Dominant Species Ch. 25-28

"It's still not wrong for him to try, Reggie. He's a healer, it's what he does." She kissed him gently. "It's the right thing. Everything is changing, and those who can't adapt, they won't survive." She pulled away and walked towards the office area with him following. As they approached the door, she could hear all the talking going on. It was interrupted by a woman's scream.

Reggie burst ahead, nearly pulling the door off the frame as his Alpha powers surged forward. He focused in on the source, a young woman sitting on the floor, blood on her shoulder.

Blood being licked off by a wolf, by his brother in law.

"MARCUS! STOP!" He raced forward, grabbing his brother by the scruff of his neck he pulled him away and tossed him ten feet towards the door. His body landed hard, skidding into the door as his paws fought to get purchase. He growled and shifted, his naked form revealing itself to the assembled group. A group of about thirty people, most already with visible bites, that watched in horror as he was attacked.

Reggie was on him before he could get up. He grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the wall. His hands shifted slightly, claws extending into his skin. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Marcus should have been scared, but he had been a warrior for a long time and physical confrontations were nothing new to him. He smiled, relaxing his hands, then brought both of his hands up and smacked both sides of Reggie's head with his palms. The impact dazed him, enough for him to break free of the hold. He stomped on Reggie's left foot, then grabbing his hair, pulled him down into his knee. Blood sprayed from his nose as he fell backwards.

"The Alpha is going to kill you if I don't first." Reggie moved his broken nose back into place, then rushed forward again. They crashed together in a flurry of fists and elbows, trading blows back and forth.

Josi watched in horror as strips were torn from her mate and her friend, the partially turned hands and feet ripping apart flesh. Reggie's size and strength overcame Marcus' experience, and he got on top and started to pound his face with his fist.

He was going to beat him to death if she didn't stop this.

She ran across the room and launched herself onto his back. In his rage, he didn't recognize her, he had blocked the bond and so what happened next he would regret forever.

He spun, his elbow swinging towards the person on his back, and it crashed into her cheek and split it open. She cried in pain as she was knocked off him, rolling a few times before she stopped as her back hit a chair. Reggie froze, his face opening in shock as he realized what had just happened.

Marcus sat up, working his neck side to side as he tried to clear his head. He ignored the pain and the blood of his beating, focusing only on the crumpled form in front of him. He started to move towards her but Reggie held him back. "NO... she's mine. I'll take care of her."

When he turned back, the injured townspeople in the room had already reacted. While the woman who had just been bit helped her up into a chair, others put themselves in between her and Reggie. He growled at them, how dare they keep him from his mate! He moved closer, trying to see between them. He opened the bond between them, and fell to his knees as the pain and hurt flowed through to him.

"Doc, I need your help. She's going to need stitches." That was enough to get Marcus moving, the group parted to allow him past. "Jesus, Marcus- he really did a number on you."

"It's nothing, it will heal soon. Josi, how are you feeling?"

Josi blinked a few times. "Dizzy... he really clocked me, didn't he?"

"I'm sorry, baby." Reggie was crushed that he had hurt her. "I didn't mean to, I didn't know it was you."

"Well, if you hadn't behaved like that I wouldn't have had to jump in there. You may be my mate, but Marcus is my friend AND your brother in law. What do you think your sister is feeling right now? He may not be speaking to her over the link, but you can bet she felt the beating you just put on him." She looked at the people around her as Marcus went to get a stitch kit. She was holding a gauze pad to her cheek.

Reggie stood up and moved to her, but the glare she gave him stopped him cold. "Josi, please. Let me hold you. My wolf is going nuts about this."

She held his gaze, and then her instincts took over. She growled deep in her chest, the sound surprising them both, and she stood up went toe to toe with him. "No. You lost control and not only hurt me but your brother in law. We found out what we needed to know; Marcus is all right and you know what he has done and why. Now you need to fix this."

She took his hand and led him to the loading dock. "Go home, Reggie. Talk to the Alpha and work this stuff out, before the sun is too high for you to move around."

"I can't leave you here. You're still bleeding, and I have to know you are all right."

