The Scarlet Hunter

Chapter 27-2

"Can we talk about the tattoo thing?" Isla fought to break where this conversation was going. Yes, she did want to talk about the two of them, but she didn't want to start the conversation with her breeding fantasies.

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed any of the warriors' tattoos."

Isla shrugged. "I've seen a couple on forearms, but I haven't seen much skin of our warriors. The only other tattoos I've seen were at night, tending to downed rogues. I've seen yours, but I didn't know it was something specific."

She isn't around them when they shift, and she's not going in their locker room. Their best warrior wasn't raised in the warrior culture of Dark Moon.

Alec grunted his acknowledgment, continuing to drag his fingers over her stomach. "In our pack, warriors, once they get to the rank of patrol lead, design their own tattoo and have it inked in front of their right shoulder."

Isla's gaze wandered over to Alec's shoulders, with a tattoo on each one. She looked at the one on his right shoulder, a full moon with clouds hanging in front of it.

"Patrol leads don't just lead on patrols. If we are at war, if we're in a battle, they lead their teams then as well." Alec moved his caressing hand from her stomach to her chest, drawing lines around her breasts. "You took the position through an unconventional method. True, you bested Xander, but you also naturally take the responsibility and challenges of being a lead. Most spend years training, from the time they can shift, to take a position within the pack that earns them their tattoo. Although, you've spent years training, just not with us."

"And they'd like to know when I'm going to get one?" Isla inquired.

"Yes, as a holder of a tattoo, you can allow others to get it and display it as well. If you go through a vicious battle or fight, especially if someone contributes to your team's victory, a warrior would ask permission to wear your symbol."

"The warrior can put it anywhere except in front of the left shoulder." Alec continued. "That spot is reserved for the alpha tattoo."

Isla glanced to his other shoulder and looked over the moon tattoo behind the outline of trees.

"That tattoo is earned and cannot be requested. It's granted to those who have directly contributed to the safety or well-being of their alpha during adverse conditions." Alec started drawing lines around her nipple and grazed his thumb over it, watching it come to attention.

"So, that's your tattoo," Isla looked at the moon with the clouds, "And that's your dad's tattoo?" Isla signaled to the moon with the trees.

"Yes," Alec moved his wandering fingers to her collar bone and over her shoulders, where her tattoos would go. "My dad and I were running out to check on a patrol when we were ambushed. We were greatly outnumbered. They were planning on catching him alone and probably would have been able to best him, but I was shadowing him that night, and they weren't enough for the both of us."

"So he didn't just, I don't know, give it to you because you were his son?"

Alpha Alec laughed and rolled on his back. "No. You aren't given any positions or distinctions of honor in my pack, our pack. Everything is earned. In fact, I had to earn the alpha title. If I wasn't capable, one of my brothers would have been named alpha."

Alpha Alec has brothers. Alpha Alec has a family. Isla didn't think that he didn't have a family, but she never spent time considering what they would be like.

Isla remembered his scattering of tattoos. "So, the tattoos across your back are ones from warriors who you fought with?"

Alec's eyes went elsewhere, "Not exactly." He paused for a second, and Isla let the silence envelop them as she looked over his personal brand. "Those are of warriors who have died protecting me."