Chapter 30
"Have I expressed my complete aversion to this idea lately?" Hope scrunched up her nose as she trudged through the Bayou just slightly in front of Josie, the two headed in the direction of the camp of the pack of wolves they encountered the previous day.
"Well no, I think it's been a whole five minutes since the last time. Better do it again to make up for lost time." Josie snarked at Hope sarcastically, though she was really just messing around with her. Clearly, she herself lacked much of the weariness and doubt that Hope was experiencing.
Josie couldn't quite put her finger on it or explain it, but there was just something about the group of youngsters that reassured her. She didn't feel like they were to be feared, even when they were threatening the girls. They seemed to be acting more out of anxiety and self-defense than anything else. Josie got a sense about them akin to the feeling that they were more like a small group of lost puppies than a pack of fearsome wolves.
Hope, however, was tense. It rippled through her every muscle as she kept her body ready for any sort of surprise attack. She felt jumpy at every little leaf that hit the ground, or twig that would snap beneath their feet. She would stay weary and aware at all times, ready, determined to keep Josie safe at all costs.
"You two looking for little ol' me?" Hope sensed the presence before she spoke and stepped protectively in front of Josie, both of them turning when they heard the voice.
"Are you alone?" Josie spoke up as she stepped out from behind Hope.
"For now." Nimyra answered as she perched herself on a nearby log. "You better speak fast."
Hope allowed Josie to approach the she-wolf, but made sure that there remained enough distance between the two should the wolf turn hostile. She kept her guard up and looked around repeatedly for any signs of the rest of the pack, while Josie had her much-desired conversation.
Hope hated this with vehemence, though she had promised Josie she would not treat her as if she were a helpless damsel. She respected her enough to agree to that much.
"What do you know about the Geminis?" Josie asked, her eyes focused on the set of ice blue ones before her.
"Well now that's a boring question, and not the question you really came here to ask." Nimyra scoffed and stood from her perch, idly walking around the fallen tree. "You want answers to the unasked questions, Josette. Like… what is likely to happen to you as a Gemini twin if you were to turn into a hybrid." She smirked, her smile as smart and sharp as the look in her eyes.
"How did you even know I was one?" Josie asked, a deep scowl settling in on her brow.
"I could sense it." Nimyra shrugged and Josie looked even more confused.
"She's one of those rare hybrids I told you about." Hope interjected, finally realizing what Nimyra was and why she was so intuitive around the girls. It wasn't just the wolf in her, but also the witch magic she held.
"Indeed." Nimyra continued to pace idly, kicking up some leaves here, or running her fingers along a tree there. Finally, she meandered back to the fallen tree stump and rested one foot atop it, leaning her body onto her bent knee in support. "The only difference between you and I, Josette, is that you're not fully a hybrid yet. I guess you could blame your tribrid 'friend' for that one."
"You do NOT want to piss me off, wolf-witch." Hope spat at her; nerves coiled like a spring ready to be released.
"No, I don't. So why are you so goddamn touchy? Geez…" The girl laughed at Hope, then returned her grin to Josie. "So, here's a little bit of juicy information that you might appreciate." She paused for effect, just waiting to see the smallest twitch of anticipation in Josie's pouty lips before she continued. "When, or if, you do become a full hybrid before you turn 22, you won't have to go through with the merger. If you become a full hybrid, you will no longer be eligible. Your twin will automatically assume leadership of the coven, without consuming you or your power."
Josie inhaled deeply, suddenly feeling light headed. Was the solution they had been looking for – the loophole that their mother had been traveling for all over the world for so long – really that simple? "How do you know this? It can't be that easy. What's the catch?"
"It's not that big a deal, unless you're feeling sentimental." Nimyra shrugged and scratched at her head. "You'd get kicked from the coven. But from what I've heard it's not like there's much of a coven to get kicked from anyway. But the bottom line is that as long as you have a wolf inside of you, you will have an alpha, and in order to have an alpha you have to renounce all other forms of authority, such as a coven."
"What? That's bullshit." Hope chimed in from one side. "None of this has applied to me."
"First of all, Mikaelson," Nimyra sneered at the tribrid who was still raking her eyes through the trees and underbrush, "You don't have a coven or an alpha. Secondly, you're the progenitor of a new bloodline. The same rules don't quite apply to you."
"And speaking of alphas…" A collection of 6 other wolves emerged from the trees surrounding them: one more than the day before.
"What the hell are you doing on my pack's territory?" The young man was slightly older than the rest of his wolves, his hair black and messy in its short style; his eyes were as black as night.
That was until they started glowing a deep golden hue as he slowly approached the two girls.
"River, please don't eat my new friends." Nimyra smirked past the girls at her alpha, speaking her words jokingly.
"Well maybe your friends should have listened yesterday when I warned them not to come back." This time it was Gastuan who spoke in a low growl, his own bright yellow eyes focused on the two girls. Now even though Josie didn't feel particularly alarmed by the gang in general, she could sense something quite menacing about this wolf.
