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Fragmented Soul	By : StrawberryGirl87 & Bickymonster Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Fenrir Views: 79703 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the fandom. no money/profit is made.

Chapter List
- 70
- 71
- 72
Thank you all for your lovely reviews to the last chapter. We now have a update schedule for the lead up to Christmas and, because we realised that we want to give you chapter 75 for Christmas, we will be updating about every 3 days.

This is what we are aiming for: chapter 72 - 14th; chapter 73 - 17th; chapter 74 - 21st; chapter 75 - 24th

Fragmented Soul
Chapter 71 – Look, Listen, Learn
Harry bit his lip in consideration for a moment before pushing himself out of bed and sneaking his way between the sleeping bodies of his other pack members, towards Fenrir; Jenson, who was sitting watching over them all, caught his eye and shook his head, but Harry wasn’t going to let the Beta keep him from his mate.
Reaching Fenrir’s side, he quickly lifted the edge of the hides covering his mate and slid in next to him, tucking himself into the Alpha’s side. Harry actually sighed in contentment as Fenrir’s arms automatically wrapped around him, but a moment later one sleepy golden eye opened and peered at him, a stern expression forming on Fenrir’s face.
“Little one,” the Alpha said, sounding annoyed, “go back to bed.”
“But I was cold, wolfie,” Harry told him, trying to snuggle in closer. However, Fenrir got up with him in his arms, and started to carry him back to where he had been sleeping before. It took a lot to keep from crying as the Alpha put him down on his hides, before fetching him another blanket from the spares.
“Go back to sleep, little one,” Fenrir said sternly, handing him the additional blanket.
Harry honestly didn’t know what to say in the face of such blatant rejection from his mate, and watched through teary eyes as Fenrir headed over to Jenson. The two of them talked for a moment, before they changed places, Jenson heading off to get some sleep of his own. Harry felt unable to look at his mate any longer and so lay down and curled himself up under the blanket and hid; he wanted to go to Fenrir, to cuddle into his side, but he knew that he wasn’t wanted there and wasn’t going to beg for affection from the Alpha.
He knew he had messed up badly, that Fenrir was furious with him, but he had hoped this was something they could work through together; it had been really difficult for him to tell the Alpha everything, knowing how angry he was going to be, but he had done it anyway. Now all he was getting in return was rejection from the man he loved.
He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay in the territory if he and Fenrir couldn’t be together; he loved him far too much to be able to be around him if they weren’t together. Right now he needed some comfort. Looking over his shoulder, he spotted where Micha was lying, being spooned by Damon, and made up his mind.
Getting to his feet he moved the blankets and hides he had been sleeping on over, so that they were right next to Micha; however, as he went to lie down and cuddle into his friend, a strong, large hand clamped down upon one of his wrists.
“No, move back,” Fenrir said firmly as Harry turned to look up at him, pointing at the space that the submissive had just vacated.
Harry glared at him for a moment, before snatching his wrist free from the Alpha’s grasp and angrily moving his bedding back to where it was before. He understood that Fenrir was too angry at him, and didn’t want him close to him, but he didn’t see why the Alpha though he could deny him the comfort he desperately needed from his friends.
Feeling particularly rebellious, and not willing to let Fenrir keep him from the other pack members, Harry waited just long enough for the Alpha to sit back down on the log where he was watching over the pack, before he took just a single hide and headed over towards where Clay was sleeping.
Despite being quicker about it this time, Fenrir still reached him before he could even lie down, wrapping an arm around his waist from behind, catching his wrists in his other hand. “I said no, little one”, the Alpha growled deeply, annoyed that his mate was being so defiant.
“That’s not fair,” Harry whined, close to tears again. “I get that you hate me, and don’t want me near you, but you can’t stop me from being close to everyone else,” he protested, trying to break free from Fenrir’s hold on him. “What is this, some kind of jealousy thing? You can’t brush me aside and then say that I’m not allowed to cuddle with someone else.”
“I don’t hate you. This is your punishment,” Fenrir snarled, turning Harry in his arms to face him, though keeping his voice low so as not to wake the others around them. “You will sleep alone.”
“Oh…” Harry said in surprise, trying to process what that really meant. It at least meant there was a chance that things weren’t really over between them; the Alpha wasn’t rejecting him and had outright stated that he didn’t hate him. Though it did mean that he had thrice disobeyed his mate regarding his punishment; but that was hardly fair given he hadn’t even known that he was being punished.
“Go back to bed,” Fenrir said firmly. “When you wake up, you will stay at my side,” he explained, wanting to be clear on what he expected from Harry. “If I go anywhere, you stay with Damon or Jenson.”
“Yeah, I think I can probably manage that,” Harry said quietly. He thought that it was a bit of a strange punishment to have to stay with his mate throughout the day, when he was being kept apart from him at night, but he wasn’t going to complain given he thought he might be able to use that time with the Alpha to work on fixing them.
"Bed, little one," Fenrir said firmly, turning his young mate back in the direction of the spot he had been sleeping and giving him a small encouraging push.
"What if I am not tired?" Harry asked hopefully, turning and looking up at the Alpha. "Can I just stay with you now?" He knew he was pushing his luck, but he honestly wasn’t very tired anymore and when choosing between being at Fenrir’s side and going back to bed alone, it was an easy decision.
“Fine,” Fenrir said grumpily. He wasn’t going to make Harry sleep if he really didn’t want to but then the teenager would be staying close to him, where he couldn’t get himself into any more trouble. Heading back over to the log where he had been sitting, he listened to the quiet sounds of Harry following him.
The Alpha sat, and a moment later Harry sat down next to him, throwing the blanket he had with him over his shoulders and trying to cuddle into Fenrir’s side. The Alpha simply removed Harry’s hands from on him though, and gave his mate a pointed look. “Behave,” he said sternly, before going back to watching over the sleeping pack members.
Harry huffed a little at that, figuring that this was probably all part of the punishment Fenrir had mentioned; at least he hoped it was that, rather than his mate just not wanting his touch. Feeling resigned, he pulled the blanket tighter around himself; despite the sun now being high in the sky and the wards around their territory, the cold of February still hung in the air.
“I love you, Fen and I’m really sorry,” Harry said quietly.
“I know,” Fenrir stated simply. He had no doubt about how his mate felt, and was sure that Harry would apologise until he was blue in the face, but that didn’t mean he was going to give up on teaching Harry the valuable lesson this punishment was supposed to teach.
“But do you still want me?” Harry asked, looking up at the Alpha, who was still watching the rest of the pack. “It doesn’t seem like you do and…”
“I want you, little one,” Fenrir said, without even turning to look at him. He didn’t want his young mate to question that, that wouldn’t help anything.
“But then can’t we just have cuddles, and talk about this?” Harry suggested hopefully.
“No,” the Alpha stated. “You will do as you are told,” he added, giving Harry a pointed look for just a second before going back to looking forward once more.
