Their new packmates settled easily into the routine of patrolling or hunting, then training. Rigaldo eased up on her own training so she'd be able to work with them. Natania and Rigaldo showed them every pawstep of the territory, and the best ways to hunt. Anything Natania taught them, had to be repeated by Rigaldo. Alice didn't openly complain about Natania, but she didn't exactly listen to her either, loudly proclaiming that it made way more sense when Rigaldo showed her.

Natania just lashed her tail and bore it, she had no interest in playing dominance games or teaching the wolf to respect her. She just hoped that eventually, as she grew up, she'd understand that Natania would have rather died than watched Valerie die for her.

Rigaldo snapped at the young wolf occasionally, but didn't lay another hand on her while Natania was present.

Brady took those moments to pay extra attention to Natania's instructions, warming her heart a little that he tried to lessen some of the sting of his friend's behaviour. He was a good kid and she liked working with him.

Tyler on the other hand, was just kind of there. He paid attention and followed instructions, but there was neither eagerness nor hesitance in his movements. She had tried talking to him, tried pushing magic into him to see if there was something she could heal, but he didn't seem to realize that he was any different. He just existed differently in the world than she did. She learned to accept it, though she found herself paying way more attention to the bonds, watching for any spark of real emotion from him.

She didn't trust Rigaldo to train them to fight, and Alice's behaviour made it pointless for Natania to try herself, so she had Leah and Avery work with them instead while she got back into the routine of sparring with her wolves.

A shrill wail distracted Natania so she didn't dodge as Hayley's fist collided with her cheek, snapping her head back with an audible crack. "Ouch," Natania muttered, rubbing her face.

"Shit sorry," Hayley apologized, but Natania waved her off, jogging over to where the younger wolves were training, in wolf form.

Tyler had Brady pinned beneath him, his teeth buried deep in the red wolf's neck. Brady squealed again. "That's enough," Leah snapped but the brown wolf ignored her, raking his claws down his opponents back.

Natania growled and leaped, landing beside them. "Let him go," Natania ordered. Tyler pinned his ears but didn't move. She reached over, grabbing a handful of the fur on his neck with one hand and sticking the other in his mouth, she located the pressure point in his gums and jerked hard at the same time she tugged him backwards.

He opened his mouth on reflex, dropping his hold on Brady. A moment later, Tyler's teeth clamped down on her arm and Natania swore as blood started dripping down her fingers. She didn't want to break his nose so she threw a leash on him through their bond, her brow furrowing in confusion when it dissipated. She tried again, to the same effect and backed out, half sitting in that space where she could see the bonds while Tyler chewed on her arm like some sort of dog toy.

There was something wrong in their connection, instead of the normal emptiness she felt from him, there was a sticky darkness. It felt almost hungry.

She snapped back into her own body and pounded her fist hard on his nose. She winced at the sound of bones cracking. Tyler dropped to the ground, pawing at his nose but she didn't feel even an inkling of pain in their bond.

Rigaldo was at her side a moment later, giving her a once over, then he was pinning the other wolf to the ground. Teeth at his throat as the wolf snapped feebly, looking for anything to sink his teeth into.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Leah asked, ripping strips of cloth to wrap around Natania's arm.

"I don't know."

"His bond feels evil," Rigaldo growled in his mind, "I don't want to kill a child, but you will need to come up with another solution quickly. He is not weakening from me choking him."

"Can you knock him out?"

"I tried that already."

Natania put a hand to her forehead and reached out for Rolf, Elise and her father. "We have a problem."

She relayed the situation as quickly as she could, hoping at least one of them would have an idea. As she watched, the blood leaking from Tyler's wounds became black, oozing out of him like a dense gas instead of a liquid.

"You said he'd felt like a shell of a person in the bond?" Elise asked.

"Yes." Natania shared the feeling.

She felt Rolf and Elise talking to each other, but they must have been doing it verbally because she didn't catch any of it.

"The demon," Alistair growled. "Kill him."

"I can't just kill a member of my pack," she snapped back.

"You can, and you will." He locked her out of his head before she could say more.

"He's too young to have lost control to the demon, and he's only a half blood," Rolf finally spoke.

"What color are his eyes?" Elise asked.

Natania walked over to the struggling pair, she wrapped one hand around his muzzle, holding his mouth shut and his head still, and pried open one of his eyes.

"Yellow," she replied. Natania glanced at her wolves. "What colour are his eyes normally?"

"Brown," Brady gasped out at the exact same time Leah said, "Yellow."

"They're normally brown," Brady wheezed out.

"I've been working with him for days," Leah said, "they're yellow."

"He's been my friend for years," Brady argued. "They're brown."

Natania relayed the conversation and her head was suddenly, deafeningly silent.

"Kill him," Elise said several long moments later. "Tyler is gone." With that, she severed the connection.

Natania glanced up and met Rigaldo's eyes. He raised an eyebrow, teeth still buried in the wolf's neck. Even as the black gunk leaked out of him steadily, his thrashing didn't ease. "Elise says the demon has taken over, he's gone already."

Rigaldo nodded once, then jerked his head, cleanly snapping Tyler's neck in one, swift movement.

Pain jittered down the bond, signaling the loss of life, and Natania fell back onto her butt.

"What, the ever lasting fuck?" Alex roared, stomping forward. "You just killed him?"

