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Outbreak	By : Need2ScreamNow Category: Singers/Bands/Musicians > Avenged Sevenfold Views: 1987 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't know the boys in A7x, I'm not making any money and this is all fiction.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
Brian curled his toes in the sand to curb his nervous impatience. They were a few minutes early to the meeting at Matt’s insistence. Zack watched the waves roll in with open curiosity on his face. He had never done anything formal with wolves before, Brian could almost laugh. There was a time when territory greetings required more smooth-talking than a presidential campaign. Shaking his head a little he focused more on the present day. Some of the everyday formality may have lapsed, but this was a serious proposition he was presenting. Packs didn’t just mate their young to whoever came along. They would have to prove that not only was Brian a suitable, or better, candidate for Terasi’s mate but also that their pack was strong.
Zack’s head twisted with the breeze and his entire posture became more attentive as the scent of wolf blew toward them. Matt glanced at his mate, a glimmer of centuries old affection in his eyes, before his Roman mask asserted itself and his attention returned to the approaching wolves.
Three adults stepped from the bushes, two males and a female, and walked with heads high toward their small group. Zack watched them with the attentiveness of a puppy, no mask to hide his curiosity or interest like his mate or Brian. It was almost refreshing having him with them, but such an open face could cause problems. All it would take was an unconscious nose wrinkle or scowl to offend the approaching alphas.
Brian moved half a step behind Zack to his position of Beta. The young alpha almost turned to look at him but caught himself and kept his eyes on the approaching wolves. The formal situation had Brian remembering how often he and Zack played and wrestled. Watching the approaching wolves he didn’t think the alphas ever played with their pack members.
The other wolves stopped a fair distance away, close enough raised voices could be heard but far enough if things went badly both parties would have a moment to retreat or defend. It had been a long time since Brian had dealt with wolves in such a manner. The old habits woke from hibernation without much trouble, though. His senses sharpened and he watched the other Beta for any hidden signals or threats. His ears deciphered the sounds around them hunting for hidden footsteps or quiet breathing.
“Brian,” the she-wolf called. His focus collapsed, his knees weakened and his eyes locked onto the female. Her belly and shoulders were heavily scarred and it wasn’t the face he remembered but her voice was unchanged.
“Shasta?” Matt’s incredulous voice was only a faint echo in Brian’s ears. It was her. But even after a thousand years of life his brain refused to believe it. He had seen her head on a hunter’s spear. Matthias had dragged him away from the camp and her body. And yet, she stood on the beach before him.
“I had hoped my daughter caught your eye,” Shasta continued ignoring their disbelief. “After Terasi told me the alpha of Orange County wanted a conference.” Her black hair wasn’t as long as Brian remembered, barely touching her shoulders now when it had once cascaded all the way down her back. Her eyes were shadowed by the moon but he knew their blue-grey as well as Zack’s green. Her gaze turned to Zack and a frown pulled the corners of her mouth. “But you seem to be unavailable.”
“Daughter,” Brian whispered. The male alpha stared at him with palpable hostility. His auburn hair caught the moonlight much like Terasi’s but he could see now she had Shasta’s lithe body.
Matt found his composure again and his back flexed as he straightened his spine. “It has been a long time…Shasta,” he said quietly. Zack’s head moved the slightest bit as he looked between the two wolves; Brian was praying the little wolf’s face wasn’t showing too much. Shasta didn’t answer the implied question. Matt continued after a slight pause. “No, I didn’t call the conference for me.” A slight accent touched his words, one not heard in over a thousand years.
“Then I’m not interested,” Shasta said. Brian’s heart kicked hard against his chest. He didn’t know how he was still standing. More than a thousand years he had thought she was dead and now she couldn’t even spare him a glance.
Matt canted his head and Brian knew the wolf was ready for a battle. “Oh?” Trying to breathe Brian looked past the group at the waves washing onto shore.
Shasta crossed her arms and looked exactly like the proud woman he had fallen in puppy love with. “My daughter will not be mated to some low dog, I don’t care if it’s a dog in your pack.”
“My unranked wolves are happy as they are,” Matt said with icy nonchalance. He would have been a brutal senator had things worked out differently. “It’s my beta that has taken an interest in your pup.” That made Shasta pause. Her eyes roamed over their group and their formation. Her eyes landed on Brian and he had to meet her stare or risk looking weak. His heart kicked again and he could have dropped to his knees. How many years had he spent mourning her? How many lifetimes had he torn himself apart for leaving her? How many nightmares about that Hunter circle had he woken screaming from? And here she stared at him like they were old acquaintances.
“Brian?” she said incredulously. Brian blinked slowly instead of closing his eyes and screaming. Her gaze shifted back to Matt and he was thankful to be out of its cold embrace. “Brian wants to mate with my daughter?” Her laugh was short and hard. “Absolutely not. She’s paired with an excellent match. You’re supposed to offer me a better deal, Matthew, or are you getting rusty?” The words ripped through him like claws. How could this be the same woman he had followed across a continent?
