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Chapter 5...Of Actions and Reactions...

"HHHHOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!"

Simeon's ears swivelled on his head. Where he was lying, Helewys' call echoed around the vale as she summoned the bitches' circle the following false dawn. She had warned him to be scarce, off hunting or long ranging somewhere that was within a mark's lope, just in case things turned nasty and his services were required. He had chosen to lie on a rock ledge on the east side at the top of the falls. Invisible to those below, and from those skirting the cliff above, but he could still see them. Tentative noses began appearing from the huts as the first rays of the sun kissed his fur, the night's last breaths ruffling it with the updraft from the falling waters. He had stayed the night in Gregor's new bachelor hut, though they had done nothing but lie side by side next to the fire-pit once Gregor had established that something was seriously bothering his pupil, he had remained for comfort and friendship reasons alone.

The bitches began to assemble, and the males all left to hunt, or complete other business with the male pups that were weaned. A circle called for something other than a fight at this time of the morning, meant it was to be a female only affair...and the pack laws stated that males could be held by the throat for eavesdropping.

Simeon had slipped out the requisite mark before, leaving Gregor's slumbering form to topple sideways onto the shared pad, and he watched his tutor's dark form emerge from the hut, glancing around sharply as if to find him, before loping off quickly into the woods so as not to be caught out and accused of spying. All the bitches, from the age of four weeks up assembled in the village circle, Helewys sitting proudly in the entrance to the Alpha's hut.

****

Mothers calmed their pups as Helewys bid them to lie down, young lips attaching themselves to swollen teats that for once they didn't have to fight for with their brothers. "Is everyone sure all males have left the vale?" Helewys asked quietly from where she remained sitting.

"All except Cassius, Alpha," Lucinda declared, "He was still in his hut as I passed."

"He will receive no visitors, and I doubt he can hear above the falls noise before Balthazar calls circle for the males this afternoon. If any object to him remaining flat on his belly in there, say so now and two of us can aid him into the woods." Helewys replied.

The rest of the bitches looked at each other, no one objecting openly, "As most senior Alpha bitch who is still breeding and not retired, may I enquire as to our summoning?" Lucinda asked formally, her ears down.

"You may...this is the first full circle that I have called as Ledrene...though it may not be the last..." Helewys started.

"Pardon me Ledrene," Andria, the oldest of the retired grey muzzles interrupted, "This is the first full bitch circle I have known called in my thirty seven years of life..."

Helewys nodded, "I did not know that old one..."

"Do you as a changeling call one for spurious reasons then?" Andria asked flatly, the other bitches backing away from her a little at the indirect challenge.

"No...I know the laws Andria as if I were born to the pack...A full circle like this may only be called if the pack's welfare is at immediate risk. I believe the situation that has come to my attention warrants the call. Challenge is deferred, I need all ears now," Helewys stated.

"Then we are at war?" Andria pressed, causing the other bitches to shuffle nervously, "No Weres have not come back in the last two moons..."

"We are not at war yet...though I fear that our pups born now will taste the salt of human blood before they reach your venerable age, Andria. I call this circle today, as I believe after new information came to me last night, that we should try to ensure that they stand a chance after we are but forgotten dust."

Andria nodded, "So, what is it that you propose to do about the possible, or imagined threat to us in the future?"

"We know the packs to the south war with the humans...It will only be a matter of time before the humans want sole hunting rights to our territory to..."

"We will just fight them off..." One of the Beta bitches growled.

"We would lose...and we would do so at the moment for a very good reason, we are a weak pack."

"What do you mean, a weak pack?" Lucinda asked surprised, "We are numerous, well fed, strong..."

"We have too few Alphas, male or female. Look around the circle Lucinda... Look at the pups at their mother's teats...A Beta Were is likely to lose in straight fight with a human, even though they are stronger." Helewys interrupted.

The Betas grumbled slightly, but remained silent so as not to attract a challenge they would lose.

"And your point is? We cannot choose what class of wolf we bear from our loins as bitches..." Lucinda declared.

"What if I say that we as mothers can?" Helewys stated flatly, silencing her and the others with the statement.

"I would say that you are addled, and an Alpha younger than me here should challenge for your place," Lucinda spat, "I am not suicidal as I know you would defeat and treat me as you did Millicent."

"Millicent was killed by her own terms as you all well know, her death may as well have been at her own teeth. Any new challenge I would gladly accept, as I believe in the evidence before me. I ask first though that you listen to that evidence, and to the proposal myself and Balthazar have come up with, with the aid of our new healer, before that challenge is made."

"Simeon at least talks sense," Lucinda grunted as Helewys scanned the rest of the Alpha bitches to see if any would stand and step forward. None did...

"Then listen to what I am about to tell you all..." She proceeded to carefully lay down the details of the private discussion on the breeding habits of the pack...And where the information came from. A few of the retired bitches, Andria included whispered to each other with little nods as they recalled the family trees of those assembled around them, tallying up the Beta/Alpha split with growing concern. Lucinda fetched up her own pups heritage from her memories as well, as she began to realise that one plus one did not always make two...

