POV

Shawn

Avery was laying on my chest, we were reading about breeding periods, and how high our chances of conceiving were. We were caught up In each other when Avery's cellphone rang, he reached across my chest and answered it and I waited. "What? Attacked where?! Yes ... Yes, I'm on my way!" He said, suddenly, frantically.

Everything that was going good with us, was unexpectedly pulled from us that afternoon. That phone call changed Avery, for the bad and for the good.

Avery's face broke up, tears welling in his eyes. He hung up his cellphone and turned to me. "I've gotta go." He said. I sat up asking, "Go where? What's going on?" He moved away from me, going over to our dresser and pulling out clothes. "Amber was attacked, by something... She's at the shop and I'm going to help." He said. I was up and out of the bed quickly. I grabbed his wrist pulling him into me.

"No, I can not let you go, if she was attacked that means danger, so no," I said, watching his expression. "I didn't exactly ask you. I'm going." He said. "Sunshine, with all due respect. You ain't leaving this house." I said. We gazed into each other's eyes, he was challenging me. Quickly something flashed in his eyes, the darkness in him.

The curtains shut swiftly, like some theatrical fantasy, the dimming out of the lights in the room, brought a chill in the room. Then there stood beside him a girl, her hair was dark and hung down in tight curls, her attire was melded into the shadows.

"I'm going, Shawn," Avery said, his voice dangerously low. "No," I said, remaining calm, even as the shadow girl in the corner grew more realistic. "Then they'll come here,  come on, compromise." He pleaded, "There are over three hundred wolves on this territory, we can not risk those lives." I said. "Then I'm going." He spat, snatching away from me and dressing.  I moved to get to him but the girl finally moved, slamming into me. She grabbed my hands holding me against the wall. Avery dressed and left the room, I struggled with the girl but it was useless.

Where did she even come from? Was Avery controlling her? Was she controlling him? I got no answers, instead, I linked A'mosh and Adam telling the to get Avery and not to let him leave. "Fear not, when Avery is free I shall free thee in turn." The girl whispered and I struggled more.
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POV
Avery

I was storming down the stairs and out of the packhouse, Shawn had some nerve telling me I couldn't go help my friends. He forced me to use Alice, she would hold him back, at least until I was off pack territory. But of course, Shawn used the pack-link to tell Adam and A'mosh. It didn't matter though I was powered, thanks to Alice, and no one would stop me from helping Amber.

They stopped me, they were waiting at my car. "Ave, what the hell's happenin? Why is Shawn sounding all freaked out?" Adam asked. "He's being restrained upstairs, he tried to stop me from going to help my friends, I have to go ya'll," I said, trying to open my door. A'mosh shut it and leaned on the door, his arms folded across his chest. "How dangerous is this situation?" A'mosh asked, and I groaned. "I don't know, Marius said something attacked my friend Amber," I explained. "I don't think you should go," Adam said, and I turned to him. "Who asked you?" I asked.

"No one, but as Luna, all members of this pack are my concern, that means you asshole." Adam hissed. "Look, as of right now it just seems like an attack on a friend, you can bring them here, that a'way you can check on them and Shawn can keep his eyes on you." A'mosh said, and I sighed, "I suggested that." I said. "Well, I'll talk to him, Adam can you see if the north infirmary is available?" A'mosh asked. Adam nodded saying yes Alpha but glaring at me.

#   #   #

After calling Marius, I was waiting for the gang inside the north infirmary. It was empty and rarely used. I started to pace, then I called out for Alice, she showed her instantly, coming in clearer than she had even done before. "Thou art troubled?" She asked, and I explained, she lifted her dress at the sides while walking, her curls swinging. "I have listened to dead men speak and they have spoken of a great enemy, this enemy shall be thy equal, it is this enemy that attacks thy coven." She said, and I realize she was right.

The visions, the warnings, the Mambo of the seventh ward. It had to be that, what else could it be. I heard the elevator ding as someone came down into the infirmary. It was Shawn and he was arguing with A'mosh, I could hear Adam chiming in. I sent Alice into the ether and I walked out of the conference type room and met them in the halls, which was filled to stuffed with ER style beds. "You told him he could bring them here! I said he couldn't, he is my mate, not yours!" Shawn shouted.

"So what, he's a high ranked member of this pack, he's my best friend's mate, and my mate's brother, that means he's family, so we share his problems... You two need to calm down." A'mosh said, and love for him grew in me. "They're on the way," I said, and the three of them turned to me. "You and I are gonna have a serious talk later," Shawn said.

"Listen, you can talk till the earth falls apart, the moment your friends pose a threat to this pack, I will be forced as Luna to override A'mosh's decision and they will be put off territory and you will be barred from seeing them," Adam said, and I sucked my teeth. "Monkey, I'm not a fuckin child, try and keep me here, try it!" I snapped, on edge and worried about Amber.

