She had declined Keegan's offer to return to the house his pack stayed in, declined the Were-Bear's offer to stay at Sanctuary. She was starting not to mind Keegan and his jittery personality, and she genuinely did like Aimee. But she had to stay alone, it was the only safe way. But that was getting harder and harder as Keegan started popping up in New Orleans at her favorite haunts- the park she liked to linger, a few cafes with good food, the street that lined the river on one side. The Wolfswain was more annoying than she'd originally given him credit for.
And to top off that annoyance, she was still seeing and scenting ghosts of Kole and Jovan and Alexie, though none of the girls and never Damek himself. She was a few days away from finally breaking away from New Orleans, since she'd been forced to abandon her usual nighttime places to avoid Keegan.
She rounded the came to St. Peter St from Chartres, where it let out to Jackson Square, only a few blocks from Sanctuary, and froze. That could have been a lot of things, but an illusion wasn't one of them. Alexie and Jovan stood about halfway down the block, at one opening to the Square, looking annoyed and hot and agitated. Jovan's foot tapped an eccentric beat on the sidewalk, and Alexie looked around as though waiting for someone.
Her scent was all over that park, it was how she'd figured Keegan knew he could find her there. She started shaking, but tried to keep her cool and slowly turned to leave, digging in her bag for her hat to pull over her too-obvious blonde hair. The boys weren't used to seeing her human, but their pack was small; if they didn't recognize her human face, they'd sure as hell recognize her scent. She kept her strides even and steady, moving in the opposite direction of the boys. Yep. Definitely time to go. She just had to figure out where.
" 'Rina! Hey, Rina, wait up!"
Did the gods truly hate her this much? She'd never done anything to any of them. She upped her pace, hoping Keegan would take the hint and that the boys wouldn't pair her name with the nickname. She didn't risk a glance back at Alexie or Jovan, but then Keegan bounded into her line of vision, and she sighed. "I don't really have time to play right now, Keegan, I have to go."
He only grinned. "So soon? But I just barely managed to track you down. There're some new guys in town and Fang wanted us to check it out, and I spotted you on our way to the Square."
Awesome. Maybe Alexie would mouth off to Fang and get his face bitten off. That'd solve at least one problem. "Well, they're over in the Square, you should really go there too." She said, not slowing or stopping until he reached for her hand to make her pause. She did, her own foot now tapping with erratic nerves, willing herself not to look back.
"You're jumpier than before. You know these new guys?"
Of all the times for his hyperactivity to calm into observant. "We've crossed paths I don't feel like crossing again." She said. Another voice made her blood freeze in her veins and the color drain from her face.
"Katerina?" She spun to see Kole staring at her in disbelief. Oh man. Kole, for his part, looked beyond uncomfortable, looking back and forth from her to where she'd left Alexie and Jovan behind. "Kole, please. Don't." She begged, her voice ragged at the thought of what their orders must be. Dead or alive, that was the question.
Keegan stepped between her and Kole, looking more threatening than she would've though he could be. "You got an issue, wolf?"
Kole looked to the city wolf with a curl of his lips, the startings of a snarl sounding. "Not with you." He turned his eyes back to Katerina. Damek didn't care what state she was brought in, and he really didn't want to hurt her, but orders were orders so he'd leave that to the other two. "Sorry, Katerina..." He said, mindlinking to the others that he'd found her. They'd be glad, they'd all been at this for weeks.
She looked to Keegan in a panic. "You have to go. Now." She said, shoving him away, back the direction he came. She couldn't have his blood on her conscience.
"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her as he stood firm, refusing to be moved. He didn't wait for a response as he turned his glare to the new wolf, a growl rising in his throat. "You'd best leave now, newcomer. This is Kattalakis territory."
The surname of their Grand Regis actually made Kole pause where Katerina hadn't, but then Alexie was shouting, and she spotted him and Jovan shoving their way through the crowd, and she panicked, torn between running and making Keegan leave first. "Keegan go, please!"
Keegan had already spotted the two others, and braced himself for a fight. She groaned and yanked at his arm. "Three on one isn't a fight you're going to win!" She said, her voice rising an octave in desperation. But with that damnably reckless grin, he shrugged.
"I don't plan fighting three on one, Wolfswan."
With those words, Fang and Liam stepped out from the alleyway, likely having just flashed there, and were at Keegan's side a good few seconds before Jovan and Alexie reached Kole's, who back a few paces away. Alexie and Jovan slowed and approached Kole, and the three arctics faced off with the city wolves, tension and the threat of violence hanging so thick it was practically tangible. She lingered behind the Kattalakis wolves, half wondering if she could slip away. But she was the cause for the violence, she had a sort of obligation to stay to see the outcome.
The arctics were larger, better fed, more rested than she remembered them being. Still small compared to the Kattalakis wolves, but definitely not the scrawny, ill-kept wolves she remembered running from. New Orleans had been good to them, just as it had been to her.
Fang stepped forward, putting himself at the head of his trio. "Wolves, stand down. I won't tell you again." He ordered, his voice that deep timbre of an Alpha that even had Alexie hesitating. But true to form, he puffed back up.
"The wolfswan is of our pack. She owes us debt and we've come to collect."
A growl ripped from Keegan's throat, and Fang shot him a look to shut it, and he swallowed the rest of the growl reluctantly as Fang turned back to Alexie. "What debt?"
Alexie looked too smug, too sure of himself. It frightened her. "She ran from our pack after killing a fellow pack female."
She didn't even register the simultaneous looks Fang, Keegan and Liam shot her as she shrieked in indignation, forgetting to be scared. "What? I did no such thing!" She felt the abnormal urge to slap that smug look right off his face as he lifted his lip at her. "Then how do you explain Britta's death on the night you vanished?"