Helewys finished, settling quietly and declaring that the discussion was open for queries that she would answer if she could. None were forthcoming, as the assembled bitches own memories filled in the gaps...

"So you have called this circle to declare that all bitches under your leadership will be forced to breed with males that they may not choose to, in order to whelp Alpha's?" Lucinda asked after the discussion died, "Is this just a ruse to have your pups get preference all the time?"

"No...I am no tyrant like Cassius was, you should all know that. Neither may I add is Balthazar. Pad-warming couples will remain just that with full boon granted, though I will declare that neither mine, nor his boon will be granted to new couples, or bitches in heat unless they are at least two blood relations apart..."

"Now hang on a minute..." Lucinda started.

"Are you challenging me Lucinda? Come and meet me if you are, and I will not kill you! But I asked for you to hear me out!" Helewys declared, standing and stepping forward, her hackles raised, "And as for my pups? Gregor and the others cannot breed with any male or bitch close to their ages here in the pack by the rules I have just laid out, as Cassius took nearly every bitch in heat for years...think about it!"

Lucinda dropped her stance, lowering her ears, "I will listen..." she conceded quietly as the point sank in.

"After the blood issue was established to be the likely problem by the healer...Don't say a word!" Helewys growled as a few bitches bridled at that information, "A couple of courses of action were discussed. Simeon was the one most likely know the most about this, which is why Balthazar asked for him to be present to confirm his fears...he was sitting as third Alpha in the hut throughout, though remained silent for the most part. It was Simeon who dragged all the knowledge of the breeding history out of me. You must remember, I was just a suicidal wench in an Inn when Robin changed and saved me...I had zero education, except in the arts of sexual pleasures." The bitches settled again, "The courses of action were to go hunting for more like me...female humans who were alone and vulnerable, to try and change them. That would give a fifty percent chance of survival at best as you well know, and a good chance that they would be missed, bringing a war to us sooner."

"It would also bring more changelings to the pack...something that I am sure you know would upset many of us Wereborn..." Andria pointed out, getting a few nods from the other younger bitches.

"That idea was disregarded as unworkable and dangerous, though one thing I will authorise... If you find a female under the age of eighteen at the end of their hopes when you are out on your long-ranging or hunting, reveal yourself to them...talk to them...and give them the option. If they refuse, kill them painlessly...it is likely a better death than the one they are about to choose for themselves. If they opt for a chance of a new and different life, give it to them. Bite them, but bring them here before the fever sets in so Simeon may tend them... That is my Alpha order. Balthazar will be issuing the same one to the males. We want no more males as we are bitch light already. In an ideal situation the pack would have more bitches than males...but that could take generations to happen, which is why we as bitches have generally become free with our favours amongst many of the males available to stop resentment..."

"I for one would remain so unless I landed someone like Simeon..." Fel stated, getting a bunch of giggles from the rest of them, including Helewys.

"I think that many of us would remain free...I would if I were not Alpha," Helewys replied.

"So what was the other solution you three came up with?" Andria asked.

"Two...Balthazar and I...Simeon had no part in this...And to be honest I am not at all happy about it either, but I see that there is no other real options, so I am backing it. The option is that we send half our pups and juveniles over the age of six months, drawn by blind lot, North through the mountains to exchange with pups from the northern packs that Balthazar knows are there and already freely exchange with each other already... He has negotiated free passage and hunting rights for the party through the Werecat territory..."

All hell broke loose then as she thought it would, bitches standing in anger, all trying to talk at the same time as they confronted each other...A few almost stepped into the circle in their confusion and consternation at the announcement. She let it ride over her, as she had been expecting it, keeping her guard up and watching as slowly it was only the firebrand bitches left standing and arguing with each other...

The anger died eventually, though a couple of the Alpha bitches including Andria and Lucinda still stood, looks of hatred directed at her, "Before you step over the line...think of this. I could lose Gregor, Benedict, Charles or Harold myself. For the lots to be fair, they will be for all. No bitch will lose an entire litter, even if bad luck mars the draw. You will know that they will have a better life and strong mates if they draw short. Thirteen of the twenty five that qualify will go by our reckoning, and that will mean seven bitches and six males...as a good will gesture. The other packs will need more bitches than males too. The Alpha male who leads them on the journey will ensure that they are exchanged like for like...or the deal is off."

"And if the Alpha we send is killed and the pups taken?" Andria demanded.

"The pack dies sooner rather than later..." Helewys responded flatly, "Though the benefits outweighs that risk...The exchange would then happen again another two years down the line until all three packs are Alpha heavy and at full strength again...Our territory is healthy and large enough to support over four hundred Alphas...No one would challenge us if we were that strong."

