Chapter Five: Pack Dynamics

Lucian's memories reigned more often than not anytime Michael's consciousness slipped. Blurred and half remembered images flit through his head, like a bad recording, once clear and again distorted.

Woods surrounded him, tall stately trees that had never seen an axe. Lucian moved through it with the steady ground eating pace that Lycans were good for. It was dark out, but the full moon filtered down through the intertwined boughs giving him a patchwork of blue-white light that augmented his night vision. He was looking for someone, an elusive one who called these woods home. The creature he was seeking had a reputation in this area, and Werewolf stories abounded through the local villages.

He smiled, something that translated into a wolfish snarl as he picked up the trail leading deeper into the stand of trees. The creature was close. Lucian slowed as he approached a clearing, his sharp hearing picking out the sounds of shuffling, snuffling, and the low woofs of the Lycan muttering to itself.

Lucian observed the creature for a bit, its back was to him, and the fur of the Lycan nearly glowed in the soft light spilling down from on high, the silver white seeming to gain life under the beams. He could now smell the fresh blood of the evening's kill. His stomach rumbled in answer, and he realized that he hadn't yet eaten. That and his burgeoning need to recruit this Lycan moved him out into the moonlit opening.

The other Lycan froze, ears snapping back, and its head followed, all teeth exposed. Lucian froze where he stood, his poise remained neutral as it rose to its feet and rolled its shoulders forward, and its crooked fingers locked for battle. Lucian met her eyes steadily, sure of his superiority over this lone Were.

The other stopped just short of where he stood, roaring a protest of his intrusion on her meal. He realized she was just what he needed, his trump to win over the factions that had been scattered through the woods after the defection. She was as strong in will as she was physically.

He allowed his gaze to lower just a little, his ears to droop slightly. He whined in a show of passiveness. The ploy stunned her, and she relaxed from her defensive stance. She extended her neck sniffing the air, taking in the scent of him, her teeth just inches from his now exposed throat. Lucian was giving his trust to her, and hoped it would be enough to at least get the chance to talk to her.

She backed away, no longer regarding him, returning to the meal she had been interrupted from. Lucian followed her at a respectful distance, lowering himself onto his haunches and watching her as she ate. He was careful to look away when she turned her gaze on him, not wishing to illicit a fight.

The focus slipped, images slurred together until one was muddled with the next. When real time resumed some time had passed because Lucian was again in human form, and so was the other Lycan. They were walking amongst the leaves of the autumn trees and chatting. She was beautiful, the woman Lucian was with, with a fall of dark hair surrounding a pale face. Golden eyes peeked between long strands.

He said her name, conversing in that same well bred voice Michael could remember from their short conversation in the tunnels.

Before more could be shown to him, Michael rose towards consciousness, and pain filled the spots where Lucian's memories had been. A groan escaped his lips, the agony centered just above where his neck and skull met. He turned his head at the same time he raised a hand to the spot. It came away wet and one eye snapped open as he drew his fingers into view.

An audible sigh escaped him as he noted it wasn't blood. Residual silver nitrate ran down the length of his index finger, and his eyes slid shut. He could still remember the last time he had been shot like that, the pain that had consumed him from the inside out. The slow death of tissue as the silver reacted with his Lycan blood and shut his systems down one by one. That was before Selene bit him, turned him into a hybrid the likes of which neither house had ever seen. That disadvantage no longer held sway on him – he couldn't voice how happy he was for that. Dying twice was enough.

You better know what you're doing.

Leaving Selene's side hadn't been easy for him. He knew he was new to this world, and that he was probably only aware enough of the rules to get into trouble. He wouldn't have done it but for the idea that he would be unable to do any negotiating with the Dens if he were found to be consorting with the covens. He hoped that Selene would be okay without him there. He comforted himself with the knowledge that Selene had been dealing with Coven politics longer than he had been alive.

His musing was cut short as the smell cut through his senses – Lycans!

The reaction was instantaneous; his body shifted form as he pushed up and flipped backwards off the surface he had been lying on. He landed some feet back, his shoulders already rolled forward and his fingers locked. He was ready for a fight should it come to that.

He was in a small cul de sac, but it was furnished in such a way that Michael had the illusion he was in some castle someplace. He knew that wasn't true, he remembered this smell, even if he had never been familiar with the place. He was back in the tunnels.

"Whoa," a pleasant voice said.

