Psychological Warfare

I got my food straight from Gwenna, who would have watched the stew being prepared, and sat at my usual table to eat. She was scowling, fiercely unhappy that she was having to serve the other rogues, even though we all had to take our turns doing it. Every other minute she snuck some food for herself, more than our usual rations, but she had a way of doing it where only I could see.

A few minutes later, Nate came strolling in, holding a bundled up tissue in one hand. Some white dust was staining his finger tips, and when he caught my eye, he smiled and nodded. Mission successful. As he went to get his food, he squeezed Gwenna's hand, subtly passing over the pouch of crushed sedatives which she stuffed into her pockets. I didn't dare use my enhanced hearing when in the food tent, because it was always so noisy in here, but I could just about make out that she told the boy ladling out food to be taken to the raiding teams to take over serving people instead. He just shrugged and did what she said, letting her pull apart a pot of stew, and after a quick look around, empty the contents of the tissue into it. Then it was a few moments of frantic stirring and a quick sniff and taste to make sure it couldn't be detected, and she was yelling over one of the puppies to run it over to Theo and his gang.

"Nate, go and watch, subtly, to make sure they eat it, alright?" I told him, shrugging at his glare. "What? They'll think it's suspicious if I hang around, and you can take your lunch with you!" I lied, because there was no way he would look less suspicious than me, but someone had to do it and, y'know, I sure as hell didn't want to. Grumbling, he took his food and left, leaving me to finish my lunch and look around the tent. Mainly, I was picking out the boys my age, wondering if any of them would turn out to be my mate tomorrow. I really hoped not. I didn't like any of them very much. For the other's sake, I looked at the girls too, wondering if any of them would turn out to my sibling's mate either. Whether or not I'd be happy about their mates no matter who they were was doubtful, but they could do worse. Their mate could end up being a pack wolf, and that would be the worst.

Once I was done eating and staring, I washed my dish and left the tent, going back to the den for ten minutes until Gwenna finished her shift and the drugs should kick in for Theo. On my way back, I saw da making his way down from the ruins, probably leaving someone else behind to guard the prisoner. The quickest way back was to go right past the room he was kept in, and even though I tried to be quiet as I passed, the alpha still started yelling something that was muffled by his gag and thrashing against his restraints. I caught the guard's eye and shrugged, laughing though I didn't really feel it.

"He really hates you, eh?" He commented in that slow drawl that drove me mad if I talked to him for more than ten minutes.

"Yeah. Almost like I killed his da or someut. Bye." I shrugged, cutting off the conversation and wandering off. I won't lie, nerves were beginning to build as I sat down, pulling out my pocketknife and using a whetstone to sharpen up the blade. Gwenna went through a knife every few months or so, because she found cleaning and sharpening them too much work, so they rusted and ruined quickly. For me, whenever I was nervous, I would clean and sharpen my knife which da had first given to me when I was fifteen.

"They've eaten it. Give it five and then go and issue the challenge. See if you can goad him into making the square right away, that way when you start to fight, the drugs will be just starting to kick in. The sooner we do it the better." Nate informed me, emphasising the last part as he hovered in the door, nervousness rolling down the link in waves.

"Chill out, we've got this, and you're winding me up. Besides, we can't go without Gwenna, she'll go nuts if we do this without her." I pointed to the rock opposite me, and reluctantly he perched on it. When I spoke about Gwenna, he flushed, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably as I narrowed my eyes at him. "What?"

"Well, uh, when I was on the way back she was in the middle of getting cosy with Ada."

"Ada as in Theo's girlfriend, Ada?" I hissed, sitting up and nicking my finger on my bade in surprise. Nate grimaced and nodded. Shit. They might not be mates, but Theo was super possessive over her. Which was weird, given she was twenty and he was twenty seven, but who am I to judge. My point was that if Theo found out, it would be him versus Gwenna, not me, and in wolf form that wasn't a fight she could win. And it wouldn't get me my raiding team. Quickly, I yanked on the link, hissing my message across without ever crossing into her head. Never again would I make that mistake.

For fuck's sake, think with your head, not what's between your legs! You could fuck everything up, so get away from Ada and get here before we do this without you! I threatened, running a hand through my hair as I began to stress out. I could feel her irritation and frustration rolling down the link, so I blocked her.