Andria looked at Lucinda and Portia, the only two Alpha bitches young enough to challenge who were still standing, hackles raised, "I think it crazy, but I will be dead in less than a year anyway so it does not affect me...I will issue first challenge to try and weaken her if either of you want to step forward to end the madness..." Andria stated, bringing Helewys to her feet again.

Lucinda and Portia looked at each other... "I am older, maybe one litter left in me... I will challenge if you want...and hand Alpha leader position to you when my heat fails to come, without a challenge in a couple of years...you have twelve years youth on me Portia..."

"Would the others give it to me?" Portia asked quietly.

"Not unless you get a spine child...I am your Dam don't forget. Speak up!" Lucinda barked.

"I have born many myself now...Dam...But if you want to sacrifice yourself to save me scars, then do it, you are a better fighter than I...Let us put Wereborn back in charge of the pack," Portia snarled, before she settled back on her haunches.

Helewys stepped over the line, "Come then Andria...terms are set by the challenger as is the law...No more than two may challenge me in the same moon by those same laws which I have always upheld without partiality. What are your terms, to submission or death?"

Andria stepped across the line into the circle, her aging legs shaking a little, "Are the terms for the contest, or just our fight?" she asked.

"The fight...No one may set terms for another...Lucinda sets her own."

"Then death... I have no wish to see the dissolution of the pack. And I say now that if you die by my jaws, Lucinda takes Alpha position until she too is challenged..." Andria replied flatly.

"Witnessed!" The other bitches howled.

"If that is what you wish...I did not want this..." With that statement Helewys charged.

She did not wait, knowing that two fights would be happening today. She tore into Andria where she stood, the old bitch unable to react fast enough as jaws grazed her flank and Helewys' shoulder sent her tumbling head over tail into a heap of tangled limbs on the other side of the circle. Helewys closed the gap as the aged silvered wolf's chest heaved in an attempt to draw breath, fixing her jaws around Andria's throat, watching for the danger the blunted claws could still inflict if she struck out... "Submit Andria...and I will let live your last moons out in peace..."

"Honour the terms..." Andria gasped out.

Helewys shook her head and closed her jaws, crushing the retired bitch's trachea with her power before twisting, the clean and clear snapping of Andria's spine echoing off the cliffs for a second a she died instantly, her eyes glazing over as her heart and lungs shut down with a rattling that made those surrounding the circle wince.

Helewys released the corpse and licked her eyes closed, "As I said before, I did not want to do that. Do you rescind your challenge Lucinda?" she asked, looking up at the other bitch, without even breaking into a sweat.

"No...she sacrificed herself for me and the pack..." Lucinda declared, stepping into the circle.

"Your terms?" Helewys asked, shaking her head.

"Submission...There has been enough death today," Lucinda responded, "It will not stop me from disabling you permanently though..." she added with bravado.

Helewys hung her jaw in a mock laugh, "I will not disable you unless by accident...The pack needs you," she replied flatly, "You may make your move first..."

***

Simeon gazed down from above, he had watched the bitch circle erupt in anger at words spoken that he could not hear, though he guessed the content of. Abstractly observing as Helewys was challenged, and a silver furred bitch he didn't recognise step into the circle with her, only to die a quick and humiliating death as sure as the spine snapping crunch that reached his ears from the reflective granite walls. More words obviously spoken, and then the bitch he recognised to be his first Mate stepped into the circle too...he sighed heavily as she began her dance with the Alpha bitch who wanted him over hers...

"So mother killed again then?"

Simeon nearly jumped over the cliff in shock as Gregor dropped from the rock above, his approach having been as silent as a zephyr on a summer's long day.

"What?" Simeon asked, his heart calming slowly.

"Mother has killed Andria...she was near her time anyhow, but it could foster resentment," Gregor said, settling down next to Simeon as snarls invaded both their ears as Lucinda closed on Helewys below, drawing first blood with a glancing blow.

"The challenge seemed fair and to the bitches' agreement...how did you find me?" Simeon asked, "I was meant to be out of contact for this morning's gatherings."

"Nose...you do not cover your paw scent trails yet...A pup could find you if they wanted."

"Then why did you follow me?" Simeon asked, glancing down at the ring as Lucinda squealed in anger, the top half of her right ear being shredded in Helewys' counter attack.

"Why do you break the law and watch a bitches circle?" Gregor asked, "I should challenge you for this."

"Because the falls stop me from hearing the discussion, therefore I am not breaching the law, and because I know I am likely to be called to aid. Helewys asked for me to stay within howling distance."

Gregor grunted, turning his own eyes on the fight below as the two combatants began a belly boxing session that would have floored a couple of bucks in rut. Eventually Lucinda was thrown clear, rolling in the dust, righting herself quickly before Helewys could close on her again. "So you know what this is about?" Gregor asked, not taking his eyes off the fight.

"I do..."

"And?" Gregor prompted.

"To reveal would break the law..." Simeon replied, a grin gracing his muzzle, "You will find out mid-afternoon when Balthazar calls us in." Helewys struck at Lucinda again then, the older bitch sacrificing the tip of her tail in the strike as she ran from the Ledrene's grasping jaws.