His eyes shot across the space finding a dark haired woman leaned casually onto one wall.

"There's no need for that."

Michael blinked, tilting his head to one side.

"You're among friends."

He allowed his skin to slip back into place, realizing that she looked familiar. The golden eyes gave her away.

"I'm…"

"Seneca," Michael said without thought, the name slipping to the top of his mind.

She blinked in consternation, "How is it you know me?"

Michael's hand went unconsciously to his left shoulder, "Lucian…"

He watched her straighten further.

"He was the one who…marked me."

She actually grimaced at him. "You have…Lucian's…memories?"

Michael nodded, "Though they don't always make a lot of sense. He has…memories of you."

"But," Seneca stepped closer, "What are you? The warriors were right, you smell Lycan, but your form…"

She shook her head relaying her confusion.

"My name is Michael Corvin." He didn't understand why he trusted her with his name, but another part of him knew that just that much would explain a lot.

Her eyes widened more, "You were the one he was speaking of. You're the Corvinus Heir?"

"Reluctantly so," Michael bobbed his head. He was happy when she went off on another tangent and didn't follow that line of conversation through to its logical conclusion.

"Why were you running from the vampires?"

Michael blinked, "I wasn't running."

"Could've fooled me."

"That was the intention."

He once again struck Seneca dumb.

"I needed to get in contact with the pack."

"You managed that beautifully," her attitude had come back and quickly, "Why?"

"The war," Michael pushed forward, "Lucian started it because of the vampire Sonja."

"I know."

He let that comment sidetrack him a moment, "You knew, but, I got the impression that…"

"There wasn't love at the start of it." She answered, "I was…"

"A power play." Michael finished, remembering the first part of the vision.

"Yes," She nodded, "He needed a…mate, another Alpha to the pair in order to gather the dregs together - to form some semblance of a threat against the vampires. He came to love me…in his way…as the centuries dragged forward."

"Why would that matter?" Michael had a sudden sinking feeling in his gut as the question fell from his lips.

She grinned. "You don't know much about pack dynamics do you?"

His embarrassment made his smile charming. "I've not been a part of the Underworld very long."

"How much do you know about wolves, Michael?"

He shrugged, "A little, only what Wild Kingdom and Animal Planet had to offer."

Seneca laughed, "Wolves have a very structured family unit. That unit is led by the strongest pair of dogs, the Alpha pair. There are other pairs, but the Alpha has dibs on meals, on litters born - they make the major decisions for the pack. Lycans are much the same in most respects."

Michael swallowed, that didn't sound good at all – not when he was looking to lead this pack, this time to peace. Then he realized that in all of his previous encounters with the Lycans he had only seen the males. He voiced this observation to his host.

She looked away, "If you have Lucian's memories you should know this part already."

"I told you they don't all come through making sense. They don't come through at all when I am conscious."

"No I suppose not."

She moved a little ways off, the loose shift she wore sliding around her body. When she sat down again there was a pensive expression on her face, "Lucian lost most of us – the women – when he struck his deal to fly under the radar. Many of us were trapped in the castle as Kraven burned it to the ground."

"Were you?"

She pinned him with those golden eyes, "Not that you could tell, but yes…I barely escaped with my hide intact."

She punched the mattress in frustration.

"Before that we had fought side by side with our men, just as proud and wanting freedom just as much as Lucian did - as the men did. Scared for the pure lines, he hid the remaining women away, denied us the right to fight for our survival the way we had done for decades. As he worked under the guise of being dead, he started to gather his forces. He wanted an army, one strong enough that he could strike a fatal blow to the vampire covens. To his mind, the only way that could happen without risking the women, was to upset the balance of the pack and recruit only men."

Michael's nod was a slow understanding one. Such a statement explained a lot.

"Did you…have any children?"

"A few," Seneca sighed, "only to have them hunted down and slaughtered by the Death Dealers. I don't know if any of my kin have survived to the present. Most of them were born in my old home, before we came here to Budapest. In his search for the Corvinus heir, family became a secondary consideration for Lucian."

For some reason such a statement made Michael feel guilty – as if he had some kind of control over Lucian's obsession with him.

"So what does the war have to do with you?" Seneca found the center of the argument like a dart.

"I want to help stop it."

"Why?"

"Do you realize how close our kind is to extinction."

"You would include yourself among us? That is bold for one who has not even asked permission to be a member of my pack."