"You heard what I said, now I have to go pack for the Luna's retreat, and since you're clearly not in the mood I won't even bother inviting you," Adam expanded. "Whatever, " I shot back. Adam walked off, going back to the elevator. "Don't mind him, he's just sour about tonight." A'mosh said, talking about Adam leaving for three and a half weeks for his first Luna's retreat.

"Opp, they're here... Brandon is bringing them over, he asked if we need a doctor... Your friend is in bad shape." Shawn said, and I felt all jittery, afraid to see Amber, see how bad she was doing. Turns out she wasn't doing that bad outwardly. Marius was carrying her, Athena and Nikki were behind him. Amber lay in Marius's arms, she looked asleep. Looking over her form I took notice of his left ankle, it was wrapped in gauze, gauze soaked in blood. "What happened?" I asked as Marius carried into her and into one of the beds.

"W-We were leaving the shop and thi-this creature-thing... It was a hyena, I sw-swear it was." Athena stuttered, and my heart hurt for her, she and Amber had been friends since childhood, ran away from foster care together and survived on their love alone. As we listened to Athena, Amber sat straight up in the hospital bed, her eyes were closed the lids tight. "Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi!" On and on she went followed by a shrill cry like she was going into battle, then she fell back,  laying seeming almost dead.

"Shawn, can you get a doctor, please?" I asked, and he looked at me, looked at my friends, and I saw something in him shift. "Okay." He said, turning and leaving the stall. "Are you sure it was a hyena?" A'mosh asked Athena, "I watch animal documentaries like their sitcoms. It was a spotted hyena." Athena said, wiping away tears.

"There are a few different tribes in the wards. Hyenas, wild dogs, mostly jaguars, and panthers though," A'mosh said. "Other Weres?" I asked, "Yeah, they mostly stay to themselves, they live in totally different systems." He explained.

"Avery, Doctor Beaks is here," Shawn said, coming back into the wide stall like room, closely followed by a dark doctor with the prettiest shade of green eyes. He was tall and inquisitive looking. "Excuse me." He said, going by us and beside Amber. He looked her over, spotted her ankle, and went for it. He took off the gauze and let out an unsteady breath. "Do you know what did this?" The doctor asked. "I-It was a hyena, I know it was," Athena said. The doctor excused himself, he walked out then came back with some equipment.

He took a scalpel and pulled a sample from the bite, he took some blood, and then he was gone again. I went to speak but was interrupted by, "Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi!" Amber screamed again, fell back, and went comatose. "What the fuck does that even mean!?" Athena shouted, shoving out of the stall. "No way in hell can a simple bite do this," Nikki said, going after Athena.

"Avery, I need to tell you something," Marius said, "Don't even think about asking me to leave," Shawn said when I turned to ask him exactly that, his arms were folded over his chest, eyes fixed on Marius. "It's fine Ave. I saw the guy... He was at my house, it was about an hour before Athena called me. He said "Li kòmanse" it means... It begins. We are being targeted." He explained, "Sunshine, we just talked about this, we can't risk hundreds of lives for your friends." Shawn said.

"I'm involved Shawn, I saw the same man twice. He came to me in a dream, said we needed to sell the shop, the mambo of the seventh ward wants it." I said. "Mambo Baptiste? Fuck!" Marius said, his eyes full of dread, he started to pace. "I take it you know who that is?" A'mosh asked, "Only in legend, you don't want to know her, she's a Queenpin, she's completely above the law. Her ma'jek (energy) is almost boundless, practitioners say she's the greatest voodoo queen since Marie Laveau.

"So, we're supposed to just sell the shop to her, we're supposed to just let her bully us?" I asked Marius. "Look, Ave, if she wanted to, she could have all of us rounded up and taken out to the bayou, killed and left for the gators. I think we should sell her the shop." I could see the fear in his eyes, he was genuinely afraid. "Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi! Febli, sèvi!" Amber made us jump before falling back into her coma-like state. "Avery, I'd like to speak to you alone... Now." Shawn demanded. We were walking out when Nikki and Athena were coming back in.

A'mosh followed us out, "I'm going to go check on Adam, if you need anything, just link me." He said, patting my shoulder. With that, A'mosh turned and walked down the hall to the elevator. "What are you thinking, because I can feel your attitude, you don't want to sell?" Shawn asked. "It's our shop, it doesn't even make that much money, she's supposedly this great Queenpin, why does she want it?" I asked. "The question is, is that shop worth your life, the lives of your friends," Shawn said.

