Runt [ManxMan]

Chapter Twenty-Four

Mason hadn't actually expected to be allowed to fight.

At best, he'd hoped to escape his brother's hold and get outside before he could be stopped. Walking through the doors with the alpha on one side and the beta on the other was the last thing Mason expected to happen.

He'd been close to accepting that he was going to be stuck in a safe room waiting, and the idea had burned in his gut. He'd sat safely away and let others fight his battles before, and it had lost him his mother, his sister, and his brother. He knew he could fight, and he wasn't going to sit back and let anyone tell him any different ever again.

Outside it was deceptively quiet considering there was a battle going on somewhere nearby, within the borders of their territory. Mason's relatively dull hearing couldn't make out which direction to go, but Mav and Dax didn't hesitate, turning to the left and leading the way.

They stripped out of their clothing as they walked, discarding it among piles of other clothes left by the other warriors on their way to the front lines, and Mason followed their example, none caring for their brief nude state before shifting into their wolf forms.

The change came faster each time he called on it, and Mason was pleased when it only took a few moments longer for him to shift than it did the other two. He was, of course, much smaller than them, his head barely coming to their shoulders. While the alpha and beta were too large to ever pass for wild wolves, Mason was only a little larger than their wild brethren, and skinny enough to pass. It had kept him alive on several occasions when he stumbled across humans, usually hunters. An average sized wolf was decent sport, but often not worth the effort, but a monster like Dax or Mav? Many would hunt them down for sport. He'd watched it happen to some of the rogues he'd shared territory with.

They paused at the edge of the pack complex proper, past the last home before the clearing where the warriors trained. The mats where they practiced had been ripped to shreds and their equipment lay scattered in pieces as well, much of it stained red, though only a few bodies lay among the wreckage. At a distance and with his limited knowledge of the pack, Mason couldn't tell how many of the fallen were rogues and how many were pack wolves.

Above the scattered remains of the training ground a battle raged, and Mason discovered something in that moment he hadn't considered before volunteering to fight. He might recognize a handful of pack members in their human forms, but the only wolf he felt confident he could pick out of a crowd was Chase, and he was safely back at the pack house.

He glanced to his left, taking the time to familiarize himself with the beta. It didn't take long, as he'd encountered this wolf a handful of times already, but he took note of the light spots in the dark fur on his paws and belly. Mav stared back at him, his amber eyes—beta eyes—watching him as well.

Then he turned to his right, where the alpha stood. He'd only seen Dax in wolf form once before, the night of the full moon, but he'd been so preoccupied with the rogue he hadn't taken a good look at the alpha.

He couldn't help but think he was a breathtaking sight. His fur was mostly a light red, with streaks of dark fur down his back and sides. Unlike the beta, the alpha's dark brown eyes stared off into the battle. He stood tall and strong, unswayed by the carnage before him, or at least it would appear that way, but Mason could see the restless tension just under the surface. Mason may not care overmuch about the wolves fighting on that battlefield, but they were Dax's people, people he was sworn to lead and protect. And they were dying.

Mason took a deep breath in and turned back to the battle, then let it out. He didn't want to admit it, but in some ways Chase was right. Fighting was not in his nature, it never had been. Even in the wild, he'd rarely run into a battle he could have run away from. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to turn around, to run back to his brother and the safe room where he wouldn't have to fight, where he wouldn't be in danger. But he was more than an omega, and he hadn't let his instincts rule him in a long time.