And so could Hope, not about to be told off so simply. "Do you always let your betas speak for you?" She sneered at River, though her golden gaze was locked on Gastuan. "Or, my bad, are you the omega of the pack?"
It was just enough provocation to light the fuse within Gastuan that he needed to push him to suddenly lunge at Hope. He swung at Hope, canines bared threateningly, but Hope quickly used his own momentum against him as she let him swing and miss, then grabbed his arm, twisted it, and locked it behind his back. She growled threateningly in return into his ear as she kicked the back of one of his knees, causing him to kneel into the ground. He yelped but quickly reached back with his free hand, grabbing the much smaller girl by her shoulder with his claws as he bent low and flipped her forwards and over him, causing her to land on her back by his feet, the wind being audibly knocked from her chest.
"Atque unguibus aureis!" The chant came from Josie a few feet away. She had one hand clasped around Nimyra's wrist and glowing red, while the other hand made a striking motion towards Gastuan. In a sickening slashing sound, it was as if though two invisible bear claws had gashed through his shirt and over his back, ripping his skin open and causing him to howl in pain.
The distraction was enough to allow Hope to regain the upper hand. From her position on her back with her head at his feet, she brough her knees up to her shoulders as she rolled back and locked her legs behind Gastuan's, then brought her feet back down to the ground forcefully. This caused the larger wolf to topple forwards and without a second's hesitation, Hope was on top of his back, once again capturing and locking his one arm in a vice-like grip in order to restrain him as he lay face down in the dirt.
Then something caught her eye.
Sitting there, on Gastuan's right shoulder as she could see through his ripped shirt, sat an auspicious birthmark. It was a crescent moon on the darker backdrop of a cloud.
"You're a Crescent." She gasped and let him go, stumbling backwards.
"We all are." Nimyra smirked as she pulled her wrist from Josie's distracted grasp. Josie quickly glanced over and looked as if she wanted to apologize, but swallowed it down quickly as the wolf-witch winked at her. "We're what's left."
"What do you mean, 'what's left'?" Hope asked, almost struggling to breathe as she glanced around at the pack in confusion, searching for an answer in one face before the next.
"The pack disbanded after your mother died and went back to normal life, Mikaelson." River cut in as he moved closer to the injured, but healing, Gastuan where he remained planted in the ground. "But the story does not end there and does not have a happy ending." He paused and grabbed his beta by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet. The alpha wolf looked as if though he was exceptionally irritated by the other male's behavior.
"Then tell me the story!" Hope's tone had an edge to it now, as if she was not far from panicking at the wave of realizations crashing in upon her. Josie quickly moved closer and slipped her hand into Hope's for comfort.
"Everyone thought that the Quarter and the city was returned to the witch and human factions almost three years ago, but some creatures are talented at staying hidden in the dark, or just out of view, until the correct opportunity presents itself." River stepped closer to Hope now, rubbing his hands together as if to cleanse them of the dust that hung thick in the air still. "A new pack formed, a rogue pack that was a mix between wolves and hybrids – the vampire kind. They wanted to stake a claim in the council, return a third of the city to their pack by heading off the Werewolf faction. In order to realize this eventual goal, they decided that the city had to be cleansed first – and that meant getting rid of all remaining splintered packs in the area."
Eventually River started circling Hope upon reaching her, watching her closely, studying her from top to toe and consequently doing the same to Josie. "Our families were hunted and killed; our parents; our brothers and sisters – anyone and everyone who had not left the city before. We are the ones who escaped… just the seven of us. We keep low and out of the pack's way. We take care of ourselves, and of each other, now."
He came to stop in front of Hope to face her once he was done circling the pair, then smirked and held out his arms. "We are the new Crescent pack." He then turned around and stepped away from the girls, allowing Hope a moment to digest what he had just told her and allowing Josie to basically hold her together while she did this.
"Hope, the Crescents are your pack…" Josie whispered to her, though with all the keen wolf-hearing surrounding them her words were heard by everyone. And one by one, their eyes lit up threateningly. The brightest of all were River's when he turned back around to gaze at the pair, grinning as he showed his protruding incisors. "Oh no, this is MY pack, and I don't give two shits about Hope Lebonair's birthright!" He gave another step or two closer to the dumbfounded Hope and growled, "If you want this pack, you'll have to earn it the good old fashioned way." River braced himself then, as if preparing himself for a physical confrontation with Hope. The rest of the pack, one by one, shifted around them; massive wolves taking their threatening stance in a circle around the girls as deep growls reverberated in their chests.
"I suggest you either fight or get the hell out of here right now, ladies." Nimyra called from her perch as the only member of the pack who hadn't shifted. A pack of wolves was even stronger if they had a magic user amongst them.
"Come on…" Hope muttered to Josie as she squeezed her hand, holding it tighter and tugging her away from the wolves.
"Hope, why?" Josie tried to tug her back. "This is your chance. This pack is rightfully yours." Josie frowned at Hope, pleading with her eyes. "Step. Up."
Even through their golden sheen, Hope's eyes looked a rough mixture of emotions – sad, angry, terrified…
"We're leaving." She said firmly and with finality.