Chapter 24

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.

Thank You

"Care to tell me what happened in there?" Lena trapped the other omega and pulled her away from the rest of the heard.

"A lot. Mainly I saw my mother and Freya got trapped because apparently, even death wouldn't settle the grudge my mother held." Alex rolled her eyes at the idea of someone being so stubborn and went to regroup with everyone else.

"You know that isn't what I meant Alex." Lexa pulled at her friend's arm a little forcefully.

"Lena, ouch. That hurts." Alex pried Lena's fingers off her arm.

"I know Cat sent you there to find some way to fix Adam. Something that could save Kara!" Lena's voice was controlled but terrified. She NEEDED to know that there was a way that she could save her mate, that there could be more than just awaiting the end in terror of the day Kara finally loses her last shred of humanity and ended up nothing more than Maxwell or Adam.

"Be quiet! Do you want her to know? You know my sister! How do you think she will take to the news that she is going feral?" Alex hissed a whisper directly into Lena's ear and pulled them both further away into a secluded corner as the rest of the lot looked over Freya and contemplated where might be best to begin inter dimensional conversation through bodily mutilation.

"She sent you there for answers! Am I wrong to assume you wouldn't leave without finding any?!" Lena pressed.

"It wasn't so much of an optional return." Alex huffed in frustration at having a hard time thinking up how to explain it best.

"How the hell can that be true? Then what sent you back?!"

"Something about what Cat did that sent us there. Freya told me the way it worked was that we would get pulled back the moment that we heard the answer to Cat's question."

"And Cat's question was?"

"How do we cure a wolf who has gone feral, or at least that is my guess. But-"

"And the answer!?" Lena chomped at the bit.

"I was getting there." Alex sighed frustrated. "The answer is the confusing thing. I was trying to get more answers, but my mom seemed to be more interested in playing with me than actually helping me get my powers back."

"You clearly weren't getting there! Now, what was the answer!?"

"Omega."

"Omega what?!"

"That's it. Just omega

"That was the answer. It was just omega. My mom spoke the singular word and all of a sudden I woke back up here in Sam's arms some six or seven hours later than when I had gone in. I don't know how in the hell it satisfied Cat's question, but it isn't really like we can ask her."

"Any ideas on how to interpret that and help save my mate?" Lena softened, but only mildly; none of the tension left her, but she forced herself to tone down the standoffish nature of her posture and general demeanor.

"She is my sister." Alex murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing. No. I don't really have any ideas, no. My hope is that Freya can get the rest of the answer. Maybe if she does, it will send her home too." Alex relayed her highest of hopes.

"What are y'all doing off over in the corner?"

"Yeah, come on guys, what do you think is better, arm or leg?" Kara followed up after the other alpha.

"Are we really thinking about cutting a girl up to talk to her inter-dimensionally?"

"You can think of it as transplainer if you prefer?"

"I prefer existing as something that doesn't involve all the blood and gore. For fuck's sake, I'm a butcher and I can't handle this shit anymore. Carving up a pig or a half cow is one thing but that is a living breathing human!" Lena whimpered. She had been quiet, quiet enough that she thought only Alex would hear, but Alex wasn't the only one to catch her exasperated griping.

"Baby?" Kara stepped away from the others, closer towards her mate and sister.

"It's nothing. I'm tired. I'm just tired." Lena lied, waving it off as nothing more than a mild lack of sleep.

"It isn't nothing. It isn't just tired or lack of sleep either." Soft Kara, gentle loving Kara, Kara who didn't just growl and snarl and threaten to kill the things she didn't like shown through as she approached the omegas.

Lena's tears broke loose, streaming down her face. "I'm fine. I'm just fine. It's just been a long ass day, and everything is a little too much on far too little sleep." She wiped her face clean in what was ultimately a fruitless effort.

Alex's eyes danced between her sister and the crying omega, completely unsure what to do or what to say.

"Do you mind if she and I take off? We can take Adam and Cat back home. It's a long drive, and we don't both need to risk the drive back with a body and a feral wolf." Kara usurped her sister's attention.

"No! We don't need to go. I'm fine. They all need us here." Lena protested and finally succeeded in getting her face some semblance of clean. Thankfully, she had also succeeded in forming a temporary stopgap on the waterworks for the time being, even if she knew it wouldn't last long.

"Baby, you are tired. Plus, it's a bit crowded here anyways. I'm sure us getting out of their hair could only help."

"This isn't going to get any less gory Lena." Alex only lept at a way to get Kara out of the stressful situation. It could only do her sister good to get her away from everything.

"I don't care. I can handle it." Lena forced unconvincingly.

