Chapter2: Pounce

As the beginning rays of the majestic sun started to spill across the tops of the lush trees that flourished tall and firm in the Willamette Valley, a commanding voice brought Jaxx from dreamland to harsh reality.

“Wake up!”

Octavius Lorient had a voice like a Golden-Age God, booming and harsh. The tone left nothing to the imagination and no room for argument.

Jaxx’s rigid body popped up underneath the tangle of bedsheets and blankets as she blinked one eye open at a time.

“Get dressed and meet me downstairs,” her father instructed as he swayed from the room and slammed the heavy door shut behind him.

Jaxx grabbed one side of her head, the remnants of last night's excursion creating a panging thud at each of her temples.

“Ugh…” she groaned and slung the covers from atop her, rolled upright, and hung her legs off the side of the bed.

**

One slow step at a time, Jaxx, now fully dressed, albeit in ppyjamabottoms and a t-shirt, finally arrived in the kitchen of the main house. There, supping on a cup of presumably black coffee, stood her father, tall, rugged, stoic, his beard glistening in the sunlight cast from the adjacent bay window.

“It’s about time,” he said gruffly.

“My apologies,” Jaxx murmured as she jerked open a high cabinet and pulled down a mug. While she filled it with coffee, she could feel her father’s eyes upon her. “Something you wanted to talk about?”

"Richard informed me of the happenings last night,” he said as he turned his body to face his daughters.

“Given you sent him to hover,” she said as she dropped a spoonful of sugar into her coffee and stirred it. “I can’t say I’m shocked to hear this.”

“Don’t take that underwhelmed, unbothered tone with me, daughter.” Octavius glowered and sucked his teeth. “You know very well why I sent him to keep a watchful eye over you.”

“And why is that exactly?” Jaxx questioned. “Because I’m almost twenty-five and well past needing a babysitter.”

“Your actions suggest otherwise, and your age hardly matters.”

“Except in matters of pack responsibilities,” Jaxx murmured behind her coffee mug.

“That’s neither here nor there,” he grumbled. “You are my only daughter, Jaqueline.”

Jaxx visibly winced at the use of her birth name. She’d always found it white-girl pretentious and lacking imagination. Not invocative iofany quality she possessed.

“The Blood Moon Ritual is nearly at hand,” he continued. “I need your full attention as we begin the process of selecting the new Alpha that will lead the Crescent Moon Pack.”

“It’s not like I have much to worry about there, dad,” Jaxx said with a chuckle. “I’m not in line to marry the next Alpha, and I have no claim to the title due to being a daughter and not a son.”

Octavius’s mouth formed a hard line, his face now a shadow as he gripped his mug so intensely that Jaxx thought it might shatter in his oversized hand. She’d crossed a line. Not so surprising as she often spoke before, she thought.

“Dad,” she said softly. “I’m sorry, I…”

He raised a hand to cut her off.

“There will be no more excursions into the city until the ritual is complete,” he said. “Do you understand me?”

Jaxx gave a nod rather than a verbal response, figuring it better just to shut up lest she further infuriates her father. Octavius stared at her for a long moment before briskly vacating the kitchen and leaving his daughter to her thoughts.

“Damn it.” Jaxx sighed and leaned forward, elbows on the countertop as she stared into her swirling cup of coffee.

“I see your father vented his concerns?” A lilting voice rang from the doorway of the kitchen.

Jaxx turned her head to see her mother, Helene, beautiful as ever, watching her with soft green eyes filled with concern.

“To say the least,” Jaxx replied, and her shoulders dropped. “He’s always so mad at me.”

“He’s not mad, Jaqueline,” Helene said as she furthered her way into the kitchen and laid a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “He’s stressed with all this ritual business coming up. He’s ruled this pack for a very long time, and now that time has come to an end. He just wants everything to go right, and he needs his family by his side. All of his family, which includes you, missy.”

Helene Lorient had always been a voice of reason, a beacon of what it meant to be the wife of an Alpha, and a shining example of familyhood over all else. Though the years had taken their toll, she was still as stunning as ever, with her long flowing brownish-blonde hair and striking facial structure.

