Clarke

Clarke really hated public transport.

Especially trains. The worst part was that the public used them. The speeding around the country wasn't too bad, just the people. So when she'd been forced onto the train and into a private carriage, she was pretty relieved. The company however was a different story. Clarke particularly disliked that she was cornered by just two Beta wolves, their scents filling her nose thickly. It wasn't a pleasant or easy task to keep from running away again. What made it even worse was that she knew both the Beta wolves that had her cornered.

Across from her in the car sat Bellamy Blake. Tall, muscled with a mop of floppy black hair and the darkest eyes Clarke had ever seen. Many she wolves found him attractive, a perfectly eligible mate and a fine Beta wolf. He had Omegas hanging off his every word and even a few Betas sniffing at him, as far as Clarke could remember.

He was once Clarke's Beta wolf, her second in command, trusted advisor, friend and protector. Now he was just a trained wolf bringing her home. His dark eyes had yet to meet her own blue eyes; instead he stared out of the train window watching the city turn into country side. It hurt Clarke that her once closest friend wouldn't look at her, that he'd rather stare at blurred trees and fields than even make chit chat with her.

Not even a simple "Where have you been Clarke?" or "Why haven't you come home Clarke?"

Nope.

Nothing.

Na-dah.

Clarke couldn't help it, but her irritation with Bellamy was causing her to scowl, and she knew she didn't look good when she scowled. It didn't help that Bellamy had been the one to tell her how unattractive she was when she pulled faces, which only made the blonde more irritated. He had been such a big brother to her, always there through her childhood, then when her first heat hit, Bellamy had been the only Beta wolf to not try and take her. He'd stood his ground in front of her, along with Octavia, his Alpha born sister, and protected Clarke from the other Alpha and Beta wolves til the first waves had subsided.

When they were younger, it had been her, Bellamy and his baby sister, Octavia. They were raised together as a unit: one Omega, one Alpha, one Beta. They'd been unstoppable, always in trouble, finding things, wrecking things. Even when Clarke had finally hit her heat and its effects were clearly taking their toll on the Blake siblings, Octavia more so then her brother, they stood by her side. Her mother and father had taken the Blake siblings in when their parents had been killed by human hunters, so they were basically family.

They were family. There was no real question about it. Clarke had always looked back at the times fondly, even when she'd been away from them, it had kept her going in the darker nights of her banishment, thinking of her little family unit, her little Pack within a Pack. But now, with Bellamy's clear new alliance and reluctantly to make eye contact, Clarke scowled. What had happened while she'd been away?

As she shifted in her seat, trying to find something, anything other than the dark haired man to stare at, the other inhabitant of the train car grunted. Gustus, another beta male wolf, sat stiffly next to Clarke, his broad body taking up most of the bench seat. He made her most uncomfortable.

Gustus came from another wolf pack, the Trikru, who hailed from Polis, the neighboring town to Clarke's home, Arkadia. He was the Trikru Alpha wolf's Beta, usually situated by the Alpha's side. It was uncommon and extremely unusual to see him, such a refined Beta, coming to collect Clarke, a lowly banished Omega from the human city,

"You chose to sit there," Clarke growled at him, folding her arms across her chest. If she was going to be dragged back home, she wasn't going to be happy about it, nor was she going to hide it. It didn't help that her heat was closing in. She could feel the low rumble in her belly, the muscles contracting and warming, warning her of the impending doom. Returning home in a heat cycle. Great "So I take it you both got forced into this?" she probed, trying to pry an answer from both silent men.

"Actually, I volunteered," Bellamy muttered, still not looking at her. Clarke rolled her eyes and slumped in her seat,

"Didn't realize I was that important," she kicked her heels up against the empty side of Bellamy's bench and glared into space. She knew full well why she was being dragged home. After the fiasco 3 years ago, she'd struck out on her own and might have caused some chaos in her wake. Why not? She was banished at the time, might as well get into trouble. She couldn't be any worse off, not many people knew that she was an Omega, and even if they did, she was highly prized among her kind. She couldn't be in that much trouble.

"You caused a mess. Time to bring you back," Gustus grunted, rubbing a hand against his dark, rough beard. Her shoulders sagged and Clarke glared harder. She wouldn't say it was a mess, well not a big one anyway.

