i can't help this awful energy goddamn right you should be scared of me

[sanguinemoon]

srry to hear that ty i rly am. we raided another warehouse full of aconite weapons. still no line on the manufac. will keep u updated

Tyleigh read the message from Daisy Johnson a few times before she sighed softly and swiped off the text app. Three of their pack had fallen victim to the Watchdogs in the last month, and the Wayward Daughter was suffering troubles of their own. Once the Culling had declared war, it seemed, they hadn't pulled any punches.

On a hum, she stood up and stretched, brushed the blades of grass off the seat of her ripped and grease-stained jeans. Her gaze was still tipped down at her phone, and she wiggled it slightly this way and that, trying to decide if she wanted to bother Terry on his day off when all she really wanted was the comfort of his voice. She was...still keeping her distance. Still trying to figure out her feelings and how it would work, if she gave into what she wanted most. The Haze had been so curiously mild since she became Alpha. Maybe...maybe this was how it was meant to be, how the curse would break. If she bore the burden of the unrequited love their ancestors didn't try hard enough to resist.

She sensed the danger with her curious sixth sense before a sound or smell ever reached her. Enemies. Too many of them. She followed her first instinct, which was to turn and run for her grandparents' house, the house she'd grown up in, the house she lived near still--but they were closer, faster than she realized, and they tore out of the woods and surrounded her. Four of them, all male. The Culling didn't like to send a female into battle, she remembered Tilly Devereux remarking. Sexist fuckers.

Four against one. She was good, but even as the Alpha of the pack, those were odds firmly stacked against her. With curious calm, she made peace with the fact that she was going to die.

They didn't bother speaking to her, just surrounded her and began to move in, their steps precise quick. She supposed she should be flattered that the Culling had sent such skilled fighters for little ol' her. The least she could do was fight like hell and take as many of them down with her as she could. Her adrenaline spiked, and with it came a familiar rush of heat. The same heat she'd been fighting against since the first season of her sexual maturity.

The Haze.

She saw it, the moment her rush of pheromones soaking the air hit her would be assassins. The sudden widening of their eyes, pupils blown, lips peeled back--their cold and calculating demeanor suddenly overrun with lust. They wanted her body now just as much as they wanted her blood and her life.

She should have been terrified...but instead, she grinned, quick and sharp. She'd spent years fighting the Haze...and fighting off the advances of those overtaken by it. "Who's first, boys," she growled, crouching just as arms came around her from behind. She gripped the arm and slipped beneath it, twisting as she went, popping joints out of socket and tearing muscle. While he howled in pain, and gripped his throat and ripped. Even as he lay choking on the ground, the others rushed her, but she was fury incarnate. She barely felt their claws and teeth as she tore them apart as though she were born to do it, a creature of ruthless bloodlust, and when her foot came down on the final assassin's neck...she realized the strength that flowed through her wasn't her own.

It was everyone's. Every member of the Sanguine Moon...if she concentrated, she could feel them, see them in her mind's eye, glowing pinpoints of light. If she concentrated hard enough, she could even feel a few members of the pack of the Wayward Daughter. Faintly, but they were her allies, touched by her spirit, her scent.

In that moment, she was goddamn invincible. If she'd wanted to, she could've ended the effects of the Haze right then and there. It was hers. As the pack was hers. How could she never have realized? How had no Alpha before her ever understood what was in their hands?

She would have stopped the Haze, except her senses touched six other individuals, moving fast...not hers. Not her pack, but touched by the Haze nonetheless, and therefore unable to hide from her right now. Six more assassins of the Culling...running through the forest, towards the brightest lights that reached back for her, fueling her with the depth of their connection to one another, to her.

Penny. Ash. Terry. Her mates. Hers.

On a snarl, oblivious to the gore that spattered her clothing or her own torn flesh, she took off running after them, the lust of the Haze flaring. She didn't know if they could feel her the same way she felt them, but she concentrated on those three blazing lights in her mind's eye as hard as she possibly could.

Danger. I'm coming to you. Fight.

Comments

[inmyearsandinmyeyes]

It was just as enormous to see it happen—being pulled into Ty’s embrace banished the cold, resulting in Penny burrowing against her side with no regard for the blood. Peeking out from where she buried her face against Tyleigh’s shoulder, seeing her kiss Asher—it felt like sunshine on her bare skin, a knot in her core loosening with that first link clicking into place—

Then Ty kissed her, and everything tingled, a sleeping limb waking up and raining gentle pinpricks of sensation all across her skin. It was hearth and home and the Haze but softer and sweeter.