"You will certainly have to patch up someone," Gregor declared as the sand began to be stained with bloody smears, "I am guessing it had something to do with why you were in the hut with mother and Balthazar most of yesterday..."

"Yes, but I am not going to be prodded into talking Gregor...the bitches will be ordered not to reveal either until after the meeting of the males, on pain of challenge..."

"It is that serious?" Gregor asked.

"It is...And if it is tears and cuts I will not be able to heal much in my current form..." Simeon mused. Helewys struck again at Lucinda, jaws closing briefly on her chest as she tossed her over her back, ripping the skin over her breastbone to bleed freely as her challenger recovered her footing to face her again. Helewys obviously paused and gave the chance for submission, which from the immediate counter attack was not accepted.

"About that...you should be able to by now. Have you tried?" Gregor asked as his mother was bowled off her feet for the first time, the two bitches snarling and grasping for each other as the dust rose blood speckled in the morning sun.

"No...not yet...I do not know how too," Simeon responded, his eyes not leaving the dust obscured circle still. There was a triumphant howl and the circle broke as one body was thrown clear of the ring to barrel through the Betas below, the contest over.

"Who won?" Gregor asked.

"I cannot tell yet..." Simeon replied, eyes trying to work out who was now trying to regain her feet outside of the circle, the profile obscured by the disturbed dirt.

A series of strong instructions, orders even, echoed around the cliffs, words still unintelligible to the two secret observers as the Ledrene of the pack issued them. The chorus of acknowledgement rattling rocks loose as the bitches bayed their replies before rolling on their flanks to state witness and submissiveness. A howl then rose from the dust, weakened by breathlessness as Simeon's name caught on the breeze, the other bitches joining it before the circle broke free, only the defeated bitch and Andria's corpse remaining visible before another stumbled weakly towards the Alpha hut and collapsed within.

"That is my cue...and also the answer. Only Helewys knows that I am within hearing distance," Simeon stated, getting to his feet and stretching.

"Simeon..." Gregor started as he began climbing back up to the cliff top.

"Yes?" Simeon asked, looking down over his shoulder.

"Think human...close your eyes and will your body to be human again. It is easier for changeling, just remember what you were. It will hurt like hell the first time, but by the time you have done it ten or fifteen times it will be as painless as passing a turd with too much roughage. Your body will know what to do...go patch my mother up and your boon Mate Lucinda if you can." Gregor said as Simeon nodded and turned, resuming his climb before breaking into the ground eating lope downhill that would allow him to reach them both in time...

***

Simeon loped straight into the challenge circle, wincing a little at the amount of stains in the dust. He had caught the eyes of a few of the departing bitches as he came back into the village, some turning their heads away in unfriendliness, others holding his as he passed, accusations rife in them, but no hostility. He had a feeling that his pad may be a little cooler at night from now on...

Lucinda lay moaning on one side where she had fallen, blood oozing from assorted visible wounds, but still conscious, if not talking. He approached the Alpha hut, peering into the darkness as Helewys' eyes opened at his approach. "Ah good...you are here. Tend to your Boon Mate first...I have a broken tail, though not displaced, and several cuts that may require more than a good licking...she is worse off than me. It was a well matched fight..." Helewys breathed, going back to grooming herself.

"Did they agree then?" Simeon asked quietly.

"No...hence the challenges, but they have no choice now. The actions will have been taken, and the pups departed before any can challenge my orders again. Now go and save Lucinda, I pulled my teeth at the last opportunities when I could." Helewys ordered.

"Yes Ledrene," Simeon replied formally.

He left the hut and approached the still heavily breathing form of his first Mate...though he privately thought she would withdraw consent after the morning's events. "Lucinda, I need to examine you..." he said tentatively.

"What do you want?" Lucinda growled, a snarl on her torn and bleeding muzzle as she turned her head to face him.

"I am the healer...I am here to heal you as our Ledrene has requested," Simeon replied formally.

"Why should I let you...? You are a traitor to the pack!" Lucinda spat, a tooth coming loose and firing like an arrow at his face.

"Because I am not a traitor to the pack, and there will be NO pack without bitches like you that provide the life to continue...All I did was confirm medically what I am sure as been suspected by others before me..."

"Fucking changelings..." Hatred lacing the tones of the curse as it spilled from her lips.

"Changeling I may be, as is Balthazar, Helewys, Robin...and Tashir...but did you honestly not wonder at the lack of born Alphas amongst the pack's members before today?" Simeon asked as he ran his eyes over her body. It was obvious that the breastbone wound was the most serious, the glimmer of white bone showing through the visceral mess of torn hide and sinews. He was going to have to stitch...and he knew it now. His eyes cast around him for what he needed, spotting Gregor loping into the village, "Gregor, a favour...use your nose and locate Robin for me please...I need the new catgut he has prepared, even if it is not cured yet, and my pack too..."