3 years ago, at the age of eighteen, Clarke had been handed the reigns to the Skikru Wolf Pack, which had been a sudden surprise, since she was an Omega. She'd taken over from a wretched alpha wolf named Jaha, who wasn't doing a very good job at it. Well at anything really, he was old and worn out and Clarke was the next best candidate, according to her mother and Marcus Kane. They argued with the other Betas and Alpha that as an Omega, Clarke didn't run off her animal instincts all the time, that her head was level and clear and she would be able to make better decision for the Pack. So the eighteen year old Clarke became Alpha, with Bellamy and her mother as her seconds.

Everything was good, they'd even stepped into peaceful negotiations with the Trikru. Then it all went to shit. It wasn't even directly Clarke's fault, but as acting Alpha she had to take the heat. And so her self-appointed banishment. After the event transpired, she left and headed into the human world.

That's where Bellamy and Gustus found her, participating in an underground human fight club. Clarke had figured out a year into her banishment that she could earn easy moment by beating the shit out of men twice her size. It helped, with her superior senses and strength. She'd thought she was okay, living off her winnings, not causing any irregular awareness to herself, but it seemed the two wolf Packs thought differently.

"It wasn't a mess. It was easy money," Clarke reasoned, not knowing why she was defending herself. The two men didn't care, they were just following orders. Return the Omega.

"You had hunters on your tail, Princess," Bellamy muttered, finally turning his dark eyes to meet Clarke's bright ones. They were sad and deep, but the blonde couldn't figure out if it was a disappointed look or not.

"How would you know that?"

"We followed you for three days. They had been following you longer," Gustus muttered, shifting awkwardly in his seat again. Looks like Clarke wasn't the only one who disliked the human forms of travel. Or the smell of one another. She knew her scent affected other wolves, being one of the few Omegas in her own pack had set the Beta wolves and Alphas on edge most of the time, she knew they were drawn to her, that they wanted to mate with her, but ultimately it was her discussion what happened. Regardless of her Omega blood, she had been their chosen Alpha first.

"Three days, huh? So who sent you? My mother or her?" Clarke practically spat the words, she couldn't even bring herself to say Gustus's Alpha's name. It left too deep a wound to even utter it.

"They both did."

Lexa

It wouldn't be long now. Less than an hour by her count. Then the Omega would be here and all the Trikru would be on edge. Soon after that the Skikru wolves would arrive and the calm air would be filled with wolves who could barely stand one another, nor the smell of an Omega, and Lexa would yet again have to hold the peace while Clarke graced them all with her presence.

The blonde may have been gone for three years, but the Skikru still called her their Alpha. Even if she'd left them, they still considered her, barely an adult or Alpha, the top wolf. Lexa grumbled to herself as she flopped onto the kitchen island stool. This drew the attention of Anya, her Beta, who had been working away at the stove in silence,

"Something bothering you, pup?" the older woman muttered, trying to hold back a grin, her eyes shining like she knew something Lexa didn't. Lexa shot the female Beta a dark look, then turned to stare at the counter top,

"Gustus just called in. They're an hour away," the younger woman muttered, worrying her bottom lip. She was barely 2 years older than Clarke, yet the blonde set her nerves on edge. Everything about her set Lexa's body on fire. The way she looked, acted, and smelt got under her skin.

Lexa had accomplished so much in the last few years as Alpha of the Trikru, she was highly regarded by all the other Wolf Packs that she'd brought together, yet the renegade blonde wolf messed her up. In more ways she cared to admit. Her inner wolf ached for Clarke, yearned for her to be Lexa's mate.

When the incident had happened and the blonde chose a self-banishment three years prior, it had left her, Lexa, to pick up the mess between the two wolf Packs. And her heart.

From then onwards there had been a rocky truce between them all. The Skikru had needed a firm hand and a true Alpha, so Lexa had stepped in, with a little help from Clarke's mother, but the Skikru had struggled to accept some of her rulings.

They still ran riot every full moon, crossing into human lands, and nearly got their asses caught constantly. Lexa hoped that bringing Clarke back would settle the other Pack, maybe get some order back in line. They'd chosen Clarke as Alpha due to her omega status. She wasn't ruled by her animal side, but by her mind. Even when her heat kicked in, she still managed to hold a calm resolve. Well most of the time she had. Lexa had seen Clarke in the midst of her heat, losing all control, affecting everyone around her. But still the Alpha hoped that maybe, just maybe her return would help.

Maybe.

