Page 39 of Feral
He poured two tequilas and moved one toward me. “Salud,” he said, downing it in one go and pouring himself another one. “I don’t know much. His name has been mentioned, but only in passing.”
I nodded. Courtland had had an absolute barrage of information thrown at him recently. Folk tales about old Manix would be pretty far down the list.
“A couple of hundred years ago, the Raku-Lorso-Niles Pack was one of the most powerful Manix Packs on the continent. Back when there were more of us, anyway. They were the last Pack to have an Omega pair—well, until now. Margaux and Timothy were the beating heart of their Manix congregation. They produced over sixteen offspring, and by all accounts, were basically Goddess-sent with their kindness.
“However, the elders of the larger Pack—which included Niles, Lorso and Raku—noticed a trend of less female Manix being born, and decided they wanted to try mating with other species to see if they could reverse the trend. Raku, Lorso and Niles agreed, but they wanted to go and meet with the other shifter Packs, see if they’d be amiable to some political marriages to bond our species together. When our offers were rebuffed, another faction of the elders decided to take a wolf shifter Omega by force and ‘test’ their hypothesis. That was the beginning of the Manix Wars. The shifters mightn’t have wanted an allegiance with us, but they were more than happy to ally with each other against us. Which I totally get.”
“Agreed,” Courtland said, downing his drink, so I did the same. I waited for the burn, but it was smooth, not getting fiery until it hit my gut. Good tequila.
“You’d think this would’ve stopped that other faction of elders from continuing their experiments, but it didn’t. The more the war raged, the more people we lost, and the more desperate they became to find a solution to our dwindling female problem. However, in the end, they doomed us all. They kidnapped a Lycanthrope female. They assumed that because they were more like us than the two-natured shifters, that our biology would be more amenable.
“Hell, maybe they’d have been right, but they never really got the chance to find out. The Lycanthropes were pissed. Their numbers had been hunted nearly to extinction already, so Lycanthrope females were extremely rare. When the other Manix elders refused to give her back—no matter how hard Lorso, Raku and Niles argued—Lorso decided that his Pack and any who supported them would split off and form their own township. They gathered up the children they had left who hadn’t died in the Manix Wars, their friends and supporters, and moved to the mountains in Montana, founding Maxton.
“Which was fortunate, because a week later, the Lycanthropes came and demanded their female back, in person. You see, even the loss of one female would’ve rendered the Lycanthropes functionally extinct. So when they found out she was dead, they slaughtered every remaining Manix in the old congregation. The Lycanthropes went up and down North America, destroying every Manix tribe they could find until we were almost as extinct as they were. Both Raku and Niles were killed trying to smuggle other Manix Packs into Maxton. It was only because we were hidden away up here that we survived at all. It was why most other supernaturals assumed we were gone from the face of the earth.”
“You weren’t the only pocket of survivors, obviously, but apparently we all assumed we were the last of our kind,” the Alpha General murmured, pouring me another.
“For better or for worse, I guess. It’s why everyone freaked out when you brought the Lycans in to save Bonnie. Some fear is just written into your DNA.” I shrugged. “Anyway, Timothy was the last Omega male to carry cubs, and when Margaux died, no more Omega females were produced. Most assumed it was the Goddess punishing us for the sins of our elders, and maybe they were right. There’s no other way to describe what’s happened over the last few years if not divine in nature, right?”
Courtland inclined his head. “It does feel that way. But I do not understand what this Lorso has to do with your Omega in the woods.”
I reclined back on the sofa, hoping I wasn’t getting grease on the white linen. “We all grew up hearing these stories, like when Margaux died in childbirth and made Lorso swear to treat the remaining Manix like his own children. Timothy died of a broken heart a few months later. It was just Lorso and his Betas, Shelley and Sol, for decades. Then when they died, it was just Lorso by himself, clinging to a promise to his Omega. Eventually, the Legion rose up as the governing system and Lorso just faded away. We all thought he was dead, gone to be with the rest of his Pack in the afterlife.” I grinned, because this was always my favorite part. “Until one day, I was hunting in the woods with Beckett when our rabbit trap went off, and in it was a scrawny, hissing girl…”
23
KITTEN
“Omegas, I’m home. Prepare to be loved up,” someone shouted from down below. Corvin, by the scent. Well, it was almost his scent, if his scent was drenched in alcohol. I jogged down the stairs to see a very amused Darius standing in the foyer. Corvin was grinning widely, his eyes shiny.
Beside him were Radic and Courtland. “My apologies, Omegas. We may have had a little too much tequila during our meeting.”
Radic shook his head. “You forget that everyone isn’t basically pickled like you and Dominic. No one can handle liquor like you two.”
I looked at Corvin again, my lips curled in amusement. Yep, he was sloshed. I’d never gotten drunk; when I’d gone to town, to the human bars, I never had more than one glass of wine. I was a woman by myself, and Manix or not, I couldn’t let myself be as vulnerable as the average Joe.
Corvin looked at me intensely. “Goddess, they are so beautiful. Don’t you guys think they’re beautiful? No, fuck that, you guys aren’t allowed to think about them like that because they’re mine. I love them. They make me so fucking happy,” he rambled on, and Darius laughed.
“Goddess, he’s shitfaced. Come on, big guy. Let’s go upstairs and put you to bed.”
Corvin gave him slobbery kisses on the cheek, all love and not a whole lot of finesse. “Will you come to bed with me?”
“Baby, I can almost guarantee that you’ll be snoring and drooling by the time your head hits the pillow.” Darius propped himself under Corvin’s shoulder, and I went to grab his other side when the Alpha General stopped me.
“Omega, if I may have a word?”
It was a testament to how drunk Corvin was that he didn’t even protest. Darius, however, stilled his feet, looking between us. Courtland inclined his head. “I promise Kitten is safe with me, Omega.”
Darius continued to hesitate, and I gave him a quick reassuring look. “It’s fine, Darius. I’ll be up in a minute.”
He gave us one more concerned look, and then Corvin was sucking on his ear. Screwing up his nose, he gave me an imploring look. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
I had no doubt that Corvin was going to be tossed onto the bed as quickly as possible and Darius would indeed be back in a moment.
I turned back to the Alpha General and Radic. I held myself tense, ready to react. They both noted my stance, but politely ignored it. “What can I do for you, sir?”
Courtland gave me a reassuring smile. “Alexi tells me that you speak to the forest.”
I shrugged. “Yes?”
