Chapter 23
Author's note: My Feral Lady is now available on amazon! I did the same as I did with Fur and Fangs! Just a change in character names. It has 39 chapters. You can go pick it up to read those chapters early, but in the meantime, I will be posting one or two chapters a week. The book is really just for those who have enjoyed and want to support what I have been doing here. I have put a lot of energy and love into this story, and getting a couple of extra bucks through publishing the book means a lot, and helps ensure that I can continue writing like this! Link is on my tumblr : hopefulbadgerjunara of course.
One rough Christmas eve eve eve
"Mom! Mom! Omega what! How! What!" Alex screamed as she jolted awake, nailing her head directly on the underside of a bar booth. "Aww, fuck!" She went to soothe her pounding head only to realize that someone else's palm reached her forehead first.
"Oh, god baby! Geez, that looked like it hurt love." Sam ushered her mate's weary head back down to her lap.
"I… Sam? Where am I?" Alex was exhausted, her time out of her body had drained nearly all of her energy, and the added head trauma certainly didn't help.
"You are still at your cousin's bar. Kara and Lena called me to come down. I asked them to go get us all some food. I promised that my mate would be strong, that she would make her way back to us by the time they got back."
"W? What? I, you didn't come with us. When did you head up to Boston?" Alex croaked out, her eyes finally cracking back open to see her mate's tear-stained face and bloodshot eyes. "You… you've been crying."
"I came down when I heard the news. Kara called me four or five hours ago. They told me what happened when I got here."
"What happened? I, oh fuck! Freya! Where is Cat? That cunt trapped us there!" Alex snapped, her head lifting off of Sam's lap once more only to be pulled back down by the alpha's soothing but strong hands.
"No, no. You need to rest. You just got back."
"I need to whoop that O-Mega cunt's ass!" Alex hissed.
"No." Sam steadied herself, taking a moment to collect her raging thoughts before she spoke. "No, you don't."
"How in the hell can you be defending her Sam! She put your omega in danger!"
"I am not protecting her."
"Sam!"
"I'm protecting her memory."
"W- what?"
"a lot happened while you were out."
"Cat?"
"She's gone Alex." Sam swallowed down pain. "Kara and Lena told me she died trying to save you all. You, Kara, Lena, and even Jess. Kara said that it was Cat's attack that saved them all."
"Jess? Jess is back? Wait. No. No! I don't believe you. Cat can't be... That old bat will outlive us all!" Alex willed herself to sit up, spotting the bloodstained white sheet lying over the elder's lifeless body.
"Alex don't!" Sam stopped the omega before she could stand. "Don't. You don't want to see. I… it is gruesome. I had them cover the body so that you wouldn't have to see it." Sam's somber voice explained.
"I am an adult Sam! I can see what happened to her and not fall apart."
"Please. I don't want to see it again. It is…" Sam shook her head. "Please love."
"Ok." Alex yielded at the sight of Samantha's fear. "I understand. Where is Freya? Is she ok?"
"You mean my sister!" A foreign form stood from over near the bar.
"Who, who are you?"
"I am the woman whose sister you left there. I guess betrayal just runs in the family."
"You're Freya's sister?" Alex blinked slowly, trying to process through a fogged and drowsily exhausted mind. "And she really did get trapped back in there?"
"Yes. Now, Samantha was it? Your mate is safe to move now. Please take her and your wolf carcass and leave."
"Wait! Will she be ok?" Alex blurted out.
"What do you care? You are the one who left her there alone without the power to get back."
"I didn't mean to trap her! In fact. I'm pretty sure it wasn't technically my fault. I was following Freya's instructions. Just doing what she told me to." Alex defended herself.
"I don't care! I have to go tell her husband that his greatest fears were right! She may never wake up. He might have to tell their daughter about how she might never see her mother again. Just get out of my family's bar!" Freya's sister snapped with growing irritation.
"Wait! I! I don't know your name! But! How can I help!" Alex had scooched up to the edge of the bar booth table, Sam's arms still at her side and attempting to coax her back into resting. "Please! I am not really able to use my powers anymore, but if you are her sister, then you can teach me! Let me help you get her back!"
"You want me to!" Freya's sister sneered, boiling over in anger. "You two need to get out of my family's bar with your dead wolf before I call the cops and blame her death on you." She scoffed. "It would only be fair after what you've done to my sister."