"Lena, I really think it is best we go home. We have a lot to do back in town."

"Like what? What do we have to do?" Lena snapped.

"We still have that thing to talk about… you know the thing you PROMISED to tell me about when we get home?"

Alex's eyes darted back to Lena who's terrified face alone assured her that the thing Kara wanted to talk about was in fact that she was going feral.

"Kara." Lena whispered.

"Come on love. It's been such a long day. We need to get Cat back to her family, Adam back home, and I need my mate wrapped up in my arms in bed." Kara coaxed.

Lena's resolve curled around the edges, growing visibly weak at the idea of cuddles in bed with her alpha.

"You can rest your head in my lap on the drive back?" Kara knew the offer would be just enough.

Lena's face flickered in frustrated, self disappointed exhaustion, and a disheartened whimper slipped from her throat.

"Ok, I'm good. I've heard enough. Really don't need to know what my alpha sister does with her mate's head resting in her lap." Alex clapped as an effort to move on from the awkward topic and entice the two to head out.

"What about Jess?" Lena finally croaked out.

"Aye, Jess! Lena and I are heading out. Wanna tag along with us back home or do you wanna chill here until everyone else heads back?"

"Uugh, I'm not really sure I have much of a place to head back to back home. I've been gone for a month. Even if my landlord hasn't kicked me out for being late on the rent, my place ain't built to be a fortress like yours and Alex's. I'm not safe back home. Gayle isn't going to stop just because she lost to Cat.

"My safe room isn't fully fixed yet, but everything else has been barricaded a little more than before to make up for it." Lena offered. "You are welcome to crash there like you used to."

"You sure?" Jess brightened.

"Come on. Time to go home." Lena smiled warmly. "I'm gonna need to keep you close to catch up on everything we missed this month."

"Yeah. Sounds good." Jess cheered.

The trio took to their task, first loading Cat into the trunk. Kara broke down crying by the time they had found a good spot for the deceased omega. Once upon a time she had loved the other woman. She had always seen so much of herself in Cat. She knew what it was like to be trapped in the type of relationship Cat had been held into for the majority of the time they knew each other. The idea that Cat's life could end only a matter of months after finally being free? It killed a corner of her, silently outraging both her logical human half and her more emotion and instinct-based wolf half. The wolf that resided in Kara's heart refused to tire, to lie down, to calm in the slightest with one of her pack members splayed out, lifeless in front of her.

Time, time heals all wounds, or at least gives one the tools with which to apply a masking bandage. Poorly applied masking bandage applied, the trio then moved their sights towards taming Adam. The feral wolf was more than a beast and a half to contain. He lashed, clawed, and bit at anything and everything that approached him. None of them wanted to, but after less than two minutes they all realized that there was no hope to escort Adam out of the basement and up into the car without using silver. After considering that if they didn't restrain him correctly, he could end up a beacon to any suspecting police officer who would assuredly have an interest in the lifeless body in the trunk. Lena, in particular, took it hard to see the poor child being burned by the silver. Watching him whine and yelp only to break in despair and collapse. Allowing the chains to sear into his skin, and all because even his wolf had become so broken in the searing pain that it could no longer fight.

The omega was able to stifle her tears as they found a spot in the back seat for Adam and settled him down with blankets for both warmth and cover. Adam was clearly in pain, but the wolf he had become seemed calm, or at least it was no longer fighting its ties. The moment that everyone had filtered into the car, Lena layed down over the front seat's median to rest her head in Kara's soft lap and finally allow her tears to fall. Kara noticed her mate's warm tears on her bloodstained jeans, but she said nothing. She knew that Lena needed it to be something that could go unnoticed; that Lena would be ok, she just needed her cry, her handful of minutes to let the emotions of the day wash over her, take her and run her system back to some form of homeostasis. The only hint of an acknowledgment of the tears that Kara gave was a soft hand caressing at Lena's back. Just a gentle few fingers running up and down Lena's back was enough to reassure the omega that she was loved and everything would be ok.

Three hours into the drive, Lena's phone began buzzing, waking her with a missed call and a message from Sam asking if they could pick up Ruby when they returned the fallen omega's body to her family. Sam had dropped the youngster to be both occupied by her friends in Cat's personal little heard and babysat by the elder of the children. Lena announced the message to the car, and the three quickly decided that it might be best to first drop off Adam at the bar and then stop at the butchery to clean themselves off. Even if Jess's hands weren't completely covered in blood, her shirt still made it look like she had murdered someone and the blood dried at her cuticles didn't really help. When paired with Lena's shirt having a huge hole just under her left breast and more than enough blood dried into it to make it look like she might have died twice over, they all easily agreed that the plan might be best to change and wash up before exposing Ruby to any more horror than she had already witnessed.

