Chapter 5
Nicole bolted awake as Rua had warned her they were in danger. She looked down and saw the glint if a knife pointed her. She blinked before she looked down at servants who she was rooming with and they were glaring at her with a mix of disgust and fear.
“Sleep elsewhere, Rogue.” The biggest of them told her gruffly. They didn’t trust a Rogue not to slit their throats as they slept.
Nicole scoffed. She could easily cow all of them by releasing a growl but she had never stayed where she wasn’t wanted nor did she want to anger Julian. She packed her pathetic number of belongings and jumped off her bunk as the servants backed up nervously but they quickly blew out sighs of relief as the Alpha had left with zero fuss.
Nicole walked outside and looked around. It was about 2 in the morning and she lay down beside a pile of burlap sacks filled with goods and fell back asleep quickly
She would set up camp on the forest from tomorrow. She knew she was unwelcome by many of the Angel Pack’s members and the Alpha really hated the rejection. It never got easier to always be treated with suspicion and scorn everywhere she went.
When she woke up again she found Julian giving her a puzzled look. She scratched her head and yawned. Nicole felt as though she had only closed her eyes a moment ago but she could see the sun was now up and turned crispness of the morning told her it was shortly after sunrise.
“What are you sleeping out here for?” he asked. Nicole got to her feet and brushed herself off.
“I couldnt sleep being so close to strangers in the servants quarters.” She lied. It wouldn’t do to upset the man’s other employees by tattling and also they were pack and she was not.
“Ah! Well I shall have someone find you appropriate accommodation by the end of the day.” The Pack Alpha promised and tossed her a bundle of deer meat jerky wrapped in string for her breakfast. “Ill be back in 15 minutes.” He told the redhead before he got his favourite horse and second favourite and tacked up the animals for them then returned to Nicole who smiled as he handed the reins of the young and energetic stallion who sniffed at her immediately.
“Firefly. He’s fresh but he is brave. He will plow through anything for fun.” The man said affectionately as he patted the horses shoulder. “He will be yours while you are here.”
“Thank you, Alpha.” She mounted the animal and they began to walk into the forest.
“I must apologise for the less than warm welcome you received from my family.” He said after a short silence but Nicole shrugged.
“Believe me, it was far from the worst I’ve gotten.” She said her voice even as the male looked at her carefully. This woman was unlike any Alpha he had met before and he didn’t think it was because she was female.
“my Mate should not have pushed you. I’m sorry about your pack.” He said and Nicole simply nodded but he saw her swallow hard as she stayed staring forward.
They rode to the boundary of Julian’s pack lands that was closest to the village and decided the first thing to do is re-mark the boundary to deter those who shouldn’t be on the land. Between the strong pack Alpha and the even stronger Rogue's scents it would be enough to keep most rogues out.
They tied the horse to a tree before they pulled off their clothes and shifted into their wolves. Julian’s wolf was a handsome, healthy and muscular, light sand coloured wolf who was large by normal fenrir standards but next to the russet beast he felt dwarfed. His wolf was nervous of the female Alpha Strength but over all he liked the quiet woman.
Without a pack bond they could not speak in wolf form but Nicole could smell the old boundary markings and took it from there for many miles before they went back to the horses, shifted and dressed before Julian tossed a sword that had been tied to his saddle at her with a smile
“I want to see your skills with a blade. I don’t want you to hold back.” He told her. Nicole snorted.
“Yes you do.” She huffed.
“No I don’t. I want to see what your made of. I know you’ll likely beat me hence why I don’t want my pack to see. When they are around I need to be the strongest Alpha I can be.” He said before he quickly stabbed out at her but she used her sword to quickly parry it without any surprise at his sudden action.
Julian was impressed as they sparred, Nicole seemed to sense his every move before even he knew what he was doing. She had amazing control as she only nicked him with her blade as he tried to get one touch off her with his sword. Truthfully he didn’t even think she was trying all that hard. She simply swatted his strikes away like they were nothing.
Eventually he fell to his knees in exhaustion and chuckled as he panted.
“My Gods,” he grinned as she offered him a hand up, “you didn’t even sweat a drop did you?”
“I’m sorry, Alpha.” She said, not meaning to have made it so obvious. The man would likely have his pride hurt but he scoffed and waved her off.
“I told you to call me Julian. Don’t apologies. You are an impressive warrior. Let us go back to town and call my fighters. I gave you full authority over them to train them. And to punish those who need it.”
“Like that Champ idiot?” Nicole asked and Julian huffed.
“Exactly. I must have pissed off the gods for them to have my daughter think she loves him.”
Nicole felt a tightness in her chest and Rua growled unhappily at that but she said nothing.
“Waverly is so intelligent, kind, sweet. An omega daughter no father could be prouder of. And yet she follows him around like a love sick pup. I don’t understand it. I can only blame myself.” He said forlornly and gave her a pleading look.