"What happened! What happened between our mothers?! What caused this hellish a divide? How could it be so bad that Freya willingly trapped herself to make sure I got out sooner?" Alex snapped, exerting just enough of her thinning energy to feel herself growing lightheaded.
Freya's sister grimaced and gritted her teeth. Balling her fists, she finally softened her tone. "She really did this to herself?"
"I am not certain she knew what would happen, but I highly suspect it." Alex answered earnestly and it showed. "She directed me to draw some special summoning circle with my blood." Alex looked down to her hand to see it had been bandaged, but not with the same scrap of shirt Freya had given her. "I… when did this get wrapped up?"
"I did it baby. Kara said she didn't remember you getting snagged in the battle, but she figured either it must have been that or that you accidentally got burned by Adam's silver chains given that your hand had been so burned and messed up like that. She told me to bring some stuff to help patch everyone up with when I came up." Sam explained, running a hand up Alex's back above her shirt.
"Thanks love." Alex muttered under her breath, raising her head from her wrapped hand to her cousin. "She said she could see it, she told me it would summon my mother not that it would trap her there! But… how could she recognize the symbol and not know what it would do?"
"Your mother? Our aunt?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that explains it."
"What does that explain?"
"That it wasn't your fault." The other cousin forfeited the anger she simply wanted to direct at the woman who was both living and easiest to blame. "Name's Kriss by the way."
"Great to meet you, Alex." The omega offered up a bandaged hand from across the room."
"Not sure we are there quite yet cuz." Kriss huffed.
"I'm sorry. I… is there any way we can get her out?"
"In theory, certainly. In terms of plausible plans that I have even the slightest of ideas on how to pull off? Zip, zilch, nada."
"How did my mom get out?"
"Hell if I know! Your mom got trapped in there back in… eighty-four? That's what mom always said at least. She tried to contact your mom after she heard that she got out. But your mom wouldn't have it. She never talked to my mom again after it happened. Our mom sent a letter on her deathbed, but we got it back two days after she died marked return to sender."
"Eighty-four?" Alex's jaw dropped.
"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Kriss shrugged.
"When in eighty-four?"
"I dono."
"When!" Alex demanded.
"I dono, it isn't like she told us the exact time of day that it happened either."
Alex was left silent and pale-faced, pondering the possibilities.
"Wait! No! No! One time she did mention that it happened right after her birthday." Kriss corrected.
"Which is when?"
"Late January."
"Jesus fucking christ."
"Wait." Sam's hand went still in its motions rubbing at Alex's back as the math finally added up. "Al, how many years old are you?"
"Thirty-five."
"And your birthday is…"
"In May, yup."
"Wait so she was?! With you?! When my mother!?"
Alex swallowed hard. "Must have been about four months."
Kriss crumbled at the revelation of what her mother had actually done. That she hadn't just left one person to rot with their soul untethered to their body in order to save herself.
"We brought food." Kara announced in a conflicted somber and cheery tone.
"Hey Kar." Alex's parched throat cracked.
"Alex!" Kara dropped the bags of food she had been carrying as she picked up a sprint towards her sister. "Alex! I was so scared!" She cried out, tackling her sister into the booth.
"Hey they Kar. I missed you too." Alex patted her sister on the back as the alpha sniffed and huffed at her a little too much. "Do I smell that bad?" Alex tried to laugh away the awkward behavior. What she happened to miss was Lena waving her hands in the air, shaking her head and mouthing 'NO' as loud as she could.
Lena's head dropped, her face landing in her palms full of frustration.
Kara gave a short snort, the idea not even dawning on her that her behavior was anything but entirely normal. "I was worried about you."
"Oh, ok then Kara. I am safe now, you don't need to keep sniffing at me. I'm fine." Alex assured, ushering her sister to stop.
"Not yet." Kara clung and refused to stop. "Just one more minute."
"Lena, why is your girlfriend acting like more of a dog than usual?" Jess whispered into her friend's ear.
"It is a really long story Jess. One I am really scared about. So please no dog jokes for at least until she is safe." Lena answered back under her breath, doing her best to ensure that Kara didn't hear her.
"Ok. I'm sorry. I know I missed a lot." Jess quickly withdrew back into her shell.
