Stronger Together chapter 157

In the end we spent a few hours eating and drinking with Lycaon and  his subjects. The wolf king was incredibly gregarious and personable  with people that had earned his respect and we laughed and joked with  him for most of the meal. He wasn't the kind of person to put on airs  based on his title. If he liked you he liked you, and if he didn't he  would rip your head off and kick it down the road like a soccer ball.  Honestly the most arrogant being in the clearing was Max, who ran around  terrifying the shadows while we ate, only to swoop in and steal my meat  when I wasn't looking.

It was a weirdly relaxing  atmosphere, I knew I could trust everyone here to be up front. If they  decided they didn't like me they would just try to kill me, after  dealing with faeries and vampires for so long it was refreshing to talk  to people that were so straightforward. Since we were around anyway I  decided to ask Lycaon about the twins, I figured he might have some  advice for dealing with the royal bastards. When I mentioned them he  rolled his eyes "The Romans. Never liked them, stuck up pompous little  twits. They heard about me when they were still young and decided to  come and try their hand at being kings in truth."

He gave a  vicious grin "Sent those little whelps fleeing back to their mother.  They've come for me a dozen times since then and each time I beat them  like a drum and sent them whimpering away with their tails between their  legs." He chuckled darkly "It got so bad they stopped coming around at  all. I hear they have their own little clique of simpering bitch wolves  somewhere else in the forest, but I rarely leave the solitude of my  court so who knows." He picked up an unusually large drumstick and tore  out a chunk with his teeth, munching happily on the fire roasted meat.

I  laughed at that description of the uptight assholes. The idea of Lycaon  stomping them into paste was deeply satisfying. I was curious about on  thing though "Speaking of wolf kings though I'm surprised you can hold  the title." He leveled an arch look at me and I held up my hands in  surrender "Not that I think I'm worthy of it or even want it, I mostly  meant I heard Fenrir was the strongest wolf around. Doesn't he take  exception to you claiming the throne." As soon as I finished speaking  everything stopped. The wolves and humans and shadows stopped mid  motion, the drums ceased, I swear even the fire stopped moving.

Lycaon  looked around sharply and scented the air, seemingly looking for  something, then shook his head and gave a wave and all the activity  started again. "The god wolf" he said, stressing the name "does  not concern himself with things like leadership or nobility. He is a  solitary beast, and suffers no challenges to his authority. He could  never be king, for becoming king would be to admit kinship, to elevate  us to his level and he never would. I met him once, when I was but a  newly made wolf. His very gaze drove me to my knees." Lycaon's voice  was, for the first time since I met him, humble. Fenrir scared him.  Which...was not ideal for us.

Lycaon was terrifying, and  apparently could single handedly stomp the living shit out of Remus and  Romulus hard enough that they were scared to even show up in front of  him anymore. The fact that someone this scary powerful and fearless had  been cowed into submission by Fenrir with a glance made me kind of  regret taking Odin up on his deal. He apparently didn't notice my pants  wetting terror and we spent the next hour or so eating and telling  stories as I tried not to think about my possible impending death.  Finally we were done and it was time to go. Max hopped back up on my  head and we said goodbye and walked out into the dark forest.

I  realized as we traveled that I didn't feel the same terror or paranoia I  had the first leg of the journey here. I'd thought it was just having a  kitten on my head but after Harry explained what happened  with Max  earlier I realized he was literally shielding me from the aura of this  place by sitting on my head. The little guy was king of all he surveyed.  We walked out into the dark forest and Raven put her silence bubble  back up and between Max and the spell we were all completely relaxed. It  was like we were taking a leisurely stroll in the woods.

Yang  was sticking to my side, trying to pet the cat who was swatting her  hands away with one of his little paws. She was grinning at him,  sticking her hand out to touch him then yanking it back before he could  make contact. "Awww, look Cam, the little guy is playing with me. Sorry  kitty cat, I'm bigger and stronger than you, you'll never catc-ow  motherfucker!" She hissed and yanked her now bleeding hand back and  stuck it in her mouth. "You little fuzzy bastard! Shit, Cam I'm  bleeding." I rolled my eyes at her appalled expression and indignant  tone, she had clearly been taunting Max and paid the price.

I  turned my head to look right at her, the cat hanging on and lording  over her from atop his skull throne "Ok, first of all Yang, Max bit a  chunk out of my arm, which is made of godsteel. His teeth and claws are  pretty much the hardest sharpest things I've ever even heard of. You're  lucky he's smart enough to know you were teasing and just cut you a bit  he could have chopped a finger off. Second of all it was your fault  anyway. I mean seriously, don't taunt the cat Yang. it's petty." She  glared at me sulkily, but her hand wasn't cut too bad so she let it go  grudgingly and fell back out of range of the kitten.

