"Blaine? You ready?" Blaine heard Wes calling him. He sighed, briefly touching the photograph of his mom he had on his dresser by his bed. This was the first patrol season for the Westerville pack since she had passed away. Blaine was Alpha now, and it was his duty to oversee the patrolling, to lead his wolves in inspecting some of the other packs in the area. He knew other packs did things differently, and often times there were cases of Alphas mistreating members of their packs, or in very rare cases, betas attempting to kill their Alpha and take over. Blaine was going with some of his closest friends: Wes, Santana, Sam, Thad, Mike, Tina. They were a good mix of mature wolves, steady betas and nurturing omegas that brought out Blaine's reasonableness and gentleness. He would need patience in his dealing with these other packs.

"Coming," he said. Santana and Mike had reported to him rumors of abuse in the Lima pack a few days ago, and so Blaine was glad it was time to patrol. He didn't think he could wait any longer to investigate, and ensure there were no vulnerable wolves being hurt.

He and his group made their way to the packs in the surrounding areas, and Blaine was relieved to find there were no major problems. Some packs had some small issues that needed to be corrected, like orphaned cubs being looked after properly or an Alpha in a claiming dispute with her first beta over an omega.

But then they arrived in Lima.

"What a dump," Santana said, wrinkling her nose, "it's times like these this heightened sense of smell is not my favorite thing."

There was a weird smell in the air. Blaine couldn't imagine how any pack of werewolves could stand living in such a town, but maybe they got used to it.

Blaine spotted a young omega walking alone, which was strange. Werewolves were highly social and only chose to be alone on rare occasions, especially omegas. Omegas loved to be with other wolves, fellow omegas they could tend to, betas they could help be more playful, alphas they could soothe, while feeling protected and cared for. In his entire life, Blaine could only recall one other time of finding an omega completely alone and far from any other wolves, when he was still a young cub and he had found the prettiest little white werecub in the forest.

Blaine went up to this female omega who was walking alone, struggling to carry several bags at once in her arms. "Hello," Blaine said with a charming grin, "let me help you with that."

The girl's eyes widened and her nostrils flared. She stopped in her tracks and stared at him warily, but her cheeks flushed and her hands loosened on the bags, allowing Blaine to take most of them. He could tell she was scared, but her instincts took over. She glanced at the small group of wolves behind Blaine, and he guessed she thought it was in her best interest to cooperate.

"There's no need to be scared," he told her gently, "we're friendly; I promise."

The omega nodded but kept her eyes downcast, at least until Sam came forward to help with the bags, too. "Hi," he said cheerfully, and the girl seemed to relax at the closeness of another omega, "what's your name?"

"Marley," she said in a small voice, still looking at Blaine nervously. He frowned. He knew she was reacting to him differently because he was an Alpha, but what did it say about her own pack Alpha that her response was one of fear?

"Marley, it's a pleasure to meet you," Blaine said, keeping his voice soft and gentle, "may we escort you home?"

Marley nodded nervously, and they formed rank around her: Sam, Thad and Tina closest to her, Santana, Wes and Mike following behind them, and Blaine bringing up the rear. As Alpha, he would normally walk in front, beside Marley to offer her a sense of protection, but since he seemed to scare her more than anything, he chose to hang back.

They reached her small house and she thanked them, looking surprised and relieved when they actually gave her her bags back. Blaine suspected she thought they might simply rob her, and he felt terrible. Something bad, very bad, was happening in Lima, worse than the rumors suggested. It seemed they were inspecting just in time - or maybe too late?

"Marley, please tell us where we can find your Alpha. Hunter Clarington." Blaine said this firmly, letting his wolf's dominance seep into his voice, hoping Marley's submissive instincts would help her overcome her fear in response. Her eyes widened, but she did stutter out some quiet instructions, and soon Blaine and his wolves were making sure she got inside safely and setting out to pay the Alpha a visit.

"Wes, with me," Blaine said once they were standing outside the residence of the Lima Alpha. It was a bigger house than most, but still compared to most places in Westerville, and the property was not well kept.

Santana let out a little growl. "I don't like just the two of you going in there alone."

Santana had been born to a beta father and Alpha mother from another pack, but since she was a beta, she had joined the Westerville pack as a werecub with her father when her mother passed away. Still, that Alpha heritage did make her blood run hotter than most betas. She was a good beta wolf, but Blaine knew it would be unwise to bring her into Hunter Clarington's home. Wes was his steadiest, wisest beta, and he thought it would be best for just the two of them to go.

"Santana, I need you out here with the rest. You're the most aggressive beta we have, and I don't want Mike and the omegas left without you or me with them."

That seemed to satisfy her, and so he and Wes left the others outside, knocking on the door and stepping inside when a bored-looking beta named Ryder let them in.

Ryder led them through the house to a large room with a fire, a big table piled with dishes, and a huge chair, in which a surly looking man who was obviously the Alpha sat. He had a smirk on his face as he listened to two betas sitting across from him on smaller chairs who were telling a story. But Blaine's focus immediately went to Hunter's feet, where a figure lay curled up.

His mouth fell open, and he barely registered that Ryder was introducing them. He focused on the person on the floor, who was wearing just some tattered pants and who lifted his head a little at Blaine and Wes's introduction. Blaine caught a flash of blue eyes that should have sparkled with life, but just took in the new arrivals dully, before the omega simply lowered his head and curled in on himself tighter. Blaine was hit with a powerful wave of protectiveness. He fought hard against his wolf, which was snarling with rage at this omega's obvious mistreatment, chomping at the bit to emerge and tear the room apart. Wes's calming presence helped him to maintain control. And he knew that if he was to help this omega and the rest of the Lima pack, he'd need to keep his wits about him when dealing with their sorry excuse for an Alpha.

"Well, what can I do for you?" Hunter asked, sounding irritated by their presence. Blaine watched as the Alpha lifted his foot and rested it casually on the back of the omega at his feet.

"You can move your foot, to start with," he said with a low growl, "then stand up, and come into our custody."

"Excuse me?" The Alpha and his two beta friends scoffed.

"You heard me," Blaine said, "I've seen enough of the state of Lima and its wolves. You're going before the council of pack elders and they'll decide what to do with you, since you obviously aren't fit to be Alpha of this pack."

Hunter's eyes glowed red.