"I'm not going to be all right," she replied, "until this rift in the Pack is fixed. And I'm not leaving, either. Marcus is going to fix me up, then I need to help him here." She pushed him to the door. "Don't come back until you figure this out."

He tried to fight, but her eyes and her bond agreed, he had to go. Even if it went against every instinct he had. He knew she was right. His father would have to be told, and he would have to make him see reason.

If he couldn't, it wasn't just Marcus who would be dead. Richard could kill every person in this clinic by nightfall.

---

Josi sat on the desk, trying not to move as Marcus dabbed the cut on her cheek with alcohol and used butterfly strips to hold it closed. She was still pissed at her mate, he had attacked her friend without cause and she had been hurt as a result. He had been apologizing the whole way home, until she finally blocked him out just so she could think. Since she had not been officially accepted into the Pack, she had no other wolf she could link to except Reggie.

Marcus was tired, his remaining eye was getting a little glassy as he worked. She was worried about him, Reggie had explained how painful the break from the Pack would be. He looked hollow now, like a part of him was missing, and it affected her. Right now, she thought, they were the same- two people who had a link, but not a Pack. "Marcus, have you checked in at home? What's going on there?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I've been too busy, and I don't have time for arguments."

Josi frowned. "That's not good. Rachel has to be worried sick about you, and Raven doesn't know what is going on. Do you really want her father to let her know what happened with you, or are you going to come clean to her RIGHT NOW before she goes supercritical?"

He picked up the wrappers and threw them away. He had already checked her mating bite, it was already scarring and looked good. "Not the best move, huh?"

"I'm newly mated, but even I know that this is something flowers and jewelry won't work to dig you out of the hole you are in. She's your mate, Marcus- she deserves to hear it from you, especially since your actions today will directly affect her and your daughter. What do you think went through her mind when she felt you break the pack link? Do you have any idea of what this is going to do with her relationship with her father, or her next Alpha brother? This isn't some minor thing you did here, Marcus. You might have signed your death warrant, and you did it by going against the will of your Alpha."

Marcus sat down in the chair. "He wasn't my Alpha when I did this." He closed his eye and let out a sigh. "When I was first in country in Iraq, I had more balls than brains. I did some stupid shit, put myself in danger, and when you do that it puts your teammates in danger too. I never thought about it until Master Sgt Dill pulled me aside one day. He asked if I was trying to get killed, because I was going to succeed one of these times. There's a difference, he said, between dying for something and just plain dying. 'Corporal, you have to decide if this is a hill you're willing to die on.' Would it be worth the risk, or the loss, or was it just stupid?"

Josi jumped down and pulled him into an embrace. "I understand, better than most I do. You never lost your human morality when you became a wolf."

"Nope." He looked up at her. "When I was here earlier, I couldn't just walk away, I couldn't let it happen. These are friends, coworkers, people I saw, patients of mine. How could I let them die when I had the ability to heal them?" He let his head hang. "Richard was my Alpha, but he wasn't right. This... this was my hill. If it costs me everything, I know that I made the right choice."

Josi put her hand on his cheek and lifted his face to look at her. "Then tell her that. She loves you, Marcus, but you have to let her in. She's on your team, and what you do affects her too."

Marcus smiled. "You're right." He stood up, looking around at the people around him. "I need to get a couple hours rest, but I'll link her now. If I survive the conversation, can you wake me up in a couple hours?"

Josi smiled. "Sure. I'll keep an eye on things out here, and help out where I can." She let out a deep sigh as she looked around; of those who were able to choose, all had chosen to take the bite. "What should I expect?"

"Not much for the next twelve hours, the fevers won't start until tonight. You should see improvement in them as the change starts to heal and regenerate their tissues. Keep them hydrated and fed as best you can, but if they are bleeding from the throat or stomach, water only for now. There are cases of water in the back room, along with some food. Let the people who are well enough help you out." He looked around, there wasn't any open space on the couch so he just pulled off his scrubs and went wolf, moving to a corner. He turned around three times then laid himself down, resting his head on his paws. A few more adventurous patients came over, petting his fur or resting their heads on him. They didn't know why, but the inklings of the Pack to be together, to touch and to comfort were already starting to come forward.