"I'm sorry for being short. I know everything has been rough for you too. You were Eve's captive all month." Lena whimpered exhausted and overwhelmed.
"Hey. Lena, it's gonna be ok. Things just got a lot better. You said that Cat's plan was to send Alex to get something that would help Kara, Adam, and the whole pack, right? A solution to Eve's spiked wolfsbane? So now that she is awake, everything is gonna be ok, right?"
"I really fucking hope so." Lena nearly broke down crying right there. Everything EVERYTHING had simply been far too much on the tired wolf who simply wanted so desperately to return to her butchery with her lover to make fancy meat and rest in Kara's arms for a calm rest of her poor wolf life.
"It's gonna be ok." Jess attempted to soothe her friend. "I know you two. You can get through anything."
"Ok. You are done." Alex pushed her sister off of her. "Go back to your omega before my alpha tries to kill you."
"You are joking but she was cutting it close." Sam attempted to lighten the mood.
"I still can't believe what my mom did." Kriss was still trying to process.
"Is it possible that Freya already knew this." Alex postulated.
"I refuse to believe that My mother even knew!" Kriss lashed.
"Knew what?" Kara questioned curious as she went back to get everyone's food and plop it down on a table.
"My mother would have been at least four months pregnant! There is no way your mother couldn't have known."
"Woah, what's up?" Kara followed up.
"I can explain later Kara." Alex brushed off, still too caught up in planning and pondering possible solutions when compared to the revelations of the past generations' problems.
"No!" Kara barked. "I am tired of people telling me that they will explain later today! So you will explain now." Kara demanded, her breaths clearly animalistic and exhausted.
Lena's face again landed in her palms. Why couldn't there just be a full five-minute stretch where Kara's wolf wasn't overreacting? She knew the answer to the question. But that made absolutely a whole lot of nothing about it all any easier.
"Cat… like sent me to another world to figure out how to fix Adam. Freya got trapped there. This is Freya's sister Kriss." Alex gestured to their youngest cousin.
"I know we met. Freya's husband came downstairs after all the racket and said Freya's sister would be the only one who might know how to help you two get back." Kara nodded along.
"Well, as it turns out, someone did the same thing that Cat did to me and Freya to our mother. In February of eighty-four."
Kara's brows furrowed, confused by the peculiar detail as she attempted to parse its relevance to the topic. "Oh shit, when you were!?"
"Yeah. And mom got trapped in there because of something Freya and Kris's mom did. I would venture a guess that might be why we never learned of our extended family or that powers extend past the firstborn."
"She never wanted us to end up like them." Kara allowed the weight of it all to sink her down into the other side of the booth across from her sister.
"I think so." Alex nodded. "And now Freya is trapped just like mom was."
"Well, how did mom get out?" Kara questioned hopefully.
"I don't know." Alex deflated.
"How can we find out?" Kara followed with a little too much hope.
"Wouldnt I love to fucking know." Kriss scoffed, finally actually picking up a posture that didn't so openly admit that she had seen the other women as an enemy or opponent and walking over to the booth where Alex, Kara, and Sam had already gathered. "But I don't have a clue. You?" She turned to Alex, able to tell that she was the older of her cousins and therefore the one most likely to know such precious family secrets.
Sam gently ushered her mate closer with a handful of fingers pulling at the omega's sides urging her to make room for the other necromancer at their end of the booth.
Alex scooched over, nearly sitting in Samantha's lap she so desperately wanted contact with the alpha now that things had finally begun to calm down. "I…" She glanced down to her wounded and wrapped hand. "Certainly nothing teflon."
"I am all ears for ideas." Kriss welcomed.
"You coming to sit down love?" Kara turned back to her mate and the newly retrieved friend. "Come on, we can talk battle plans over lunch." Kara waved the two over.
"Oh! Jess was it? You are a vampire, right? I have blood under the bar, I keep it bagged in the fridge." Kriss offered.
"You keep your blood bagged?"
"I mean, I don't, but Freya does. I mean, what else are ya gonna do? Put it on tap?" Kriss gave a boisterous laugh.
"I mean, that's what I do." Alex winced.
"Oh, shit. Sorry."
"Well, either way, it's appreciated." Jess nodded politely before heading to the bar and grabbing herself a snack.
"Love?" Kara coaxed once more.
