight back. hell, you let them treat you like shit, you deserved better. We saw you this summer, in passing. You're a leader Xander. Then you go back to being...weak. You became a follower and let them put you down. We need a strong alpha. Someone to stand by us."
"I can't be the alpha you need."
Heidi stopped him by covering his mouth and pressing her body against his pinning him into a wall. "We say you can. You just need to be pushed. We need an alpha, we killed someone, we are losing control of it. We need you Harris. A white hat like you should understand that. We need our pack to be whole. We say you're our alpha. Don't deny it. Don't deny who we know you can be. your better then what you think. Your stronger than anyone gives you credit for being Don't deny us."
He moved quickly spinning her, so she was pinned to the wall her hands above her head no longer covering his mouth. Instead of being upset she grinned. Especially when he nestled his face into the crook of her neck, taking in her scent. "I can't," he whispered.
"Can't what," Kyle demanded. "After all this, you're going to abandon the pack for your friends. Why? What about them is so important, so much better than us? Least we would treat you right alpha. We know your worth a dozen of them."
Xander grabs him instinctively behind the neck and he bared his throat. Trusting him that much he'd allow his weakest point to be vulnerable. he'd submit to him. That buried part of him came strongly to the forefront of his mind. He took in his packmates scent. "What do you want from me?"
"We want you to start acting like the alpha you can be instead of that...instead of letting them walk all over you. We need our pack to be whole cause there is this gap where you belong, and it's been empty," Kyle stated, "No matter how much of a pussy that makes me for admitting to it. It took us too long to figure out what was wrong, but we did. Our pack wasn't whole. We need our alpha and you need us."
Xander nodded, "I can try..." he needed a home, away from everything so maybe this was for the best. Already, he felt more at home then he had with the scoobies.
"Win," Heidi declared pleased. "We got alpha back."
For the first time since Buffy returned, Xander felt wanted and it was a good feeling. "It's starting to get dark," he said unable to hide a small smile
"My place, rents not home," Tor declared. "We can hang out there."
Xander agreed and fell into his place with the pack easier than he ever thought he would.