When the kiss broke, Penny’s hands were smeared with blood where they touched her cheeks, but her face was open and shining with contentment.

For a moment, then she was glancing past Ty—where Terry and Asher both were staring with open interest.

“I think you should kiss Terry now.” Penny hummed. “Then we should take care of you, and kiss some more later.”

[replevin]

Ty huffed a soft laugh, though rather than going for a kiss (because she had kissed Terry before--surrounded by velvety darkness and moonlight and forest and even though that had been months ago, it felt like it could've just happened, because everything was good, and right now, finally), she merely leaned into Terry, pressing her cheek and forehead into his chest, marking him with her scent even as she greedily soaked in the warmth and comfort of both the skin on skin contact and the scents that clung to him. He smelled like him, with a generous smear of Asher, and a sprinkle of Penny, and like sex, and adrenaline, and home.

And blood...no, that was her. Their blood, their attackers' blood, clinging to her clothes, and the smell of their hands and mouths where'd they'd clawed and bit. The adrenaline fading, it made her stomach turn, and the bone deep pain radiated from the every healing wound. Christ, she hurt. Not as much as she should, though. She should be dead. They should all be dead. None of them should've survived that.

"God," she shuddered out a breath and a helpless little chuckle, pressed her lips to the center of Terry's chest. "I need a shower."

"Yeah, you kinda do," Asher replied with a soft hum of amusement, shaking himself out of the lust-and-love soaked reverie, wrapping an arm around Penny and leaning in to kiss Tyleigh's temple. "I'll call Gramma Gen for the body cleanup. And the Devereauxs. I got it," he insisted as Tyleigh turned to object, waving her off and deftly plucking her phone out of the pocket of her tattered jeans. "It's good practice for me. I'm gonna be on the phone a lot when I land that choice little job at the DA's office." He kept Penny wrapped close, needing the warmth and comfort of her even as he scrolled through the contacts to call Tyleigh's grandmother. He was doing good, in his Asher way, at hanging on to that eerily calm patience, but there was a tremble at his core. "Hey Penny Lane," he murmured as the line rang, playfully flicking a fingertip at the peak of her breast and stealing a kiss. "You're nakey."

[terr_it_up]

Penny let out a squeal when Asher flicked her breast, the sound captured by his mouth as she kissed him back. Biting at his lower lip when he pulled away, she deliberately pressed herself against his side, sliding her hands over his bare torso with a trilling growl.

"Of course! I have the cutest butt!" she informed him, nipping his earlobe before darting away. "And 'cause you poked my boob without permission, you don't get to help kiss boo boos better in the shower! Come on, Ty."

Terry, who was still close to Ty, having dropped his face against her hair when she scented him and really couldn't bring himself to move too far away, gently wrapped his arm around Ty's shoulders and held on so Penny couldn't drag her away.

"Pen-Pen? I got her, okay? Stay with Ash." he replied, nodding slightly towards Asher with a raised eyebrow she'd recognize.

He's freaked. Help him. You're better at it.

Glancing at Asher, she didn't even need to respond to Terry--just moved within their still tight knit huddle to lean her back against Asher's chest, relinquishing Ty to Terry without a fight.

"Give her my fat pants. Bottom drawer." she advised.

Terry nodded, steering Tyleigh towards their bedroom.

"They're not really fat pants." Terry assured her with a small smile. "They're just too long for her--should fit you just fine once you get cleaned up. I, uh--I can help with that or not. No hanky panky, promise, not 'till I get you stitched up. After you clean up, of course."

[sanguinemoon]

"Hands down, the cutest butt, the pertest lil' apple I just wanna--Heeey, Gramma Gen," Asher changed his tone mid-ramble, a flush staining his cheeks as he wandered away a step or two away from their huddled pile to continue the phone conversation. Imogen Blanchard's voice was loud enough to be heard even from a distance, pinched with worry, and Asher immediately started in on both reassuring her and explaining the situation. When Penny siddled up and pressed against him, he sighed, softly, in gratitude, wound his arm around her waist and laid his head into the curve of her neck while he quietly 'yes ma'am'd' and 'no ma'am'd' and gave details when they were asked for.