"Beta, Sir. I found some things. None of them are good."  Beaks said, turning and going in the direction of Amber's stall. We followed him, "You think about what I said, it can not be worth all this." Shawn said.

Inside the stall, I stood with my friends while the doctor explained what he found. "There were several trace chemicals found on the skin around the bite. The worst of which was Tetrodotoxin, it's found not exclusively in pufferfish and it's poisonous. Even still that alone should not cause this sort of behavior, the mutterings may be due to hallucinations, I'm not sure." He said.

"So she was poisoned by that thing?" Athena asked, "It had to be someone from the seventh ward, Shawn do you know any of the were-hyena that live in the seventh ward?" I asked. "Yes, two... One's a group of gangbangin idiots, but the other, Amadodana ka-Edene... The sons of Eden. A hyena tribe, very strong... Here since slavery... They aren't without reason though, so it would take some form of payment for them to attack without cause." Shawn said. "Alice says she knows a spell, can show us where the attack came from... No, how it came to be." I corrected.

"First off, who the fuck is Alice?! Second, I don't have any energy to extend, I used it to toss the animal before it could do more damage to Amber, can she survive this?" Athena asked, and Nikki and Marius looked at Doctor Beaks. "I'm gonna give her oxygen, that's really all I can do, respiratory support and general care, she'll have to pass the toxins on her own." Beaks said, before asking us to move aside.

We all gave him room, everyone except Athena. "So whose Alice?" Marius asked, and I willed her to show herself. Nikki and Marius jumped and started freaking out, Shawn stood arms across his chest, a frown plastered on his face. "Y-you actually bound a spirit? My Gods, you are crazy." Marius said, circling Alice in astonishment.

"I have not the power to give strength to thy coven, but my binder can cast the spell. The revealer... A spell from my time, it is powerful and useful." Alice said, gazing at me, Shawn, Nikki, and Marius. "Knowing what the attack was for, or who exactly did it would help a lot. Ave, you up for it?" Nikki asked. "Yes, how?" I asked Alice.

"No! Maybe the best thing to do is stop with all this magic shit, sell the shop, I'll buy you a new one," Shawn said. "It's ours, and I don't want to sell. I'm doing the spell." I said. Shawn grabbed me by my hand and dragged me off down the hallway, he pushed us, pass a side room, and into another hall.

"You think you're runnin shit, you aren't... I am, I'm the Beta and you are my mate... We can not afford to start wars with other Were's it's not worth it." Shawn said. "Get off of me, did you people say anything when Adam brought that vampire and his lover on the territory?!" I asked. "Adam is our Luna, the Alpha is his mate and you are mine, my decisions are your laws. I want them gone when that girl wakes up." He barked, turning, and leaving.

#   #   #

Later that night, maybe an hour before midnight, Athena, Marius, Nikki and I were in the stall to the right of Amber's. She was on a breathing machine, and Beaks was keeping her hydrated with an IV.  "I think I have everything, Athena you should stay here with Amber. We'll be back after." I said, and she barely acknowledged me. "Come on you guys," I said, and Nikki and Marius stood and we left the stall.

#   #   #

Outside we walked across the fields, we were near the trees that shaded the back of the packhouse. We walked and talked about the shop, Marius wanted to sell, Nikki didn't. "If Mambo Baptiste decided to, she could have all of us killed, maybe not you but Amber, Athena, Nikki and I are easy targets. The shop's not worth it." Marius said. "Naw, there has to be a reason, come on, the shop is tiny, it does horrible in-store business, and it's in the corniest little dead-in place. Why does she want it?" Nikki asked. "Who cares Nik, that bitch is dangerous. And she can kill us all." Marius said.

"He's right, really right." A voice said, and the three of us stopped walking, we closer to the backfields, making our way to the greenhouse. There behind us in the green nighttime fields stood the man, the dead looking man with the hoop ring through his septum and the dead eyes. I called Alice and she appeared in front of me.

"Oh please, Enbesil, the Mambo has struck and you all have chosen to willfully defy a Queen. Your friend was the first attack, more will come. But only after she's done with that girl. Oh, and I wouldn't go lookin for the hyenae, your little wolf friends can't compete. Now before you banish me again Mr. Witts, Mambo Baptiste says, the girls' death and rebirth into servitude are on your hands." He smiled, waved, and disappeared.

We stood, all of us silent and lost. "I guess we don't need that spell, what do we do?" Nikki asked me. "We sell," I said, what else was there to do, Shawn was right, Marius was right. The shop wasn't worth it, too many deaths would come from this war and clearly, I wasn't on the Mambo's level, she was well versed in dark ma'jek (energy) and that was something I promised Ahote I would never do...

(Although) said a strange voice.