            Zack’s head whipped around to the subtle sound of footsteps that, in his stupor, Brian missed creeping up on them. Zack started to shake and he backed away from the trees with a soft whimper. Brian and Matt both snarled, the conference on hold for a moment. Matt stepped in front of his mate. “Out of the trees.” The soft hiss in his voice was the only cue Brian needed. The approaching humans or wolves had three seconds to appear or Brian would drag their corpses out.
            “I see your manners haven’t improved,” a cultured voice called. The voice was almost familiar but Brian couldn’t place a name or face with it. Zack shook harder and watched the trees with wide unblinking eyes. At last, the wolves cleared the trees and the familiar feeling was stronger but he still couldn’t place the face or the voice. Blond hair, tied back with a strip of blue silk, and a wide mouth set off fine aristocratic features.
            “Bryce?” Shasta said with a note of surprise.
            “Bryce,” Zack whispered, he sounded like he was going to be sick. Brian shifted his body so Zack was hidden more from the other wolf’s view. The wolf smiled. “So glad your pup remembers me, I knew you’d be a better fit with me.” He showed all of his teeth when he smiled and Brian finally remembered him. Anger that had been left to simmer for six hundred years had a chance to boil again. With a guttural snarl he shifted and charged the wolf.
            Bryce hadn’t kept the customary distance between meeting packs and didn’t have time to prepare for Brian’s attack. Brian sank his teeth into the wolf’s shoulder dragging him to the ground before soft human skin was replaced with thick fur. Bryce shook him loose and snapped at his legs forcing Brian to back up or risk a broken leg. When Bryce lunged for his leg again Brian clamped his teeth onto his muzzle and shook the wolf off his feet.
            “Brian,” Matt yelled. “Stop!” Brian shrugged the order off, both wolf and man were agreed that Bryce would not live another moment. Sinking low to the ground he waited for Bryce to make another mistake so he could go for the wolf’s neck.
            Zack’s sharp barks broke through his red-hazed concentration and he backed up a step so Bryce couldn’t lunge at him. The little alpha’s wiggly body pushed against his while him barked and whined for him to back away from the fight. He snarled once when Bryce took a step forward and Brian readied to charge him again until Zack licked his cheek and muzzle. Still growling Brian continued to back up until Bryce felt safe enough to return to his human form.
            “So many centuries and still just as savage,” he panted. His shoulder still bled but the wounds were healing quickly. Zack snarled at him but held Brian at bay and managed to herd him over to Matt where the alpha clamped down on his scruff. “Control yourself,” he hissed watching Bryce walk over to Shasta. Brian watched him as well still growling. Zack wasn’t hiding, but the little wolf trembled pressed against Brian’s forepaws and chest.
            Brian shook Matt’s hand loose and licked Zack’s ear to comfort him. The goal of these meetings was to show off the pack’s strength and Zack cowering against him wasn’t doing that much of a favor but at the moment the only thing Brian cared about was the safety of his young alpha.
            “You’ve met Bryce before, that makes introductions easier,” Shasta said, surprise gone from her voice.
            Matt’s cold voice held every bit of his stoic upbringing. “That tick-ridden half-dog tried to kill my mate.” Brian flashed his teeth and put one leg over Zack’s shaking body. Zack wiggled back more against his stomach and his trembling slowed, his ears stayed glued to his skull but he was pulling his terror back.
            A frown crossed Shasta’s face for a moment before she covered it with a shake of her head. “A different time, I’m sure.”
Bryce nodded. “Some of us have kept up with the changing times.” He glared at Brian and only his stubborn will kept him from snapping his teeth at the pale aristocrat. Matt’s unwavering stare made Bryce shift only once before he held himself still. “There was a time wolves just ran off with whatever mate they wanted, now, we court and ask politely,” he said with a bow, not taking his eyes off Matt.
The Roman didn’t soften. “Were this another time, I would have lit the tinder at your feet.” He finally turned his focus to Shasta again. “I will repeat my challenge to Bryce as Terasi’s life-mate.” Cool words, the accent a little more pronounced now that he was angry but none of the other wolves would know that.
Shasta tilted her head and a cold smile touched her lips. “I still envy your formality, Matthias.” She waved a hand at Zack tucked securely against Brian’s belly. “Even when your beta disobeys a direct order and your mate cowers in fear you think you have the authority to issue that kind of challenge.”
            Zack whimpered quietly and Brian could feel the weight of his misery. Now he snarled at Shasta. Matt glanced down at his beta and frightened mate with soft affection. “My unruly beta,” he said still not looking at her. “Has saved my life and my mate’s life more times than I will ever repay. I have no authority over him. Sometimes, I don’t even know why he puts up with me, but he is the most loyal wolf to ever walk this earth. He will die for me and me, him.” He looked at Shasta then. “And my mate,” his voice hard again, “Is more fit to be an alpha than either you or that serpent-tongued beggar.” He shifted to his wolf form, guard hairs glowing like starlight on his black pelt. Zack wriggled out from under Brian and touched noses with his mate. The two alphas loped from the beach side by side, Matt’s large black wolf a shadow on the sand and Zack’s small red and white form at his side, a prancing puppy.
