Felix Bastien's Story

Felix's eyes widened considerably. His dark brows pulled back in an expression... almost of shock. He held out a hand, palm facing the floor. "Now, wait. Boss. You serious?" he asked. "I mean, I mean, I know you're serious. It just seems a lil' sudden."

The boy knew that if Rowan had declared it, then it was bound to happen one way or another. He had scarcely been there for the last real fight, though. It had been a specialty of his, keeping out of anything his brother was likely to show up at. This time, though. That would be a real challenge.

"I ain't pussyin' out, though! I guess... it is about time, yeah?"

Jason's stoic frown shifted slowly into a broad grin. "Now that's what I'm talking about." he said, straightening to lean back on the couch. "Been aching to put those mongrels in their place for a long time."

It'd been too long since Jason had been able to stretch his legs, have a real fight. Going up against the Bloodstones and VINDEX... now that'd be a fight worth having. Baron, Ragenard, even Bowen - he was willing to bet they'd all give him a run for his money in a straight up fight, if not more than that.

Man, he sure hoped the boss let him take them in a straight up fight. The prospect of potentially being beaten was ... strangely exciting. That'd get the adrenaline pumping enough to let him really let loose.

He cast a glance over to Felix, flashing the younger werewolf a smirk. "Don't sound all that confident, Scrappy." he remarked, "No need to worry. We'll stomp 'em to the curb."

Jason cracked his knuckles, "I've been waiting for this rematch."

Mariah went to push open the door to the meeting area, though she was twenty minutes late. The door didn't budge. "Oh for Christs' sake." The female muttered. She eyed the lock on the door, and dug into the pocket of her jean shorts. Pulling out her ring of keys, she flicked the small silver pin out, and shoved it in. Two jerks, and a shove, the lock gave. She pushed the door open, and shoved the keys back into her pocket.

Eyeing Rowan from behind her red sunglasses, she spoke over the heads seated around the room, "The locks are in need of an upgrade," She raised her hands, and walked towards the coffee on the counter, "Just saying. Sorry I'm late, traffic's a bitch. Please, continue."

Mariah wasn't the most professional of the pack, nor friendly. However, she was loyal to Rowan to the death, same as to the rest of her pack mates, though she wouldn't tell them.

Pouring her coffee, still with her shades lowered, she found a seat next to Felix, and almost sat down on him making room for herself. Mariah pulled a small flask from her shirt, and poured from it into her coffee. "What'd I miss?" She whispered to Felix.

Charlotte's eyes opened wider, "Rowen, sir, do you think we should attack when he's feeling super weak, or when he's comfortable and not expecting it? He probably knows he's got a target on his back" she spoke up, now standing up. She jumped as another pack member walked in. Her head snapped back to Rowen. "I mean with all due respect, shouldn't we wait?" she asked, her tone softening.

Walking over to the kid, she took a coffee "Thanks kid" she said, ruffling his hair as she went back to the wall she was leaning against.

Rowan's smile faded for a brief second before a smirk came to his lips. He placed the glass of whiskey down on the table and began to chuckle darkly. He seemed to have forgotten suddenly that Mariah was late, about the surprise and excitement his announcement had made.

No, he was more focused on Charlotte right now.

"Oh? Is that so? Do you think you can run this pack better than I can, Charlotte?" He asked, his tone dark. "Challenge accepted. I will fight you for the right to lead this pack."

When Charlotte had started to speak Aimée's brow furrowed and she turned to look in her direction. 'Are you dumb as a box of rocks?', she thought and then turned briefly to look to Rowan. She instantly lowered her eyes and twisted her body to slide back and then over the back of the couch so that she was no longer anywhere close to what could be called 'in between Rowan and Charlotte'. She did this with a grace and flexibly fitting her lithe form.

Mariah almost got excited, as she continued to whisper to Felix, not so quietly. "Doesn't matter what I missed, this looks to be the good part." The female wolf reached inside her shirt, and pulled out a protein bar, still wrapped. She opened the end, holding her coffee cup between her knees, "Ten bucks says she belly ups." She looked to around the group, knowing full well a few would be annoyed with her childish antics. Mariah just couldn't be helped, she was a case all her own. She took a bite of her bar, and chewed even louder, looking directly at Charlotte.

Charlotte's gaze left Rowens for a bit, "Hey, don't bet on me, unless you are willing to ask for more money" she said with a smirk before turning back to Rowen. "Ro, I meant no challenge, I was just giving a suggestion, trying to keep us safe, not saying you don't care about us, but just trying to buy us some time to build our strength" she said, had she been in wolf form, her tail would be tucked.

Sipping her coffee to buy her time. "Again, Rowen, I meant no challenge of your authority" she whimpered and put her coffee down, waiting for him to speak.

Jason shifted slightly to nudge Felix in the ribs with a grin, "Hope you're not wearing anything expensive. Think we're in the splatter zone." he murmured, grinning.

Rowan's blue eyes were glowing brightly by the time Charlotte opened her mouth again. She was acting so flippantly about the fact that her pack leader was now.. Well, upset was to put it lightly. The man's smirk widened into a broad smile. Almost too wide. He slowly unbuttoned the cuffs of his sleeves and rolled them up, stepping lightly as he rounded over to Charlotte.

"Is that so..?" Rowan asked, lowering his gaze. "Do you think I've been idle, dear Charlotte?" His voice was deadly calm and almost quiet. Very few people here had ever seen Rowan like this. Rowan had not always been this pack's leader. When he was a pup, another name had taken and killed his father for claim of leadership. Rowan himself had been kept around. He was, after all, from a long legacy of werewolves dating back before Lutetia was here.