Harry sighed, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He didn’t know how Fenrir and Jenson spent hours doing this, just watching over the pack while everyone else slept. He let his eyes sweep over the pack, glad to see that Jaylon seemed to be sleeping soundly next to Tessie, but he paused and sat up right, when he spotted that there was an unfamiliar small body on her other side.
“Fen…” Harry said softly, “who’s that sleeping on Tessie’s far side?” He had only been asleep a few hours from what he could tell and yet another new pack member seemed to have appeared from nowhere.
“Niko,” Fenrir told him bluntly. “He’s new.”
“Okay, care to elaborate on that,” Harry said with exasperation. He had already kind of worked out the him being new part for himself, so that wasn’t particularly helpful.
“Jenson and Tessie rescued him from the strays,” Fenrir informed him. He wasn’t particularly in the mood for talking about this, but he wouldn’t deliberately keep information about their pack from his mate.
“The strays? Is he safe?” Harry asked, looking a little alarmed by this news, though he also wondered exactly how close Tessie and Jenson must have gone to the strays in order to bring one of their members back among them.
“He’s young, Jenson took responsibility for him,” Fenrir explained. He was still hesitant about the young man who was now living with them, and was not going to trust him easily, but Niko was just a pup and the Alpha was keen to give him a chance to prove himself.
“That didn’t really answer my question,” Harry pointed out with a frown. Hadn’t they learned their lesson about taking in new members with what had happened with Harlan; though, he had to admit that Tessie had been a great addition. But that didn’t mean that they didn’t need to be careful.
“You will find out,” Fenrir told him. “You will look after him today; staying within my sight at all times, you will help him adjust to the pack,” the Alpha instructed. He was glad that Harry was showing some signs of taking his role of Alpha’s mate seriously, and he wanted to push him to take that further.
“You want me to look after him?” Harry asked, sounding surprised. He had no idea how to take care of some kid. He really didn’t know where he would even start.
“You are my mate,” the Alpha reminded him.
“Yeah… but you want me to take care of him?” Harry repeated, still confused about why Fenrir wanted him to take care of Niko.
“Yes,” the Alpha stated simply; he was not going to debate this with Harry, it was part of his role as Alpha’s mate and he was going to start acting as was expected.
Harry frowned. He hadn’t never even met this boy and it was clear from where he was sleeping that he trusted Tessie at least a little bit, so he felt it might make more sense if she taught him. The Alpha was, however, apparently determined. “But aren’t I supposed to be staying at your side? That’s what you said.”
“Damon will stay with you,” Fenrir told him, actually a little glad that Harry had been listening to him on that front, even if the submissive had then tried to use it against him, to get out of orders he had given.
“Great,” Harry said sarcastically, thinking that Damon wasn’t actually in any better mood with him than Fenrir was. “What if I want to be with you?” he asked hopefully.
“You will do as you are told,” Fenrir growled at him, having had enough of Harry’s attempts to sway him or change his mind. His little mate was going to learn to do as he was told.
“This is really going to suck,” Harry said petulantly, crossing his arms over his chest and not caring that it was obvious that he was actually sulking.
“It’s a punishment,” Fenrir pointed out. His little mate was not supposed to enjoy being treated this way, and he certainly didn’t like having to punish Harry like this, but he needed to take control and this was the only way he could think to teach him properly.
“I know I fucked up,” Harry said, with a frustrated sigh, “but how long will this last?” he asked, thinking that if he knew how much of this he had to go through then he might be able to just grit his teeth, do as he was told and get through it.
“Until you learn,” the Alpha told him. He hoped that the few days before the pups returned to the school might be enough, but he knew how stubborn his young mate could be.
“Fen…” Harry tried to protest, thinking that he wasn’t even sure exactly what it was he was supposed to be learning. As far as he could tell Fenrir was just trying to make him pay for his mistakes, which he understood, but he didn’t want this to go on indefinitely; he wouldn’t be able to stand that.
“No, little one,” Fenrir snarled at him warningly, done talking about it. Harry, however, opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could the Alpha growled at him. “Stop,” he said firmly, and thankfully Harry got the message and closed his mouth again.
Perhaps it might not take his stubborn little mate so long to learn after all. All Fenrir wanted was for Harry to learn to listen and do as he was told, and to ask for help when he needed it, and it seemed that he could learn. The Alpha was going to hold out hope that the two of them could reacquaint themselves before the pups had to go off to school.
FGHP
It was almost an hour before any of the other pack members began to stir from their sleep; a very long, boring hour in Harry’s opinion. Lukas was the first to wake, and had come over to join them, but once Tessie woke ten minutes later, the two of them headed off to the stream to get water to make everyone some tea and coffee.
Harry had considered asking to go with them, but one look at his mate’s stern expression, as though Fenrir knew exactly what he was about to request, had put that idea to bed; and so, with a resigned sigh, Harry went back to staring into the nearby fire.
Half an hour later though, the only pack member left sleeping was Jenson, and the majority of them had hot beverages to sip on, while Callie and Tessie went about throwing together something for breakfast… which was truthfully more like lunch, given the that it was nearly noon.
“Am I allowed to help with the cooking?” Harry asked, wondering what his boundaries were going to be. He wanted his punishment to be over, so he was willing to do just about anything to show Fenrir that he had learnt his lesson.
“Yes,” Fenrir said after a moment’s consideration, but decided he would permit it given Harry had actually asked. “Damon, sit with Harry while he helps Callie,” he instructed as he got to his feet, and lead Harry over to where Tessie and Callie were working. He needed to go remove the bandages that had been put over his silver burns anyway. “No-one leaves the clearing until I get back,” he instructed once Damon had moved over and taken a seat next to the young submissive.
“Maybe you will even learn something,” Harry said to Damon a little cheekily. He had seen some of the man’s attempts at cooking over the years and not many of them had ended well; honestly it was something of a miracle that he and Clay hadn’t simply starved.
“Don’t be cheeky,” Damon said sternly. He wasn’t best pleased with Harry as it was and he wouldn’t be taking any of the teenager’s cheekiness. He settled himself down on one of the log benches close to where Callie was cooking, looking healthier than she had in a long while.
“Can I sit too?” Micha asked, coming over and kissing his mate, settling himself down beside Damon. Harry sighed and tried not to look at them as he took over some of what Callie was doing. Looking at how couple-y and in love Damon and Micha were, was making Harry miss Fenrir even more than he already was.
“Well when we get back from the stream, I am going to want a seat next to Harry so I can give him a piece of my mind,” Romy said as she, Clay and Lukas, who had agreed to accompany the two pups, headed off towards the edge of the clearing.
Harry sighed. “There’s going to be a queue of people wanting to yell at me today, isn’t there?” he said sadly. Normally he would have gone down to the stream with Romy and Clay, but he knew that wasn’t happening today.
“I have no intention of yelling at you today, Harry,” Damon said a little wearily, not about to indulge the teenager in his little pity party.
“Oh good, because apparently we are going to be spending a lot of today together,” Harry informed him. “Fenrir said you will be acting as my personal shadow while I get to teach Niko about the pack.”