He closed his eye and dropped the wall he had kept in place to his family. "Rachel... I'm sorry."

He felt fear, loss and joy all coming through the bond at once. "Marcus? Honey, are you all right?"

"I am now." He paused to gather himself. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I had to do something, I had to go against your father, and I couldn't involve you in it. It's bad enough that I've ruined that bond, I didn't want to take you down with me." He explained what he had done and why. When it was done, he waited. Now packless, he wouldn't be allowed back in his home, his old friends would be forced to shun him, and his family might be kicked out as well- depending on how pissed the Alpha ended up being.

Rachel finally spoke to him, and with it came a renewed push of her pride and love. "You did the right thing, Marcus. You wouldn't be the man I fell in love with if you didn't help them." She sniffled a little. "The man who would risk helping an injured wolf in the mountains could make no other choice."

"So you're not mad?"

"No, I'm furious. Furious at you for shutting me out when I was worried sick about you, and furious at my father for putting you in this position. He should know better, and he knew about what Alpha Calvin did." She paused. "I have to go. Reggie is back, and he's filling in the Alpha now on everything that is going on. We have a Pack meeting shortly to discuss it." "OK, I want to sleep for a few hours. I'll check in when I wake up, all right?"

"Sure, baby. We'll be packing." He could feel her sadness over the bond. "Find us a place to stay in town, love, because I'm not staying here."

---

Reggie had run as fast as possible to get home, since the rising sun was creating issues with his eyes. He knew from Marcus that it might be months before the ozone layer regenerated and they would be able to be out all day again. The good news was that the solar radiation threat had diminished significantly, enough so that being above ground would be acceptable again. He could tell by the distribution of patients at the clinic, and the stage of radiation poisoning they were at.

He had passed the information along to the Pack, who was glad to be able to leave the safe rooms they had been in the past few days. They had quickly closed all the drapes and covered all the windows to keep the residual UV out, but being able to sleep in bedrooms and normal beds again was a big morale boost compared to the crowded conditions of the shelters.

The sun's rays were starting to bother him as he ran into the compound where he and his Pack lived, the houses between the river and the mountains and the associated farmland. He stopped in the trees and took care of business; the toilets at home still worked, but took work. Since they were well out of town they had a well and septic system, and even had a hand pump well that still worked along with the river. You had to haul in a five-gallon bucket of water to get two flushes, so the wolves tended to use the forests for their more natural uses.

Reggie ran towards his father's house, shifting as he jumped up on the porch he went naked through the front door and ran up to his room on the second. He was in basketball shorts and a T-shirt when his parents called for him. He walked downstairs again to the Alpha's office; opening the solid oak door he walked in and took a seat on the comfortable chair in front of the imposing cherry desk. Richard was sitting in his executive style leather chair, one custom made for his large frame, his mate Lisa perched on his knee and snuggled into his side. "Where's Josi?" She looked at him quizzically, newly mated wolves never let their mates out of sight.

His shoulders sank as he looked up. "She's up at the clinic with Marcus. I left her there." Lisa's face fell. "What in the HELL did you do, Reggie?"

"I hurt her." Tears started to well up in his eyes, causing Lisa to rush forward and embrace him. He started to sob on her shoulder as he hugged his Mom tight. "I lost control and she got hurt."

"Maybe you better start at the beginning, Reggie." Richard wasn't in a good mood; the Pack hadn't reacted well to Marcus breaking his bonds. They didn't know what was going and he wasn't willing to tell them yet about the discussion they had at the clinic earlier.

"I took Josi to the hot spring. It was going great; she had already accepted the ideas of mates and werewolves because of her time with Marcus and the North Fork pack. I marked her and completed our mating." He smiled a little. "She's amazing, and it was the best night of my life. We were on our way back home when I felt the bond with Marcus break. I knew he was going to the clinic, so we changed direction and headed there instead."

Lisa went back over to calm down Richard, her hand on his back. "Richard wanted to go, but I talked him out of it."

