A little incident

It was Friday. The cubs were going to finish school when a little accident happened.

Lara was called to go pick them up before the time, so she asked Samantha whether she could come back later to finish her job.

«It's fine. If it's for the pups, you can go home. It's not too soon, anyway. Just leave half an hour later on Monday, all right?»

«Sure. Thanks! Really!»

She reached the kindergarten and found a lady yelling at her cubs. The caretaker was standing nearby, shivering and trying to stop the lady from screaming. To no avail.

«You little savage, you dare to hit my child?» she was saying.

Lara instinctively accelerated and stood in front of her cubs. She crossed her arms and looked the other lady in the eyes.

She knew they were all wolves there. She was aware she had no chance to confront her. Yet, she stood in between.

While yelling, that woman raised a hand. She probably didn't want to hit the cubs, but Lara couldn't just watch as they were threatened.

«Are you the mother of these strays?» the woman asked.

The way she said strays made Lara shiver. As if she was talking about bastards. She opened her mouth to reply, but no word came out.

She could just stand there and protect them with her shadow. Nothing else came to mind.

«I guess this happens when a human gives birth to wolves. They don't grow up well. Have you ever thought of educating them? How do you think they'll act when they grow up if even now they're this aggressive?»

The caretaker tried to add something, but the river of words didn't allow her. She was used to dealing with children. Adults were a whole other matter.

Moreover, in the pack, her position wasn't as high as the lady's. She didn't have the right to interrupt her while talking.

«My kids are not aggressive,» Lara said.

It was not the full moon. And they had improved so much during the last few months, even before meeting Nate.

Unless what happened made them unstable again...

«Not if they aren't teased,» she added. «What happened here?»

She didn't know anything about the pack hierarchies, so she turned to the caretaker and waited for an explanation.

«The pups fought,» the girl said. «Scarlet released the claws, and that's a rule we have here. It's forbidden to release claws and fangs.»

«I see. What about Jaden, then. Why is he here?»

«He didn't want to leave his sister alone. I didn't call him out...»

Lara nodded.

«Usually, pups don't turn this early,» the teacher continued. «Yours are early, it seems. A few start at six years old, while the others at seven or eight. That's why we aren't ready to react. This time, no one got hurt. But it's dangerous if Scarlet doesn't learn how to control it.»

«Is it really so early? Wolf kids don't turn at their age?» Lara inquired, more curious than angry.

«No, it usually doesn't happen. Oh, at least, they don't develop claws. They just have their ears sometimes.»

«So, my kids are precocious,» she chuckled.

«How can you say precocious when they're so little?» the woman next to them said. «And so skinny. You can see they're half-human.»

The expression of disdain on the woman's lips made Lara's blood freeze.

Her cubs weren't normal, not even for wolves. She didn't have a clue about how a perfect wolf pup should look. She just knew how they shouldn't.

Her eyes moved on them for a moment, and her heart returned beating normally when their eyes stopped on her. They hugged her thighs, hanging on her t-shirt and glaring at the other two in front of them. Their fingers wrapped around the cloth and didn't seem to intend to let go.

«I can't understand why they're letting two strays with our pups,» the woman continued. «Does our Alpha know about this?»

«Yes, he does,» the caretaker said.

She wanted to add that Alpha Nate explained the situation by himself, but she stopped her tongue. In the end, it was just a detail. And she wasn't sure she was allowed to talk about it in public.

«What did this woman do to convince him?» the lady murmured. She threw a last glare of disgust at Lara and left with her child.

The little boy turned back and showed his tongue to Scarlet. The girl inhaled deeply, but she didn't react to that.

Contrarily to what Lara expected, Scarlet ignored the provocation.

She didn't snap. She could control it, somehow.

«There must be something that happened to make you lose control like that,» Lara commented.

The previous time, it was the meeting with her father. The two recognised each other, and the shock made Scarlet attack him.

However, she didn't growl at strangers anymore. What could have possibly made her lose control?

«Scarlet, what happened?» Lara inquired.

«He said we were strays,» Jaden sighed.

«Were you there when your sister snapped?»

«No, I went away after he said strays. I can play with other kids.»

«So, Scarlet, you have to tell me...» Lara said.

She crouched down and looked her daughter in the eyes. So blue that reminded her of Nate. She caressed her face and smiled gently.

«What did that boy do?»

«He said not having a dad is not normal. He said it means our mom is a bad person,» the girl murmured, her eyes filling with tears.

Lara hugged her, caressing her head and making sure she could feel all of her love.

«Your mommy isn't a bad person,» she said.

«I know! That's why I wanted to teach him a lesson...»

«Just saying it won't make a bad person of me.»

In the end, it was always the same. Scarlet reacted only after hearing something about Lara.

The woman sighed. She turned to the teacher and found a pair of reassuring and encouraging eyes.

«She will learn to control it,» she said.

«Can she still come on Monday?»

«Yes, of course! I'll put her in a different group and keep my eyes open.»

«That's good. Thank you for calling me immediately.»