"Yeah. Sorry. Just. Been a really long day. I'm a little spacy." It wasn't necessarily a lie, but it certainly didn't feel like the truth as it left Lena's lips.
"Come on then. I won't bite."
"You've bitten me many a time love." Lena lightened up, showing off the side of her neck where Kara's marking rested.
"Oh. I… umm yeah." Kara blushed as Lena finally made her way over and scooted into the booth, pressing herself against her alpha just the way Alex had with her's. She brought the food with her, a smorgasbord of Indian takeout from the first place with more than three stars on some review app, but damn if it didn't smell heavenly. She passed the styrofoam cartons around, everyone getting one that they would all share with each other and for Jess, just her blood. But Lena figured that Jess would be more than satisfied with that.
"Thanks for bringing the chow over babe." Kara kissed Lena and pulled her in close, actually pulling her omega's knees over her own, wishing to have as much contact as was physically possible.
"Course love." Lena kissed back before nipping at Kara's lower lip.
"What was that?"
"I never said I didn't bite." Lena grinned, adoring her two minutes of normalcy beyond belief.
Jess found her seat on the other side of Lena. Settling in and nursing her blood bag she waited and listened patiently as the other five chattered about which entree they wanted a bite of and what simply thought just looked way too spicy.
Kriss too was patient, she waited until everyone had gotten their food and then a couple of minutes before bringing the topic back up. "Your dubious idea Alex?"
"Look, it is thin." Alex rushed to lower expectations.
"I'll take just about anything right now." Kriss welcomed in between bites at the warm comforting food.
"Ok then." Alex took a deep inhale before moving forward. "Kara? When did my hand get burned?"
Kara halted mid-bite. "I'm sorry. Eve arrived, and I kinda just lept to action with the first plan I could come up with. We used some silver chains, and one end must have dropped on your hand in the rush."
"I don't think so." Alex disagreed, raising her hand and slowly undoing her bandages. "You don't specifically remember burning my hand or anything, do you?"
"Well, no, I guess not. But it is all kinda a furious blur." Kara shrugged.
"I didn't think that we did, but Kara seemed pretty certain, and nothing else really made sense. Why?"
"Do you remember that tattoo Mom had on her right leg?" Alex continued unwrapping her hand and neatly placing the gauze to the side so she could rewrap it after she examined the wound.
"Uugh, yeah. All the way up from her knee to her hip on her thigh. But I'm not really sure what that has to do with anything."
"It was really big, and she didn't really like it. Mom kinda hated tattoos in general, big ones most of all. So why have such a huge one?"
"Probably because she was a stupid teen once upon a time? She was mom, but she was human too." Kara postulated.
"Nope, I have seen pictures where she was holding me as a baby and wearing shorts, no tattoo." Alex denied.
"So what, mom had a tattoo?"
"So, you didn't burn me. Something in that other world did, and then Freya cut my hand open." Alex revealed her hand with not only bad burn blisters but also a clear cut gash along it. "This happened in the other world, the place where Cat sent us. And if getting hurt there hurt me here, then getting hurt here might hurt Freya there."
"You wanna hurt my sister?" Kriss's angry tone snapped.
"I wanna save Freya. I think my mother got that tattoo to cover up the scars that came from her talking to someone in the real world through self-mutilation."
"God that's fucking dark." Lena dropped her plastic fork, the idea more than enough to ruin her appetite. Her stomach twisted into knots. She had been feeling queasy all morning and the thought of that was near enough to make her lose her stomach right there all over the bar table.
"It's fucked, but it sounds just fucked enough to work." Jess shrugged.
"I don't like it, but I like the idea of my sister rotting away a lot less." Kriss begrudgingly allowed.
"We can look into it after lunch." Sam directed, wanting to not ruin anyone else's meal by allowing the topic to linger any longer.
"Thank you." Lena pulled her lunch slightly closer, hoping that she might be able to get her appetite back before long."
"Yeah, sorry." Alex settled. "By the way, what happened to Adam and Clifford?"
"We sent Clifford home and Kriss found a cage for Adam downstairs so that he wouldn't have to be tied up in silver." Kara informed.
"That's good. Good. Good..." Alex took a good moment, a short staring contest beginning between her and her meal as the weight of everything going on settled heavily on her. This was going to be one rough Christmas eve eve eve.
End of Chapter 23