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It was a few days later that I was permitted to leave my bed, with strict 'take it easy' instructions and more painkillers to consume as I finish healing. While in the bedroom I spent as much time as I could in mid or full form and Randy and Xander didn't mind one bit, often pulling me onto his lap when I was in full form.

I was forced to favour my left arm, my right being weakened due to the damage to my shoulder. I also had to be careful with my hip being so impaired as well so I tended to be slow when walking around. Lien was still irritated that we couldn't have Xander and Randy remake the mating mark but she understood that we needed to heal or it would just hurt and not feel good in any way. She was at least sated by the gentle, yet athletic 'sleep' we had the first night we were able to and we stayed tied together till the morning.

After a few days I got bored of being stuck in the house and decided to go back to the task I had been given before the kidnapping and torture by Simba. With the Betas having been called off temporarily to focus on the hunt for Lien and myself, they were able to return to the task of hunting for illegal silver around the town. Although I was being kept a close eye on by Anders, from a distance occasionally I caught a glimpse of Xander or Callen on the street doing the same. I kept a positive attitude and remained as friendly as I could be with the people we went to investigate.

The Betas had been surprised that I had been so willing and positive, while so badly injured, to continue with the project to find the dangerous silver hidden throughout the community. I did manage to assist with a lot of it, staying with the home owners, usually the Luna of that household. They would act insulted that I was so close to them or was in their home in the first place but usually would go silent about it when given an angry look by one of the Betas.

Somehow we managed to finish searching every home in the town well before Christmas. There was still some places, such as businesses, to search before we were fully finished with the whole project. We had found a huge amount of silver weapons that had been somehow smuggled into town, a large percentage of them found in the possession of people in my age group. However, we were taking an official break as the Alphas and Betas decided I needed to be as healed as possible before we continued. As a result I was able to go off to do shopping for more gifts now, although I was usually under Anders or Luce's watchful and protective eye.

With the fact I had easy access to the attic space in my full form, able to simply trot in through the small door, I was able to hide the gifts that I bought. Even if I did have them wrapped before I got them to the car. Thankfully, the car that I had packed stuff into just before I was abducted had been driven by Anders. He had wanted to go do some shopping to get some gifts for Shelly, so, after a small bit of asking and bribing, Lurch had permitted me to accompany him. As a result everything had been safely tucked away in the trunk and thanks to Anders keeping the cars cargo secret, I had managed to hide it once I was out of bed. Although I still needed to wait till Xander was out at the training grounds again with Callen and not fussing over me any more.

Xander and Randy went training almost daily, even if Callen and Lacen weren't always the trainers. However there had only been one incident so far that they had to report to me. It had upset me greatly when he had been insulted and turned on for simply being my mate by some of the new trainees, fresh out of school and full of piss and vinegar. Randy had, however, proved that he was more than capable of defending himself and me even if he was a new Were.

He had, with what Callen said was relative ease, managed to take them all out in the sparing pit and even managed to hold his own in a spar with Callen, for a while at least. Age and skill did win out however and Callen did defeat him but he praised him for doing so well. Alpha's always had superior strength and stamina than almost anyone else in the pack but my boys gave his stamina a run for its money.

When he wasn't training, Xander was with others in the kitchen or with Luce cleaning as that's what was down on the work roster for him to do. He didn't need help from Luce to do cleaning of course or vice versa but he was learning from Luce all about our society and how and why we stayed secret. He was also learning what was expected of him as my mate, a future father, as a member of this pack and as a Fox in said Wolf pack.

I personally was still off of the work roster for tasks around the house, my name marked down as still being on a 'Council project' with the Betas till the job of hunting the Silver trade routes was done. Now that we were on a break, this give me the option of going out for shopping which Luce was more than happy to assist me with, on the provision he got more decorations. The house and garden was now decorated festively and he seemed to be only wanting to make it more gaudy. He did explain however in the car rides, that the new decorations were going to be used for the Christmas feast in the back yard that would be after the Eve hunt.