“Fenrir has asked you to do this?” Damon asked in a little bit of shock.
“Yes,” Harry said indignantly. “You can ask him if you don’t believe me.”
“I believe you,” Damon told him. “Just a little surprised is all.”
“I’ll be a good influence on him, I swear it,” Harry said, though he was more trying to convince himself than Damon. He honestly had no idea why his mate had entrusted the young boy to him but as always Fenrir would have it reasons, even if he didn’t share them.
Secretly Damon thought that the idea to place Niko under Harry’s watchful eye was an ingenious one. He knew that Harry would take his role of looking after the young dominant very seriously and that it might even encourage more responsibility in the submissive. Harry was certainly more likely to behave himself for someone else’s sake than his own.
“I don’t doubt it,” Damon said curtly as he flung an arm over Micha’s shoulder and cuddled his mate close making Harry look away. Damon realised that Harry was struggling to deal with watching anything couple and frowned a little before turning his attention back to Micha.
“You done with the potatoes, Harry?” Tessie asked, seeing that the teenager had stopped chopping. They were only making a stew, so the order they added things didn’t matter a great deal, but she could find him something else to be doing if he was finished.
“Nearly,” he told her, turning back to what he was doing. He was actually glad that he had something to focus on; it was better than watching Damon and Micha being affectionate, or the heavy, boring silence he had had with his mate earlier.
In truth Harry was just grateful that he was still going to be part of the pack. When he had thought about him and Fenrir not being together, it had turned Harry’s stomach. He knew that he would have had to leave the pack if that was the case and this odd mix of people were his family, he loved each and every one of them. He never wanted to leave them.
He kept his head down and got on with his task, even when he saw out of the corner of his eye that Fenrir, Romy, Clayton and Lukas had returned from the stream. He wasn’t, however, the least bit surprised when Romy suddenly sat down, crossed legged, facing him.
“Do you have the slightest idea how mad I am at you, Harry Prince?” Romy said after a few minutes; her voice was calm, but it was that kind of calm that warned of an incoming storm, and so Harry looked up at her very slowly.
“Yes…” he said, though the answer was hesitant and uncertain. “You didn’t even really try to talk me out of going though,” he pointed out, putting the knife down on the board and giving her his full attention.
“And what good would that have done?” she asked a bit snappishly. “You would have gone off probably in twice the hurry and an even worse mood. Because you can’t tell me that you would have listened,” she added, giving him a very pointed look.
“I would…” Harry started to argue, but when her scowl deepened further, he sighed. “Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t have, but you had agreed to go along with the plan before and…”
“Yes, when you were going late at night, not in the evening,” Romy pointed out, aware that more and more of the pack around them were listening. “You rushed off, and clearly it was too early, whatever argument you want to throw at me, because not only did Cedric see you, but Dumbledore and the Carrows did as well.”
“Yeah, didn’t mean you had to rush here and tell on us,” Harry told her, feeling quite cornered, particularly with the watchful eyes of the rest of the pack on him.
“And, if I hadn’t, then you might well be dead!” Romy shouted at him, with tears in her eyes, shocking not only Harry into silence but everyone else too. “And not just you, Harry,” she added a little quieter, “but Clay, and Draco, and Theo, and Cedric; you could all be dead.”
“I’m sorry,” Harry said, looking her in the eye. He hated that she was so angry at him, that he had scared her so much.
“No you’re not, you just don’t get it,” Romy said, clearly enraged more from Harry’s pathetic apology. “Even if you were sorry, it isn’t enough! It’s one thing to do all this stupid shit on your own but to involve all of us… no more! We can help you if you need us too but no more being reckless!”
“Why do you think I took that stupid vow,” Harry told her, tugging at his own hair in his frustration. He wanted them all to understand that all he had ever wanted to do was protect them. “I wanted to keep all of you out of it, I wanted to do this by myself,” he said honestly.
“But there is no such thing as keeping us out of it, Harry,” Damon tried to explain. “We are your pack, your family, and that means that what happens to you, happens to all of us.”
“I just protected you all… this whole Voldemort thing… it’s my fight, the prophecy just proved that,” Harry told them, looking between the pack members standing around him. He wanted to get up and storm away, but knew that wasn’t an option given the punishment Fenrir had decided upon; he wanted to transform and spend a little time up the top of his tree, if he was really honest with himself, but he knew exactly how well the Alpha would take that.
“Perhaps they need to actually hear it,” Clay suggested, from where he was standing watching the argument unfold. “Tell them what it says, because that is the only way they are going to understand why you are doing all this.”
“I think Clay’s right,” Lukas said, thinking that they weren’t going to make any progress until they all had all the facts. It was a terrible mess at the moment, and if they wanted to all get out of it alive then they were going to have to start working together.
“Can we save this for after we’ve eaten?” Harry requested, hoping to postpone it just a little bit longer, but he could already tell from the determined looks on their faces that they were not going to agree.
“No,” Fenrir said firmly. “Tell us, little one. No more avoiding it.”
Harry sighed, realising that there wasn’t any getting out of this. He knew what it said now, of course, but he felt that actually telling his pack what it said would make it feel much more real. However, he took a calming breath and began to repeat the words that the ghostly figure from the orb had spoken, reciting them from memory.
“What are they talking about?” Niko asked from where he was sat beside Tessie, who had Jaylon tucked under one arm. The submissive was cowering into her, not liking the arguments, nor the testosterone that was filling the clearing from the dominants, who were all very much on edge.
“The war, dear one,” Tessie explained gently. So far the pack had been too busy trying to deal with Harry to have turned their attentions to Jaylon, and that he had run away; it was something that they knew would have to be addressed soon, but Tessie was glad that emotions would have a chance to calm before they did so. The submissive was obviously emotionally fragile and she didn't think that several dominants shouting at him would help anything.
“With the Deatheaters?” Niko asked, curious to the end, though Tessie could see that he was a little sad as he asked this.
“Yes,” Tessie said. “Do you know much about it, Niko?” she asked, wondering how much the ten year old knew and not wanting to scare him if he didn’t know much at all.
“Deatheaters killed my Mum and Dad,” he told her. “They took me and forced a werewolf to bite me or they were going to kill her, then they waited to see if I would turn and when I did they sent me to Gideon’s pack.”
“They have a werewolf hostage?” Tessie asked, fearfully, thinking of her sister Jilly and whether or not Niko had seen her. She knew it couldn’t be Jilly who had bitten the young boy, given her little sister was a submissive and therefore only infectious when transformed on the full moon, but it was possible they have been kept in the same place.
“They have two, both women,” Niko said with a shrug. “They keep them in the cellar of this huge house but I don’t remember much else; just that it was really, really big.”
“I don’t want to see this,” Jaylon whispered into Tessie, burying his head into her so that he didn’t have to watch as the shouting match between the other pack members continued as they debated the true meaning of the prophecy.
“They’re not that scary,” Niko said smugly at being braver than Jaylon was. “They don’t scare me at all. Is that why you ran away?” he asked, turning to look at the older boy with curiosity.