She paled. "No... no, Britta, she told me to go, she said he'd..." She'd said Damek would kill her, like he'd almost done to Britta. Oh, gods, they knew it'd been Britta. They'd... she felt her legs give out from under her and would have hit the ground had Keegan been a second slower. She looked up at Kole, the least sadistic of the males, unable to form words, just a link.
~Why, Kole? She didn't do anything.~ But Kole simply averted his eyes guiltily.
Fang growled, redirecting everyone's attention as Keegan gently lowered her to the ground to steady herself. "Seems we have a difference of opinion." He said, looking from Katerina to each of the males, his eyes lingering on especially guilty looking Kole. "Maybe we should take this to Fury. Being Regis, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to... persuade the truth out of one of you." He said, the words dripping with threat, ignoring her entirely now, focusing on the arctic males.
"I'm sure we don't need to bother the Regis. It's clear she's lying. Why else would she align herself with wolves so capable of protecting her? That girl you see? Is just a mask, to hide her true intentions. She's a survivor, however she needs to be."
Fang smirked, looking all the deadlier for it. "And yet you don't want to take her to your Regis?"
Alexie didn't answer. He knew he was at risk of being exposed, and without Damek to back him up, he'd step down. "This isn't over."
"Looks pretty fuckin' over to me. Beat it, wolves, and don't let me catch you on our territory again without invitation."
The arctics slowly backed away, and Alexie caught her eyes, not looking away until he's physically rounded a corner and lost sight of her. She tried to calm her frantic panting, and tried to focus on the Kattalakis wolves, who were talking amongst themselves.
"It's a serious accusation if they bring it to Omegrion." Fang was pointing out.
"Fang, c'mon," Keegan pled, "They haven't brought it to Omegrion yet for obvious reasons! You know that as well as I do."
Liam spoke from Fang's other side. "Still, it could proven dangerous-"
She interrupted Liam, mostly in control of herself again. "I'm not here to cause trouble. I can leave. But I did NOT kill anyone. I'll go in front of Omegrion to swear it if you want me to. But I'm not a murderer."
Keegan helped her back to her feet, his voice suddenly softer. "I know that, wolfswan. I believe you."
Fang shot the younger wolf a warning look and pinned her with a significantly harsher look. "It's not a matter of believing you, it's a matter of how far they're willing to take it, especially if it is falsehood. I think you'd better come with us and explain this mess to Fury. He'll decide what to do with you." He glanced at his watch, cursing under his breath. "Damn, Aims is gonna have my hide for being late. Pup, Liam, get her to Vane's and tell him we need Fury, wherever his useless self if hiding. I've got a Bearswan to placate." And with that, he stepped further into the alleyway and vanished.
She really didn't want to go with them, but she knew better than to defy orders, and she let Liam set a hand on her shoulder, the other on Keegan's, and flash them to a foyer of an extremely nice house. "Where are we?"
Keegan shot her a smile. "Still in New Orleans. Garden District. Bride likes to keep a house big enough for all of us." He said, watching Liam lope up the stairs. Keegan looked back to her and gestured to the couch. "Wanna sit?"
She shook her head. What she wanted was to be wolf. She felt so helpless in human form. But she had a feeling that'd be impolite. They'd all been human since she met them, despite their shared Katagari roots, and until one of them went back to animal form, she'd follow their leads. "I'm fine." She heard Vane and Liam coming down the stairs before she saw them enter the living room, and she shot Vane an apologetic smile, to which he smiled kindly.
"Hear you got yourself into some trouble with an outside pack."
She nodded, her eyes on the ground, her shoulders hunched, waiting for the anger. But it didn't come. Instead, she heard him flip open a cell.
"Hey Fury, can you spare a few minutes? ... The girl Keegan met... yeah, she's got baggage in the form of some outsiders... ok, cool, see you soon." He flipped the phone shut and shot her a smile she missed, still staring at the ground. "We'll figure it out, Katerina. Don't worry. Fury's an as- he's rough around the edges, but he's fair. He'll hear you out."
It only took a few minutes before Fury appeared in the room, glaring at her. She dropped her eyes again, missing the annoyed look Keegan shot Fury in return, and Fury went to Vane's side.
"What's up? Make it quick, I got cubs at home."
Vane turned to look at Katerine, who wilted under the scrutiny of the two Alphas. "Katerina? Shall we start at the beginning?"
She tried to run through what had happened quickly, as per Fury's request, her reasons for leaving the pack, Britta's insistence that it was the only solution, her fight with Alexie and Jovan and Damek before the pack of Real wolves interfered and gave her a chance at escape. "I've been here for weeks and weeks, but today was the first time they'd caught me. I was planning on leaving, I swear. I didn't mean to bring trouble!" She prayed they believed her. If they didn't... there were a lot of them and one of her. No one would ever know she was missing.
Fury ran a hand through his hair. "Look kid, I don't believe you killed anyone. I have a hard time believing you even eat decently, considering you usually look like a rabbit could punch you in the nose and walk away. But do you think they'll bring it to Omegrion?"
She shook her head. "Damek doesn't like involving anyone who outranks him."
Fury grinned. "Sounds like someone I should meet. Well, I don't think they'll be back soon, but to be safe, you should stick around the pack for a while. Just in case."
She finally lifted her eyes to him, though only for a second before she dropped them again. "But I was going to-"
"Stay. You were going to stay." It was an order, not a request.
She dropped her eyes again. "Stay, yes. I was going to stay."
Gods dammit.