Shopping for Callen, Ruben, Luce and Xander was difficult as I wasn't sure what I should get but I managed somehow. I had been able to get ideas from just walking around the shops and seeing specials going on in some stores. After much 'umming' and 'arring' about prices, I gave up on worrying over price as I was sure I had more than enough.

I had remembered that Xander said he wanted to get his ears pierced so I got a voucher from the best place in town to get it done for him. I had also found a jewellers that I could have a set of stud earrings to be custom made for him. One white gold and one orange gold both in the shape of a foxes head with a bushy tail below it. They both had topazes set into the eyes and a pear cut diamond in the tail, although one of the eyes on the orange gold fox was a sapphire. They may be too flashy or 'bling' for him to wear all the time but that didn't bother me. We had a mantle he could display them on in the bedroom if that's all he ever did with them.

I had also gotten a Snow-leopard Statuette cast in silver for Luce. It was hard to get, having to negotiate with Alpha Leo to have council permission to have it specially smelted, crafted and registered. Alpha Leo had managed to talk to the other members and they did decide to use the confiscated silver to craft it, smelting down all of the former weapons to craft it. They would never hurt anyone again now.

They had actually given me the silver for free to use, Alpha Leo delivering it to the jewellers personally, so that saved a large amount of money for me. The figure was sitting in a regal pose with its tail curled around its feet. I had even splurged a little more and gotten blue Apatite for the eyes to mimic Luce's and Onyx for the black spots.

For Ruben, I got several bits and pieces, little wolf or fox figurines and plush toys. I was taking random guesses at what I was going to get for him sadly, as I didn't really know him all that well but hoped he would like what I got. It may seem odd that I was getting stuff for my Alpha's mate but to me, it was a way of showing my appreciation for him being there during my darker times and also as my full acceptance as him as my Luna.

For Callen I had spent just as much as I did on the others but took it more... personally. I went to a pottery workshop located at the edge of town and started work on a special statuette for him. It was a statue of a wolf curled protectively next to what was originally, another, slightly smaller wolf but I decorated it to be a fox. I had decided to not use the glaze paints that would normally be used and took a more unique direction.

I managed to get my hands on gold leaf and, using it carefully, I decorated the fox with it. While for the wolf I used white gold leaf which had been hard to find. Silver leaf would have been too hard to get hold of, having to go through the council to get what I needed. I used the white gold also on the foxes white parts as I had more than enough to do so. I took my time doing it. Carefully painting a reflective black onto the claws and the noses and a low gloss black onto the tips of the foxes ears. Painting blue eyes on the wolf and one blue and one brown on the fox so hopefully it would give the impression it was Lacen and Lien.

I paid attention to detail on the grass that was underneath them, adding a lush green and even adding some darker greens to give contrasts and shadows and painted the flowers with a soft white and yellow to make them look like little daises.

It had been a Labour of love and I did the best I could to get it looking like there was a silky smooth fur made out of the delicate metals on it. By the time I was finished though, I was more than happy with the result and I carefully boxed it up and wrapped it. I labelled it like the others then hid it in the attic space with the growing collection. In the end everything had cost me a small fortune but with the amount I had in my account, cost didn't bother me that much. This year I would finally be able to give people something and that meant more to me than the money ever would.

I decided after sealing away my latest treasure I would clean the room and maybe try to decorate a bit better. It was a bit of a mess, Xander wasn't the cleanest of guys and while I didn't mind the sweaty musk he had when he came back from training, he was usually so tired that he would just dump his clothes on the floor, shower and then go to bed. Those on cleaning duty were supposed to clean the room and do the washing. However nine times out of ten they still avoided our room, even after multiple occasions of being scolded and punished by Callen.

Callen was fitting in well being a full time Alpha and head of the council. He was usually busy a lot of the time with paper work or council business but he tried to make as much time as he could for Ruban or solving general problems around the pack house. He did on occasion have Alpha Leo, Mclaughlan, or Isto assisting him when he needed it. Seeing as he was still considered to be very young by all standards for the position he was in. However the others had little issue helping to get him up to speed with what he needed to become the Alpha he was born to be.