When that phone call was over, and Terry and Ty had shuffled off to the bedroom, he finally released a bit of a shaky breath and wrapped both arms around his mate, buried his nose in her hair. "You and Terry doing that whole psychic connection thing? I'm okay, just. Rattled." He played with the phone for a moment, watched the little pops of glitter imbedded in the case of Tyleigh's phone catch the light. "I guess it's one thing hearing the word 'war' and a little different seeing it up close and personal."

"I know what she meant," Ty replied with a soft huff of a laugh, letting Terry steer her toward the bedroom on her slightly unsteady legs. "I speak fluent Girl. The pants you fat-ass around the house in." She had a pair herself, some cropped red sweats that made her ass look enormous and her legs look stumpy, but they were like wearing butter, so she fat-assed in them rather than tossing them into the fireplace. Maybe she and Penny should trade fat-ass pants, they probably wouldn't make her legs look stumpy.

For some reason--probably because blood-loss and adrenaline crash--the thought was funny to her, and Terry's remark didn't help, so she had to duck her head to smother a giggle. She was still trying not to giggle as she let him steer her into the bedroom and started carefully peeling off her ruined clothes. "I'm almost literally dead on my feet, Terr," she drawled, pausing to wince and hiss as she peeled her ripped jeans off her hips. "Hankying my panky, is...Okay, I mean, it's not the last thing on my mind," Especially not while standing in a bedroom just reeking of sex, saturated with the scent of sweat and pheromones of her...her mates. "But it's probably, like. The third. It's fine. Just--stay close to me. Ah, fuck."

The wince became a genuine grimace of pain as she leaned heavily on the closest wall and had to bend and flex her legs to get her jeans off. "Dammit. Hurts."

[terr_it_up]

Penny let herself be wrapped up and cuddled, burrowing against Asher's chest with a little sigh of her own. In truth, she was pretty rattled herself--but only because Ty was bleeding and Asher was so badly upset.

She wasn't the strongest or most vicious wolf, she'd never be an Alpha...but she had her speed, and she had absolutely no compunction when it came to violence in protection of those she loved. Like her friends, like her mates...

Knowing what the Culling stood for, she was perfectly happy to go to war.

"I'm going to bake Rachel Devereaux a casserole every night for a month so she doesn't have to worry about dinner while she's riding herd on her brother." she declared quietly. "And I think I'm finally going to sign up for those tae kwon do classes you two teased me about last month. So next time, I can do more than just throw heavy things."

Terry couldn't quite stop the growl that rose when Ty hissed in pain and slumped against the closet wall. Darting forward, he knelt in front of her and caught the waist of her jeans to tug them the rest of the way off her hips and legs.

"Here, hang on...straighten up and lean on the wall...okay, step back--right foot....good, now left. There."

Once her jeans were off, he got to his feet and caught the hem of her shirt, trying to think more about her discomfort and less about the fact he was stripping his mate--and the Haze wasn't completely satisfied, at least now.

It made him wish, irrationally, that their pack had that neat healing trick that the Wayward Daughter did. He wasn't an Alpha, but it made him wish he were. Then he could just...fix this.

"Here, can you lift your arms for me?..."

[sanguinemoon]

Asher had thought he was perfectly happy to go to war too. No, he was. He had to be, because there was no other option, it was fight or be killed. But he wasn't much of a fighter, either. He wasn't as fast as Pen, as lethal as Terr, or as strong as Ty. His strengths lay in his mind and his mouth--hence the law degree. He was good at talking, and there was no talking to be done here.

"You know what, Penny Lane, I'll sign up with you," he murmured, nuzzling into her neck to rub his scent on her skin, and kissing the place where her pulse beneath the surface. "I've taken some, but a refresher would do me some good." He paused, absently winding some of Penny's hair around his fingers. "And I think it's high time I bite the bullet--hah hah--and get a license to carry." Terry might not be here, the next time the Culling sent someone to murder the mates of the Alpha of the Sanguine Moon.