Gregor nodded, "Favour granted healer..." and he dropped his snout to the ground, circling a little before heading off on a trail he picked out.

"Betas have been born for years...I myself have had whole litters of them," Lucinda replied with a groan.

Simeon edged closer and started to clean the blood from her torn lips carefully, watching closely just in case she turned on him in anger...she could easily rip his throat out if she chose at this close a quarter, "And I would hazard a guess that those litters came from a coupling with your close cousins or your Sires, or your Dam's brothers..."

"Well yes...but my children were and are strong and healthy..."

"I never said they wouldn't be...they just wouldn't ever likely to be Alphas. Do you have any broken bones other than a cracked rib or two? From your breath sounds you have not punctured a lung...I could not help you if you had. Also I need to know if you have any more tears that you are lying on at the moment."

"I am torn all over I think...And I know I have lost my plume..." she weakly switched her tail out from under her to reveal that she had indeed.

"Can you stand?" Simeon asked, "With my help of course..."

"Yes... Why?"

"Need to get you to the river...No point in stitching you up if you are full of the dirt from the circle...You would be dead in days from infection." Simeon stated flatly.

Lucinda looked at him funnily as she staggered to her feet, "I don't understand you healer... Apart from my use to the pack as a bitch, why help me?"

"It is part of my oaths...If I were called to arms in a battle between humans and an enemy soldier attacked me, forcing me to draw my blade and run him through...I would still try and save his life. In a choice between my own side and the other's, I would obviously opt to help my own soldiers first..."

"And now?" Lucinda asked as she leant on him heavily, staining his own fur with her blood as he helped her to the nearest bathing eddy.

"I am a Were...the Were and the pack comes first. If I have to kill a human, I will kill a human...but if I thought them worth changing when the heat of a battle is over, I would not rip their throats out."

"Humph!" Lucinda replied as she found herself knees deep in the icy water.

"I cannot do anything but patch your right ear or tail, sorry." Simeon stated flatly as he withdrew, "Fill your stomach with water please, it will stop you going into a blood faint."

"Where are you going?" Lucinda asked as his support was withdrawn.

"I cannot tend you like this," Simeon declared as he stood on the bank and closed his eyes in concentration, "I must try and change back for the first time, Gregor told me how to..."

His mind dredged up the memories of his fever, of the shakes and sweating that he didn't know anything about at the time through his unconsciousness. All his muscles began to contract, rippling under his fur as pain began to envelop his joints, his jaw dropping loose as he howled out in protest from the all-encompassing agony. His bowels voided, bladder spraying the ground underneath his belly with urine as he collapsed into his own mess, his skeleton warping as stars appeared on the inside of his eyelids as unconsciousness took his brain.

He woke with Lucinda nosing at his side, "Well it worked anyway..." she commented as his eyes opened.

"Oh Christ...how long was I out?" Simeon asked, looking down at his hands for the first time in weeks.

"Minutes...pain must have knocked you unconscious," she commented.

"You are still bleeding heavily...have you been drinking the water?" Simeon asked, groaning as he stood, wobbling on two feet.

"Yes...a little before you collapsed," Lucinda replied as she stumbled back into the water. Simeon started to follow her, "Downstream please..." She snapped with a smile, nose directed at his messed belly.

"Ha ha..." Simeon huffed and did as bid, washing himself of the stink in the icy flow downstream, "So let me have a closer look at that breastbone tear now." He moved back up to her side, sitting on a rock in the slowly flowing water of the pool, "I need to ensure you have no dirt left in it at all and it is going to hurt like hell."

"Not as much as what your first transformation did," Lucinda replied with a grin, "I remember mine still from when I was a pup."

Simeon grimaced, "And I have to be back as a wolf again for when Balthazar calls us males to circle later..." He gently began to tease the torn skin free of her ribs, exposing the dust and dirt covered flesh, rising in the light with each passing breath. Blood eased constantly from the torn veins and capillaries as he scooped up hands full of water to massage gently into wound, washing the grime away.

"It does rather sting a lot," Lucinda said through gritted teeth.

"I cannot numb an open wound, it would infect...Sorry."

"I can take it, no worse than giving birth..." She hissed as he began to fold the flaps back to cover it up. She glanced up as he gently ran his hand over her head, running it up her shredded ear before allowing his fingers to massage the bridge of her long snout.

"That is something I wouldn't know about," Simeon commented quietly as he leant down towards her, Lucinda freezing as his human lips touched her torn one for a second, tongue slipping out and caressing it before he withdrew.

"I should kill you for that," Lucinda said as she extended her neck and rubbed her left cheek and ear up against his, "I am Wereborn and proud of it...I don't do anything in human form..."

"And I don't kiss wolves..." Simeon whispered back, looking up as Gregor approached them with his pack, Robin in human form following, carrying some strings of raw, uncured catgut in his hands, "So I think that makes us even eh?" he continued, a smile gracing her again.

