Sous

"I DON'T WANT IT. I DON'T WANT IITTTTTTTTT!!!" 

"YOU'RE GONNA DRINK IT AND LIKE IT!"

Jacob opened his eyes to the sound of yelling. At first he was unaware of where he was, looking around to only realize he was on a cot on the floor. Inside a small little shack that he was able to put together belonged to Sous. It took him a moment but he remembered what had happened and instantly started crying. He wiped his nose and tears and placed his hands on his leg. The one that was broken. It seemed fine so he got up and managed to see himself in the mirror and saw his bruising was practically gone. 

He walked to the front door and saw Shadow chasing Sous trying to get her to drink her lunch which was a red liquid in a jar, more than likely blood. 

"Ew." He said. 

He witnessed Shadow grab Sous and put her in a headlock and tried to get her to drink; it made him chuckle a bit but then made him think back to only a few hours ago. 

Jacob stepped away from the door and walked back to the cot and sat down. His dad tried to kill him. Never in a million years would he have ever thought his dad would try to take his life, that his dad would just shove his mother so easily to the side like that, hurting her. 

Sous entered into the shack with a gloomy face only to light up when she saw Jacob was awake. 

"Nice! How are you feeling?" She sat next to him with her legs crossed. Shadow went over and took a can of beer out of a cooler he managed to buy a couple of hours ago when he went to the human part of Red Woods. Got himself a nice six pack. He didn't really like the brand he got but the other brands weren't any better. 

"My dad was the wolf leading."

"YOUR DAD!? No way."

Jacob nodded his head, the tears beginning to fall once more. He did his best to wipe them away but they were just falling, buckets of water. Sous didn't say anything nor did Shadow. He simply sat in his little corner drinking his beer. This was something the kids needed to come to terms with on their own. Both of them had similar losses. It was something they could relate to and maybe it was something Shadow wasn't willing to explore because after all, he too lost his father. He never even got to meet his father. He took another gulp of his beer. He simply didn't like thinking about it. 

Jacob had cried himself to sleep. Sous got off the cot and walked over to Shadow. 

"Are we bringing him with us?" She asked. 

"Hmm," Shadow wasn't sure. He was waiting for Monica to arrive to see if they could figure something out. They couldn't remain in this shack for too long. The Alpha would be sending out more wolves. The wolves they faced earlier were probably low ranking; Shadow wouldn't be surprised if there were higher ranking wolves, maybe even wolves like the one they encountered back in Clarence's village. He shuddered, putting his empty beer can on the floor. "I don't know. I'll talk with Monica and see what she says." 

Sous nodded her head, not saying anything else she walked toward the door. 

"Where are you going?" Shadow inquired. 

"Out for a walk."

"Sous!"

"I can walk, can I?" Normally, she would have yelled but since her friend was sleeping, she decided to be quiet. "Hey, I killed dozens of wolves back there."

"They were low ranking, Sous."

She shrugged. "So, I still killed them."

There was a beat of silence. 

"You speak so calmly of killing someone." Shadow whispered. 

Sous was quiet as she processed the words of Shadow. "Maybe I've become numb." She ended the conversation by telling Shadow she would be back by nightfall which was in a couple of hours. 

She was going for a walk but she was going to a specific place and as she crossed the train tracks into Apex territory, she could automatically feel the eyes on her. She could smell their scents, their anger but she kept her head up high and kept her wand on her side. She was bold. She was stupid. She was Sous. 

She climbed the steps to the city hall and walked down the halls, hearing the growls that didn't scare her. She opened the conference room and immediately, Zhiliary and Diamond got up from their seats. The first time she ever saw the elites was when she and Shadow presented themselves to the court while with Clarence. 

Doureena laughed seeing Sous. 

"How bold of you to walk up in here…like you own the place."

"I will own it," Sous exclaimed. "One on one, I challenge you, Alpha."

The elites stared at Sous-a sudden burst of laughter came from all of them, all except for one who didn't make eye contact with Sous unlike the others. 

Doureena wiped a tear from her eye and caught sight of the wand in Sous' hand. "Awweee, is that your training wand? They gave the mutt a training wand? They just let anyone do magic, uh?" She mocked. She stood up from her seat and walked around the round table to Sous who still stood by the door. With her voice lower, she said, "I ought to kill you right now." She looked Sous over, placing her hands in her pocket. "My daughter is really into you."

Zhiliary raised an eyebrow at hearing that. 

"You're all she talks about." Sous began to blush. "So yeah, I'd love for her to see us go at it. For her to see me tear her Alpha apart." Doureena smirked at Sous. She turned around to face her elites. "Alright, you heard it, Alphas. She wants a fight, one on one. Let's make it happen. In the arena." She turned to face Sous. "If I win, you die. If you win-"

"I become Alpha.' 

"Tsk," went both Diamond and Zhiliary. 

"We'll have a messenger send you the details then. Where?"

"You know where my home is here. You probably have someone watching us right now," Sous retorted. 

"Hmpf."

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING MEEEEE!?" 

Shadow screamed, pulling out his hair. Monica shook her head; she sat on Sous' cot alongside Jacob checking his bones and wounds to see if he truly was healing properly. He growled and looked at Monica as if completely lost on what to do. 

"AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"

Sous looked at Monica since Shadow was having a meltdown. She shrugged, okay yeah, maybe it wasn't the best idea to approach the Alpha. Maaaybbbeee it wasn't a good idea to request a one on one fight but Sous was high on confidence and after what she did to those wolves, she felt like she had a chance with the Alpha. 

She felt like she had a chance with the Alpha-yeah, she was stupid. 

A sweat drop came over her as she realized her situation, but the most she could do was smile and simply laugh. Shadow rolled his eyes and plopped down on the floor. Monica walked over to him and helped him up. She sighed and looked at Sous. Now they had to come up with a plan to get Sous out of this situation. More than likely the fight was going to happen but also more than likely Shadow was going to have to jump in to save Sous when things were too rough and…and Monica was going to have to use her magic to create some type of distraction. She sighed again. Sous really was something and maybe it wasn't such a good idea Kara had a thing for her. Maybe Kara would grow to like someone else…someone not as frantic as Sous. She slumped her shoulders; she hadn't any desire to be Sous' mother-in-law. 

Shadow picked up another can of beer but before he could open it, Monica took it from his hands, opened it herself, and began to chug it. 

"Do you think fighting her will reunite me with my mom?" 

Jacob's voice was soft and the others all stopped what they were doing to look at him. He seemed so broken. 

"I think…maybe she's still alive." 

The three of them looked at him then exchanged looks with one another. Neither one of them had anything to say or to offer. It was too hard to say if his mother was still alive. The Alpha could be so malicious and ruthless that she could have been killed right after Jacob ran from the Alpha's office. 

Sous walked over to him and gave him a hug. "I don't know…but we can find out together. I may not win the fight with the Alpha but I will live. We'll find out what happened." 

It didn't take long for Doureena to send a messenger to Sous; scouts were all around and the fact Monica was able to evade them all, demonstrated to Sous just how powerful she must be. The type of spells she knew. Sous would love to have Monica train her but at that moment, she knew it wasn't going to happen. 

Shadow took the letter from the messenger and gave it to Sous. Sous opened it up and read aloud the location and time of the event. It will take place tomorrow at 7 in the evening, at the sparring arena. It was a free event so more than likely the entire 10000 or so population would be present. 

Sous was ready!