“I wish Tristan were here,” Jaxx said mindlessly, but when the words left her lips, she felt an immediate pang of guilt wrack her insides, and she jerked toward her mother.

Helene lowered her head; eyes once filled with concern now struck with sadness.

“So do I,” she whispered and squeezed her daughter’s shoulder before exiting from the kitchen to the parlor.

“Batting zero already today, aren’t you?” Jaxx whispered to herself and dumped her coffee into the sink.

**

The afternoon sun hung low in the sky, obscured by billowy dark clouds threatening to release a downpour at any moment. Still, yet, Jaxx, dressed in loose jeans and a graphic tee, made her way through the cobblestoned streets toward the training area off to the right side of the Crescent Moon Village.

It wasn’t a large village by any means, but it was well-kept, and housed a formidable number of families. Most of the houses and buildings were hand built by their forebearers, a monument to how long this pack had thrived.

As she walked, she observed several neighborhood children frolicking and, for a moment, wished to have that sort of unbothered, carefree attitude again. Being an adult, even with as minimal as responsibilities as she had, was overrated.

By the time she got to the training grounds, which were comprised of a track that surrounded various steel structures meant to provide an obstacle course of sorts, and weightlifting equipment, it had already begun to drizzle.

To her dismay, she noticed she wasn’t the only one that had decided to get in a workout today. A group of young men wrestled in the far corner, tossing one another this way and that, showcasing their bravado at each opportunity for a small gathering of females that stood off the side of the track.

As she grew closer to the group, she could make out the chatter that caused her eyes to roll.

“Jessup is so handsome,” a short blonde exclaimed as she bit her lower lip and cooed.

“Harley isn’t so bad, either,” a taller, thicker, brown-haired girl countered.

“I would be happy with any of them, honestly.”

Jaxx heard someone else admit as she made her way past them toward the weightlifting equipment on the opposite side of the heap of tussling males. As she passed, she caught eyes with Thea Kipp, daughter of Luther Kipp, the well-respected head of the Omega family.

She was quite beautiful, and that was always something Jaxx thought each time she saw her. They didn’t talk much, just here and there, as Thea was always busy tending to Jessup Branham…The one and only son of Richard Branham, her father’s Beta, and the perpetual thorn in Jaxx’s side.

However, as she saw Thea today, shrouded by the dying shards of sunlight, something inside of Jaxx seemed to awaken. It was almost a gnawing sensation, something deep in her gut, a foreign but familiar feeling that left her head a bit swimmy. She shook her head and chalked up the strange reaction to being hungover from the night before.

“Checking out my woman, weirdo?” a deep, gravelly voice rang out and snapped Jaxx from her thoughts.

It was Jessup, and well, of course, it was. He always acted as if he had so much to prove. A real pompous ass, honestly. Jaxx got it though, he was the son of the Beta, the higher-ranked family in the Crescent Moon Tribe that served the Alpha, her father, and thus gave him rank to think himself high and mighty.

Truthfully though, they had never gotten along. Even as children. And deep down Jaxx understood why.

Jessup’s father had probably spent more time being a guide and protector over her and before…Her brother Tristan, then he had his own son. That was bound to bring up a certain amount of resentment.

“You too good to acknowledge me?” he continued in a mocking tone.

“No time for second best,” Jaxx replied without so much as a glance in his direction.

Her comment only served to heighten his obvious annoyance and he quickly departed from the other young men and came up beside her.

“You think you’re such hot shit,” he seethed. “Why not have a little challenge to prove who’s the better of us?”

“Oh,” Jaxx chuckled and faced him head-on. “You mean a pissing contest?”

Jessup stared, his smoldering hazel eyes unmoving, and his lips cocked in a smirk which only caused Jaxx to laugh a bit harder.

“Bring it on.”

“Let’s make this quick then,” Jaxx countered. “I’ve got more pressing matters than kicking your ass.”