I collected the clothes scattered around the room and placed them into the laundry bag with our name on it and pushed it down the laundry shoot out in the hall. If it didn't come back I would need to tell Callen again, just like last time they hadn't even touched our laundry. I headed back into the room and stripped the bed of its sheets and after putting them into another laundry bag, pushed them down the shoot as well.

I decided to go get the vacuum to clean the floors so I headed down to the broom closet which was down next to the laundry. The closet was more of a room due to just how many products were needed to clean the pack house from top to bottom. Every tool imaginable for cleaning the massive pack house building was in this room including all of the chemicals. The smell was a heady, potent concoction of all the different cleaning products but my years of practically having this as a second room gave me an immunity to the smell.

I could hear grumbling from several women inside the laundry room at our belongings have just arrived but I decided to ignore it. If they didn't do their job, they would get punished again simple as that. Callen was sick of dealing with the animosity that was directed towards Xander and myself. He was so irritated by of fact that according to Anders, he was going to contend it at the next mass feast.

Heading back from the storage closet I was watched by multiple people with distaste and hostility, mainly the women who were cleaning. The men didn't offer those looks as often but I guess even after the show of such support from them with the whole kidnapping incident, things weren't going to change easily. I stopped when I heard, what sounded like someone falling to the floor with a mild scream followed by some calls for help coming from the 'Family Room'.

Dragging the Vacuum with me I quickly dashed to see what was going on as, at least for me, a call for help was more important than any current task I was doing. I knocked on the door before opening it and looked around to see who was inside and had called out in distress.

The room wasn't huge but it was reasonable, there was a plush white carpet that covered the floor and a, ridiculously comfortable looking 'U' shaped sofa that sat near the centre of the room. It faced a large fireplace containing a softly smouldering fire that was still warming the room and the contrast of heat inside the room against the snowy yard outside was almost tangible. The yard outside the window had been shovelled, badly shovelled if I was being honest but shovelled at any rate.

A royal blue rug with purple, red and gold weaved into patterns on it sat between the lounge and the fireplace with a glass coffee table on top of the rug. A TV was bolted to the wall above the fireplace but it had been chosen carefully to be the same width as the fireplace bellow it so it didn't dominate the room. Hanging on the walls around the room were pictures and paintings of the former Alpha families that had run the community, with Wolves being the most prominent species amongst them.

In the corner between the fireplace and the window outside was a large tree that was decorated with a surprising amount of taste and elegance. The only thing missing was the star or angel to sit on top and the top needed a little more attention as it was a bit sparse. There were four stockings on the mantle piece and various decorations on the table and mantle from snow globes to tiny glass trees with baubles. As a centre piece for the table, a candle holder that had holly, miniature snow covered pine cones and berries on it.

Up around the cornices was a long trail of fake fir garland that had a myriad of colourful and festive objects in it. It clearly was a speciality item as it was one continuous line like tinsel that started from one corner of the room and continued around, dipping occasionally with a large red bow at the middle of the dips and where it was connected to the wall. It didn't end where it began though and instead ended up leading down to Luna Ruben on the floor, thankfully not near the fire.

“Oh... Hey Neil.” He said looking mildly embarrassed and I couldn't hide the soft smile to him with my tail picking up a quick wag. Lien inside my mind was clearly happy that Luna Ruban remembered our name and although he was embarrassed, was greeting us like a long standing friend. He unfortunately looked to be in a bit of discomfort and was rubbing irritably at his injured leg, a chair next to him that he clearly had been standing on to reach the ceiling and I was surprised he hadn't injured himself worse with his fall.

“Luna Ruben... did you call for help? Are you ok?” I ask softly and he nodded causing me to blush softly laying my ears back against my head, my tail stopped its wag “I...umm... I can't come in without permission from Alpha Callen... I'll go get him...” I turned to leave a bit saddened that I wasn't permitted to enter but the family room was for the Community Alpha family only. Before I could take more than one step however he called out to stop me.

