Hardball

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His fingers fumbled with the false bottom. Judd turned his head to peer at her laying chest down in the sheets. She was still sleeping, head turned away from him and towards the window. Light filtered in, setting her tanned skin aglow with the morning light. 

He had fucked her all day and all through the night, so hard that he hoped it would keep her asleep for longer than a couple of hours. He glanced back at the drawer quickly, sliding the bottom away. 

Judd set the piece on the floor and pulled the item inside out with careful fingers. 

It was a book, small and old. Very old. It was wrapped in worn leather, the pages lose in some spots. 

If anyone knew he had it... 

This book was illegal. Illegal and punishable by death if anyone ever found out he still had a copy. These books had been destroyed years ago, banned from the continent. Never mind how he had gotten it...

He looked over his shoulder at Neira, sleeping, her back exposed. Her tattoo exposed. 

The tattoo on her back was in the old tongue, a language banned just like the book in his fingers. A language that was explained and written out within these pages.  

He couldn't read it. He had never taken the time to actually learn how to read or write in the old tongue. It was banned, illegal, and if anyone knew that he still had a copy of one of those original books... 

They wouldn't take it lightly. They would take him into custody, drag his sorry ass all the way to the capital city and hang him from the gates. There would be no pity for him, no exceptions to the law. 

But he had to know why she had something in the old tongue tattooed on her spine. 

She obviously knew what it meant, to wear a mark like that around. A mark of terrorism and traitorous actions. She didn't even seem to care. 

He flipped the book open to the first page. It explained the book in English, 'The Words of the Originals'. Judd studied Neira's back. 

On the next page was a brief history, a history he already knew. Along ago king with two daughters and two sons, each blessed with their father's ability to change into the form of the great wolf. They each ruled a corner of the world, north, east, south, and west. 

Blah, blah, blah. 

It didn't matter anyway. There were no kings or queens now, not to their kind anyway. Sure humans had a couple scattered around the globe, but the royalty of the Lupin bloodline was destroyed many decades ago. At least on this side of the world, it had been. He didn't know about his friends across the pond if they had followed suit with the eastern and western royals as this continent had done with the north and south. 

Eradicated. Eliminated. Destroyed. 

Sure he supposed some of the elders still knew how to speak it. Though if they had spoken a word in the Lupin tongue they never spoke another again. Dead. No exceptions and no forgiveness. 

He flipped another page, the strange alphabet explained next. He checked the first symbol at the top of her spine and searched the page for its twin. 

It wasn't easy to find, the font was different and the letters on the page were muted with age. He tried the second symbol. This one took longer to find. He did it again and again and again. 

And what he found made no sense. Absolutely no sense. It was a jumble of letters with no clear explanation of how to put them together. He flipped the page. 

It wasn't like the English language, one letter after another and then a word appears. It was symbols for things, some letters and some not. There was an algorithm for putting them together, an algorithm that he did not have time to put together. 

He had felt something cross his borders many hours ago, last night to be exact. He didn't need to go check and see who it was. He knew. He knew the moment his slimy paw crossed into his territory. 

Shade would be here any moment. He had come to sniff out Judd's pretty new female that he had clearly stated he was not allowed to have. It was common courtesy. Judd had his shot and lost it, it was unlawful for a male to take a second mate. Especially after the first had died. 

He supposed that's why he was so fucked up. 

Shade had looked and looked and looked for a nice female fit to his tastes. And considering the limited selection, he was a picky fucking bastard. 

Judd placed the book back into the drawer and slid the false bottom over top. Neira was still fast asleep and he could already feel the tension gathering in the air outside. He slipped off the bed, prayed to whatever god would listen that she would stay asleep, and slipped out the door. He could figure out her little secret later, that is if Shade didn't kill him. 

He took the steps two at a time, the sun beating onto his bare chest as he hit the bottom. Lincon and Landon came around the corner in the next second, ready, backs coiled and ready. Judd buttoned the jeans he had barely had a chance to pull on. 

Shade stepped out of the tree line, flanked by two of his pack members. 

Lincon held in a snarl as Judd said his name. "Shade." It was clipped, flat and filled with an imperceptible emotion. 

"Judadiah." Shade smiled a cruel looking thing, his eyes were black even in the bright light. "How have you been doing?" 

The pleasantries were fake, he came for one thing and one thing only. "Fine, and you? What drags you all the way out here?"

Shade smiled. "I think you know." 

Judd clenched his jaw, games, so many games. "Get out of my territory, Shade." Judd snapped, "Come back when the heat is over. Sada would be happy to visit then." 

"I'm not interested in what your little sister thinks. I'm more interested in the new female running around your pack." Shade gestured around, "where is she? I can smell her all over you." 

"Get out of my territory," Judd said again, a growl barely appearing under his tone. 

Shade rubbed a hand over his chin, a sigh escaping his throat. "Where is she?" Anger bubbled around them all, Shade's agitation showing. 

"Get out," Judd snapped taking a step ahead. He could feel the win already touching his skin. Shade's pack hadn't been hit with the heat wave yet, they were too far north. He would be weaker than Judd, or at least evenly matched since Judd was not affected by the heat, not in many years. 

Shade didn't seem to care. He took a step ahead too, "You wanna play hardball, Juddy?" 

A growl shook the clearing. 

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