            Brian watched them for a moment glad he was in his wolf form. He had no words for Matt’s little speech about him but he felt the hidden fear he had harbored for centuries finally lay down. Matt wouldn’t leave him. They argued and drove each other to the brink of insanity more times than they would admit, but he loved the stubborn Roman wolf and now, with another pack as his witness, he knew the old wolf felt the same way about him. Glancing once more at Shasta and her pack mates and Bryce he flashed his teeth and laid his ears back. And then went to join his alphas, at home.
            Back at Brian’s house, Zack was cuddled safely behind a wall of teeth and fur as Johnny licked his ear and nuzzled him and Matt and Jimmy paced in the living room. Their heavy paws were quiet on the floor save for the light click of their claws. Brian watched them pace and sighed before shifting back to his human form. “Matthias,” he said. “You can’t assassinate another pack’s alpha.” The black wolf laid his ears back and a rumbling growl left him. Zack’s ears flicked forward and he thumped his tail against the floor. Johnny snorted and snuggled closer to his friend. Jimmy had to lie down next to them as well. His body was growing stronger every day but stress was a quick way to wear anyone out.
Matt rose from his wolf form, his eyes still cold as Roman coins. “How did we let this happen? We should have killed him before he established himself,” he fumed. Brian sighed and leaned back against the wall. He found Zack’s ball in an empty built in bookcase. Rolling the blue prize over to him he didn’t let his mind touch on the burning brand that was Shasta. Zack snapped the ball up and squeaked it a couple times. Johnny pawed his face and nipped at him trying to get him to drop it. Both the size of true wolves they looked like month old puppies when they played. Jimmy shifted back to his human form and winced.
“We’re never home. We don’t keep up on things like we used to,” he sighed, trying to stretch his shoulders. Brian filed that away into the overstuffed file of Hard Lessons Learned. “We were lax and now there’s not much to be done about it. Unless you want to absorb that territory and get every pack on the west coast in a panic Bryce is here to stay until someone boots him out.”
“Might not take long,” Brian murmured, catching Johnny’s wagging tail. “He’s not strong, just cruel. Any wolf with true alpha attributes will run him off easily and L.A. is a lucrative territory.”
Matt sighed and started pacing again. “He’s built a wall around himself. That’s probably why he came to the new world. There are only a handful of wolves on this continent to know who he truly is and most of them are in this room.” He stopped pacing and stared at a far point on the wall. Brian let him think. His brain and body were exhausted, Matt needed to think for both of them. “That must be why he’s after Terasi,” Matt told the wall he was staring at. “He hasn’t established himself. He’s nothing but hot air right now and all it’ll take is some young wolf to test the water to realize he doesn’t have any teeth. If he mates with a strong, established pack with old alphas suddenly it’s a lot more intimidating to challenge him.”
“He wasn’t invited to that meeting,” Brian said starting to pull pieces together from Matt’s revelation. “They hid their surprise well, but they weren’t expecting him either. He wanted to know who was challenging him.”
Matt looked at him with a cold smile on his lips and for the first time in his long life he was glad he had never gone against Matthias on a battlefield. “The coward played it off well enough, were it any other wolf they wouldn’t have caught his scent.” He looked back at his mate. “It doesn’t matter how profitable the territory is, if the alpha is insecure enough he has to break etiquette and eavesdrop on a meeting…”
Brian sat up, the hole in his chest beginning to sew itself shut. “She won’t take the risk,” he whispered. “There’s no way she’ll risk mating her young wolf off to someone who will run from a good set of teeth.” Matt’s shoulders finally relaxed.
“We should be getting a time and place tomorrow for the challenge.”
“What happens then?” Zack asked softly. Matt sat down next to his mate and brushed his hair back.
“Then Brian gets to tear Bryce’s throat out,” he said with a cheerful bloodlust not heard in today’s world. Brian laughed with the same tone and bared his teeth in a smile.
Zack snuggled under his mate’s arm with a sleepy sigh. “Good.”
*~*~*
            It was rare Matt was wrong, and this was no exception. The next morning Brian walked out onto the porch and found a blank envelope dropped in front of the door. The unfamiliar wolf smell was back. He breathed deep to remember it. It was probably the male alpha, Terasi’s father.
            Pulling out the sheet of paper he skimmed past all the flowery formal language to the nuts and bolts at the bottom. Matt rested his head on his shoulder and read with him. “A full week?” he murmured. “Seems like a long time to put something like this off.”
            “I’m sure Bryce had something to do with that,” Brian growled. “Coward. Probably hoping he can convince Shasta this is unnecessary and just mate Terasi with him.” His lip curled and Matt hummed while he thought.
            Zack wiggled his way between Brian’s body and arm so he could read the letter as well. “So what’s all this mean?” he asked.
            “In a week we will meet Shasta’s and Bryce’s pack at this address,” Matt said. “Then Brian and Bryce fight.” Zack flinched and an angry look crossed his face. Brian pressed a kiss to his temple. “I don’t like it,” the small alpha said still glaring at the letter. “Bryce can choke on silver, there’s no reason to fight.”
            “Wolf world, angel,” Matt said with weary humor. “It’s slow to change because the old ones who remember the “good ol’ days” just don’t die like they do in the human world.”
- 9
- 10
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Outbreak