Willow was the first to find her voice.
"You can't have him!" She shrieked, stepping protectively in front of Xander.
Some small part of him is touched, the rest is too busy trying to figure out a way to draw Cordelia's attention away from his dearest and oldest friend. Willow should never be hurt protecting him. It's against the laws of the universe. He protects her, it's just not meant to work the other way around.
"It's way too late for that." Cordelia said, and the smirk she wore at the words was positively evil, "He's already mine."
"We'll see about that." Buffy said, stepping in front of Cordelia in challenge. It's a mistake. Cordelia was an alpha, and nothing would keep her away from her omega. Especially not his so-called friends. She growled, the sound an echo of the animal she'd become.
"Girls!" Giles began sternly."There will be no fighting."
"You sure about that?" Buffy asked, her eyes didn't leave Cordelia's for a second. Whatever she was, Buffy has left her own humanity behind long ago. Cordelia could feel it, the energy is eerily like her own, not as deep as the molten-gold of her own light, but only a few shades shy. Whatever changed Buffy had left it's mark. It's ancient, old and very, very strong.
Cordelia is sure she's stronger though. She would have to be, to protect what's hers. No power on this earth would keep her mate from her.
"I'm ready to go when you are sister." Cordelia promised darkly.
"Let's listen to the watcher!" Xander exclaimed. Darting out from behind Willow to stand closer to Cordelia in hopes of distracting her from Willow. She smiled at him in approval at the action, and Xander has to forcefully remind himself that he doesn't want to make her happy. What he wants is to keep her from hurting his friends."No fighting!"
"Should I come back later?" Amy interjected, shyly.
"You're not going anywhere without my say so." Cordelia replied, aggravated. If she'd already turned the budding witch, Amy would have known better than to ask. Her animal instincts would have kicked in and let her know that her alpha was not to be bothered. Cordelia can't afford to be distracted right now. This wasn't quite an argument after all. It was a stand-off, two alphas testing each other. There would be no peaceful co-existence until one has trumped the other.
Cordelia begins to coil her light just under her skin. She would be ready, she was going to win, it was just a matter of when Buffy attacked. Technically this was her territory, if she was any kind of territorial creature, Buffy would attack first.
"Now is certainly not the best time-" Giles began, eyeing his Slayer anxiously. Neither girl had moved an inch since they set their eyes on the other."I have yet to explain the, ah-uniqueness of your situation."
"I think now is a great time actually." Cordelia said, "Amy here wants to be pack. You can watch me change her. That should clear a few things up, don't you think?"
Xander needed to get over his reservations about becoming pack and being hers already. Giving him Amy as an example could only help the process along.
"You aren't going to be changing anyone into anything!" Buffy snapped while the rest of the Scoobies tried to wrap their heads around what Cordelia had said.
"Do you really think you can stop me?" Cordelia laughed, stepping forward aggressively. The quicker she bested the other girl, the better. Buffy clearly needed to be taught her place.
"Why don't you try and see?" Buffy snarled with matching aggression. It's clearly taking every inch of restraint the girl had to stay in place. Cordelia smirked, a lack of self control was a clear weakness. And if she could manage not to verbally bait the other girl and still provoke Buffy into attacking, she could even pretend to be the wronged party.
"No fighting!" Giles repeated forcefully.
Xander turned to him helplessly, "I really don't think we can keep them from destroying the library if they want G-man."
"Not the books!" Willow squeaked in distress."And no turning Amy into a primal-thingy!"
"But Amy wants me to turn her." Cordelia cooed, relishing the twitch of Buffy's hands. All Buffy had to do was lunge. Anticipation was always so much worse than the fight itself. Cordelia wanted the fight to happen already."Don't you want to be pack?"
"Yes!" Amy was quick to assure the room at large, "I want to!"
As a witch, Amy could sense the torrent of magic inside Cordelia, the strength of it...She wanted to be strong like that. Even just a fraction of that strength was so much more than what she had. From what Cordelia explained about being the way she was, it even has the added bonus of having Cordelia protect her. In this town? It might be the difference between life and death. There aren't just crazy witches like her mom out there. There were vampires, and werewolves, and so many other creatures that have crawled straight out of someones nightmare. That was why she'd started practicing magic. She needed to be able to protect herself from everything out there.
Hearing Amy affirm it seemed to be too much for Buffy. Xander couldn't do anything but watch, and hope that Buffy was stronger than Cordelia after all, when the blonde attacked.
Buffy struck out with a series of lightning fast punches, Xander had seen her attack demons slower. Someone must have forgotten to tell Cordelia that, though. The Chase girl evaded like a pro. Dodging around what were no doubt powerful blows, and leading Buffy towards the center of the library, towards the sunny area Buffy could usually be found exercising.
It was only then Cordelia lashed out, delivering a painful looking kick to the Slayers mid drift. It must have been a very powerful blow, considering how much Buffy skids back with the force of it. But Buffy wasn't the Slayer for nothing. She didn't even slow down, used the momentum to spin and attack Cordelia from a new angle.
There was a feral joy to the wild grin Cordelia wore when she deflected the attack, gripping Buffy's forearm and slamming her into the unforgiving ground.
"You think your strong, don't you?" Cordelia taunted."You're too slow."
"Are you talking or are you fighting." Buffy snarled, enraged.
Cordelia clearly didn't know about the way anger tended to give Buffy strength. Quickly, too. Buffy managed to flip Cordelia over and smack her head painfully onto the floor, pinning her in place. The taller girl growled her rage, it was the first real damage she'd taken.
Getting mad seemed to make Cordelia stronger too. She broke Buffy's hold, wheeling around and planting her fist squarely in Buffy's face. Xander winced in sympathy as the fight got steadily more savage.
Whatever had been holding Cordelia back seemed to be gone. Without the hesitation she dominated Buffy. Xander doesn't know who's physically stronger, but Cordelia was just a little faster, and she had a longer reach. She pressed her advantage ruthlessly, striking at Buffy powerfully before darting away, just out of the Slayers reach.
Either the pain from the hits, the frustration, or a combination of both seem to be too much for Buffy. She slowed, just for a second, after Cordelia caught her shoulder. The slightest pause, if Xander had blinked, he thinks he would have missed it. But he doesn't, so he sees the exact moment Cordelia seizes her victory.
Just a split second when darting away becomes a feint, and Cordelia scissor kicked her leg backwards, catching Buffy under the chin hard, and knocking the petite Slayer out.
Cordelia beamed at him at her victory. Stands triumphantly over Buffy. She seemed to glow in the dying sunlight.
"Aren't you glad I'm on your side?"