“I just got scared,” Jaylon said, turning to Tessie with an apologetic sad expression on his face. “I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make trouble.”
“I know, Jaylon,” Tessie told him reassuringly. “You aren't in trouble, you just scared us all too. We want to protect you and keep you safe, and we couldn't do that when we didn't know where you were.”
“You get scared really easy,” Niko said, giggling a little.
“Niko, Jaylon’s been through lots of things you haven’t,” Tessie said sternly, not wanting for the ten year old to start teasing Jaylon over his anxiety. “Just like there are going to be things that bother you, people getting loud and angry bothers Jaylon,” she tried to explain.
“Like what?” Niko asked, looking to Jaylon with curiosity, wondering what had happened to the other boy to make him so scared.
“Niko,” Tessie said firmly. “That is Jaylon’s business and if he chooses to share that with you when you are older, then that is fine, but you are not to push him to tell you. Is that clear?”
“You’re not my mum,” Niko said huffily.
“No, I am an adult member of the pack that is taking you in,” Tessie said a little tersely. “I understand that this is all new and strange to you, but you are going to at least show us some respect and obey the rules here; which definitely includes no taunting or bullying other pack members.”
“Fine, then why are they all picking on him,” Niko asked, pointing to Harry who was in tears as everyone debated and argued around him.
“He is the Alpha’s mate, he’s made some bad decisions and the pack need to know why so that they can help him,” Tessie told him feeling a little exasperated with all the questions that Niko was asking; he was certainly a curious ten year old that was for sure.
“He’s the Alpha’s mate?” Niko asked; his eyes went wide as he looked between Fenrir and Harry trying to figure out how it worked with a man so huge and a teenager so tiny.
“Niko, what are you doing?” Tessie asked as she watched the ten year old get on his feet, unable to stop him as he walked towards the rest of the pack given she had Jaylon hugging her, practically on her lap.
The brave little boy strolled right into the middle of the gathered pack members, clearly unafraid, and wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist and hugging him. Even Harry was so taken aback that he didn’t know how to react and even looked to Fenrir to see what he should do before returning the embrace, though a little less enthusiastically than Niko was doing.
“Erm, hi,” Harry said a little uncertainly, though after being denied his mate’s affection all morning, he found he was actually glad for the hug, even if it was from a strange little boy who he knew almost nothing about.
“Tessie said you have a no bullying rule, but it looked a lot like they were bullying you to me, so I thought you needed a hug,” Niko stated simply.
“Okay, I like this one, we are definitely keeping him,” Harry said matter-of-factly. “But for the record they weren’t bullying me, just trying to figure out how to help me; though admittedly that might have been going better if they actually let me be part of the conversation for more than two seconds.”
“They made you cry and that’s not nice. My mum used to tell me that if you make someone cry then you’ve hurt their feelings and that’s bullying,” Niko said knowledgeably.
“Well your Mum isn’t wrong, but sometimes it can be a little bit more complicated than that,” Harry tried to explain. He really didn’t want this young boy to think so badly of so many of their pack. “I was crying for many little reasons, not just because of what they were saying exactly. But I don’t want you to worry about any of that, okay,” Harry said. “Perhaps we can check and see if the lunch is nearly cooked, because I don’t know about you, but the wonderful smell of it, is making me even hungrier than I already was.”
“I used to help Dad cook, it was fun,” Niko told him as the two of them headed over towards the fire, where the large pot containing the food was. “Mum couldn’t cook very well. I liked cooking with my Dad; he let me pick the food sometimes. I really liked the pasta and jam sauce we made one time, Dad did too, but Mum just thought we were silly.”
“Pasta and jam sauce?” Harry questioned with a laugh. “That sounds amazing to me! Niko, maybe you can help me. Can you grab the bowls from over there and then we can serve up lunch.”
Most of the pack were standing watching in bemusement, not really sure what to make of the sudden and unanticipated bond that seemed to have formed between Harry and Niko. None looked more confused by it than Damon and Clay however.
“What just happened?” Clay asked his Dad, watching his friend, as Harry seemed to just instinctively know exactly how to treat Niko. For the first time it really began to sink into Clay’s mind that his best friend was a submissive, that Harry would be a mother one day, have children with Fenrir in all likelihood; he had always known it, but seeing Harry looking after Niko just seemed to solidify the concept in his mind.
“I am not entirely sure,” Damon said. He glanced at Fenrir and saw that the Alpha was wearing a pensive expression; he suspected that Fenrir was torn between enforcing Harry’s punishment and not wanting to discourage the maternal behaviour that Harry was displaying.
“I think we just watched Harry’s maternal instincts kick in, in the blink of an eye,” Micha said with a laugh.
Clay, however, was not laughing; it had just become rather clear to him that he and Harry, despite being the best of friends growing up and remaining so even now, were going to have very different futures. Harry had taken to Niko in an instant, wanting to protect him, nurture him. All Clayton saw when he looked at the ten year old dominant was potential, the potential to fight and protect the weaker members of the pack.
“Clay, what’s the matter?” Damon asked, looking to his son with worry, it seemed that the teenager was deep in thought about something that was obviously concerning him.
“Nothing, just… thinking,” he answered with a shrug as the happy looking ten year old Niko bounded up to him, handing him a bowl of stew, muttering his thanks as Niko skipped away and back to Harry.
FGHP
Aiden had told Dean everything as soon as he had found him, the complete truth, including what had really happened with Niko, his intention to act as a spy and his hopes of them both joining the Greyback pack. Of course Dean had initially just told him that he was insane for even considering this, that he was going to get them both killed.
However, Aiden had pointed out that that was what was going to happen anyway, given the state of things, if they didn’t act soon. So they had got their story straight and given Dean some convincing injuries of his own, before heading back to the rest of the pack.
Gideon had not been best pleased to hear about how Greyback’s pack had taken the young boy and attacked Aiden and Dean; but Aiden was just thankful that the Alpha hadn’t questioned the truth of it. For a moment he thought that Gideon was going to suggest they attack the Greyback pack despite their orders not to, but apparently Niko wasn’t enough of a loss to risk fighting over; something that Aiden had been counting on.
“It’s weird without Niko here,” Aiden commented to Dean, as the two of them sat eating the mess of a meal that had been thrown together once Gideon had woken up and declared himself hungry. The nicest thing that he could really say about it was that it was food, and even that might have been pushing it.
“Quieter,” Dean said, though nodding his agreement, “fewer questions.”
“That’s for sure,” Aiden said with a chuckle. Niko certainly seemed to manage to think of questions to ask no matter what was going on around him; he just hoped the young boy was settling in okay with the Greyback pack.
“Do you reckon Greyback is collecting male submissives or something?” Dean asked a moment later. “I mean, we already know he had that Prince boy, and they already had another one too. The guy you found makes three,” he told Aiden quietly, not wanting the others to overhear him at all, though they all seemed too busy caught up in their own business to pay any attention to the two of them.
