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whatdoyouexpectthistime · 9 months

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Perigee Chapter 2: Antiquated, Patriarchal, and Even Mystical

PART 1

"Three days," she heard him call from behind her, but he didn't pursue, nor was she waylaid by officers as she left the police station without her wallet and keys.

Without thought for any particular destination, she hit the pavement and did not stop, like she could outrun what Ethan hadn't said.

But she'd already filled in the blank, and though she'd never heard him say it, it was her father's voice she heard repeating it.

Though it didn't seem as if she was followed, Calico didn't stop running until she was on the edge of town and heaving in deep breaths.

"Fuck," she gasped, kicking at the ground, so frustrated she missed the weed she'd been aiming for.

"There's plenty of weeds in here that could use a lesson," a voice intruded, a broad-shouldered frame following his statement through an ivy covered gate.

Glaring, Calico directed her frustration at this interloper, fists balled and eyes flashing.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, holding up his hands in a defensive gesture. "I was just trying to lighten your obviously dark mood."

"Yeah, well, fuck off," she barked, but as soon as she did, the words seemed to suck the anger right out of her.

She was confused, in no small part afraid, and now, embarrassed.

"If you want," he shrugged, and his apparent willingness to leave her to stew should have felt better, but instead, Calico's discomfort deepened.

"Look," she sighed, "sorry, I'm..."

"Having a bad day?"

"Understatement," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "I didn't mean to be rude, just..."

"Got a lot going on," he nodded, stepping forward and offering his hand. "Dane."

She considered his dirt caked fingernails and calloused palms, rolled-up sleeves and the mud clinging to his heavy duty work boots. He was a far cry from Ethan, but he was definitely a Cleaver werewolf.

"Calico," she reciprocated, accepting his hand and giving it a firm shake.

"So," he began, releasing her and leaning a little against the shovel he held in his other hand. "People say a problem shared is a problem halved?"

"Yeah, I'm not really..."

"You want a cup of coffee?" he offered, cutting her off, and his smile was warm and honest. "Might help, might not, but I was about to take a break."

He was a stranger, but Calico had no friends in Cleaver, and it was clear the cops were in Ethan's pocket. She had to give the demanding alpha time to cool off and leave the station before she returned for her handbag.

"Yeah, okay," she shrugged, following him as he moved through the gates.

Then she stopped, peering up the manicured grassy slope that was crested by a weathered mausoleum. Though the grounds and gardens were beautifully landscaped, it was clear the tombs and graves were quite old.

"Cemetery," she frowned, and Dane turned and chuckled.

"Not a fan?" he asked, but didn't stop. "Or maybe not what you were expecting?"

"Both," she huffed, glancing around as they went, though most of the stones and structures were old and worn, only a few looked new.

"It's a family thing," he explained, pushing through some more hanging foliage and revealing an open space with a large pond, benches, and tables scattered about. "My family have been caretakers here for centuries. Maybe you'd like a tour with your coffee?"

The suggestion was a surprise, but not a terrible one; she wasn't going anywhere until she retrieved her handbag, and even then...

"Sure," she agreed, following him up to a corrugated iron shed. "I guess I'm not in any rush."

He busied himself with a hotplate and kettle while she hovered awkwardly just inside the door.

"Here you go," he said, finally handing her a steaming mug.

She thanked him and accepted the coffee, which was strangely good considering where it was made.

"Come on," he invited, taking another from the countertop and leading her outside. "I'll show you around."

In the distance, behind the cemetery, she could see the mountains. The view would have been breathtaking at any other time, but all Calico could think about was Ethan Cole and the way he'd looked at her.

"You look a million miles away," Dane remarked, and only then did Calico realise he'd stopped beside a granite cruciform grave marker some ten metres behind her.

"Sorry, I'm listening," she apologised sheepishly.

"I asked where you'd like to start," he repeated, but did not seem irritated by her inattentiveness.

"At the beginning I guess," she shrugged.