“N...No wait! Come in, please, I just... I was told that this room was up to Callen and I to decorate...” he said as I turned and slowly stepped into the room towards him feeling the soft, thick, lush carpeting bellow my paw-pads “I was hoping I could get it done before he came back from training so I could surprise him... I even had Luce take me to get special decorations for it... but I struggle to reach the roof or high places with... well this.” he motioned to his leg with the pink cast on it a little irritably and I nodded understanding as I approached. Once I got close to him and leaned down next to him I gave a soft sigh and helped untangle him from the mass of artificial plant that he was covered in.

“I can't lift you at the moment Luna... I'm sorry... but I can help you up and onto the lounge.” I told him and reached out to him letting him take my hand. My tail waged as I pulled him up onto his one good leg and helped him hop to the large luxurious sofa. Once he sat down he give an audible sigh looking around the room.

“I...I'm sorry if I worried you.” he said scratching at his arm nervously showing off the scars from self harming that was evident on his wrists. It was painful to see them and imagine what had pushed him so far to break him to the point that self harm or suicide were his only option.

“Well compared to what I've done and been through... I'm sure I'm the one who should be sorry for worrying you with all of that,” I told him with a chuckle making light of the kidnapping and looked around the room tail wagging a little “You've done well so far on your own, better than I've done in our room.”

“Well... would you be willing to help me?” he asked softly and my head snapped to look at him with shock, ears forward and alert “I'll help you with your room once were done here, sound good?” He wanted me to help him decorate the family room? It was against the rules... the traditions... but this was a request from my Luna, how could I possibly say no? I was bound by pack rules and laws that I had to help and follow any requests or demands set to me. At the same time, it was an honour to be asked to help inside the family room and most others would jump at the chance.

“Y...You want my help? In here?” I asked as my ears flatten against my head once more “A...are you sure Luna?” he gave a soft groan and rolled his eyes then nodded.

“Yes I'm sure, I really need the help,” he said with a smile “And it's Ruben, not Luna... I get what role I'm supposed to fulfil in the pack but please... Ruben, not Luna, or Alpha... at least not from you of all people... we're closer than that aren't we?” I gave a slight whimper at the rebuttal but despite of it my tail wagged making him smile.

“All that is left is putting the last of garland up and the topper on the tree,” he adds with a smile “Then cleaning the floor of the tinsel and glitter that was dropped.” I nodded and pointed to the vacuum outside the door.

“If I get the stuff hanging, think you can suck the floor while I do?” I asked him and he nodded with another smile “Just lean on the wall or couch as you do... if you need to stop don't be afraid to do so.” he nodded once more and I brought the device in and plugged it in for him.

Helping him to stand up again, I made sure he was ok on his own before I gathered up the garland and climbed up onto the chair to finish what he had been doing. Lien freaked a little and I gave a soft yelp when the vacuum turned on behind me, my tail tucking and ears dropping. It took a moment for me to get control back and calm Lien but went straight back to decorating as soon as I was calm once more. Trying to not join Ruben in giggling at my reaction to the loud machine being turned on.

My tail wagged happily as I hung the decorations, once or twice hitting Ruben in the face making him laugh and swat at the offending limb playfully. Once I finished he gave me permission to cut the rest of the cord of garland off, leaving quite a bit left for use elsewhere if need be. He directed me on how he wanted the ornaments hung on the top of the tree and once he was satisfied, he handed me the 'angel' for the top of the tree. It looked almost like a wolf version of Luce in his mid form, holding a large star above its head with its tail acting as a coil to wrap around the top of the tree to hold it in place.

“I'm guessing you want to keep all of this a secret?” I asked him as I unplugged the vacuum and coiled up the cord. He nodded with a smile now sitting again on the couch “Ok, We'll get you out onto the chair in the hall and have Beta Anders carry you up to my room as I can't... as much as I'd like to.” I took the cleaner out to the hall and sat it next to said chair then walked back in to help him limp out to it as well. I only closed the door once I had gathered all the boxes of leftover decorations from inside, the trash boxes placed on the fire to be destroyed.

“Ok, wait here, I'll be back once I find Anders ok?” I said and he smiled nodding again.