"Now let me get you stitched up," he said louder, taking his pack from Gregor, the younger wolf departing as he routed through it, pulling out the bag with his dwindling supply of painkillers in it, "Swallow three of these and step out of the water before you collapse, I will carry you to your hut so you can sleep them off...Do not try and lick your wounds clean when you wake up," he instructed.

"Yes healer," Lucinda replied, her eyes drooping as the opiates took effect, her legs folding as he stopped her from falling chest first in the dirt again, rolling her gently onto her flank.

Utilising the best of the gut Robin offered him, he quickly and neatly pieced together the torn flaps of hide, sewing it tight to the flesh underneath in the hope that it would knit and not rot from her body with gangrene. He slathered the wound with a healing poultice and bound it to her in an improvised harness over her back and shoulder blades. He quickly went over the rest of her body, added a stich here, a bandage there until she was as complete as he could make her before washing his hands in the river again and scooping her up with a grunt of effort, surprising himself with his strength as he had Robin guide him to her hut and pad. "She will sleep the rest of the day, and the night through after that dose," he said as he turned towards the Alpha hut, "Now let's see what damage she did to the Ledrene..."

"Yes healer," Robin replied, "I am surprised that you did not attend her first..."

"I did, but she ordered me to deal with Lucinda over her, as she is not as badly injured," Simeon replied as they walked back towards the central hut, "And how is your chest fairing anyhow Robin?"

"I can breathe easier, though I certainly doubt I will going long ranging anytime soon...thank you."

"You won't be able to do anything much for the rest of your life I am afraid...I can only supress the disease, not cure it. The damage is done," Simeon replied seriously as they entered the hut.

"Supress what?" Helewys asked, waking from an exhausted doze, "Is Lucinda going to be alright?"

"Supress Robin's disease...and yes as long as she doesn't infect, she will make a full, if scarred recovery," Simeon replied, "Now it is your turn."

"You are human again!" Helewys exclaimed as her eyes focussed.

Simeon chuckled, "I couldn't rely on Robin to be able to stitch up all the damage you two have done to each other...So I tried when Gregor told me I should be able to. Blacked me out with pain, but here I am again, back to my more useful self."

"Too early, no wonder you bloody blacked out...you should have waited until the next full moon," Helewys admonished.

"Needs must Ledrene...There was no way that Robin could have stitched up Lucinda's breast bone..."

"I couldn't have Ledrene...you made a hell of a mess of her," Robin commented.

"I just hope it doesn't have other consequences for your future..."

"It is yours I am worried about now Helewys," Simeon said, "You say your tail is broken?"

"Yes, midway, but I can still feel the tip, just splint it and it will heal fine, not crooked."

"And your cuts?" Simeon pressed, building up the fire in the pit to cast more light upon her.

"Superficial...that is why I ordered you to deal with her first."

"Who is the healer here?" Simeon asked with a grin.

Helewys smiled, teeth glinting in the firelight, "I had better shut up hadn't I?"

"And let me give you a good going over..."

"Oh you can do that anytime..." she flirted.

Simeon blushed for the first time as a human again.

"Oh lay off pupil!" Robin laughed, starting them all giggling like pups.

Simeon carefully checked her over from nose to tail, stitching up the worst of her injuries just as he had done before, flushing them with garlic water as he went, "Do you want painkillers again?" he asked when he was done splinting her tail.

"No...I will be fine...thank you." Helewys replied sleepily.

"Well from the sun outside, I would guess that you have about a mark or two before Balthazar returns and calls the males in." He walked over to Robin and took the last of the catgut from where it spanned his hands, "I prescribe Robin, that a more experienced hand checks her haunches over for damage again." He winked and left the hut without another word with his pack, pulling the cord on the privacy curtain as he passed it.

Robin stood there dumbfounded for a second in the flickering shadows until Helewys chuckled, "Well Robin, are you going to follow healers orders?" she asked.

