We all go silent, each of us staring at the newcomer. His green eyes travel over everyone as we stand, lingering on Markus as he moves to stand nearly in front of me. Faust's brows raise at the action, the amusement plain in his eyes even as his face remains impassive.

"I've come to speak to Wynter for a moment."

I can feel my own brows pinch forward, unease filling me.

"Why?"

As soon as the word comes out, his eyes drop to me, feeling like a physical blow. I grimace even though I've done nothing wrong. When he just keeps staring at me, I sigh and step around Markus, who makes a wonderful shield, but the last thing I'd want is for him to come to any harm or trouble because of me.

"I'll be just a second guys."

Kal and Marie start whispering right away while Markus doesn't take his eyes off us, his jaw clenching. Following after the other male, he leads me back into the house, on through and to the front yard. Frowning at his back, I slow my pace well before he stops at the end of the sidewalk leading up to the house. Standing several feet away from him, I cross my arms as he turns and once more faces me.

My eyes are on his shoulder, keeping his face in my peripheral yet making sure I'm not making eye contact. I only stand at five foot three inches, while he's taller than Markus by a couple inches. There's no way I'm eye level with someone who's six and a half feet tall, nor do I want to be. This is plenty close enough.

When he doesn't say anything, I scowl and take a deep breath.

"What do you want?"

After several more awkward moments, he finally speaks up.

"You don't look very feral to me."

Taken aback, my eyes widen and dart up to his in shock and dismay. Even my heart clenches at his words. Is he trying to be amusing? He was standing right there when I confronted Myth about this, so why is he asking this? I knew going to my Alphas wouldn't, no, couldn't stop everything as it had been going on for too long already, but for him to outright ask like this feels like a punch to the gut.

Trying to calm a heart that had sped up at his callousness, I take on a bored expression. If I don't let the others get to me, I can't let him either. Not sure why he does, but I have to harden myself to him like all the rest.

"Is that all you came for? Because if it is then you just wasted both our time on a rumor you already knew was false."

He shrugs, looking quite lackadaisical.

"Any excuse was good enough."

Looking at the man in confusion, he steps closer to me, causing me to stiffen. I hold my ground though, even as the hair at the back of my neck rises.

"I'll be leaving for the Packgrounds early to make sure everything runs smoothly and that any rumors of a feral get squashed before becoming a problem. Your Alphas are quite lax for it to have gotten this bad."

His voice is deep and low as he delivers the reprimand, causing me to wince as it was partially my fault for not going to them sooner, but then I pause in confusion, daring to dart my eyes up his chest a little more.

"Why do you even care?"

I catch his smirk and it just succeeds in irritating me even before hearing his reply.

"It's not only the family name on the line, we can't very well have ferals in our territory. The Midnight Fang Pack won't tolerate it."

I blink at him for several moments as I finally make the complete connection. My voice, when I'm finally able to make words, comes out sounding like a strangled whisper.

"You're from the Midnight Fang Pack."

How did I not make the connection sooner? Or did I and just not comprehend it? Was it some kind of denial or just ignorance? He smiles and nods before explaining.

"Everyone calls us a Pack, but we're more like shepherds. There is more than one royal family. Each family overlooks a region as well as the Packs within it. Those of us in Midnight Fang are made up of royals that go out to the different Packs as scouts, spies, envoys, peacemakers, and messengers."

He pauses a moment to make sure I'm following along, and while my mind is whirling with this new information, I am. I've even looked up into his face, though I'm not meeting his eyes directly.

"For the past few years, there's been unrest with several human run groups that would like nothing more than to see us all dead. To keep things from escalating with too many governing bodies, the royal families have been gathering Packs together so they're easier to keep track of. Not so scattered and out of reach. Lunar Soul and Grotto Falls are combining near what would be Midnight Fang's base territory."

Faust stops again as he looks up and around, his nose working. Once he seems satisfied he looks back down at me, shifting slightly closer. His arms had been loose at his sides, but he raises them to lean on the fence to either side of me. While not very high, I feel closed in.

"Joint operations will be run between the two Packs to train everyone for all possible outcomes. The area you're all moving to was a recently built project. You'll be in the mountains, but it's essentially a small community. Other Packs have and are doing the same as all of you, so there's no reason to be afraid."

My jaw clenches as I step back, anger rising all over again.

"Why are you telling me this? Wouldn't it be more effective if you told Mythine? I'm sure she'd be able to spread your gospel around easier than I. She might even believe it too."

His green eyes are staring at me intently as his jaw clenches, his chestnut hair a little wavier than normal as it goes down his back, showing he'd had it pulled up at some point. The thick mass frames around his face in recently washed waves that beg for fingers to be swept through, but I just glare at him, so angry that my eyes are actually meeting his. Frowning when he continues to stay silent, my fists clench.

"You don't even trust me."

I tried not to let on how much that hurt, but it slips out through my voice, and I see the muscle in his jaw clench before he frowns. Faust's mouth opens as if he's about to say something, but before he does his gaze shoots up and his eyes harden. I can see as his nose flares, catching something in the light breeze, then he glares down at me which has me backing up another step. His lip lifts and a small growl is emitted as he looks off to the side, then his gaze snaps back towards me.

"Try not to be a burden to your Alphas."

My eyes widen at his cutting words, his tone rough and low pitched before he abruptly turns and leaves. My vision becomes blurry as I take several steps back, not going slow but not going overly fast either as I don't want to end up on my butt. The man means nothing to me, so why do his words manage to cut so deep?

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✰ \(‾▿‾\) 𝔇𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔳𝔬𝔱𝔢 (/‾▿‾)/ ✰