A Queen Among Snakes: Chapter Twenty-Three - Mei

Eric and I chat for a little while and watch some television until it’s time for my meeting. Eric heads off to handle his Beta responsibilities while I make my way to Tyson’s office. I hit the buzzer and within seconds the door is flying open, and I’m being engulfed in Tyson’s arms.

“There’s our resident tigress,” he cheers with his arms around me, his violet scent surrounding me.

“What’s happening right now?”

“I don’t know what you did earlier, but it was badass as hell. Plus I live for anytime someone puts that bitch in her place, and you, Fairycake, did it with grace and dignity. It was fantastic,” he raves, kicking the door shut.

“I really wasn’t aware I was doing anything. I just… I wasn’t going to let someone speak to me like that again.” That feeling from earlier starts bubbling inside me again, almost like adrenaline.

“That is freakin’ awesome!” He cheers while stepping away from me. “You’re not even aware when you do it,” he laughs.

“I did it again?” I frown. “Does it hurt?”

He shakes his head, “No, it’s similar to what we ranked wolves can do, but yours is like it’s been dialled up to a hundred. It’s not painful, it’s just dominating. But if it is anything like what Amelia can do, then with practice you probably could make it painful,” he shrugs, walking around to the other side of his desk.

“Amelia’s Alpha Spirit can hurt people?” I gasp.

He nods, “Only if she chooses to hurt someone. When she forces the full weight of it on someone it can feel like having your bones crushed while your brain explodes. It’s very painful, but also very useful.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” I say nervously.

He sighs, “Mei, I think your sweet and humble nature even after all you’ve gone through makes you a remarkable person. But you need to embrace what the Gods gave you. This gift would mean another way to stop anyone from ever hurting you again or hurting others.” He has a point. “Can I ask you something?” I nod affirmatively. “When you were fighting alongside the pack and kicking wolf-ass, were you feeling guilty the whole time?”

I have to think that over for a second. If I’m honest, I wasn’t. All I wanted to do was protect people. Protect my new family. Amelia had been hurt repeatedly, Chris nearly died, and we lost beloved members of this pack. I wanted to do my part. I wanted… no, I needed to help.

“No. I wasn’t feeling guilty at all,” I admit.

“Because there was no reason to. I understand because of what you’ve been through, you have reservations. But you’re not those people that hurt you. You could have broken Jane’s jaw and people would have been on your side. Trust me, that bitch has done some seriously messed up things to people. Nothing like what you’ve been through, but still. It’s not wrong to stand up for yourself or others, even if it means taking a life. This is the world we live in and if you’re going to help me protect this pack, I need you to understand that. Think you can do that?” He asks with a soft look on his face.

He's right. I have moments where I feel strong and powerful, something inside me saying to fight back; to be strong, but the scared little girl gets in the way sometimes. It’s like two sides of my personality are waging a war inside me. One is passive while the other is aggressive. Only I can decide which one I want to be.

I straighten my spine and pull my shoulders back, “I can do it. I want to do this. I promise I’ll get tougher,” I say with conviction.

He grins, “That’s our Delta! Now let’s go over the patrol rosters.” I walk over and we immediately get to work.

The patrol rosters change every week. This is so that no one feels overworked or tired and so that anyone who might be monitoring the pack to find ways of infiltrating, won’t be able to lock onto a consistent patrol pattern.

I’ve learned a lot in the short time I’ve been working with Tyson. He’s very patient and understanding, but at the same time, he’s a great coach. He knows how to pump you up and make you feel like you can do anything. He’s like that during training too. He respects that everyone has their own limits and there are things not everyone can do, so he makes sure everyone does their best, but still tries to encourage them to push themselves. Everyone has helped push me and it has really paid off.

“So we can have Nikita working the North-West side of the border with Teagan, Tony, Peter and Matthew,” he says.

I shake my head, “You can’t put Nikita down for patrols. She went into heat yesterday, she’s in lockdown with Dwayne,” I inform him.

“Well, that sucks. Okay, no Nikita for the next week. Any thoughts on who to switch her out for?”

I look over the list to see who hasn’t done patrols in the last couple weeks. I’m not the best reader in the world. I also taught myself to read and not for entertainment. I learned how to spell ‘detergent’ because I used it so often, but I only learned how to spell ‘cat’ a month ago. There are still plenty of words I come across sometimes that I don’t know how to read, but everyone continues to help me, so I don’t feel too worried about it.

I come across a name but I’m not sure if I should suggest it or not.

“If you keep chewing on your lip like that you won’t have a lip left,” Tyson teases. I release my lip from my teeth. I never realise when I’m doing this, Chris was the first person to point it out to me. “Come on, out with your suggestion,” he encourages.

“Um… well… what about your dad?” I suggest timidly.

He blinks and then looks down at the list. Suddenly a large smile spreads across his face, “Mei, you are brilliant! Perfect suggestion. Don’t ever be afraid to make suggestions,” he reminds me.

“I know, it’s just that he’s the former Gamma.”

“He’s still a member of this pack and while he retired from the Gamma role, he didn’t retire as a warrior and you’re right, he hasn’t done patrol lately. It’s the perfect choice and he’ll be thrilled. Dad hates being idle,” he rolls his eyes. “If he’s not pumping iron or protecting the pack he feels like he’s being useless.” He shakes his head in amusement.

“Is that why he rarely wears shirts? He exercises so much that now they don’t fit him?” I ask innocently.

Tyson bursts into a fit of laughter while banging his fist on the table. “Oh, that was brilliant, Fairycake, totally brilliant and also probably very accurate. I really wish I knew what his aversion to shirts was,” he shudders.

“Isn’t it a wolf thing? I thought wolves don’t mind nudity.”

“That’s true, but my dad is on another level. My mum loves it though,” he jokes. I can’t help laughing at that part.

I felt Tyson and I accomplished a lot today. We figured out the patrol schedule and then we had lunch in his office while he taught me more about what pack security entails. We discussed future training routines, with him letting me in on some of his ideas. There’s another sensory course coming up where the pack will once again have to learn how to not rely on their sense of smell.

They were all so impressed the first time I participated in this, but I didn’t feel I deserved their praise. I admitted to my friends and Chris that even though my nose was plugged I could smell everything perfectly fine through my mouth – actually I smelt everything much easier. I thought they’d accuse me of cheating, but they seemed to think it was really cool.

Overall, I’m feeling really good. I was going to go and visit Chris in his office, but he told me through the link that he’s busy having meetings with the contractors who are building the new pack expansions, regarding some financial matters. I decided to relax for a little while before getting changed for my evening training with Setia.

Setia likes to change up the conditions I train in, she wants me to better understand that since I can see perfectly fine at night, that night isn’t a disadvantage to me in a fight. I thought all supernatural beings could see in the dark. It seems that’s not the case.