It didn't take more than that to break his trance, and he changed to wolf smoothly and proceeded to demonstrate that while age and illness had slowed him, he was still the Were she remembered from the time he changed her.

~~~~

"Mother going to be okay too?" Gregor asked, settling on his quarters as he watched Simeon wash himself thoroughly from toe to head in the river.

"Yes...she is going to be fine. Crooked tail maybe, but nothing else major. She is sleeping now until Balthazar calls the males in."

"Still not going to tell me what's going on?"

"No...Will you do me the favour of watching over me when I change back...I will have to be wolf for the circle."

"Of course, I am your tutor..."

"Your Dam tells me that I shouldn't have changed so soon, care to explain why you told me I could. It nearly killed me."

"Erm...You needed to be able to..." Gregor replied hesitantly as Simeon walked towards him, water dripping from all the right places, "You make an attractive human by the way..." he added.

Simeon smiled, "Not a good enough answer...wolf. If I had died, or even not recovered quickly enough from the forced change, the pack would have been minus another bitch!" With that he leapt forward without warning. He was still unsure of his new found strength in his legs, but the bound carried him from a standing position a few feet in front of Gregor, to on his back before his tutor had chance to react. Simeon bowled him over again, rolling the two of them in the dust as Gregor tried to regain his feet with the iron like grip of arms constricting his rib cage. Simeon got his legs under himself first and despite the 150 pounds plus of snarling and squirming muscles in his arms, he teetered to his feet and dumped the both of them in the river with a splash that would have woken the dead.

Gregor rose to the surface spluttering, coughing up what seemed to be gallons of water as he paddled frantically for the side until his feet touched the rocks. Simeon surfaced in the pool laughing as the half drowned Were shook his head, the black fur plastered to his skull and over his eyes as he turned them balefully on where his tutor was lazily circling out of his reach, "What the fuck was that for!" Gregor shouted.

"Payback for forcing me to change early," Simeon called back, "We haven't the time for me to pay you back the other way... You needed a bath anyhow."

"I'll have you know I clean myself daily!" Gregor exclaimed.

"With your tongue...you smell like a rancid dog to me most of the time. The others all bathe in the river...I have never seen you do it though," Simeon taunted.

"Don't like the water...fell in as an un-weaned pup and nearly drowned..."

Simeon's jollity turned serious, "I'm sorry, I didn't know," he apologised, swimming back to where Gregor stood, dripping in the shallows.

"Not something I talk about...A Were who doesn't like the water has a weakness that could be exploited..."

"I don't see how, except in play. It is not like circles have water in them is it?" Simeon commented, scooping some water up with his hands and starting to massage it deeply into Gregor's undercoat with his elongated fingernails, bringing out the grime and accumulated years of things that were probably not mentionable.

"What are you doing?" Gregor asked, as the massage unknotted some of his muscles.

"Giving you a bath...A proper bath. I wouldn't want you to sicken from something nasty caught up in your pelt. You do not change human often, so you must stay clean as a Were...I am surprised your pad-warmers have not commented on your odour...It was rather strong when we lay together last night. Hands are so much more useful when it comes to things like this." Simeon dug deeper and deeper, really working Gregor's flanks and back over as his tongue began to loll from his mouth in pleasure.

"My...my partners have been interested only with what is between my legs, and have all been Wereborn...I suppose we don't notice our own scents..." Gregor commented as Simeon moved down across his haunches.

"I'll bet you that if you asked them, they would also tell you that you stink...Ysmay has become immune to it, living with you for so long. I have watched the other Weres washing each other just like this out in the forest..." His hands slipped down and around Gregor's tail-base, the wolf tensing slightly as fingers cleaned a spot that didn't normally get touched.

"Simeon..." Gregor said, not moving as a fingertip slipped past that barrier of muscle.

"Say stop..." Simeon whispered, "And I will."

"We are in public...what has turned you from loving bitches?" Gregor asked, turning his head to stare into Simeon's eyes, breathing heavier as a second fingertip slipped into him.

"Nothing...But Fel educated me in more than one way that night..." Simeon replied, curling his buried fingertips slightly, causing Gregor to drop his jaw and something else to drop free into the water below him. "You wished me to experiment with you sexually..." his free hand reached for the throbbing shaft that was slapping against his tutor's belly, "Well you are now having that wish fulfilled again as an apology for me unintentionally scaring you..."

Simeon gripped Gregor tightly, a lupine groan rolling from his tutor's throat as he used the strength and flexibility in his hands to manipulate his knot glands until a constant stream of pre swirled in the water circling in the pool. "Remember your promise to watch over me as I change back?" Simeon whispered quietly, leaning in close to Gregor's ear.

"Yes..." Gregor whined in need.

"Good..." Simeon closed his eyes and moved his lips down from the lupine ears in front of them until they graced the black wolf's nose. He opened his mouth and forced his tongue through Gregor's startled lips as he let the change take him, hair beginning to spout along his spine as the bones in his face elongating into a snout again that enveloped Gregor's own as the pain forced a guttural howl from his throat.

Hands that were occupied clenched harder, Gregor almost screaming as the nails inside his intimacy grew into blunt claws on toe-tips, digging into something that he only vaguely knew he had from knotting pressure, as the one holding his pride, tensed once, extra hard before the fingers shrank back into a forepaw. It was enough...he erupted with full force into the waters below him, the river clouding enough to suffocate any fish unlucky enough to be caught in the tide from his balls, as his shaft dropped free of the paw connected to Simeon's collapsing and unconscious body, slapping into his dripping belly as he spent his load.

