Zhiliary stood out near the pool in the backyard. There was a light breeze that made her skin crawl while out in the night. Slight waves in the pool that had a yellow shine to it because of the lights.
The Alpha of the pack walked over to a chair at the little table and sat down. She hadn't heard from her wolves in weeks leaving her to conclude they were killed by Sous. She rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
The patio door opened and Kara came out with a tray of tea. She sat it down and gave a cup of Zhiliary. The Omega sipped her cup while Zhiliary just held it in her hand.
"Sous killed them," was all Zhiliary said.
"That was predictable. You know she's strong. Why would you send one out to get her that isn't an elite? Or matter of fact, why send anyone at all that isn't you?" Kara asked. She looked at her Alpha. That's all her and her sire used to do, just send out wolves to Sous, only for her to slaughter them all.
Kara placed a hand on Zhiliary's lap. She kissed her on the lips, smiling.
"That's why siree stopped sending out wolves to her." She paused for a moment. "I think it would be best suited if you let Sous join us."
Zhiliary's knuckles whitened around the teacup. Kara's lips still tingled where they'd touched hers, warm and soft against the night's chill.
The Omega's hand remained on Zhiliary's thigh, a grounding weight. Outside the pool lights, darkness swallowed the garden whole. A moth battered itself against the yellow bulb overhead. Zhiliary didn't move. Her silence was a blade between them.
Kara's smile faltered. She withdrew her hand slowly, fingers curling into her palm. The steam from Zhiliary's untouched tea twisted upward, vanishing into the cool air.
Kara traced the rim of her own cup, the porcelain smooth and cool. Zhiliary's stillness wasn't thoughtful; it was the coiled tension before a strike.
Dear Fednora,
I do hope that all is well with you and your mother, Tania. I suspect it was her that gave you my information. Regardless, you are correct about Sous getting me pregnant when I was fifteen.
Once I gave birth, I never returned to Hacate. And I apologize to say this but I gave the baby up for adoption. The baby grew up in my pack but not as me as their father. I do not know who the hospital gave the baby to.
Thats why I never wrote to Sous during her stay in prison. I was so embarrassed by it all and I knew she would have been upset, and...and I was afraid of her.
She killed my best friend and Alpha, yes, it was an accident but I was still very much afraid.
Feel free to tell Sous where I live, you may use your magae to find the baby's magae as well. And that's if he's still here.
...
Sous along with Shadow, Shadow Jr., and Icarus aat in the mouth of little baby basilisk. The Alpha had just got done reading the letter Fednora had just forwarded to her.
Shadow looked at Sous. "Are you okay?" He asked.
Sous looked at her Omega mentor and leaned back against the wall of little baby basilisk's mouth. She handed the letter to Shadow, not even wanting to look at it.
She had no idea Zan had given the baby up for adoption. She was just informed the child was an Omega boy and that was it.
"Oh..." Shadow said.
"Let me see, let me see," Shadow Jr. cried out as she snatched the letter from her father.
Sous didn't move. She stared at the fleshy pink walls of the basilisk's mouth, the damp ridges trembling with each breath. The faint scent of sulfur and wet stone filled her nostrils.
Shadow Jr.'s eyes darted across the letter, widening. Her knuckles whitened against the parchment. She opened her mouth, a sharp inhale, but Shadow clamped a hand over hers, shaking his head slowly.
His eyes held a warning: *Not now.* The silence thickened, heavy as swamp mist. Icarus shifted uncomfortably, claws scraping against the basilisk's tongue, but kept his beak shut.
Sous pressed her palms flat against the warm, pulsing floor, grounding herself. The letter's words burned behind her eyelids. Each phrase a stone sinking in her gut.
"Do you know how much further we got, Sous?" Shadow was referring to the hidden city. Sous' antennas moved about her head, seeing the city was just off into the distance.
"Soon," she said quietly, "Soon."
Zhiliary sat next to Doureena on her back porch over looking the ocean. She had informed the Alpha all the wolves she sent out to assassinate Sous were killed.
Doureena chucked. "Yeah, you're gonna waste resources if you send assassins out to her."
"Yeah," the young Alpha said. She leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees. "Kara told me that." She paused and thought for a moment. Not sure if she wanted to say what else Kara had said but decided to go for it anyway. "Kara said we should invite Sous down, make her an ally."
"Hmm."
"But the witch said what would happen if Sous interacts with Kara," Zhiliary said.
"Why did you send assassins to Sous to begin with?"
"Kara had said the witch said Sous was coming."
Doureena shook her head. "Sous is occupied with Nadia. Sous has two children. Look at her records. Its public because of her criminal history. Sous isn't worried about us-"
"But Kara said-"
"Kara is lying," Doureena snapped, hating she had to say that about her own daughter. "She isn't loyal to us, Zhiliary. She's loyal to Sous." Zhiliary was quiet, listening to the wiser Alpha. "She wants Sous to come back. She wants to mate with Sous."
Zhiliary tighten her fist, disgusted with herself for not seeing it.
"Everything we did in two decades, Kara will make us lose it all," Doureena turned to Zhiliary and with a straight face, she said to the younger Alpha. "Go home tonight and you show Kara your the Alpha. Make her fear you."
"She's a witch."
"She's one fourth of a witch. She's a wolf! She submits to you."
Zhiliary remembered back when she had first put her hands on Kara and the beaten she was given by both Doureena and Monica. But here, the Alpha was given her permission. Zhiliary gulped.
"If I beat her...she won't love me," she whispered.
"She never loved you..." Doureena said to Zhiliary. "She just hated Sous more at the moment."