There was a freaky circle thing on the floor of the hyena pen. Cordelia wondered how she'd missed that.
The rest of her pack fanned out behind her. Heidi and Tor on one side and Kyle and Rhonda on the other. Proper for pack hierarchy, but it left her right flank feeling distinctly weak. Not that any violence had been necessary. It had been pathetically easy to get in. No guards, nothing remotely like security. She was almost disappointed. But maybe it meant that they could stop by the Zebras before they left.
Zebra meat was always so good...
"Hey! You kids! What do you think you're doing here!" A man burst it. He smelled awful.
Cordelia lifted the stupid zoo keeper by the throat. She wrinkled her nose. The scent was so close now. So desperate, pathetic, greedy, and weak. Not even his fear could make the scent pleasant. And Cordelia was usually all for that. Fear made everything smell like prey, and prey always smelled good.
Or at least she'd thought so. But apparently prey could smell disgusting after all.
"Oh gross." Heidi mumbled.
"I can't believe your touching him." Rhonda said, voice equal parts horror and awe.
"Alpha will always do what's best for the pack." Kyle said, his voice was all awe. He was a good beta.
"Gross prey, who'd a thought?" Tor was all horrified. He had trouble wrapping his mind around it.
"Yeah." Heidi muttered faintly. Tor wasn't the only one with a redefined world view. That right there was yet another reason she was the only one strong enough to be alpha. She could be grossed after she'd gotten what she needed from the fool. If she didn't just hurry up and kill him.
Just touching him was so, so gross. She couldn't even eat him after, the stupid waste of meat.
"Please let me go." The piece of filth begged.
"Gladly." Cordelia said, feeling her beast flow forward, into her eyes, "Just as long as you tell us what you know."
The man told them everything. About Primal's, how he'd wanted their power, their freedom. She sent Tor to retrieve the tomes he told them about. Then she ordered the rest of her pack outside as she killed him. No matter how horrible he smelled, her pack lacked the self-control to be presented with fresh meat. She was much better than any of them, and she still felt her mouth water.
Cordy shook her head, giving the body on the ground a faint scowl. As if she would ever lower herself to such inferior fare. But she shouldn't have even felt the pull. And yet, she did. Something was happening. Their animals were coming to the fore. She could feel it. The ease with which her beast flowed under her skin. Just beneath the surface.
Those books better give her some answers fast. Cordelia didn't even want to think about what she might do in a rage. Her pack might not survive it.
xXx
Heidi slammed the book down."I don't understand any of this!"
Her pack was spread out in her bedroom. They had fed. But it had taken the staff of her house two tries before they'd understood what Cordelia meant by raw meat. None of them had been very happy about it.
Cordelia growled a warning. Now was not the time to try her patience.
"None of us are good at stuff like this." Kyle offered hesitantly.
"I'm so not an egg head." Tor agreed, flipping absently through the pages in his book. He wasn't even pretending to read.
"We will figure. This. Out." Cordelia bit out. They didn't have much choice in the matter.
"Hey, um Alpha?" Rhonda asked, looking up from her own tome,"I'm not an egghead either, but I know someone who is."
Cordelia smiled. That sounded like it had potential.
xXx
Jonathan Levison had been Rhonda's neighbor as far back as either of them could remember. They had even been friends at some point. Back in the play ground when their biggest worry was how long they could play in the sandbox.
But then school happened. Rhonda made new friends and Jonathan didn't.
She'd easily dropped him, and it had been a good five years since she'd bothered to direct so much as a sentence his way. So he was understandably confused when he opened his door to find her behind it.
She wasn't alone, that was all Jonathan had time to notice before Tor's fist made contact with his face.
xXx
"This is absolutely fascinating!" Jonathan exclaimed.
He'd gotten over being kidnapped once they'd shown him the books. Really, only a true blue geek would think some dusty old tomes made everything okay. Not that she was complaining, if anything, it made the whole thing easier.
"You have three hours to figure out what happened to us." Cordelia threatened him.
Jonathan nodded, "yeah."
He hadn't even looked up from the book. You'd think Cordelia didn't have to threaten him or something.
Really, dweebs.
He barely seems to notice when they drag him back to the zoo house. The way her Pack scents the air makes Cordelia very glad she'd had the foresight to dump the Zookeeper's body in the hyena pen.
xXx
"The ritual went wrong" Jonathan said, grandly, like he's imparting some great wisdom. Stupid Dork.
"Tell us something we don't know" Rhonda snarled. Good girl, she knew it wasn't just Jonathan's neck on the line.
"This guy didn't set it up properly. I don't think he understood it at all. The act of aggression was still strong enough to activate it though." Jonathan continued, as if he'd never been interrupted, apparently knowledge made the geek brave, who knew? "Besides, he was trying to take in all the primal's, and that's impossible, if there hadn't been five of you, it probably wouldn't have worked. I think what it did was switch you out with the spirits of the hyenas."
"Isn't that what was supposed to happen?" Kyle asked, saving her the trouble.
"Not at all." Jonathan replied enthusiastically, the dweeb looked like Christmas had come early."The hyenas themselves are possessed, Primal's are like spiritual symbiotes, they bond with an animal aligned with their element, it allows the animal extra strength and power, on exchange for a host where they can grow more powerful and spread. In this case, the hyenas wanted to escape, and since the animals are dominant to the primal spirit, their spirits left their bodies and possessed you in the primal's stead."
"So the real Primal's are still in there?" Heidi asked, pointing at the Hyena Pen, "And we're stuck with some hyenas in our brains?"
"That's what so fascinating!" Jonathan continued to enthuse, "You should all be completely possessed, your own spirits under the rule of the hyenas, totally worn away, especially the longer you're possessed, if you've been this way since the school trip, you should have started eating people by now, it's what hyenas do! Not that, I'm volunteering or anything." He finished quickly, the idea of cannibalism finally bringing him back from geek heaven.
"So that the ritual went wrong was a good thing?" Cordelia asked. Letting her eyes flash ominously, she'd always known how to use her looks for great effect.
"Yes." Jonathan squeaked, backing away.
"So how do we fix it?" Tor asked, finally joining the conversation. His eyes intent, he didn't like the idea that he was being worn away either.
"Well the proper way for a human to do it is to offer up a sacrifice along with an act of aggression to prove dominance. Dominance is very important, cuz Primal's were like blessed protectors or something and yeah..." Jonathan finished, trailing off once he'd caught the considering looks the packs were giving him.
He hadn't been the only one whose attention had been caught by the idea of cannibalism. Her pack looked only too eager to give it a try. Jonathan was smelling like fear again, and he smelled like prey was supposed to, absolutely delicious.
Cordelia exhaled forcefully, catching herself scenting prey and knowing this had to stop, they had to fix this.
"Please don't eat me!" Jonathan screamed, cowering in his corner as Heidi began to approach.
It was unacceptable, how dare she hunt with out Cordelia's permission! That's when she caught sight of the zoo keeper's shoe in the hyena Pen. Sure it had been a piss poor sacrifice, but she'd totally do better next time. All that was missing was the act of aggression. For dominance.
Cordelia could be dominant alright.
She surged forward, grabbing Heidi by the hair and dragging her towards the circle doohickey.
Then she slammed her face first on the floor, and the world went white.