I closed my eyes and linked A'mosh asking him to meet me in the kitchen with Shawn. "Come on ya'll. I gotta go kiss my mate's ass." I sighed.
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POV
Shawn

"Fuck no! That's it, Avery, you just keep pushing the boundaries. They aren't staying here." I growled, my eyes on my mate, he and A'mosh stood with three of Avery's friends, looking at me all judgy like. "Alpha, my friends are in danger. We are thinking about selling our shop, but until we are sure we can do that safely, I'm asking for them to receive asylum." My mate stated, asking A'mosh like my word meant shit.

Was I being unfair? Was I wrong? He was clearly in danger, his friends were in danger as well but they weren't my responsibility, Avery was and is. "Shawn, we have space," Amosh said, before digging into our private link. (Keep the peace with your mate, make him earn what he wants... Goddess, you are such an idiot sometimes)  He said, and I thought about it quickly deciding he was right.

"Avery, they can stay, but you and I have some stuff to discuss. A'mosh can you set them up?" I asked, and he smirked shooting me a quick nod. I quickly approached Avery, digging into our link and demanding he go to our ward. His eyes lingered over me, then he turned and started walking. Up the stairs and behind our door, I sat down.

"You've been on the pack for a while now, you and I are mated. I think you should know what I expect from you. But just in case you don't...  I expect you to trust me, I expect you to respect me and the decisions I make for us. I expect you to love me and to believe that I have your best interest at heart. After today I will be enforcing a few rules." I explained, watching him inhale at what I said. "Rules, what rules?" He asked.

"They're really simple. When I say no to something, it doesn't mean I don't trust you to care for yourself. It means I am uncomfortable with the given situation. From now on, if you fight me on any of my decisions... It'll earn you a punishment. When I ask you to do something, so long as it's reasonable. You will do it, and if you don't... You will earn yourself another punishment. See, just two simple rules." I said. "I spent my whole life following rules, I'm not about to start again." He argued.

"Come here," I demanded. "Shawn, I'm not in the mood for any..." I cut him off with a full-blown growl. He tried to fight it, but my baby is naturally submissive, he shivered and walked over to me. I was seated on our couch in the front room of our suite. He stood in front of me, looking down at me. "Take off your pants," I commanded, my voice calm and easy. "Why?" He asked, still questioning me. "I'm going to punish you. And the longer you keep me waitin, the worst it will be." I said. "My friends..."

"Are fine, you made sure of that, didn't you... While pushing me to the background, and sending that ghost to attack me. Take them off!" I said, my voice suddenly a shout. He stepped out of his shoes, his eyes off to the side. "No, eyes on me. You earned this." I said, and his pretty eyes met mine. I watched him work his pants off.

His little dick hung limp above his balls, his creamy skin looked butter-soft. "Turn around," I said, my voice down to a whisper.
Slowly he turned his ass right in my face, a fading bite still lingering on his right plumb cheek. "Take off your shirt, it's in the way," I said, explaining why before he could ask.  ask lifted the shirt off and tossed behind him, it smacked me in the face and I chuckled at his antics.

I pulled him back into my lap, using my strength to position him the way I wanted. He ended up with his ass high in my lap, his chest was against my thighs, his head in front of my knees, his hands on the floor. "I'm going to spank you, thirty times. Count each one and if you miss one we start over. Do you understand me, do you understand, Sunshine?" I asked.

He was trembling, it was fear but also excitement. "Count," I ordered, raising my hand and bringing it down swiftly and harshly. His cheeks rippled and bounced, the left one instantly going red, my handprint standing out. "One," Avery said, his voice steady and clear. "Two." He said after I smacked his jiggly ass, turning the left cheek a darker red. I palmed the right cheek, squeezing it tightly. "T-three." He whined, when I came down harshly on the cheek I was squeezing.

#   #   #

"T-twenty-se-seven." He stuttered, he started sniffling at around hit number fifteen. His ass was practically glowing, it felt hot to the touch, but even though he was crying, Avery was also rock hard, we both were, but he, he was openly humping me. "Tw-twenty eight!" He shouted. "Good, two more, Sunshine, just two more." I cooed, slapping his ass as I finished. "Twenty-nine!" He cried.

I reached forward and massaged his shoulders, his back, and up and down his spine. Avery humped faster, and I watched as the gash of his ass grew wetter with each thrust of his hips. I ran my thumb along his slit, quickly pushing it in and then slapping his ass with some of Meeko's strength. He grunted and moaned... He came and when he came, his hole squirted around my thumb. The literature Michelle gave me, said its a secretion called Biterson released from C-types inner walls. It acts as a cohesive as well as helps to ease sex.

Knowing Avery had a womb really turned me on, Were physiology is close enough that he and I could have pups, and watching him squirt only proved it further. "Ave... You didn't count thirty.