Hounds of War [Yandere Generals x Female General Reader]

7. Friendly Intervention.

Meccio had returned to his tent with general Denlleonis shortly after the punishment of the low ranking officer. She had needed to unbuckle his armor as his hands were shaking too badly to be able to do it himself.

After the heavy metal armor was removed the redhead collapsed onto his cot and fell asleep instantly. Y/N finished putting his armor away before she exited the tent. Most would think that Y/N's indulgence of Meccio's weak behavior was out of character, but she knew all too well, that if a soldier was pushed too hard he would deteriorate into a nervous wreck. The skilled general had to tread a precarious line. She had learned a long time ago to push her soldiers until they were teetering on the edge of madness but to never push them into the chasm entirely.

Meccio's mental state had been strained enough for the day, and pushing him any further risked undoing all the progress they had made and causing irreversible damage. Charting out her next move carefully, Y/N continued on her way.

The next day Meccio awoke to discover that he had slept in until the early afternoon. Wondering if the events of the previous day had been a dream, he opened the flaps of the tent groggily. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw that the soldier's head he remembered cutting off had been impaled atop a short pike stuck into the ground directly in front of his tent.

Swallowing hard, he moved closer to inspect it and noticed that a note had been nailed to the wooden post. Tearing in off to get a closer look it read:

I thought you'd like a souvenir of your first kill, so I bought this over. Legend says that if you hang heads on your front door they bring good luck. Never fully believed in that superstition myself, but I thought that you would enjoy having it regardless.

Esedict General Y/N Denlleonis.

Meccio couldn't help but smile as he read the note. Even though it was quite a morbid gift, the fact that she had once again gone out of her way to provide him with something to aid his strength made him like it all the same.

He pressed the note against his chest and breathed a deep sigh. Somehow general Denlleonis had managed to draw out seemingly dormant courage residing in him, even as he stood there he could feel the writhing blood-hungry hatred if he concentrated. Waiting for him to call upon it.

Reviling in his newfound confidence, Meccio re-entered his tent and tucked the note from Y/N safely away under his pillow. After that, he stepped out of the tent and began his search for general Denlleonis.

. . .

The next few days were uneventful, almost. Bubbling beneath the surface, the camp was brimming with gossip. Word of Meccio's brutal execution spread through the camp like wildfire. Within three days every soul in the army had heard the seemingly impossible rumor.

Many soldiers thought it was impossible for the meek general Vilu to have the stomach to kill, but many a skeptic was turned into a believer when they saw the head proudly displayed outside of his tent.

Although that convinced many, there were those who remained dubious, among them, were the two other Luccian generals. They guessed that general Denlleonis had killed the soldier and given the head to Meccio to keep the men from bullying him, although why she would do that was beyond them.

Harder to explain away was general Vilu's change in behavior the past few days. He no longer scurried about, but instead walked straight, which confidence. Even stranger was the fact that he seldom strayed from general Denlleonis' side, (much to the displeasure of Esclave.)

Wherever she went, he followed. He would be at her heels from dawn till dusk. He also had developed the habit of mimicking her movements. When she would beat a soldier for poor performance, Meccio would make similar threatening gestures, when she was training for combat he would be there practicing too like a ginger shadow, he even attempted to fix the same intimidating expression that she had on his slender face.

The two other generals had noticed these alarming changes in Meccio's habits and finally decided to call a meeting between the three of them to get to the bottom of it. That's how the three men came to be sitting in the same three chairs they had occupied when general Y/N first arrived.

No one said anything for a while. Both Vanbinicci and Baccoso watched Meccio closely. Meccio for once wasn't bothered by their intense stares and instead stared into the distance, bouncing his leg up and down restlessly. His thoughts were on Y/N. Even though he only just left her side to attend the meeting, he was already willing it to end so that he could return to following in her shadow.

"What's going on with you?" Vanbinicci asked, losing patience waiting for the young general to speak. "You've been different these last few days?"

"No only different, I'm better," Meccio replied in an uncharacteristically even voice. "and it's all because of general Denlleonis."

"I knew she had something to do with this," Vanbinicci's green eyes flashed in the candlelight at the mention of the woman he despised. "What did she do to make you cling to her side so, I thought she terrified you?"

"She helped me become a real Vilu," he replied. Over the past few days, his self-confidence had grown tremendously, but he realized that none of it would have been possible if not for Y/N. "And for that, I will forever be grateful."

"Bah! Not even your father could turn you into a Vilu, it's lunacy to think that she could," Vanbinicci scoffed. "next you are going to say that you love her-"

"-I do," Meccio interrupted the brunette, suddenly standing from his chair and fixing him with his violet eyes.

"what?!" Vanbinicci exclaimed, recoiling from surprise. He didn't want to believe what he just heard.

"I love her," the redhead stated in such a plain manner that the other two men were stunned into silence. "I love her so much that I would die for her, I would kill for her. At first, I was frightened of how deeply I feel for her, but I'm not anymore. I'm not frightened of anything. I love-"

"PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER MAN!" Vanbinicci roared. He raised his hand and struck the young general's face, hoping to knock some sense into him. "You are a general, not a schoolboy! Don't let yourself be overcome by such senseless feelings!"

Meccio slapped Vanbinicci before he could finish his lecture.  His green eyes widened as he felt the sting on his cheek left by the strike. "I won't let you disrespect me like this, Vanbinicci," Meccio gave him a cold, glare that sent shards of icy fear into his heart. "stand down unless you want to see what I do to those who defy my authority." He growled, unintentionally mimicking the phrase that Y/N had whispered in his ear.

Both Vanbinicci and Baccoso were in shock. The look in their companion's eyes was one of pure hatred. Even though they were seasoned warriors they shuddered to think what, or who could have caused Meccio to become so entirely changed. 

"Vanbinicci's right," Baccoso finally managed to speak, a quaver in his normally stoic voice. "war is no place for love."

"You're wrong! You're both wrong!" Meccio cried, backing away. A touch of his old self seemed to return as his face screwed up in pain. The pain quickly turned to anger as he exclaimed, "I'll show you! I'll show you all!"

He ran from the tent, leaving the two other men to discuss the scene they had just witnessed with concern. They were unaware that a certain subedict general had been listening in on the entire conversation. He had lost his patience with general Vilu's antics and was going to show the ginger what happened to those who got too close to his general.

A/N

Is this book moving too fast? I'm worried that it's moving too fast.

Maybe Street Mouse conditioned me to think slow burns are normal? ^~^

Until next time I'll see you on the other side

~J. C. Coltt.~