Michael straightened, afraid that he might have assumed too much, "I was Lycan before…before becoming what I am now."

"So you admit then that you're not truly Lycan."

"You've seen. You know I'm not."

"What happened to you?"

"I died?" It was a poor explanation - a complete understatement, but he knew it was the truth.

She blinked for many long moments, "And then?"

"Selene brought me back."

"Who is Selene?"

He found himself surprised that this Lycan didn't know who she was, "She's a…was a…Death Dealer."

Seneca snarled, leaping up from the bed and stepping back from him, "You've…you're in league with the vampires?"

He saw her start to shift, "Don't…I'm not here to fight. I don't want to hurt you."

She seemed amused by that, but it thwarted her transformation, "You hold yourself in high esteem. I've never heard such brass from a newly marked Lycan."

"I fought the vampire elder Viktor - I've… battle the oldest Lycan, William, and won. I've died twice now and come back to life. I honestly don't think you stand much of a chance against what I can do Seneca – even if I'm a 'newbie' to all this."

A brow rose over her golden eye. "Impressive."

"I'm not in league with the vampires," He continued now that he had her attention. "Selene is an outcast, a fugitive from her coven. She saved my life that first time in return of a favor. Even she didn't know the repercussions of mixing the two viruses."

Michael knew he was tailoring the truth here, but he needed Seneca's help if he was going to win over the den.

"The form I assume is – hybridized – as much vampire as it is Lycan." He couldn't help the thought that it was such an analytical account of something still so odd to him.

She regarded him for long moments. He could almost see the gears turning behind those gorgeous eyes. He had to shake his head to stop the train of thought that started while observing her beauty and grace.

"How would you help stop the war? Would you fight on the Lycan side?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"There has to be a peaceful solution, with Lucian and Viktor dead, there must be a way to rebuild trust."

"I will not become a slave. I never was and I won't start…I'd rather die first."

"Never – as equals."

"You are asking for a lot."

"All I am asking right now is the opportunity to make the Lycans see the logic to a truce."

"You want to lead us." Her eyes narrowed, and Michael had a hard time discerning whether it was in anger or in mirth, "You truly are an ambitious one. You don't even recognize my rank. Any other whelp pulling this stunt would deserve a stern reprimand."

"I don't fear you Seneca. I respect your position but you are not my superior."

She rose, approaching him, and he made himself stand still, even when she invaded his space. Up close he could smell the scent of her skin, like ginger and paprika, sharp and yet tantalizing to his nose. She was taking in slow draughts of his scent as well, and against his will his body tried to respond to her.

"You do know what you're asking, don't you?"

"For Alpha of the pack." His voice had grown husky.

"You know what that entails."

"I'm afraid I do."

She laid warm hands on his bare chest. "You say that like it is a bad thing."

He shook his head, breaking the spell and stepping back from her. When he had some distance, control on his marauding hormones, and tempered his tone of voice he said, "I can't give you an answer to that – not now. I will have to consider it first."

A hurt expression moved across Seneca's face, but she nodded once and retreated from him a bit, "You have feelings for the vampire - Selene?"

"I do."

She drew in a breath through her nose, her eyes were glossy. "Lucian said much the same words to me. How he couldn't love another after Sonja. I proved him wrong, perhaps his love for me wasn't the same caliber as it was for her, but he came to love me just the same."

"I can't make that kind of commitment, Seneca. Unlike Sonja, Selene is still alive."

"Then I will lose my standing." Her head came up so high she was looking down her nose at him. It was a proud and defiant stance. "I must find an Alpha male or else I will get kicked out of the pack. Leverage will be lost."

She shrugged and turned away from him. She didn't go far, lighting on a desktop, crossing her arms, and regarding him again.

"My Beta is in good position for succession, but she may not be willing to treat with you over this. It would only be harder for you to gain the control you think you need. You would have to fight her mate for the Alpha position."

"I don't want it to come to that."

"My way, you get it without a fight." She smiled; it was a pained expression, "I would be honored to have you as my Alpha male."

"I will consider it." Michael tried to sound non-committal, "For now, Seneca, will you accept me into your den?"

Her brows rose in surprise, his courtesy seeming to catch her off guard.

She sighed through her nose, "Probation would be in order, considering what you are. Should the pack show undue animosity, I will be unable to allow you to stay."

"I can deal with that."