“What, you think he’s claiming them all himself?” Aiden asked, looking at Dean as he considered the possibility. “I dunno; it’s possible I suppose. But I have a feeling that that guy was way too nervous and jumpy to actually be mated to anyone at the moment,” he said with a shrug.
“Why do you reckon he thought we were a family?” Dean asked after another few moments of quiet.
“What’s with all the questions?” Aiden asked with a laugh. “You don’t actually have to make up for Niko’s absence you know,” he said with a smirk.
“I was just thinking about it, because it seemed weird, that’s all,” Dean said dismissively. “Did he think we were together or something?”
Aiden opened his mouth to respond to that, but promptly shut it again and took a moment to consider it. "That's not quite so crazy is it? I mean we are both damn good looking," he pointed out with a grin.
Dean looked unsure, but after a few seconds nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed, “even with your stupid broken nose.” They had done their best to heal the worst of their injuries from the fake fight with Greyback’s pack, but neither of them were much of healers and Aiden’s nose was definitely still rather swollen.
Aiden smiled fondly at his brown haired friend, as Dean reached over to stroke his cheek. Aiden closed his eyes and leaned into the older man’s embrace. They were very much friends, and had this was definitely the closest they had come to moving beyond that; but it was painful knowing that they could do little else, not without the others seeing them.
“We’ll get through this,” Aiden said softly, looking straight into Dean’s brown eyes, wanting him to know that he was sincere with his words. “Together,” he promised.
“Together,” Dean echoed, keeping his voice low as he dropped his hand and linked it with Aiden’s, needing the comfort of simply being close to another.
FGHP
“I realise I should have told you sooner…” Romy began as she sat down close to where Harry was. Fenrir had taken Lukas and Clay hunting so Harry had been told to sit by the fire where Jenson could watch him.
“Told me what?” Harry asked with a sigh, looking up at Romy. He was beyond bored, Niko was following Damon and Micha around like a little puppy as they showed him the clearing and where to go if he needed anything and all about the pack dynamics, plus who was mated to who and such.
Harry was hoping that he might have been the one to tell Niko all of this and show him everything but Fenrir, while absent, had wanted his mate to sit down and not move so he could be sure that Harry would not injure himself or get into any trouble while he was absent from the pack territory.
“A month ago, when everyone was calling you Potter… I did some reading…” Romy said, trying her very best to explain. She honestly had no idea why she hadn’t discussed this with Harry sooner, but there just hadn’t been a good time, so much had been happening.
Harry looked to her rather dubiously, not sure what to make of this. “What did you find out?” he asked because he knew that if she was talking to him about it then she would have found out something.
“Before I tell you,” Romy said softly, knowing that it was likely to be an inflammatory topic, “I know that your dad will always be your dad, he raised you and I get that because Jenson will always be my Dad even though biologically he isn’t… just like Severus isn’t biologically your father.”
Harry sighed and nodded his head. “Yeah, I knew that, I just didn’t really want to think about it too much. Now with the prophecy, being at Hogwart’s… Remus mentioning James, I can’t really escape it.”
“Which is why I thought you might be willing to listen to me now. I read up on what happened; it makes sense with the prophecy. Would you like me to tell you?” Romy asked. She was aware that Harry was not having the best of days and he might not have wanted to discuss this at all so she was giving him the choice.
Now that Harry knew that she had this information, even if he didn’t want to talk about it now, even if he didn’t want to delve into that part of his life today, then he had the choice to talk to her about it whenever he was ready. However, as she watched him think this over she smiled when she realised that he seemed to want to know.
“Will you tell me?” Harry asked her gently. He would have reached over to hold her hand but he was unsure if his punishment allowed for it so he refrained. He didn’t want to piss off Fenrir any more than he already had.
“Of course,” Romy said with a smile, “though I’m not sure where to start… I suppose the beginning might be best.”
Harry smiled, “Yeah,” he agreed, “probably.”
“Lily and James Potter were both Aurors for the Ministry of Magic, they fought actively against Voldemort in the wizard war fifteen years ago,” she told him. “There were a lot of people fighting against him back then, including Frank and Alice Longbottom.”
“Longbottom… As in Neville Longbottom, the boy that died?” Harry asked curiously and Romy nodded.
“It looks like that prophecy was made and Voldemort thought that it meant you. However, the history books seemed to get a little muddled,” she told him. From what she could figure out it seemed that Voldemort had attacked the Potters, but that seemed to contradict what a lot of the history books said happened. “I am pretty certain now that Dumbledore swapped you and Neville around, and that you were reported to be dead.”
“Because my Dad took me…” Harry said thinking it over. He had always wondered why they had always had to move around, never making contact with others, being careful and cautious with everything they did. “It explains so much… it always felt as if we were on the run.”
“It’s because you were,” Romy said with a nod, glad that her theory was lining up with Harry’s perspective of what had happened; not to mention rather relieved that he was being so reasonable about it. “When Neville died when he was eleven… I think that is when Dumbledore figured out that you were alive; there is no way that he didn’t know what that prophecy said. Of course I can’t prove it but I’m sure he must have.”
“I remember reading about Neville dying,” Harry said, thinking that that day, only a little over four years before, felt like a long time gone now. “Clay and I stole a copy of the Daily Prophet from Damon; my Dad always wanted to keep me from anything going on in the wizarding world.”
“I think it was supposed to be you all along,” Romy told him. “If your Dad hadn’t taken you, hadn’t run off with you, then who knows what could have happened. I am guessing Neville didn’t just happen to end up where Voldemort was, that someone laid a trail for him to follow…”
“Dumbledore,” Harry muttered through gritted teeth. He certainly wouldn’t have put it passed the only man to manipulate Neville into facing that mad-man, even if he had only been an eleven year old boy.
“That would be my guess too,” Romy said, nodding her head. “Which means if he had had the chance he would have led you down that path, and I guess we will never know what might have happened if you had been there instead of Neville.”
“I’d probably be dead…” Harry said quietly as this moment of realisation came over him.
“That is a very real possibility,” Romy said sadly. “But you’re not,” she added quickly, reaching out to rest a hand on Harry’s arm for a moment, as though to reassure herself of that fact.
“And I probably wouldn’t have become a werewolf, and would likely never met any of you,” Harry went on. “I could probably keep going into that small mountain of what-if’s for days,” he realised. “My Dad really changed my life, when he… well… decided to be my Dad.”
“Yes, I think he did,” Romy agreed. “But should that take away from the fact that your birth parents died trying to protect you?” she asked, watching Harry closely. “I am not asking you to miraculously start loving people you never even knew, but perhaps you could hear Remus out, let him tell you about them?”
“My Dad really did love my Mum,” Harry told her, “but my Mum was married to my biological father, James. I don’t even really know how to feel about all that. Does that mean that my Dad has lived his whole life never being loved by the woman he loved?”
“Maybe,” Romy admitted, giving him an apologetic smile. “But even if that is true, he didn’t live the last fourteen years of it alone; he had you. From the way that you, Clay and Damon talk about those days, I think it is pretty clear he loves you as his son.”