“Thank you, you two.” he said as I started to walk off making my tail wag quickly behind me as he had obviously been referring to Lien as well as myself. Finding Beta Anders was difficult, no one wanted to answer me even when I told them that I was looking on behalf of Luna Ruben. One or two of them even accused me of lying and that I should stop being a pitiful excuse for an Omega by disgracing the pack with my lies.

I did eventually find him outside training the new trainees, Xander was in the forest apparently, doing hunting training with Alpha Callen so sadly I didn't get a chance to see him. I had changed back to being human to go outside. A force of habit from Alpha Smith not letting anyone outside in anything but human form, even if the yard had high enough fences that no one could see in at the training taking place. As I walked over to the tall Beta I wasn't aware that I was being watched as I crossed the sparing pit but quickly learned that I still wasn't liked by those my own age. I froze when I heard a roar and turned to see a lioness charging towards me with teeth and claws drawn.

Instinct kicked in and I shifted to mid form in a beat barely managing to dodge to one side. I had gotten to my feet when she had leaped towards me and remembering what I had done back on the last full night hunt, I jumped, planting both hands on her head and flipped over her to land unsteadily on my paws as she took a nose dive and skid through the snowy lawn which only made her growl louder now with her ego mocked.

The performance had caused me a large deal of pain from my still injured shoulder and hip, which was nearly so painful it was blinding. I was running on adrenaline when she charged again, barely ducking and diving out of the felines way as she made every effort to get a blow in. Sharp claws coming way too close to my face and neck on several occasions. It was alarming that Anders hadn't stopped the fight but a cursory glance his direction showed he was looking the other way talking with another lioness who was, out of the corner of her eye, watching and clearly not distressed at all.

During training and sparing, scratching and biting wasn't forbidden but it was strictly against the rules to do what this female was doing, which was going purely for a killing bite or blow. She aimed especially at my neck, face and the vital areas on my torso.

“We can't keep this up!” I heard Lien inside my head as I just dodged a swipe over my chest, claws cutting through the top I had on. She was right of course as I was panting and slowing down due to the pain my hip and shoulder was putting me through. All it took was a wrong step and she had rammed her head against my bad hip drawing a wailing yelp from me and causing me to collapse sideways to the ground.

With only what could be described as a smirk of triumph on her face when I looked up at her. She launched at me, claws drawn, mouth opened for a death kill. I put my arms up to cover my face while squeezing my eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable and screamed loudly. Yet what I was expecting didn't come and instead all I head was loud snarling, a grunt of effort and the sound of a body landing and rolling on the ground.

Opening my eyes slowly I looked up to see I was protectively in the shadow of Beta Anders who was in his full, four legged black fluffy glory and looking over at the female lion with anger, his muzzle pulled into a snarl as he stared her down. She didn't quite get the message of how much trouble she was in till Beta Leon, in mid form walked over and grabbed her by the scruff, lifting her to be face to face with him. He gave a loud angry roar directly into her face then tossed her to one side when she finally realised she was in trouble as he stormed after her.

“Are you ok? Omega Neil?” Anders asked drawing my gaze up to see him looking down at me now back in mid form. I couldn't help but gawk up at him for a moment and nod a little before it degraded to shaking my head slowly starting to whimper. My hip and shoulder were in agony, burning coming from them in waves that only seemed to get worse when I tried to get up. He reached down to gently lift me into his arms and out of the arena. Sitting me down tenderly on a bench as I started softly crying and whimpering, the adrenalin wearing off causing me to start to shake a little.

“I am sorry that I didn't stop it earlier... she also should not have engaged you,” he said trying to calm me and gave a few light inspecting sniffs over me “Are you bleeding anywhere, Omega Neil?”

“M...my hip hurts.” I said simply and he nodded. I wasn't insulted by his use of the 'Omega' moniker, from him it was more a term of endearment towards me. It was also a sign that he was not angry with me and simply focusing on his job at the moment looking out for an injured member of his beloved pack.

“Take a moment, breath, calm yourself,” he said softly “I'll take you inside to see Shelly, today is her day off so she is probably in the kitchen making cookies or something similar, she loves baking.” I nodded panting and wiping my eyes and trying to gather myself.