Dropping Adam off did not take anywhere near as much effort as escorting him into the car. The wolf had calmed moderately and even fallen asleep along the drive. Between the three, even when Adam did wake, they were able to fit him neatly into the cage across from Maxwell and finally remove the putrid silver he had been chained up for way too long. Maxwell howled and growled angrily barking out at his new roommate.

"Hey there. Shh. It's gonna be ok." Lena moved to Maxwell's cage, attempting to calm him as she knelt down and offered to pet him through the bars with a timid hand.

Maxwell barked louder at first, but then he seemed to quiet at least a little at the calming presence.

"That's it, there you go buddy. It's just Adam. He's no threat." Lena reached through the bars. Maxwell growled, but lowered his head begrudgingly, offering it up.

"There you go"

"Stay away from him!" Kara barked just a moment before Lena's hand touched his head.

"Aww, come on. He is fine. Emma was sleeping on the couch upstairs, and he just wants not to be alone for a minute. I'm sure he is scared, caught up in this cage." Lena brushed aside Kara's worries and went ahead to pet Max's head. "There you go. It's all gonna be ok. We will find something to fix you up. Have you back in your mate's bed in no time. I prom-" Lena's arm was yanked away from her shoulder. "What the hell."

"Stay away from him. Being near a feral wolf is dangerous. Touching him certainly isn't safe." Kara snarled, releasing Lena's shoulder.

"Baby! Calm do-"

"She's right." Emma warned as she sat down at the top of the steps. Her words were cautioning, cautioning and broken. "I've been spending as much time as I can down here, but I had to take a break. It's been messing with me."

"Thank you. Now let's get going! Before it gets to you too." Kara pulled at Lena's arm with a smidgen more force than was necessary.

"Baby. I am fine. I just wanted to reassure him that he isn't alone." Lena stood.

"I appreciate that." Emma thanked with her face in her hands, covering up what shame she held for leaving him alone at all.

"It's ok. I am glad you are taking care of yourself and not pushing too hard." Lena tried to reassure.

"It's not ok. This is dangerous for my omega." Kara huffed under her breath.

"Take it easy Kara. It's fine. She's just giving the guy a pat on the head. Nothing prolonged. Even Eve said that it would take days for one wolf's ferility to spread to another." Jess shrugged off like the information was nothing.

"Eve has proof it will spread?" Kara's face drained of all color.

"I don't know about proof. But she certainly believes it to be true." Jess winced, trying to do her best to help, but not sure what else to say.

"All the more reason that you need to stay away from him! Especially after we were all cooped up in the car with Adam!" Kara raised her voice enough to get both wolves all riled up, growling and snarling about how they were confined in cages.

"What the fuck?" Emma raised her head enough that her eyes peaked out over her hands. "The other wolf you brought back with you is Adam?"

"Yeah." Lena nodded disheartened.

"Wait, then where the hell is Cat! She needs to know about this!"

"Cat is dead." Kara's cold voice offered no cushion.

"What!" Emma jumped and nearly lept down the stairs.

"Eve is back."

"That is the Eve you two were talking about!?"

"Yeah. It is." Jess answered.

"So that makes you the vampire they were gonna have talk to us at the last big pack meeting? The one who disappeared?" Emma pointed at Jess.

"Guilty." Jess waived an awkward hello.

"Cat is really?" Emma couldn't process.

"She's gone." Kara swallowed down her pain and attempted to soften her stance for the fellow wolf. "If you want to pay your respects, we have her body in the car. We were planning to clean up and drop her off with her kids when we pick up Ruby."

"I…" Emma didn't know what to say or how to find her voice amongst the confounded storm that was her brain.

"It is ok. I am sure that Cat's family will hold a funeral for her. You can say goodbye then if it is easier for you." Lena offered with a warm hand on Emma's shoulder.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think that might be easier for me." Emma admitted.

"That's perfectly fine. Take your time to process. And if it is true that being too close to these two could make you go feral too, just be careful ok?" Lena requested.

"Yeah. Thanks Lena." Emma took the omega and hugged her in appreciation. "I heard what you said to him. Thank you for trying. For not giving up on him." She whispered to Lena, the words only for her.

"Of course. Take care Emma. Things will get better. We will find something soon. We have to." Lena replied back low, but not so close to silent that no one else could hear.

"Good to go love?" Kara urged impatient and wanting her mate away from the feral wolves.

"Yes. Yes. We can go home and wash up."

End of Chapter 24

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