“Thanks, Romy,” he said earnestly. “I think I just need to think on it for a bit, let it sink in, but when we get back…”
“I’ll show you the books,” she said with a nod and a smile. “I kept a list of the ones with the best information because I thought you might want to read them for yourself one day.”
“I would give you a hug, right now, but that probably breaks the rules of my punishment, and bring your Dad’s wrath down upon us,” Harry said with a smile, giving Jenson a little wave, making the Beta narrow his eyes at him suspiciously.
“Don’t tease him”, Romy chastised firmly. She knew how stressed her Dad was lately with everything going on with her Mum being pregnant, and with his worries about the safety of their pack in general; Harry being cheeky and adding to his worries was the last thing he needed.
“I know you probably wouldn’t tell me even if there was something but … is Callie okay?” Harry asked, glancing at where Romy’s mother was resting next to Jenson. “I mean… she seems better today but recently…”
“She’s fine,” Romy said with a smile, “nothing to worry about.”
“I’ll stop worrying so much then,” Harry said with a smile. “Though not completely. I am sorry you know, about everything.”
“I know you are but you have to give us all time, it’s a bit much for those of us who haven’t been with you at Hogwarts,”
“Yeah, though I think they need to know about what Umbridge is doing to Clay,” Harry told her. “If we’re going to be all open and honest, they all need to know that. I think your dad needs to hear just how much Clay does to look after us, you especially, it might help him accept you two.”
“Harry, stop worrying about everyone else and think about yourself, please,” Romy said, sounding a bit exasperated. “I’ll handle my dad,” she told him; she kind of thought that he had been a bit more tolerant about Clay lately anyway.
“Will you now, pumpkin,” Jenson said, from where he was standing just behind his daughter. “And what may I ask will you be handling?” he questioned giving her a mock annoyed look, though there was such affection in his eyes that it was clear he wasn’t actually upset with her.
“Nothing, Dad,” Romy said, turning and smiling up at him innocently. “Is mum okay?” she asked wanting to very quickly change the subject.
“She’s fine, sleeping,” Jenson said before turning to Harry. “The Alpha will be back soon,” he said and Harry nodded before getting to his feet.
“Thanks for telling me what you found,” Harry said to Romy before following Jenson over to the log where the Beta had been sitting before; he knew that given his current punishment he should consider himself lucky for having been allowed to sit and talk with Romy for so long, but he knew that when Fenrir got back he would be told to sit quietly at the Alpha’s side once more.
A day having to stay next to Fenrir for the whole time was a lot more boring than he had anticipated. Not to mention that the Alpha was clearly not willing to talk things out between them, which was frustrating Harry no end. He understood that he wasn’t supposed to enjoy his punishment, but he still didn’t know what it was that the Alpha thought he was going to learn.
FGHP
Clay had been really glad that the Alpha had taken him and Lukas hunting, not least because it was nice to have a break from the tension in the clearing. For a while, Clay had been worried that he too would be punished for his part in what had happened at the Ministry, but it seemed that the others understood Harry well enough to know that he couldn’t have talked his friend out of it and were just glad that he had been there to help protect him.
It was difficult though, seeing how much Harry was struggling with the affection he was being denied; Clay thought it was a bit cruel, though he wasn’t foolish enough to actually raise an objection. He wanted a moment to talk with Harry but, while his best friend was under the very watchful eyes of the older dominants, he thought it would be a conversation better off waiting the day and a bit until they were back at Hogwarts.
They had had quite a successful hunt and were currently carrying a fair few kills back to the clearing to be prepared for storage; with a pack of now twelve people, they required a lot of food, even with three of them eating most of their meals at school at the moment.
As they entered the clearing, Clay’s eyes swept over the pack, quickly locating his Dad, who was talking with Micha, Tessie, Niko and Jaylon; Romy was sat reading at her mother’s side, Callie seemingly asleep, and Harry was sat, looking completely bored, next to Jenson.
“Put them down here,” Fenrir instructed, as he dumped the carcase of a deer next to one of the unoccupied log benches. Clay and Lukas did as instructed, dropping the many rabbits and couple of pheasants they were carrying next to the deer. “Little one,” the Alpha said as he approached his young mate; Harry looking up at him questioningly, obviously having been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed that they had returned.
“I behaved, I swear,” Harry said quickly, and when Fenrir glanced at Jenson for confirmation the Beta simply nodded. “Told you,” the submissive said with a small smile. “Do I get to sit with you again now?” he asked.
“Yes,” Fenrir stated, glad that so far his mate hadn’t really fought him on the punishment at all, not since he had first woken up anyway. The Alpha headed back over to the carcasses, where Lukas and Clay were waiting for him, pleased when Harry quickly followed.
“What are you going to do?” Harry asked curiously, moving over to where the Alpha was settling himself down on one of the log benches by the animals they had brought back from their hunting trip.
“Prepare the kills to be stored,” Fenrir told him bluntly.
“Do I have to sit here and watch this?” Harry asked, the thought of watching his mate do this was enough to turn his stomach a little. He wasn’t naive at all, he knew that what they ate started out being killed and brought back to the territory like this but knowing about it and witnessing it happening were two different things and he didn’t particularly want to watch.
“Yes,” Fenrir told him, not even turning to look at his mate as Harry continued to question him. Instead he just carried on with what he was doing; so far he, Jenson and Damon were the only three that knew how to properly prepare the kills for storage, something that was hugely important, especially with their numbers growing. It was time more of them knew how to do it.
“May I get a book before you begin?” Harry asked politely. He knew better than to just wander off to get it without asking; he wanted his punishment over, he wanted to be back in the Alpha’s arms.
“No, you can watch and you can learn,” Fenrir instructed, not about to reward his mate with anything until he could witness for himself how well behaved Harry was being, knowing that the other pack members, even his Beta, would be more lenient with the teenager than he would be.
“Fenrir…” Harry said, a little taken aback by the fact that he had been denied this. He honestly hadn’t thought that he would be denied a book, not when he had done everything asked of him today.
“No, you will learn,” Fenrir repeated bluntly, not in the mood to listen to his mate moan. He had half expected a little resistance to the refusal of reading material and he had said no partly so that he could see how much Harry would complain and partly because he really did want his mate to learn.
“You aren’t actually expecting me to do this too are you?” Harry asked, looking at the carcasses and feeling a little sick. He had seen the dominants do this from afar and it had never been a chore that he wanted to see up close and certainly not take part.
“Not today,” Fenrir said, which eased Harry’s anxiousness a little; however, it only made him more confused and curious as to what his mate expected him to learn.
“Yeah, apparently Lukas and I get the joyful task of helping today,” Clay told him. He wasn’t really bothered by the idea of having to help Fenrir with this task, but he knew it was going to be kind of gross. Although he had always known it was something he was going to have to learn eventually and he found that he didn’t mind too much.