Gregor hastily grabbed the unconscious wolf's scruff in his now free mouth and dragged Simeon to the pool's edge, keeping his nose clear of the water until the healer's eyes opened again with a groan. "We are even..." Gregor said with a grin, still panting from the force of his orgasm.

"Oh I think you owe me again for that!" Simeon joked, licking Gregor's snout, "Now let us find a spot to dry out in the sun and you can clean up...I am not yet ready to try anything like that with you. There is only one thing that smells worse to a nose like mine that dirty canine..."

"And what is that?" Gregor asked, a smile gracing him.

"Wet canine!"

Gregor laughed, helping Simeon to his paws again and they headed off for one of sunbathing rocks together.

***

As it turned out, the circle called by Balthazar was anticlimactic. The one thing that none of the three of them had thought about in the previous day's meeting in the hut, was that though some male Weres were doting fathers and pad-warmers, most were just interesting in getting under the tails of the bitches as often as they could. There was some consternation about sending seven immature bitches away from the pack, with no guarantee that any would return, but as it was the males who went long-ranging more often, the male wolves had seen signs of unrest and disturbances on the southern borders of the pack-lands. The idea of new blood, breeding more Alpha bitches for them to play and have fun with overrode any concerns though, and no-one stepped into the circle to challenge Balthazar, though Cassius kicked up a stink for the sake of pride.

Balthazar dismissed the male circle with the instructions to explain to the pups present exactly what was going on, and the announcement that the lots would be drawn in three days time, before turning and summoning Simeon into the hut, closing the privacy curtain behind him and settling on his pad, "Sit healer," he said formally.

"Yes Alpha," Simeon replied, taking a spot on the edge of Helewys' pad.

"Business first...Are Helewys and Lucinda going to be alright, healing wise?"

"There should be no issue with either Alpha, as long as they keep infection free. Lucinda will be very heavily scarred though." Simeon replied seriously.

"Good...Now the real reason I brought you in here. I returned early to the hut with its privacy curtain drawn. Now I want to understand something, I am not angry...but what I found was not something that was wise healer. I may not have been the one to walk in, one of the bitches could have approached Helewys in her role as Ledrene after the circle over something. I know that I gave tacit permission for what happened to happen...but not, and never did I say for it to happen here in this hut. They both tried to cover for you, but I know that you instigated it," Balthazar looked at him carefully, "I say this now...think before you act next time. None of you will be called to task for it, but make sure you do not make another mistake that could threaten my leadership as I will then have no choice."

"Yes Alpha," Simeon replied, his ears down.

"Just remember...Think...please. A triangle of leadership needs three equal sides, that way it can support each point with even strength...if one side is weaker, the whole triangle just becomes three sticks for the river to wash away. Oh and something else...Robin is no longer capable of becoming a father. He can tie, but he is sterile with age now. I could smell it, and so could Helewys. If she doesn't come to me, she will come to you. Now go...get Cassius back to his hut as I am sure he has been left out there to stew on his own, tend him while I go and hunt him something to eat." Balthazar stood without another word and left.

Simeon stood and stretched, thinking over the words just imparted before he headed out into the late afternoon. As predicted, Cassius had been ignored. Left lying out in the sun on the circles edge when every other Were had left the gathering. "You want to go back to the hut, or stop at the woods first on the way?" Simeon asked, not exactly in the mood for small talk with the antagonist.

"Should have killed you when you first crossed the border," Cassius snarled, opening his eyes.

"And what good exactly would that have done for you now?" Simeon asked, nosing under Cassius' flank until he could get the Were up on his three good feet again.

"Balthazar would never have challenged me, I would be whole, the pack would be united still and we would not be about to throw away half our youth, if it were not for you!" Cassius growled, "And I need a shit!"

Simeon grimaced, "Balthazar was just waiting for the right chance as you well know, and Ysmay's heat was it. If I were not here, you would be dead from infection by now. It is your stupidity, greed and ineptitude as Alpha that has forced the youth situation upon the pack. He was the one that noticed it. I just confirmed it from a medical point of view." They approached the area that had been designated for toilet. The low lying patch flooded out every time there was a heavy rain shower and the river level rose. Simeon carefully sniffed out a clean area and dug a pit without comment before supporting Cassius over it.

"Hmmph," Cassius commented, before relaxing his bowels. "So how long before I can get out of this splint?"

Simeon neatly buried the mess, "Another half a moon at least, to be safe," he replied as they headed back to Cassius' allocated hut.

"The sooner I get back on all fours, the sooner I can end this madness," Cassius growled, "The others haven't the gumption as was proven today. Helewys will lose her throat as well when I have finished, I let that bitch have too much power and it has gone to her head."

"Ironic isn't it that I as the new changeling should point out that by the pack law, the Ledrene has more power and the final decision on major directions on breeding. If she had vetoed Balthazar, he would have had to challenge her...but she didn't. Maybe the bitch with the best brain for the current job is in the right place at the moment?"

"I would have ripped her throat out..."

"And the pack would have weakened to the point of no return within two generations, led only by Betas. I am leaving you now, I have other things to do rather than listen to you whine like a pup. Balthazar will be around in a bit with something to eat."

"Watch your tail healer..." Cassius warned.

"You watch yours too, as you keep pushing Balthazar...oh I forgot...that boat has already sailed!" Simeon taunted back as he left.