Tithe
To take what I'm owed.
Pay me my dues.
Tithe listened to what the wolves in front of him were saying. His posture was attentive, but still wary, that of a soldier who was listening to a commander who was not necessarily his. He tried to follow everything they were saying and combine it with everything he had seen. His young mind and inexperience outside of his family felt as though this were a complicated puzzle he needed to figure out. The alpha before him just stated Tobias rarely brought another into the land unharmed. Those words clearly pointed out to him that he was something of an oddness, an interest. Dark eyes looked back at Tobias. Tithe was an interest to a creature who was unpredictable.
His heart clenched still more as he considered the words she had spoken, his face remaining expressionless. Ranks to be filled, a pack to protect, ‘I only give birth to kings’. They were things that spoke most clearly to him. It was these values that drove Tithe through his short life. He gazed at the two in front of him, eyes hard, trying to hide the thoughts in his mind. Their words bordered on contradictory and their actions screamed it. Had he not been quick on his feet, Tithe felt confident he would have fallen injured to Tobias’ fangs. Tithe’s thirst for growth, his need to live up to what was expected of him clouded it mind.
In his soul he knew he did not trust the pair. Could he live like that? Serve a pack he did not feel bone deep loyalty to? Inside himself he squirmed, he whined. The pup that never got to enjoy its childhood cried out. Hard faced and still standing solidly he let out a slow, deep breath, displaying nothing of the internal war that raged in him.
”What would you ask of me here?”