"She has five minutes to get here and then I'll do it without her. I swear if she blows this for me-"

"Us."

"Fine, us. But if she blows this for us, I'm gonna bloody loose it." I muttered, chewing on my thumbnail.

"She won't. I'll warn her." His eyes glazed over as he linked her, while I slowly spiralled further and further into a pit of stress and anger. On the plus side, it was getting my wolf all riled up, which I could use.

"Come on, lets start walking down. Gwenna will join us on the way down." Nate told me, and reluctantly I followed. "Aw, don't start getting stressed. This isn't like you."

"It wouldn't be like me to get stressed if this wasn't so important and things were actually going to plan." I snapped back. Nate stopped, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Look, she was trying to help, by playing mind games. And yeah, she got a little carried away, but she's stopped now and she's coming to join us. So, deep breath in, deep breath out, and let's get going." Soothing ripples came down the link, able to reduce my strength if not even touch my wolf. I nodded.

"Right. Let's go then." I decided, turning and striding towards where Theo and his team were camped out. My wolf was prowling around my skull, snarling as her blood thirst rose, but I smothered her enough to keep her dominance from radiating out from me.

Halfway there, Gwenna came jogging up, lips swollen, hair mussed, and shirt on backwards, as well as I smirk that I half wanted to punch off her face. But now wasn't the time, so I let her fall into step behind me, and ignored Ada who was off to the side, tidying herself up and throwing coy looks at Gwenna before running ahead to join with Theo again.

We approached the circle of tents where he was camped, and a few of his team mates yelled a greeting. While I had led this team for like a month years ago before being kicked out by Theo, any hard feelings about it had dissipated over the years, and now his team members quite liked my little trio. It looked like a few of them were beginning to be hit by the sedatives, leant back against anything solid enough and looking very drowsy, moving slowly and very little. Luckily, as the leader, Theo would have eaten first and most, and it was beginning to show. I walked right up to him, intruding on his personal space and ignoring the snarl I got in return.

"Theo, I challenge you to a fight. The winner gains control of the team." I challenged him, already feeling the adrenaline start to flood into my blood. Theo snarled again, bolting to his feet a little too slowly and putting himself nose to nose, growling.

"You've tried this before, darling, and it didn't turn out well for you, did it?" Nate snorted behind me.

"Yeah, well done big man. You were eighteen and you managed to kick the arse of a fourteen year old. Very big and clever." He mocked him, and I watched as Theo became progressively more pissed, but not quite enough yet.

"I ain't fighting you again, Natalia, so piss off before I whoop your ass anyway." Oh, he was annoying me now. I knew he was only pretending to be this confident; I had killed an alpha recently, and he had seen me fight. He knew that he couldn't beat me, and the sedatives were only going to help.

But Theo sat down after shoving me back a step, and for a moment I panicked, thinking I was actually about to loose my chance and get humiliated by this twat. Luckily, Gwenna knew exactly how to rile a rogue into a fight, primary school edition.

She started making clucking noises, flapping her arms like a chicken.

"Right, that's it! Make the fucking square and let me teach this kid what happens when she fucks with her betters!" Theo roared, bolting back to his feet and swaying just a little. I grinned, turning to the assembled crowd and throwing my arms up dramatically.

"You heard the man! Make the square!" I yelled out my acceptance of the challenge, watching with a huge grin as people dragged logs and boxes and bags into a rough square for us to fight in. I paced up and down, eyeing him like a predator eyes their prey. Slowly, his team were taking up their sentinels at the sides of the square, starting the constant symphony of growls and yelling that was always the background music to these things. When it was decent enough, I took off my jacket, revealing the vest I had on underneath and my toned arms, littered with scars from all the hard won battles I had fought.

Theo went one step further, stripping to his waist like guys were always so keen and quick to do, not that I minded too much. Most rogues were fairly toned, though skinny cos we never had quite enough food, so at least I could get an eyeful. He was covered in scars as well, and I had to resist the urge to take off my vest so I could match his. It would also be a decent enough distraction tactic, but even I had a little more dignity than that.

Hearts racing and veins burning with adrenaline, we started to circle each other.

The fight had begun.