I  was so amused by the byplay I didn't realize Raven's spell had broken  until I heard the sardonic voice say "Well, isn't this harmonious.  Always refreshing to see the young enjoying themselves, isn't it brother  mine?" Even if I hadn't known the voice from the last time I'd met him I  would still recognize Remus's haughty tone as being adversarial. As it  was the smug prick was immediately recognizable. Raven stiffened and  turned to glare at the speaker, who unsurprisingly was standing next to  his asshole brother. The twins looked completely at ease here, in their  element, and we very much were not.

Yang  spoke up as she looked them over "Ok, I get what Lycaon was talking  about. They are smarmy little bastards. I've been standing here for like  thirty seconds and I feel like I need a shower." Remus's eyes flashed  in anger at the comment, and his lip drew back from his teeth in a  snarl. I would normally have stopped her but they were probably going to  try to kill us anyway, in for a penny in for a pound. Luckily Yang was  already way ahead of me "What, don't like being called a slime ball?  Maybe try not to be so pompous all the time. You talk like the bad guy  from a Saturday morning cartoon."

The  twins snarled and Remus stepped forward but I held up a hand. "I  wouldn't." They just sneered, but Remus raised an eyebrow questioningly,  as if daring me to give him a reason why he shouldn't just kill me  right here. "We just came from Lycaon's court. We were there for several  hours and he offered us safe passage for the evening to participate in a  feast. Since we're still in The Wild Wood this is still within his  territory. If you kill us it'll be a direct challenge to his authority."  We hadn't brought the weapons or armor for killing the bastards, so  leaning on Lycaon was the best I could do. Luckily he seemed to hate  them almost as much as we did, and they had to know it.

Sure  enough they both froze. Remus looked troubled, while Romulus just stood  behind him glaring at us all hatefully. Remus spoke up after a minute,  his voice was lazy and insouciant, but he was clearly trying to keep any  tension out of his tone if the set of his shoulders was anything to go  by. "So? What business is it of ours if the mongrel offered you passage.  He's just cursed trash. A defective product. We are the children of a  god, you think we fear the likes of him?" He was talking a big game but I  noticed he didn't move an inch closer or make any hostile moves at all.

Romulus  spoke up, his voice softer but filled with venom "But still, the  mongrel offered them safety, and we shouldn't sully the honor of The  Wild Wood. However, that only matters if we directly act. If we simply  unleash our nature here and they should happen to die that would be no  challenge to the mongrel. This is our home, and we are under no  obligation to contain ourselves here. If this garbage was too weak to  survive our presence they can only blame themselves for their arrogance  in coming here." He gave us an unpleasant smile.

These  two had taken our escape from them REALLY badly. They were nowhere near  this combative last time we spoke. It was like we spat on their mom or  something. Remus looked delighted by his brother's vicious suggestion.  "What a wonderful idea. Of course we need not conceal our nature from  the trash, and how would such weaklings bear the might of divine  presence, even diluted as ours is?" His eyes were glinting with malice  as he spoke. Wait, no, they weren't. They were glowing. It started small  but as they stared both of their eyes began to blaze with light.

I  had noted earlier that Lycaon didn't bother to hold back his presence  like the twins did, that he was fully unleashed. I had been wrong.  Lycaon could take both of them, he clearly would have the power to  suffocate us like this, but he didn't. Lycaon might not hold back quite  as much, but if this was what it felt like when the kings of wolves let  it all hang out he definitely had not done that. This was...like being  buried in quicksand. It had drawn us in and we were being forced under,  suffocating, gasping for air and desperate to find some way to live.

I  thought I was going to die. Genuinely and completely I expected my life  to end. The sheer unadulterated power crushing down on me. It wasn't  just physical or mental, it was spiritual. The very concept of my  ability to resist was being crushed. This was their place and they were  kings. The power of a god I had seen them use to avoid my attacks was  nothing compared to this. Their very nature forced the stuff that made  up this dream world to bow in obeisance, drove reality to it's knees,  and I was about to be crushed under that kneeling behemoth.

Or  that's what I expected. Before it could happen I heard an odd sound. A  sort of sneering yowl of annoyance and disgust. Max shifted on my head  and I looked up to see him extend a paw, silvery claws gleaming and bat  at the air. Suddenly it was over. Like the little cat had slashed  through their very presence with his casual paw and torn apart the  nature of the oppression. Remus looked at the cat for a second, rage  glinting in his eyes before he spat on the ground "Fine. We don't need  to lower ourselves to destroying you here. We can kill you anytime we  wish. Be seeing you back in Chicago, trash." And with that he and his  brother turned and stalked off into the forest.