Tor had no fucking idea what he was doing. He'd been lucky to get the hell out of dodge when he had. He knew that, he should be staying away as far as possible from Cordelia and the newest band of people she was gathering around her.

And yet-he couldn't.

He wanted to claim it was morbid curiosity. The same reason he'd showed up to school the very next day. Just to see who else would come. Heidi hadn't showed. He'd caught sight of Rhonda, who was refusing to even look at him, and then there was Kyle. He thinks he could have lied to himself happily for the rest of his life if it weren't for Kyle.

God-fuck. Kyle.

He was still with her. He was still different. Watching Cordelia like she was still his goddess, and he her ever willing slave.

Which-fuck. Just; fuck. There weren't any other words for it.

When he left, he'd thought she'd let all of them go. That she had fixed whatever fucked up shit had gone down with all of them. Kyle-his best friend from age six, should have been okay. Should have been back to the obnoxious little shit with anger and inadequacy issues he knew and loved.

Tor wasn't a nice guy, okay? He was perfectly aware that he only cared about maybe three people in the world and the rest could go hang. Kyle was one of them though, so now Tor had to figure out what was going on so that he could save his brother in all but blood.

He knew Cordelia had to be gathering a new pack. Amy had been clear proof of that, strutting around the school like she suddenly owned the place. He'd held out hope that Kyle was just clinging to Cordelia because she'd saved their asses. But then he hadn't been home in two days, according to his mom, not that she seemed to care, the bitch. But Tor saw him with Jonathan of all people and he knew it was more than that. Once he saw Amy, everything clicked.

If it had been one of the girls-well then he wouldn't have cared, not really. They only hung out because their particular brand of bitchy superiority went really well with Kyle's need to torment people to feel good about himself. Tor went with it because it could be fun, watching people shit themselves when they got cornered was always hilarious to him. He was something of a sadist, but what could you do? Nature versus nurture and all that rot. He hadn't really stood a chance. His parents were assholes.

But they were possessive assholes, going from the way they fought each other over him so viciously despite being on opposite ends of the country. He had inherited that as well. Tor didn't have much in the way of friends, Kyle was pretty much it, actually, and that meant Kyle was his. His dumb ass best friend who needed rescuing. So Tor was spying on the new group of freaks from a tree while they hung out in the park.

Laying all over each other like it was something people did. Cuddling in plain sight like a three way couple he was pretty sure they were not. Kyle had never admitted it to him, but Tor wasn't blind, he was pretty sure Kyle liked guys. Hot as Amy had become, suddenly, she wouldn't do anything for him. And a munchkin like Jonathan was nothing like the guys Tor had caught him checking out from the corner of his eyes.

He was trying not to remember his own stint of public cuddling when someone cleared their throat behind him.

Tor swore, whipping around and finding himself face to face with Cordelia Chase. He froze, shiver running down his spine as echoes of an instinct he should have never fucking had demanded he submit. He narrowed his eyes at her, refusing to show his fear. He didn't remember much from being under, not really, not in a concrete way that he could process. He understood the sequence of events, what had happened, but the memories themselves were blurry. Too much, colors too vivid, scent that felt like taste, the world blinding to his senses. Mostly he remembered fear. Knowing that he was the lowest on the totem pole and that everyone in his pack could, and would, hurt him.

He'd hated it. And now he hated her, his so called former leader who would have abused him and now kept his only true pack from him. Tor almost snarled, reminding himself forcefully that he wasn't an animal. At least, not anymore.

"What do you want?" He demanded, feeling reckless. But he was caught and he knew it. He was almost painfully aware of how strong she was.

How very much of an alpha.

xXx

"You tell me," Cordelia told her former pack member, "You're the one who's stalking my pack like they're prey."

"I want Kyle back." Tor said, nothing about his body language betraying the fear in his scent. She'd never known he was brave. Or loyal, going by the way his eyes flicked towards Kyle. "I thought you fixed it! Why in the hell are you making another pack? Why did you keep him?"

"We need to be strong." Cordelia answered, observing how Tor kept from cowering through sheer will power. He seemed so much more without the warped primal weighing him down. Much stronger. Worthy in a way the rest of her pack, except perhaps Amy, had not. "Kyle asked me to turn him back. He liked being pack."

"You're lying!" Tor accused, eyes burning with hate. "Who the fuck would enjoy being your slave? Being so weak all the fucking time."

He seemed so passionate, Cordelia couldn't quite bite back an amused smile."Ask him yourself. Kyle!"

Her beta, it was strange how he still felt like a beta when Amy was higher in the pack hierarchy, came quickly at her call, eyeing his former pack mate with interest.

"Well?" Cordelia prompted the boy who seemed to be making an honest effort to flay her alive with his eyes alone.

"Did you really ask for this?" Tor hissed indicating to Kyle and his primal state with a violent stab of his index finger.

"Of course." Kyle answered instantly. "Being pack is amazing, I love it. I don't get why you left."

"Well I don't get why you stayed!" Tor snapped back, "do you like being a terrified little bitch? Is that it? Are you a masochist, do you like it when she hurts you?"

"Alpha would never!" Kyle snarled back, loyal as ever. "She takes care of us. Makes us safe, she'll protects us from anything."

"And who the fuck will protect you from her?" Tor demanded, and Cordelia reached her limit.

"Enough!" She ordered, and even Tor stepped back like he was still one of her own. Glaring fire at her once he'd realized he'd obeyed without question.

"You still have the instincts." Cordelia noted out loud, Tor was getting more and more interesting by the minute."Do you remember being pack?"

"I remember being terrified of you." Tor spat, "I remember hating everything because I wasn't strong enough to fight anything. I won't let you make me like that again."

"Fair enough." Cordelia acknowledged. With the way his fear and desperation were spiking, he wouldn't be liable to listen to reason anytime soon. Cordelia could hardly blame him. She was starting to realize that Kyle experienced the pack very differently from the top, certainly nothing like Tor had from the bottom. But it did beg the question, "What do you think the others remember?"

"I don't know." Tor said, biting his lip, "Rhonda won't even look at me, and Heidi hasn't been in school so I don't know shit about what either of them remember."

Cordelia hummed thoughtfully. She'd planned to take her pack vampire hunting that night. Teach them all about the new gifts being pack granted, but she was starting to realize she'd left some loose ends. That wasn't like her at all.

Cordelia grinned, sudden and sharp, "Let's find out then. Shall we?"

xXx

Rhonda doesn't remember what it feels like to be herself anymore. There's this hole in her chest that aches, and she doesn't know if it's always been there.

It probably hasn't, the way it throbs whenever she sees Kyle, or Tor.

Cordelia doesn't even bear thinking about. She's tried so hard not to think about Cordelia.

How strong she was. How pathetic Rhonda seemed to feel without her.

It wasn't like Rhonda had been all that high in the pack. But she had felt safe with them, with her alpha, with Tor firmly below her, and Cordelia, like a force of nature between her and the rest of the world. Life was so simple with an animal brain. All you needed was pack. Food. Her goddamn Alpha.

Rhonda wanted it back like she was starving.

But-but-but.

Was she still even Rhonda?

x

So It's been a long time and I'm sort of back? I'll try to add more to this before I start school and free time becomes a myth. My goal for the rest of the summer is to try to finish up as many stories as possible. I'm still not even sure how long this will be though...All encouragement and commentary appreciated.