Rowan fought his way through the ranks. With his strength, his cunning and charm, he had been able to gather up enough loyalty that when he challenged the previous leader and killed him, none had challenged him that right. Rowan commanded respect through fear, a trait he had rightfully earned.

He didn't wait for her to answer. "While you've been an air head around Audrieu, I've been working. Planning. Plotting. Waiting. Do you think Baron would wait to destroy us if the roles had been reversed..?" He asked, walking to stand about 3 feet in front of her. His smile had never faded.

He attempted to grab her by her shirt to pick her up, to slam her through the table as hard and fast as he could muster.

Myro kept his distance as the scene unfolded, moving to be just a few feet behind Jason and Felix. "Just don't say the wrong thing and make him angry yourself" he warned them, then remaining silent himself. Normally, he would have a lot to say about this. But Myro wasn't an idiot. He wasn't going to get between Rowan and Charlotte. Hell, he wasn't going to get between Rowan and anyone. Myro was carefree, not suicidal.

So, after his warning to Jason and Felix, Myro remained oddly silent. He was rarely ever silent, so when he was, it was for a good reason.

Not being the subject of Rowan's wrath was one of them.

Donelle simply stood there leaning against the counter as she watched their leader casually make his way to the middle of the room. As he spoke all her attention was on him, when it came to matters like these she was always serious and quite silently, intently listening. She was very loyal just as much as the rest of the pack, and always trusted in Rowan's ways, the only reason they had gotten this far and been around so long was thanks to his leadership. To hear another member casually and ignorantly question such authority without even realising it did strike a few nerves but she remained silent. It wasn't her place to intervene, not that she wanted to anyway. Yes Donelle simply watched and listened to Rowan scold and Charlotte retaliate, perhaps she wasn't all there today, it happens, it's not like it's uncommon to have the leader knock around some of the pack to get them back into shape. If anything she enjoyed seeing this sort of thing. Far from being unnerved by the sight, she remained leaning against the counter, downing the rest of her coffee, watching the others reactions and whispering amongst each other.

Aside all that, she was all for Rowan's plans and thought it was about time the took action and stepped up their game, show their rivals they're not the type to be pushed around. Yes taking that old turf back would be a most victorious event.

Charlotte, not being one to take lightly to being thrown, stood there, limp in his grip and took his hit, waiting for him to throw her like a piece of meat.

Charlotte crashed through the table, splintering the legs with the force she was brought down upon it. For a human, it most likely would have mean that they would be unconscious or more seriously injured. For a werewolf, it would just mean bruises for a while and possibly broken bones.

But Rowan wasn't done. As soon as she landed, he gritted his teeth as he hauled her back up, shoving his knee into her stomach with enough force to knock the wind out of her, possibly crack a rib or two. He let her fall to the ground before grabbing her throat before she had time to recover, squeezing it tightly. He held her in the air, his blue eyes blazing with his fury.

After a few seconds, he smirked. "You're lucky you're more useful to me alive than dead... For now." He said, his voice dripping with cruelty. "Just remember.. Next time, I may not be so.. Generous." He dropped her to the floor, turning slightly to gaze back at his pack. "Anyone else have questions about how I run things around here?!" He barked, looking from face to face in a silent challenge to any who would stand up against him. He was daring anyone to do so. Charlotte had only wet his appetite for blood.

Charlotte was left on the floor gasping for air, she could feel her ribs were cracked, that was the least of her worries, they would heal in a matter of hours, she brought her hand up to check her face, noticing nothing was wrong with it, she sighed, wincing as she did, laying her hand back down, she figured she'd just lay there until someone came to get her, either from the pack or room service.

She began breathing slowly as her bruises began to do their normal cycle of turning colors as it healed. She could feel some of the wood splinters in her back, the blood was drizzling around her, stopping soon as her minor cuts were healed in a matter of minutes.

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Aimée kept her eyes averted and shook her head when Rowan asked if anyone else have questions about how he ran things around here. It was a rhetorical question anyway and she was smart enough to realize that.

When the tense mood eventually calmed down Aimee would speak finally. "What would you like me to do to help?", she said and was addressing Rowan but appeared frightened of him. She believed Charlotte got what was coming to her and was too worried about the outcome should she go and try to help the girl up so she did not. She didn't think highly of Charlotte anyway.

"Good, but it ain't no joke," smirked Felix to Mariah. He squirmed a bit when Jason nudged him in the ribs, but snorted in response. Huh. Expensive. "Who d'ya think you're talking to?" he whispered back, just as the girl hit the table. He flinched, lips pursing.

"Daaaayum," he hissed. He didn't go to help her. She'd gotten what she'd deserved, and she'd be fine in a few hours anyway. This was a statement straight from bossman himself. He didn't need Myro's hint at what he already knew to be true.

So he had been right not to challenge him earlier, too.

He'd have to do this. No backing out. Felix didn't let his hesitation show after that display.

As Charolette laid on the ground, in agony, she knew one way or the other she had to get on his good side again, suddenly a thought came through her mind through the agony of broken bones, cracked ribs, and a pounding in her skull, maybe burning down the den would help get her on his good side. Charolette knew she'd have to wait for Rowan to calm down before someone would help her up, it hurt to move. Even her heels hurt. She knew she screwed up big time but was very glad she was needed alive rather than dead. Her eyes drifted closed, then flew back open, knowing it would anger Rowan if she fell asleep.

There was the slightest want to help the female on the floor, perhaps later when the boss was out or maybe she'd simply ask how she was feeling, act like she didn't care but secretly did care, she was always thinking about the well being of everyone in the pack, she'd never leave any of them behind, that just wasn't how she rolled, she'd always be there for them.

She remained leaning against the bar counter, watching and waiting for what the leader might have to say next as Aimée spoke up, Donelle too was curious about what he might assign them all to do as she stood there in silence.