“If you dislike him so much, why have you allowed them to get this close? You are pack Alpha?”
“Because I promised her she could mate for love when she came of age next summer to an Alpha of her choosing. Who ever mates with her will be the next pack Alpha or my line dies.” He sighed as the rode back to the village.
“That is generous for an Alpha in your position.” Nicole said, continuingly surprised by how kind the man was. Maybe that was the problem. “If your daughter is as intelligent as you think maybe she will see sense between then and now.”
“failing that I’m hoping you will knock some sense into him.” Julian said and Nicole gave him a rare smile, showing her dimples.
“Or I could just kill him.” She offered and he laughed loudly.
“Lets leave that as the last resort.”
When they got back Julian called all his fighters to the training area at the other end of the valley and told Nicole to keep the sword for now while they waited for the called pack members to join them. Nicole noticed most of the Pack made their way to them but Julian was tense.
“Are these all your warriors?”
“No. I suspect a number of them are simply curious as to why your really here and what you can do.” He said as his step daughter, Wynonna appeared out of the forest nearby with a small group of strong looking young folk and Nicole scented the air. None were Alpha.
“they are the best fighters I have and everyone is trained with a bow and arrow. Some better than others. Wynonna, her mate and some of her friends are the my most loyal pack members and some of our strongest but I lost many of my experienced Alpha warriors when they were young so their training was lax.”
“The rest of the Pack? Can they at least shoot arrows?” she asked.
Julian nodded. “yes and the basics of fighting in wolf form but then don’t have the strength they need.”
Nicole saw Champ appear with his arm draped over Waverly’s shoulders possessively. The woman was pulled into him at an awkward angle and she looked uncomfortable under the weight of his muscled arm. The male Alpha was sneering at Nicole and she met his eye and stared him down. Champ submitted quickly and went red in the face in embarrassment as those who watched the interaction chuckled. His neck was still bruised from the day before and Waverly tried to comfort him quickly but he growled at her to shut up.
Julian didn’t hear it but Nicole did and she planned to make him pay for talking to an omega like that. She would make him pay at some point. She met the young female’s eyes and Waverly gave her a hard look which made her sigh.
When everyone was gathered around Julian cleared his throat before he looked at his pack members. “Those of you who don’t wish to fight or can’t fight go back about your business. To those who We will train in wolf and human form. You will follow Nicole’s word and train hard or you will deal with me.”
“Can omegas train too?” Waverly asked and her father gave her a smile before he turned to Nicole. “That’s up to Nicole.”
The taller woman blinked down at him, unsure why he deferred to her but several people looked at her expectantly.
“Uh, yes. If you have no objection, Alpha Charles.” She said and he gave her an approving nod.
“Good. So tell them what you want to do.” He muttered and patted her on the shoulder.
“I want to see what we are working with. Call your five best sword fighters forward.” The redhead said and the Pack Alpha thought for a moment.
“Wynonna, Doc, Dolls, Robert and Shapiro.” He called out and beckoned the named fenrir forward with his fingers. “Bring swords.” He said as Nicole calmly walked into the middle of the gathered people. The Pack Alpha thought Nicole was going to pair them off to get an idea of their skill but much to everyone’s surprise Nicole told the 5 fighters to circle her as she took her position.
Eliza Shapiro, a beta woman with long, blond hair was sure the Rogue was after biting off more than she could chew. She knew she was much better at fighting with a sword than any Rogue could hope to be. Robert also arrogantly thought she stood no chance against him alone in a sword fight and he wanted revenge for the night before. Wynonna and Doc were intrigued and worried in equal measure, they were confident in their own skills and knew those standing with them were also highly trained. Xavier Dolls, a handsome, black Beta male figured if this woman was this confident he suspected he should not underestimate this Rogue.
When Nicole barked the order to commence Robert immediately lunged forward to thrust his blade at her but she quickly smacked away with the flat of her own before she slashed at him to push him back as she saw Eliza rush forward in her periphery and turned to grab the blond woman’s wrist to pull her forward to throw her off balance and smashed her in the shoulder, letting her fall at her feet and turned to engage with Dolls who was a talented fighter but she was quicker and stronger and she kicked him in the chest when she noticed how he kept himself exposed as he prepared to strike.
The Pack members watching were shouting their support for their warrior and with excitement, sure their Pack brothers and sisters were going to beat the Rogue.
Doc and Wynonna jumped in and fought easy at first to gauge how skilled the rogue was but soon realised their opponent was a master sword fighter. She fought all five until one by one the Pack warriors tapped out, falling to their knees or sitting where they fell, panting and groaning from the ass kicking they received while Nicole was just breathing slightly hard.
Eliza , Dolls, Wynonna and Doc were looking at the Rogue with a mix of disbelief and respect while Robert was glaring at her from the ground. The gathered wolves were silent as Nicole returned to Julian who was grinning ear to ear.