Clay was actually kind of pleased that the Alpha thought him ready to learn, with his and Romy’s relationship progressing, his instincts were telling him that he needed to know how to provide for her. When Fenrir had told him that he was going to be learning though, Lukas had said that he didn’t know how to prepare the kills either, which was why the slightly older dominant would also be taking part.
“Then why do I have to sit and watch?” Harry asked, not really complaining anymore, simply curious as to why. It was something the Alpha picked up on, though it was only a slight improvement seeing as the teenager was still asking questions.
“Because I am your Alpha and dominant mate,” Fenrir stated unhappily, not liking all the questions. He was wondering if it was simply too much to ask for Harry to just accept things and do as he was told without questioning it.
“Is that what you are trying to teach me, that you’re in charge?” Harry asked incredulously. “I do know that, Fen.”
“Then sit,” Fenrir said firmly, gesturing to the spot next to him, and grumpily Harry did so. “And learn,” he added a little impatiently.
“I’m still not sure why I need to know how to do this,” Harry said with a sigh, slumping forward and resting his head in his hands.
“You will teach our children,” Fenrir told him and at this Harry literally sat up and took notice. It had not been something that he was expecting his mate to say, not with their relationship the way it was currently.
“Oh… yeah, okay, that actually makes some sense,” Harry admitted; it was nice to know that Fenrir seemed so certain that they would be okay, that they had children in their future. “Not until they are all grown up through right? So that gives me ages of time to learn.”
“Little one,” Fenrir said warningly.
“Yes, yes, wolfie; shutting up, watching, and learning,” he said, a little happier than he had been a few moments before, watching carefully as his mate pulled out the knife he almost always carried and picked up one of the rabbits. As the Alpha instructed, and then demonstrated to the three of them, exactly how they were supposed to skin it and remove the innards, Harry just tried to keep his lunch down; he really didn’t think he was ever going to be any good at these things.
By the time that Clay had got the hang of it enough to skin a rabbit himself, Harry was seriously bored, and he couldn’t help it when he tuned out what his mate was telling them about plucking the pheasants. “Please, Fen, I am so bored,” Harry said, trying not to sound too whiny, but knowing he probably failed. “I swear I watched you with the rabbits and I understand now, but I can’t take this anymore. Please can I do something else, anything else.”
“Read,” Fenrir said bluntly, his attention on Lukas as the twenty-one year old started to pluck the second pheasant.
“Thank you,” Harry said with genuine relief, getting up to go find a book, but the Alpha’s hand wrapped around his wrist before he could go anywhere.
“You stay here, at my side,” Fenrir said firmly.
“But… I don’t have a book,” Harry said frowning at him in confusion. “That’s hardly fair telling me I can read but not allowed to leave your side to get a book.”
“Sit, little one,” Fenrir instructed, and Harry did so, though with a pout on his face. The Alpha, however, wasn't going to be swayed so easily and turned his attention back to the two young dominants he was teaching; he wondered how long it would take Harry to figure out how to deal with the situation.
As it was it took another five minutes before Harry turned to Lukas and Clay. “Could one of you two fetch me something to read, please,” he requested, glancing at Fenrir to make sure that he wasn’t doing something the Alpha disapproved of, but his mate was actually looking rather pleased.
“Yeah, I’ll get you something,” Lukas said, thinking he was more likely to be able to find something Harry would want to read than Clay.
“You wanted me to ask?” Harry questioned, as Lukas spelled his hands clean and headed over to find the trunk of books he kept in the territory.
“Yes,” Fenrir stated.
“Why?” Harry asked, not sure that he followed the Alpha’s logic, but still rather glad that he was going to be allowed to relieve some of his boredom, at least for a short while.
Fenrir let Harry’s question go unanswered as Lukas returned with a book for the submissive to read. Harry settled himself as far from the Alpha as he thought he could get away with, which admittedly was still only just out of Fenrir’s arm’s reach; crossing his legs, he opened his book, smiling when he realised that it was a potions book.
The Alpha gave him a stern look, as though considering whether he was going to drag his young mate the few feet that it was back to his side. Harry, however gave him a sweet smile, before going back to his book. A moment later a shadow fell over Harry and the submissive looked up to see his annoyed mate towering over him.
“I said you were to stay at my side,” Fenrir told him firmly, snatching the book from Harry’s hands and handing it back to a rather confused looking Lukas. “Move,” he instructed, pointing to a spot further down the log where Harry had been sitting before.
“This is stupid, I am just sitting here, behaving,” Harry protested. “I am not going to just let you control every tiny little thing about my life!”
“Today, Harry, you are,” the Alpha said firmly, using a light grip on his mate’s neck to get Harry to his feet and move him to where he was supposed to be sitting. “You will do as you are told,” he said, as he released his grip on the submissive and sat down next to him.
“Niko was right, you are bullying me!” Harry said in a huff, hating that he was being treated this way, though he knew that it was deserved. That didn’t mean he had to like it though.
“Do not test me, little one,” Fenrir growled, and Harry just crossed his arms over his chest and scowled as best he could.
“Can I at least have my book back?” Harry asked hesitantly.
“No,” Fenrir told him with finality.
“Should I take the kills to the cave, Alpha?” Damon asked, coming over to see what the argument was about, looking from Harry to Fenrir, confused as to how the two were arguing yet again. He didn’t want it to end up in a full blown shouting match, which could only end with Harry being punished longer.
“No, you stay with Harry, I’ll take the meat to the cave,” Fenrir said, giving his mate a stern look. “He is to stay put; and no books,” he added; he had tried to be kind to Harry by letting him read, but his little mate had just had to push him, by deliberately not staying sat right by his side.
“But…” Harry started to say, but Damon held up a finger to stop him and interrupted.
“It’s fine, Fenrir, I have many years practice of dealing with particular stubborn young man,” he said giving Harry a pointed look. He really didn’t understand why Harry always insisted on pushing just that little bit more when he was already in trouble.
“Clayton, Lukas, you’re with me,” Fenrir instructed, as he started picking up the kills and handing it to the two young dominants to carry. They were going to learn the complete process, because if the kills weren’t stored correctly, all their work would go to waste.
Damon watched the three of them head off in the direction of the cave, before taking his seat next to Harry. “You know you could try just doing as he tells you,” he suggested, and Harry turned to glare at him. “You know you earned this punishment, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Harry said grumpily, before sighing. “I do know that, I sort of wish he would just punch me or something, and get it over with. Even that would be better than this. Is he trying to make me die of boredom and loneliness?”
“No need to be so dramatic,” Damon said sternly. “And this is nothing to do with hurting you,” he tried to explain; Harry, however, looked entirely sceptical.
“You should have just let him hit me when I first told him about the vow,” Harry said with a sigh; he had been so scared of the rage his mate had been in and he genuinely thought that that might have been the outcome had Damon not interrupted them.
“I said no dramatics, Harry,” Damon reminded him with a frown. He knew that Harry had something of a flare for them but the teenager was going to have to tone it down a little if he was ever going to be let off this punishment and have things go back to normal.
“Sorry but wouldn’t it have been easier? Easier than this…” Harry asked, turning to Damon and looking at him questioningly.