Though the day had begun so badly, Calico was grateful for the distraction Dane provided - and he certainly was a font of knowledge. It was fascinating, hearing about the town's history, and although he didn't differentiate between human and werewolf achievements, Calico could make out most of it through names she vaguely remembered her mother mentioning long ago.

Despite her suggestion they start at the beginning, they wound a path from the very outside of the graveyard toward the clearly more elite mausoleums at the very heart.

"Family reunion?" Dane offered, stopping at the locked double gates of the grandest sepulchre of all.

Brows twitching, Calico looked up at the name at the entrance, then back at her guide in question, while beneath her clothing, muscles that had begun to relax clenched tightly once more.

"What?" she questioned, trying to play off her obvious surprise.

Unsuccessfully.

"There isn't a werewolf in Cleaver who can't identify a full moon perigee, even if they haven't ever encountered one," he explained, like Calico didn't know she was the werewolf equivalent of a klaxon. "And I happen to know the only such birth in the last hundred years was Calico Moira McDonough."

"You got me," she admitted, but took a step back.

There was no sense of danger about Dane, but the last guy to focus on her heritage wanted her firmly wedged beneath his boot-heel... and other places.

"What were you running from?" he asked, head tilted a little - such an incongruously innocent gesture for so rugged an individual.

"Oh, come on," she scowled. "You've had all the answers so far."

"Okay," he nodded with a smile, seemingly unflappable. "Ethan Cole came after you frothing at the mouth like a rabid mutt and humping your leg?"

A loud chortle blurted from between Calico's lips, so emphatic she nearly spilled her coffee.

"So close," she quipped, finally regaining her composure.

"I can smell him on you," Dane remarked, his face becoming stormy. "And the term 'alpha' is generally antonymous with respect for others and consent."

"I didn't stick around to get the precise details," Calico exhaled, the usually bitter but pleasant taste of coffee turning to ash on her tongue.

Stalling, because speaking it aloud made it seem so much more inescapable, she looked up to where her family name was written across the mausoleum lintel.

"I knew my dad left Cleaver after Terrance Cole challenged him for alpha," she disclosed, sitting down on the mausoleum steps. "I was three then so, didn't have a clue what was going on, and we didn't talk about any of it growing up. Dad killed himself when I was eight, so shit, I knew I was different, but it wasn't until right before my first shift that Mum got expositive."

Dane didn't say anything, but he sat down beside her and listened.

"You know, she said there were traditions, packs, social hierarchies that regular people were unaware of, but largely glossed over the details because we weren't in a pack, kept to ourselves, and that's how she wanted it," Calico continued, then snorted. "And she was big on how heroically Dad smuggled us out of Cleaver after the challenge, saved our lives, but made out like it was because Terrance Cole was supposed to kill Dad for losing."

"That's the rule," he nodded. "Even in more progressive times, pack run territories adhere to it because of the significant benefits of being alpha."

"But that's the thing," she scowled, throwing up her hands. "Dad lost, fled and that was it. As entitled as Ethan seems to be, I can't help but think his father would have sent Cleaverlaw after Dad."

"And Ethan revealed why that didn't happen," Dane concluded, observing the way Calico's body language changed from tensed and tall to small and withdrawn.

"Do you support him?" she asked, voice now matching her posture.

The glance she cast sideways at him was far more hopeful than it was safe to be, for if his answer was yes, anything she said and everything she did around him would be reported back to Ethan.

"Cleaver's my home," Dane answered, and it sounded like the beginning of a politician's response to a question that if answered truthfully would make him look bad. "My family isn't as old as yours, but it too has invested blood and tears to build up the affluence you see now, so it's not really in my best interests to oppose Alpha Cole."

Though she was expecting it, the last two words were like a punch in the gut.

"Hang on," he said, catching her wrist as she moved to rise.

For this trespass he was lashed with a savage glare and a vicious flash of gold in her eyes.