Maybe her return would settle the restless feeling Lexa experienced every full moon, every time she dreamt of the Omega, or even every time she smelt another Omega's heat set in and her own body reacted. The memory of Clarke's heat burnt into her mind, setting off a rumbling in her lower region. Lexa took a breath, calming her inner beast, trying to think of anything but Clarke. With a growl of frustration, the Alpha stood again and began pacing the kitchen, refusing to look at Anya, who as boring a hole into Lexa's back with her eyes,

"Don't look at me like that," the younger woman grunted, a growl low in her throat, her Alpha aura flaring around her in a blaze. Anya chuckled, basking in the energy that spilled from the younger girl, before moving from the stove to the breakfast island, filling the two plates set out with a heap of bacon and eggs,

"Sit. Eat. Stop beating yourself up, pup,"

"You have to stop calling me that,"

"When you stop acting like a puppy, I will," Anya grinned wide as she dug into her bacon, indicating Lexa to join her at the kitchen island. With a heavy sigh the Alpha did so, dropping onto the empty stool and shoving forkfuls of bacon into her mouth. Eating distracted her enough to stop thinking about Clarke for a few minutes.

Instead, her trail of thought went to Abby Griffin, the current stand in Alpha for Skikru Wolf Pack, Clarke's mother. She was a stern, tough woman, who understood a peaceful truce between their two Packs, after some vigorous convincing from Marcus Kane, a smart Beta who knew what they all needed.
Arkadia and Polis were neighboring towns after all, might as well have happy wolves coinciding together. When Jaha had been Alpha, there had constantly been scraps and rivalry between the towns, humans and wolves alike. It had gotten so bad that the humans had begun annual wolf hunts, which was never good. Both packs had lost members during those years, and still had trouble recreating their numbers. Lexa and Clarke had both lost someone during those dark days.

Lexa's mind began to betray her then, bringing forth memories of Costia and Clarke's father, which ultimately led her train of thought back to the blonde. Shoving the empty plate away from her, Lexa returned to her pacing once more. She could feel her inner wolf stirring, snarling and biting at her insides, wanting to be loose. It was so close to the full moon, and every wolf knew it. Felt it. Yearned for it.

They also all knew that Clarke's return could go one of two ways. This frightened Lexa the most. It almost made her calm exterior crack, one she was struggling so hard to keep together. Clarke could retake her position as Skikru Alpha, honour the peace between the two Packs and life could continue easily. Or she could be vengeful, spiteful that no one stopped her leaving, take it out on her mother, on Lexa and continue to walk the path she'd been on the three years she'd been away. Lexa needed to pull herself together. And fast.

"Alpha?" the deep, questioning tone came through the door as the scent of an Omega flowed into the kitchen area. Anya looked to the new comer as Lexa turned to him. With a slight nod, the younger of the two women permitted Lincoln to speak, "Alpha, Gustus has returned,"

"Very well," Lexa muttered, turning her back to him once more. Lincoln was a good wolf, a good man, one of few Trikru Omegas, who had taken a mate with a Skikru wolf, showing that peace between the Packs wasn't a bad thing.

"Do you want some bacon, Linc?" Anya asked softly. The tall man grunted happily and moved to the kitchen island, taking the offered bacon.

"Have you heard from the Skikru Alpha?" he asked between mouthfuls. Lexa sighed softly and rubbed her temples. Lincoln was once highly sought after within the Trikru Pack, but his heart and body had chosen a Skikru Alpha. He had somehow become their go between during the last few years. Regardless, he was curious, and very eager to please.

"They should arrive before sunset," the Alpha murmured, turning back to the two wolves who happily munched their bacon, "Show our guest to the study," Lincoln made a small noise in his throat, swallowing another strip of the bacon,

"Everyone is restless, Alpha, she is so close to heat," Lincoln muttered quietly, before stuffing the last store of bacon into his mouth. Lexa nodded in agreement, trying not to pace once more. She could smell Clarke as soon as she'd enter her home, the thick scent which once held so much comfort for her was now nearly choking her. Clarke's scent hadn't changed, and the feeling that grew within Lexa clearly hadn't gone away.

Lexa took a deep breath, trying to ignore the burning that ran across her skin as the scent grew more intense, instead focusing on the task at hand. The Alpha had the option to strip Clarke of her Alpha status, actually show the wolves of the two Packs what happens when a chosen Alpha deserts her pack, Omega or not. Or she could accept the blonde back into the fold. Lexa grumbled to herself, wishing times were different. That things were just simpler.