"They had no choice," Leah said, "you saw him, that wasn't normal."

"He almost killed Brady," Hayley said.

Natania shifted around, then shuffled over to the red wolf and put both hands on his chest. She didn't need to tug, Rigaldo poured power into her bond and she fed it into Brady until scabs formed over his wounds.

"Thank you," he croaked.

Natania nodded and ran a hand over the top of his head, reassuring herself that he was okay.

Her pack was still bristling, still arguing over whether they should have killed him or not and Rigaldo snarled deep in his chest. When that didn't silence them, he threw out a burst of power, dropping every wolf, except Natania and Brady who were already on the ground, to their knees.

"Enough," he ordered, his voice deathly quiet. Everyone fell silent. She felt him pull his magic around him, and his next words came out dripping with charisma. "I don't relish ending the life of members of my pack, but he was a danger. Lost to his demon. There is no coming back from that." He gestured at Natania and Brady. "He almost killed Brady, he wounded his alpha, Natania tried to stop him. She only broke his nose."

He waved his other hand at the body. "I had his air cut off for six minutes and he didn't stop fighting. I cracked his skull trying to knock him unconscious, and he did not stop fighting."

Rigaldo bared his teeth. "That kind of pain tolerance is above a thirteen year old boy. It's above most of you."

Grudgingly, Alex bowed his head in acceptance.

"Is that going to happen to us?" Grace asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

"No," Rigaldo said firmly. "We know what to look for now, we'll be vigilant."

Natania glanced at Brady. "Did something happen to Tyler recently? Did he get hurt, or anything odd?"

Brady shook his head. "He was pretty angry after his dad died though, kept going on about needing to be stronger. Then one day he just kind of stopped being angry? I thought it was weird, but he lost his dad, so I thought he was just dealing with grief."

Natania grit her teeth. He had willingly summoned forth the demon in a misguided attempt for strength. "Thank you," she told him. "I think that's all we need to know."

Rigaldo nodded. "Leah," he said. Leah looked up warily. "Take Natania to get cleaned up. I'll handle this." He gestured vaguely at the body.

Leah nodded, got to her feet and offered a hand to Natania. She took it. "Bran," she said, once she was on her feet. Her foster brother looked at her and tilted his head. "Can you take Brady home?"

Bran looked to Rigaldo, who nodded once, then dipped his head. Natania resisted the urge to roll her eyes and let Leah drag her away.

"So," Leah said as they walked up the stairs in Natania's house, "what's the likelihood of me turning into a crazed beast that wants to gnaw off your arm?"

Natania sighed and scratched the back of her head. "Depends on what's your likelihood of asking your demon companion for power."

Leah paused. "You think he did it on purpose?"

Natania nodded, and led the way to the bathroom. "I think he was so desperate to get revenge that he went anywhere for power."

You have the power of a demon inside you, don't let it loose. The warning her father used to give her when they trained together rang in her head. "You can't trust demons," Natania muttered.

"Says the half demon," Leah said, giving her a half smile.

Natania gave her a look, rolling her eyes with a grin. "If my demon ever runs wild," Natania said, turning and lifting herself onto the bathroom counter and turning on the sink. "I bet this entire forest gets leveled."

Leah grabbed a cloth from under the sink, wetting it and gently wiping the blood from Natania's arm. The bite marks had scabbed over, but hadn't yet healed. "Cocky are we?" Leah teased.

"Just a bit." She had no way to tell of course, though Rolf's fussing over her eyes had begun to make more sense. If he was that worried, she had to think a demon fueled pureblood had to be a bad thing.

Leah tugged on Natania's shirt. "Off," she ordered.

Natania obeyed, wincing as the fabric pulled off several of the scabs. Leah hummed in sympathy as she cleaned, retrieving a bottle of rubbing alcohol and dabbing at the wounds. Natania hissed at the sharp burn.

Once she was satisfied, Leah traced a finger over the new scars on Natania's stomach. Claw and bite marks from her sessions with Rigaldo. Accelerated healing left its marks.

"Somehow I was expecting more," Leah muttered.

"He's eased up with the new recruits," Natania explained. She caught Leah's hand and brought it to her lips. They hadn't gotten much time to be alone in the last several weeks.

Natania reached down, taking Leah's thighs in her hands and tugged her into her lap. Leah laughed as her knee knocked over a toothbrush. "On the bathroom counter? Really?"

"Anywhere is good," Natania murmured, kissing down the skin of her neck. Leah's hands traced over her back, unclipping her bra and letting it fall between them.

"The bedroom is like ten feet away." Leah gently grazed her nails up Natania's back, cupping her face in her hands and ever so gently kissing her lips.

"And you're right here." Natania nipped her lip, urging her to quit playing, feeling Leah smile against her before their lips collided. They were both breathless when they pulled away. Natania slid her hands under Leah's shirt, caressing the soft skin of her hips before sliding upwards to cup her breasts. Leah leaned back, using both hands to rip off her shirt before pulling her back into another demanding kiss.

"I really don't want to do this in the bathroom," Leah groaned a minute later.

"Whatever you want, my love," Natania murmured against her skin, sliding her hands back under Leah's thighs and sliding off the counter. Natania spun around, sitting Leah on the counter so she could adjust her grip and her heart stopped as she raised her head, meeting Rigaldo's eye in the mirror as he came up the stairs.