"So we got to the clinic and came in the back. The place is packed wall to wall with humans, most of them dying." Richard nodded, he had seen it. "Before I saw Marcus, I saw what he did. Those people, all those people, must have been a hundred of them." He took a deep breath and looked up at his father. "He bit them. He bit them ALL."

Richard flew from his chair, Lisa had to catch herself from being tossed to the floor by the sudden move. "THAT SON OF A BITCH!" He roared his anger, his fists shaking as he fought back the shift. Lisa moved in, hugging him and nuzzling into the mark on his neck to calm him down. It took a few minutes before she was able to get him to calm down enough that he could sit down and focus again. The Pack had felt his rage, and she had been dealing with their concerns as her mate settled.

Lisa sat in his lap again, and looked back at Reggie who had been waiting with his face in his hands. "So then what happened, Reggie?"

"We went to the front, where the people who were still conscious were gathered. Marcus was in wolf form; he was still biting people. I ran forward and pulled him off, then we fought." He paused and looked at the floor. "As we were fighting, Josi jumped on my back to try and stop me. I didn't recognize who it was, and I threw her off. My elbow split her cheek open."

"Is she all right?"

"I think so. She threw me out of there, told me to come home because she was staying there to help Marcus. He said he would patch her up." He put his head in his hands. "My wolf has been going nuts, he's pissed that I hurt her and more pissed that we left her there. She won't answer me over the bond, either."

Richard looked up. "You have a link with her now?"

"Yes, but she's blocking me or at least not answering. Marcus is still contact with Rachel, if he wants to." He grabbed his hair with his hands and stood up. "I ran back here, and I can't go back and get her until sundown now." Lisa stood up and hugged her son tightly. "It will all work out, honey. She will come back to you, your wolves will always make sure of that." She led him to the door. "You look like hell, though. Get some sleep, and keep trying to talk to her."

Richard watched as his son walked away until Lisa closed the door and went back and sat in his lap again. She settled into his arms, feeling him still pushing back the anger. "What do we do, love? He's our son in law, we can't let our family get ripped apart!"

Richard shuddered. "I made it perfectly clear to him where I stood and what Pack law was. He was the one who decided to play God and do this. Reggie should have killed him."

"HE'S YOUR DAUGHTER'S MATE!"

"He's dead to me now." He set his now crying mate on the chair as he got up.

"He used to be human, Richard. He's bound to look at this differently than a born wolf."

"He was Pack, he had a wolf and a rank. He accepted all that when he was changed, and he damn well knew what he was doing when he did it. He wants to make Alpha decisions, he can be his own fucking Alpha."

Lisa was shaking with sorrow now as she watched her family destruct. "I know he did it wrong, but I understand why he did it. He's a healer, it's what he does." She looked up at him. "You knew how bad it was, didn't you. You never told me what you saw when he took you to the clinic." His silence told her everything. "Those are our friends, our neighbors that are dying up there."

"They aren't werewolves, they are human and should stay that way. Just like Marcus should have stayed that way. I don't know what the hell Luna was thinking. She should keep the mate bond among wolves, humans are too weak and will never fit in."

Lisa looked at him with horror. "How can you say that? Both your son and your daughter have human mates, are you saying Luna made a mistake with them? That somehow they aren't worthy of them?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. This wouldn't have come to this point if Rachel had found a good wolf in another Pack to settle down with."

Lisa couldn't believe it, she loved Marcus and she could tell already that Josi had the spirit and will to be a good Alpha female in the future, she couldn't wait to meet her wolf. Her life was falling apart. She got up and moved to the door. "Are you sure, Richard? There are things we can't take back, things we regret for the rest of our lives."

"I know. I'm the Alpha, it's MY job to uphold Pack laws. He knew what he was doing, that was why he broke the bond first- so he could defy my Alpha commands. I didn't rip apart the family, HE did." He walked away from her as she broke down sobbing and ran to their bedroom.

Opening the Pack link, he broadcast to all. "Marcus Mendez has betrayed his Alpha and his Pack. He has changed humans without consent and without permission, an act that is against Pack and Council laws and my express command. He is declared rogue, and is to be killed on sight by any Pack member who finds him. All fighters are to meet at my house at sundown, we will rid this territory of him tonight."