“He wasn’t going to hit you,” Damon said with exasperation. “He was never going to hit you; if he was going to, it would have been instead of taking his anger out on those trees, not as some afterthought.”
“But this is all so pointless,” Harry huffed, throwing his arms in the air, before crossing them over his chest. “And apparently he is going to keep up this cold front until I learn some mysterious lesson that he won’t even tell me about. I mean what am I supposed to learn from him dictating my every breath.”
“Harry,” Damon said, trying to find the patience and words to explain, “you have always been a very independent young man, and I know that is in part because Severus raised you that way.”
“Yeah, because he probably knew that Dumbledore was going to show up and try to fuck up my life, and he wanted to know I could hold my own,” Harry pointed out a little angrily.
“Maybe,” Damon conceded. “However, you are in a pack now, our pack, and are the submissive mate of an Alpha. This means you can’t just think about what you want, what you think you need. I think Fenrir is trying to show you that you should obey him, that he will provide you with everything you need, and that you need to start being part of the pack, rather than just living amongst us.”
“And I am supposed to just let him boss me and around and tell me exactly what to do all the time?” Harry asked incredulously. “And what’s with the no cuddles and sleeping alone; how does that teach me about being part of anything?”
“That affection, which he is denying you now, you were taking it for granted,” Damon pointed out, pausing for a moment for Harry to let that sink in. “I think you will find that if you can start working with us all and obeying your Alpha and mate, rather than just taking everything on by yourself, that that affection will quickly return; as will him allowing you a reasonable degree of your independence.”
“That’s why he wanted for me to ask someone else to get me the book,” Harry said, as he started to understand. “Am I really that bad at working with others?” he asked, looking to Damon with genuine curiosity.
“Yes,” Damon said with a laugh. “Clay just deals with it by being extra stubborn with his own opinions when he truly cares about something. I deal with it by pulling my hair out with exasperation. Your mate apparently uproots trees.”
“He can’t do that indefinitely, we wouldn’t have a forest left,” Harry said with a small smile. He honestly had never thought about the way he acted, which hadn’t really changed since he had come to the pack. He loved each and every member of the pack, they were his family now just as much as his Dad was. He hadn’t realised that he had never really allowed himself to become part of the pack like he ought to have done from the beginning.
“Then perhaps it’s time to start taking a few of these lessons Fenrir is trying to teach you on board,” Damon suggested. He had watched Harry from the moment he had come into the pack, as a terrified fifteen year old boy, who had just lost his father and had his life upside down, and he knew that Harry's behaviour was partly his fault, and partly Fenrir’s too, for coddling the boy.
Perhaps if they had taken a different stand with the teenager, not been as soft on him, taken him to hand a lot sooner, then they might not be in the difficulties they were facing now. However, Damon knew that there were a lot of what ifs and there was no point on dwelling on them because it wouldn’t change anything. Things were the way they were, they had to deal with them as a pack, standing united.
“Yeah,” Harry said thoughtfully. “Thank you, it helps to actually understand his logic.” He had been at a loss to understand why his mate was choosing to punish him this way, thinking that their relationship was ending; however, now that he knew the reasons behind Fenrir’s actions, Harry believed that he could bring his punishment to an end a lot sooner. He was rather looking forward to being close to his mate again.
“He isn’t exactly big on the explanations, or full sentences for that matter,” Damon said ruffling Harry’s hair as he spotted Fenrir, Lukas and Clay returning to the clearing.
“I had noticed that,” Harry said grinning as he too noticed his dominant mate heading back towards them. His first instinct was to go to him but instead Harry stayed put and waited for the Alpha to come to them.
It was not Fenrir who was the first one to come over to them, however; little Niko bounded over, having got bored sitting and talking to Micha, Tessie and Jaylon. The little ball of energy was practically vibrating with the need to play and it made Harry smile to see him.
“Will you come and play with me, I’m bored!” Niko said with a pout, tugging on Harry’s sleeve trying to encourage him to get up and come with him.
“I don’t think I can,” Harry said regretfully, looking over at Fenrir, “I’m spending time with the Alpha today.”
“But he’s a big bully,” Niko said, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning.
“No, Niko,” Harry said, going down on to his knees in front of the ten year old, taking the young boys hands into his own. “He’s the Alpha; if he’s doing something then it’s to protect us all and look after us.”
“But he’s so mean to you,” Niko said, glaring at the Alpha in a way that only a ten year old could manage, all huffy and bad tempered.
“No he’s not, Niko, I promise,” Harry told him firmly, though as kindly as he could. “I just did something silly so this is my punishment for that; he’s a very good Alpha.”
“You promise?” Niko asked, looking between Fenrir and Harry somewhat incredulously. So far all he had seen was the older dominants being rather horrible to Harry and he didn’t know whether or not to believe what he was being told.
“I promise, things are just difficult for the moment,” Harry said with a smile. “I can’t play right now but I think that Clayton can; and between you and me he has two skateboards and I’m sure that if you ask him nicely he’ll teach you a few tricks.”
“Really?” Niko asked excitedly, looking to Clay now, his light brown eyes practically glowing with excitement at the prospect of learning how to skateboard.
“Yes, really,” Harry said, happy to see Niko smiling. “Go on, I think I have stuff to do with Fenrir.”
Flinging his arms around Harry, Niko gave him a huge hug before charging off in the direction of Clay, who had gone to speak with Romy since getting back from the cave. He was filled with jubilation from the hunt and he wanted to share the experience with her.
“Good, little one,” Fenrir said proudly making Harry jump, he hadn’t expected for his mate to have managed to move to be standing right behind him. “You may have your book back, and sit and read by the fire; or you may help Callie and Tessie with lunch.”
Harry didn’t say anything, he simply accepted his book back from Lukas, who looked rather happy with what had just transpired, before moving over to the fire where he took a seat after his offer to help prepare the food was declined. He was determined to try his very hardest to do what Fenrir asked of him, though he did wish his mate had been able to explain it all to him himself and he found himself feeling frustrated with the Alpha’s inability to explain himself. He wonder if perhaps he needed to do a little teaching of his own, but Harry knew that would have to wait at least until his punishment was over.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter; please do take a moment to leave us a review or comment, we always appreciate them.
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Delia cerrano - Thank you, we are very glad to hear you are still enjoying the story. I know what you mean about just wanting to give them a good shake sometimes, but the good things in life are rarely easy, right? You are right, Tessie definitely deserves someone in her life, but Lukas doesn't see her that way, not least because Lukas is head-over-heels in love with Nell. Tessie does have Jaylon to take care of now, and Niko too, and that makes her very happy at the moment.
littlepanther - Yes, it is a harsh punishment, but as you are starting to see in this chapter, it is what Harry needed to really understand his responsibilities and how his actions affect his pack. And yes, Fenrir is very strong, particularly when his rage has filled him full of adrenaline.
Anon - We will be updating a lot over the next few weeks. ^_^
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Fragmented Soul