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She takes a deep drink if coffee, because even the new stuff she's learned since saying Richard feels like she's scraping the surface.

"It's a hierarchy structure, based a lot in Norse mythology. The Ulfric is the king, and his mate is called the Lupa. There's officers under them, the big ones are Geri and Freki, second and third in command. There's the enforcers, the Sköll and Hati, and then you have the dominance structure below that.

Jason isn't high in the pack rankings, because he's not dominant enough. But he's Jean-Claude's now, so it puts him in a unique position."

"It's very different where I'm from. It's less...human." But where to start? "Every pack has one leader, and one girl. We all work to protect her, and no pack holds together long without one."

He glances at her in case there are questions. This is the part that seems the most straightforward, but in fact is the most complex.

"That still doesn't make sense to me, but go on."

One girl for a whole pack, just sounds like a lot of dead women lycanthropes.

Edited 2021-08-15 19:42 (UTC)

"She gets final say in everything. When you fuck her, part of your mind is changed; you'd do anything for her. We call them 'queen' but it runs deeper than that. So I don't fuck them. I didn't enjoy feeling in service to someone," a smirk because, well. When has Lark ever served anyone?

"That's because of my personality, but my philosophy is all about self-denial and wolf appetites are insatiable, so it never made sense to bend the knee. As far as I know, I'm the only wolf who doesn't fuck the girl. It allows me to run two packs at the same time. I'm friends with both the queens, Zinzi and Bonnie, but that's as far as it goes. I coordinate with them but they never interact with each other."

"I don't blame you. Who wants to be mind fucked and lose their free will? It's why you don't look a vampire in the eye.

Alphas -yeah, I know real wolves don't have alphas- but strong Alphas can control weaker ones, to an extent, with their energy. Suppress their beast. But it's not mind control."

"It isn't exactly mind control. We can still make choices, still complain," and from his tone, this happens a lot. "Still pick fights with her. It's more like an extreme version of how humans say they would do 'anything' for the person they love. We feel everything deeper than a human does, so our loyalty to our lovers is frightening. To me."

"I'm sorry but that sounds like splitting hairs to me. You're forced to love someone. That's mind tricks."

"You see my point of view," he agrees with a small, bitter smile. "And why I chose to pursue someone who isn't wolf at all. Ask any other wolf and they'll disagree with what I'm saying, because they're happy in the way their instincts run them. But the reason I'm telling you this is that I respect you, enough that if Jason was here, I'd follow your lead on how to treat him. If you wanted me hands off, I would be. In my mind, in my own non-mind-controlled instincts, it's like you're a form of queen I don't have to fear."

She frowns at the comparison. That makes her very uncomfortable.

"Why do you think of me like that? I'm not a lycanthrope."

"It's personality type." Theoretically anyone who has survived trauma and is strong enough can become a wolf. But Lark is selective about who he turns. "You don't take shit from people, but you care about those you do like. And you're willing to protect them when they need it."

Just wait Lark. One day you'll be a little too on the nose about your assessment of Anita.

"Thanks." She'll take it. It's meant as a compliment.

"The next question, then." He has a few. "What would you want me to do if someone from your world showed up?"

She blinks, because that's a question she didn't see coming.

"I don't know. Depends on who it is, I guess."

She has to think about it for a moment.

"Don't try to get nosy with Jean-Claude, he's better at keeping secrets than almost anyone I know. Richard... probably won't like you, honestly so just stand your ground, but keep in mind he's twice your size. If Edward shows up probably just stay out of his way. Take what he says seriously, and avoid getting on his bad side."

"What do Richard and Edward have against lawyers?" Lark drawls, because that's usually the first thing people don't like about him. The first of many. Size doesn't intimidate him in the least. Frankly, nothing does.

"You might be honest, but you like to be cagey too. Richard won't like that. Edward probably won't dislike you, but he's not like most people. He's...an assassin, specializing in preternatural targets."

"...Strangely I've never met anyone like that. Someone who hunts things like me, specifically. We mostly end up dead because we're tangled up in the drug trade and the black market and no one is smart enough to do it carefully." Anita is the executioner, he knows. But she isn't cruel and she doesn't waste lives. "Do you get along with him?"

She gives him a look, when he says he never met anyone like that. She's literally sitting in front of you, Lark.

"Yeah, we're friends." A thought slides through her eyes, but she doesn't take it back.

A stern look. "You don't hunt us for sport. Even when people were making wild assumptions about you on your first day, you never came across as an indiscriminate killer. You do it in a legal, sanctioned way." And yes, he noticed that expression. "Tell me about him?"

"I still do it. It's my job. It's Edward's too. He enjoys it, in a way I never will, but unless he's helping me, he does it only for money, one way or another."

It's not what she'd thought about, but she's not sure she should share that specific tidbit. It's hard to understand, if you aren't in the situation.

"Enjoying it makes it a dangerous line," he drawls. He's sure she knows that.

But it is that unspoken thing that has his real interest. "Have I ever told you about the things I did here as an inmate? Or at home?"

"If anyone can walk it, it's Edward." She's casually confident in that.

"You mentioned a little bit about who you were before."

"I don't find any pleasure in killing, I'm never going to be that person. But I'm sure I did plenty that would have made me eligible for execution. Especially since I never faced any punishment for eating a woman and murdering another and stabbing a man in the eye because he disappointed me."

Among other, more elaborate crimes.

"Is it sadism then, that makes him enjoy it?"

There's a lot to unpack there, but what makes her blink is the eating someone thing. It's distracting, and she has to look at Lark hard for a long moment, to reconcile that statement.

"Jason almost ate me once." It's not at all the answer to his question. "Twice, actually. He couldn't control himself."

"A full moon sort of thing?" Lark never has to deal with that, although there are other things that can push him close to it.

"That, and the poachers that had us cut up my arm to make me more... appetizing."

Hey mind is just going from one thing to the next. Because now she's thinking about Richard at the theatre, watching the people like he was picking out the weak ones from the herd.

"He's not a sadist. Edward is good at what he does. He enjoys the work, but it's not about suffering. If that happens it's incidental. Occupational hazard."

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