“L...L...Luna Ruben n...needs assistance g...getting up to m...my room,” I said once I had gathered myself a little panting, drawing deep breaths “H...he wanted to keep me c...company while I decorated but I c...can't lift him... I w...was coming to get you f...for that reason... I..I'll be ok, I just n...need a few moments.” he nodded and gave a smile.

“Ok, I understand, I will meet you up in your room with Shelly as well,” he told me as he straightened up giving me a pat to the head between the ears which helped calm me in ways he probably would never know “I must say you impress me, so badly shaken and injured and your more concerned for Luna Ruben than yourself.” he adds with a smile before walking off. It took me another couple of minutes before I collected myself enough to gingerly stand up and make my way back inside.

I limped my way back towards where I had left Ruben and was surprised to see he and everything else wasn't there any more. I gave a sigh figuring that someone had taken the vacuum and packed away the decorations. Heading back upstairs was tricky as I needed to take one step at a time and hold onto the rail like it was my only lifeline.

“There you are,” Shelly declared as I made my way into my room. Anders walked over to help me up the last few steps into the room then sat me gingerly on the bed “Was about to send Lurch looking for you.” Anders gave a typical Lurch rumble making Ruban chuckle.

“Sorry Doc... it's been hard to get up the stairs, my hip has been causing me the pain you usually do.” I answered her with a cheeky smile as I looked to Ruben who was sitting in one of the chairs, Yelas sitting on his lap and around him were the boxes of decorations and the vacuum as well.

“I thought as much... ok human form, pants down, it's hard to see stitches through fur,” she says simply and Anders chuckled showing that he wasn't upset by her wanting someone other than him stripping in front of her “Just to your underwear, I'll look at your hip.” sighing I nodded and changed back. Lien trotted over to join Yelas on Luna Rubens lap and I couldn't help but feel a small spike of jealousy. I pulled off my pants and then laid on my good side and pulled the band of my underwear down to show the bandages underneath.

She gave a sigh and carefully started to peel off the bandages which had started to stain red once more. Looking the area over she gently tugged on a few of the stitches and I groaned and cringed as she did.

“Well luckily you didn't pull any stitches,” she said “That's the good news... the bad news is it has opened a bit, your moving around has opened it in a few spots sadly.” I sighed nodding and if I had them, my ears would have perked when Ruben tried to get a better look.

“Her head butting the area probably didn't help that...” I added getting a soft growl from Anders.

“There's another thing I'll need to tell Callen... that's definitely breaking the rules of engagement in the sparing pit. Even if she shouldn't have engaged you in the first place.” he said watching as she added a new bandage to my hip.

“Ok, good to go, just take it easy... oh and this!” she said handing over a painkiller while smiling, followed quickly with a glass of water “You can shift if you want to but still, don't shift too often ok? It puts stress on the stitches.” I nodded as I took the pill and water offered.

“Thank you... both of you,” I said with a soft smile and they nodded before walking out “I'm guessing Anders told you?” I asked looking over to Ruben who simply chuckled.

“He did, I'm sorry it happened... I'm sure if you were fine you would have handed her her ass.” he said chucking more and I smiled and nodded.

“If not I would have managed to avoid her for a while till she was worn out, lions have a lower stamina level than foxes or wolves do.” I said with a smile and slowly got up trying not to put any weight on my sore side “So... you offered to help me decorate, still willing to?”

“Like you need to ask,” he said pointing to the boxes but didn't make a move to get up “I do want to ask something though... Your fighting style... is it like how everyone else trains?” I had to think of that for a moment. I had never really been trained but I had watched when I had the chance and picked up a lot of what they did.

“Um... yeah I guess so...” I admitted “I never really got a chance to be trained but I learned by watching them mostly... why?”

“Because I think I know of a way to punish Simba... and for you to show you aren't a pushover,” he said with a big smile and with a bit of effort started to get up from his chair to hop around it to the boxes “But first, lets decorate, we can talk about that later, when Callen is back.”