"Speaking of the Devereauxs," he sighed, shifting his hold on Penny so he could find one of their numbers in Tyleigh's phone. Calling Rocky directly didn't feel right, so he found Daisy Johnson's number instead. As it rang, he dropped a kiss to the curve of Penny's neck. "Gen's on her way with some of the First Guard, for cleanup. She is, how do you say--extremely fucking pisssed. Might wanna grab a robe, Pen."

"Hey, hey." Even as her jaw tightened with every movement, Tyleigh, reached up and curled her hand around the back of Terry's neck, pulling him in for a kiss after he'd peeled off her ruined shirt. He wasn't the only one who wasn't...unaffected by the Haze. And he, at least, had gotten to have sex. Bust mostly, he was upset, and he didn't need to be.

"It's okay," she murmured against his lips. "I'm gonna be fine. It's not even that bad." Mostly because they'd stopped thinking solely of killing her the moment the Haze hit them, so the wounds were superficially placed, even if they were deep and painful. They just hurt. It hurt to heal. "I'm here. I'm here now. We're here now. All of us."

[terr_it_up]

Penny couldn't quite contain her smile at Asher's decision, though she wrinkled her nose at the idea of a gun--what little she knew about them, Terry taught her so she would at least be safe around them, but she really didn't like the idea of them.

But Ash was right: it was time to bite the bullet. The Culling used them, they had be ready.

She twisted her head as he kissed her neck, nuzzling his cheek before leaning back a little to bury her nose against the soft skin just behind his ear, where his scent was strongest, tinged with the lingering traces of her and Terry both.

Soon, Ty would be there, too. On their clothes, their skin...in their bed.

"Clothing my hide." she finally sighed, pulling back to kiss him soundly. "Be right back--with my phone, too. I'm gonna text Rachel--squishy wolves unite and all."

Terry lost his ability to think for a second as Ty kissed him--a flare of lust, yes, but it was the way the tension bled out of him so quickly through that touch of lips, the fresh flood of safe home mate mine that made his brain short circuit and sort of...drift in a serene haze until their lips parted just enough for speech.

And hearing her say it--hearing it out loud, that this was real and she was safe and they were them, finally at last...it was all too much, in the best way possible--but it was still too much.

With infinite care, mindful of her injuries, Terry got his arms around her, his face pressed to the curve of her neck--and just held on, blocked it all out with the warmth of her body and her scent in his lungs, skin and soap and blood and all.

He held her until his head finally went quiet, until his heart and lungs felt like they fit properly in his chest again. Then he lifted his head with a soft, sheepish smile.

"Sorry--good now." he breathed, brushing his nose against her hairline briefly before he cupped a hand under her elbow to steady her. "Clean up and clothes now."

"And no cuddling without me!"

Terry glanced over his shoulder, and flipped off Penny as she giggled, head poking through the door before her arm followed, snatched her robe off the back of the door, and she vanished again.

[replevin]

"Yeah, I don't like 'em either, Penny Lane," Asher replied with a light sigh, leaning in to kiss the crinkle of her nose. He might not be working in the law system yet, but he'd studied extensively--he'd read case after case revolving around gun violence. And yet--this was war, and other side wasn't keeping things 'civilized.'

"Yeah, what's up?"

Asher straightened up as Daisy's voice answered his call, keeping his hand on Penny out of habit until she'd moved out of his reach and slipped out of his fingers. "Hey, ma'am, uh, so hey, we just had some Culling assassins break into our house and try to murder us all, are you guys okay?"

For a few moments there was silence on the phone--mostly because Daisy didn't know what to react to first, the assassination attempt or being called MA'AM. "...Uh. We're fine. Rocky's filming, lemme see if he can take a break."

"Take your time, we're good now," Asher assured her cheerfully. "The First Guard is on the way to clean up and Ty's getting patched up--oh, she's our mate now. Officially."

"...Uh. Busy night, huh?"

"Right?! Exciting times we live in."

Ty's lips curved, then split into a wide grin at Penny's proclamation as she sauntered in, grabbed a robe, and sauntered out again. "I make no promises," she murmured, easing back enough to pluck her panties off of her hips and let them fall to her feet, then making a face as the last article of clothing was the snug sports bra she was gonna have to pull off over her head. That was gonna hurt like a bitch, but she gritted her teeth and caught the edge of the tight elastic, tugging it up over her breasts and up her arms. A little growl slipped out, but it could've been worse. "This shower's gonna suck, but I've got...a shit ton of blood in my hair, and it's their blood. I can smell it. I hate it. Their smell's all over me."