"Yeah alright, sorry," he rushed, lifting his hold like her skin was white-hot. "But you should let me finish."

Calico stood, but crossed her arms and continued to stare down at him warily.

"BUT," he emphasised. "My lot have never been the cow-towing type. Personal integrity is far more important to me than amassing brownie points with an egocentric megalomaniac."

"I can't imagine Ethan being all that thrilled about outliers," Calico mused.

"You seem to know a fair bit considering your late start," he noted.

"Not enough to save me from serving myself up to Ethan and his ultimatum," she sighed.

"Yet you're not just anyone," he pointed out. "Being full moon perigee isn't just a title or rank, they're coveted as mates for a reason."

"Fuck I hate that word," she spat, wringing her hands. "Like, like women are just breeding tools."

"Understandable," Dane nodded. "But... you know it's more than that, right?"

"Do I?" she growled, rocking to her feet again and pacing away a few strides before spinning back around. "Could I punch a hole in a concrete wall? Probably," she declared, hands now gesturing wildly. "Do I heal like the wind? Sure; but ask me to navigate the antiquated, patriarchal oppression of traditional pack dynamics and mystically unbreakable pacts, and I'm screwed - both figuratively and literally if Ethan has his way."

"You're right," Dane said. "It is antiquated, patriarchal, and even mystical, but it's also part of our nature."

"So you're saying I should go bend over and let Ethan mount me?" she snapped, and the air around her crackled with the energy of her anger.

"No," he answered, and his voice was calm and steady, like a rock in a storm. "I'm saying the first step to overcoming a problem is understanding it."

"I understand it," she grunted. "It's a bunch of horny cavemen with a superiority complex."

"And you're a woman allowing them to give you an inferiority complex," he countered, and though his words were harsh, his tone was not.

"Excuse me?" she blinked.

"The McDonough built Cleaver, from wild forest territory to affluent eco tourism hub, so your family's bloodline is strong," he expounded coolly. "You got cornered by Alpha Cole, and you may have run, but didn't buckle. And no matter what you have or haven't been taught about our kind and your own potential, as a full moon perigee you have the greatest of all our strengths."

"I don't want to have to rip someone's head off just to live my life," she exclaimed, throwing her hands up again.

"That isn't the only power an alpha wields these days," Dane pointed out, maintaining calm. "You've experienced Ethan's influence in the local police department first hand, and his pockets are deep."

"Well shit, I'm a billionaire with a batphone to the President," she muttered rolling her eyes. "But that still isn't going to stop the universe from demanding I fulfill the pact!"

Dane did not respond to that immediately, because he knew her sarcasm came from fear and desperation. Instead, he allowed her to fume, to clench and shake out the pricking hopelessness that needled at her self-control.

Finally, he cleared his throat.

"I'm truly sorry I don't have the answer you're looking for," he admitted, his own body language open. "But I don't agree with Alpha Cole using the pact your father sealed to abuse you."

Calico rolled her shoulders and took a few long breaths to clear the fog of her panic.

"So," she said, the gravity in her voice returned. "What do I do now?"

She didn't know a whole lot about this man; though on face value he seemed genuine about wanting to help her, she did know enough to understand speaking out against a firmly entrenched Alpha was playing with fire.

"Unless you managed to do so before your police station visit, let's find you somewhere safe to stay," he answered. "Ethan has his hand in many businesses in town so you'll want to avoid them."

Calico blinked at that. She hadn't realised she'd be that visible to him.

"Oh," she murmured, but she did feel better knowing someone had her back, even if she had to take everything he said and did with a grain of salt." I have to go back to the police station and get my stuff," she exhaled, rolling her shoulders back and holding the now cold remnants of her coffee out to him.

"You want a ride?" he offered, emptying the mug into the shrubbery. "I don't think you realise just how far you ran."

PART 3

#original fiction #werewolf #werewolf fiction #fiction #perigee #writeblr #dodge that trope!

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