The God of calamity’s wife: return of the 13th

"Where are you going?" Carlston asked as Aksel made his way to the recreation area of the mansion. 

"I'm going to play some pool." He said. 

He made his way to the billiard tables and pulled a cue stick off of the rack. Two men were already playing and he watched them as he applied a bit of chalk to the end of his stick. 

"Want to play cutthroat?" He asked them after a while. They had been playing in teams but he would make it an odd number. 

One of the men nodded, "yeah that would be fine." He said. 

Aksel put $100 on the table and said, "let's make a bet for it too." 

The men looked at each other and laughed. "Boy you're in over your head." One of them said and put $100 down as well. 

The third man slapped some money down and added, "Nobody beats us." He looked at Carlston and motioned for him to take the money. "Yo Stoney bro hold this cash for us, you'll be the referee." 

Carlston took the wad of money and pocketed it. 

My name is Aksel. "Aksel said. 

I'm Einar and that's Asbjørn the man who had been the more outspoken one said. 

Asbjørn nodded, "Means even bears don't mess with me." He said in a burly voice and his muscles bulged under his shirt. His brown thick, fur-like beard blended in with his wolf ears that jutted out of the top of his head. He had a scar across his left eye that was clouded as if he couldn't see out of it. 

Aksel gulped. Then composed himself and said "Names don't mean much, you'll see real strength when you face me." He said. 

Einar laughed, "I like this kid he's got guts!" 

Carlston rolled his eyes and began looking through Saoirse's paperwork. 

"I'll take balls 1-5." Aksel said and Asbjørn took the ones numbered 6-10. 

"Guess I get 11-15." Einar said. 

He chalked up his cue stick and arranged the balls into a triangle formation, with the balls labeled 1, 6 and 11 in the corners of the triangle and the rest of the balls positioned at random. 

"Ax-man gets to break." Einar said. 

Aksel walked forward and took a shot at the white ball which knocked the 1 ball and scattered the rest. The 5 ball fell into the pocket to the left of him and Einar snickered as Aksel proceeded to use the white ball to knock at another ball. 

He knocked at the 11 ball next and then went for the 12 ball. It wasn't going to make it in a pocket, but it bounced off of the 14 ball and the 15 ball, hitting them into two different pockets. 

"Hey don't just go for my balls!" Einar complained. 

Aksel smiled and measured with his eyes the trajectory of the table. He aimed for the rail and it bounced off, knocking the 14 ball into the nearest pocket. Now Einar only had ball 12 and 13 left. 

Aksel methodically hit the 6,7, and 8 balls in order leaving him with only his own balls in proximity of the white ball. He aimed at his own number 2 ball and it missed. 

Balls 1,2,3,4,9,10,12,13 were still left on the table. 

Einar took his position at the table and narrowed his eyes, knocking away at the 4 ball and then the 1 ball. 

He angled his stick and focused hard, making a slow jab at the white ball, causing it to bump the 10 ball in. The white ball slowly went in after it and he frowned. 

That's a scratch. Asbjørn said. He came forward and picked up the 10 ball and the 1 ball from the pocket that the white ball just fell into and placed them back onto the table. 

He then took out his cue stick and placed the white ball wherever he wanted on the table. 

Balls 1,2,3,9,10,12,13 were dispersed around the table. He took aim and the game had begun to be more serious. 

Each man taking his turn to nearly eliminate an opponent before a scratch would happen, allowing the other two opponents to revive a ball of theirs once again. 

It was a very even match. 

Aksel took his turn when only balls 1,10, and 13 were left. It had taken an hour to reach this point and all three of the men were sweating with anticipation of who would be taking home all of that money. 

The only shot he could make would end up missing the pocket because his 1 ball was in the way. He chalked up the tip of his stick.

Aksel moved his hand down a third of the way down the cue stick so that it was brushed close to his chin instead of his shoulder, making it shorter. He breathed in and exhaled. 

His stick was very elevated, he was hovering over the table quite a bit and made a bridge with his left hand running the stick along his middle finger, further elevating the angle so his stick was very near 80 degrees. He rotated his body, leaning on his left foot a bit and stabbed it at the table in a snappy, quick motion, causing the white ball to jump over his ball and hit balls 10 and 13 into the pocket. 

Einar flung his cue stick at the floor and shouted, "That was illegal!!!!" 

Carlston had seen the shot and shook his head, "It hit the ball from the top. It's allowed." He said. 

Aksel smiled and took the money from Carlston and was about to make a funny remark at Einar, but his face was met with Asbjørn's fist. 

He was flung at the wall, crashing into it and drywall dusted his back. He struggled to get air as the impact had knocked the wind out of him. 

Asbjørn came over to him and picked him up by the shirt and looked at him through narrowed eyes. "You should have done a trick like that when you had the power of Alpha. Now you're going to give us our money you little runt or I'll beat you like a rag doll." 

He pushed Aksel against the wall, nearly lifting him to the ceiling and the werewolf continued struggling to breath as his chest was being crushed. 

"Ok ok." He said and handed over all of the money. 

Asbjørn dropped him and he fell to the floor, hugging himself and breathing painfully. 

Einar came over and kicked him in the ribs and took his wallet and took the rest of the money that was also in there. "Like my brother said, not even bears mess with him." 

The two men left and Aksel sat crouched on all fours a bit longer, catching his breath and then he finally stood up. 

"So I take it you would be interested in working to get that money Saoirse offered you." Carlston asked. 

Aksel snatched the papers away from him and stormed out of the room. "Shut up old man." He barked.