Penny got back to the living room just in time for Imogen to walk through the door, two members of the First Guard briefly visible outside as they started in on cleanup. Though one of the cars parked outside was a cop car--Terry wasn't the only member of pack that was on the force--they'd kept their lights off, wanting as little attention on them as possible. Imogen strode directly over to Penny and took her face in her hands, narrowed eyes peering down at her. "You hurt, sugar?"

[inmyearsandinmyeyes]

"Mazel Tov!" came the distant, familiar shout of a buttery smooth voice over the phone before there was rustling as Rocky wrapped his arms around Daisy from behind. "Sorry, had to take a break from Unfair FNAF 2. You, me, 'n Mom can head over. Think it's kinda Haze-y time, us three'll be more resistant to it--mated wolves, plus you should be able to leech on mine a little. I'll see if Rache wants to help patch boo-boos and feed people, too--she 'n Terr being misfit packmates 'n all."

Terry pressed his face to the top of Ty's head in silent sympathy, nuzzling a little to leave a hesitant scent mark--it would wash away, but it was more to soothe in the moment than be a mark of possession. It actually helped on his end, too, a little...a more solid reminder that this was real, she was safe, that things were finally correct.

That was when he heard an engine cut out somewhere beyond the walls of the house--he recognized the sound, because he'd been assigned the car last month and they still hadn't cleaned the goddamn spark plugs.

"Sounds like the Cavalry's here." he sighed, kissing Ty's forehead before stepping towards the door. "Blue and green glass bottles in the shower--blue's shampoo, green's body wash. Some herbal cocktail Penny and Rachel Devereaux came up with to kill pheremones and chemosignals faster, helps a little during the Haze when smelling other people on each other makes us pissy."

Penny twisted out of Imogen's grip to instead press right into her arms for a hug, with just a little clinging before she drew back again. It made her feel calmer, saner--everything about Imogen always screamed comfortsafetylove at her in the most maternal way possible, and she still felt a tiny bit like she wanted her mommy, darn it.

"Not hurt, just...argh." Penny replied, the utterance coming out hollow and a little shaky as she stretched one arm out and made a single grabby hand at Asher. "Bloodlust isn't a really comfortable feeling on me, you know? Just...argh."

[lunulate]

"Uh...weird story, that," Asher admitted in response to Rocky's remark about the Haze. "But I'll let Ty explain. You know you guys are always welcome and I don't think you're gonna have to worry about horny vibes. Well, you know, anymore than usual. Might wanna reach out to your own people, just to make sure everyone's okay. I don't know how organized this attack might have been, or if it was just us, or what."

He brightened a little as Imogen marched in, breathing a slow sigh of relief. The elder packmate may not have been alpha since Asher was a kid, but she still radiated the regal aura of it. Protection, safety, the sense that everything would be okay and taken care of. "The Calvary's marching in. See you in a bit, homies, and thanks."

Hanging up the phone, Asher moved up to stand behind Imogen and wrap her up in a hug from behind, curling his hands around Penny's elbows in the process. "Hey grams," he sighed as he pulled back and grinned sheepishly. "Damn it's good to see you."

"I just bet," Imogen drawled, the natural acerbic tone of her voice at odds with the maternal stroke of her hand over Penny's hair as she kept her tugged in close, the fingers she curled on Asher's cheek as she studied his face. "You all right, my boy?"

Considering the hellish attack that Tyleigh had gone through, Asher hated to complain, but still, he couldn't lie to Imogen. "I've been better, ma'am."

"I just bet," she repeated, tugging Asher in to kiss his cheek. "Where's Terry, and my girl?

[terr_it_up]

"Terry's here, Ty's cleaning up." Terry called out, checking a quick trot into the room with a haphazard wave before crowding Imogen from the side to kiss her cheek and brush his nose against her temple in greeting. "Hey, Gen. Ty's okay--she tore up and got tore up right back, but no serious injuries."

He paused to kiss the top of Penny's head, then shared a look with Asher over her head, silently checking in on him with a glance as he spoke and reached out to give his shoulder a quick squeeze.

"I'm gonna go help the other officers with the scene--flag down Mr. Imogen when he rolls up. You good here with Penny and Grams, babe?"