Pack’s Loyalty Chapter 5 - The Pack’s Origins - Dead Wood for a Stray Cat

“Every stray finds their way home. It just may not be their original one”

After that story, Shade had shown Sunset his motorcycle and Sunset was drooling over it. Being a fellow gearhead, she was fawning over the bike like it was a holy relic. The rest looked on in amusement.

“Hey Sunshine! Yer droolin” Squalo called out.

That snapped out of her state and she blushed when she saw the drool coming out.

After a few minutes of ribbing, Sunset asked who was next to tell their origin story.

Suddenly Flora spoke up.

“Don’t worry chica, I’ll go next! However…’ Her tone shifted to a more bitter tone. ‘...Let’s just say that familia isn’t always the blood in your veins.”

I was born in Riverside, California but my family wasn't the greatest. Mi papa and Madre were dead due to an accident. I wasn’t sure what it was but I never knew them. I was raised by my older brother for most of my life and honestly...He was a jackass.
<Pause>

“Wait, seriously.” Sunset asked

Flora had a scowl on her face as she looked away

“I’ll tell you in the story. But yeah, he was a jackass”

My brother was a weed addict. Any chance he would get, he would use the money left behind by our parents to spend on the dealers down the road. Even if I would hide the money, stuff in our apartment would go missing and there would be the scent of weed in the air.

I knew he was stealing stuff to sell but I didn’t know how to prove it. So I left a trap for him. A plastic pendant superglued to a table. As soon as he went to grab it and began to struggle, I emerged.

“I KNEW IT! GROVE, YOU SNEAKY LITTLE LADRÓN!”

“MIERDA! FLORA!”

“Wait, you managed to catch him in the act?” Sunset asked.

“With his weed filled pants down” Flora said with a smirk.

“Well, what happened?” Sunset was starting to get extremely invested in the story.

Flora soon put her arms behind her head as she looked at the ceiling.

“I got him into rehab. That weed addiction was gonna get him killed one day, and I didn’t want to lose my only family. It seemed to go well. He cleaned up, got a proper job and went to college to get his degree.”

Sunset soon had to ask the question: “So if he was getting help, why are you here?”

Flora soon adopted a dark look as her fingers clenched.

“Turns out...he traded weed for something else...and I was an offering to his addiction.”

Flora and Grove were walking down the street to a nearby building.

“So Grove, why are we here?” Flora asked in a curious tone

“It's...It’s a surprise.” Grove stuttered with a manic grin on his face as he began to shake to which Flora looked with confusion.

When they entered the building, Flora soon gained an uneasy feeling trailing down her spine. The fact it was dark didn’t help her one bit.

“We’re here! I brought her!” Grove yelled.

Flora soon felt sweat pouring as he heard a deep voice that had a tone of terror in it.

“Thanks, Grove...Here.” The voice said as a package flew into his arms. Grove looked at it with a giggle.

“Bro...what’s going on?” Flora asked nervously.

“Your brother paid his debt. He gives us you and he’ll have enough Jungle Rose to last him a year!” A nasally voice replied.

Flora’s eyes widened as she saw her brother stumble away.

“GROVE! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Grove looked behind him with a gaze that showed madness

“ANYTHING FOR MY FIX!”

Flora’s eyes soon narrowed as she saw him stumble away giggling like crazy.

¡GROVE, HIJO DE PERRA! ¡TE MALDIGO A UNA MALDITA SILLA DE RUEDAS! SI ALGUNA VEZ SALGO DE ESTO, ¡JURO POR DIOS GUE TE VOY A DAR UNA PALIZA! ¿ESTÁS MUERTO, ME ESCUCHAS? ¡MUERTO! ¡NO TE CONSIDERO MÁS HERMANO DE SANGRE!
(Translation: GROVE, YOU SON OF A BITCH! I CURSE YOU TO A FUCKING WHEELCHAIR! IF I EVER GET OUT OF THIS, I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU! YOU'RE DEAD, YOU HEAR ME?! DEAD! I DON'T CONSIDER YOU A BLOOD BROTHER TO ME ANYMORE!)

Soon a group of men stepped out as they outstretched their arms just as the building door slammed shut.

There was silence in the room as Sunset’s jaw dropped in horror. Never in her life had she heard something horrible. Flora was looking at the floor in cold rage as tears dropped onto the floor.

“Oh...my...God…” She whispered in horror, mouth covered by her hands

“All for a drug...guess his love for pot was stronger than his love for his only sister.” She muttered in bitter hatred.

Shade then piped up. “When she told us what happened, we wanted to find that son of a bitch and make him pay

Falco then spoke up. “I wanted to take a rusty cleaver and neuter him right on the spot. Give him the Bob Barker treatment!” with a terrifying grin.

“Yeah, We wanted to find dat goombah and make him sleep with the fishes. But grass gal here wanted foist pickins” Squalo groused out.

Flora looked at the boys just as Sandy rubbed her shoulders to calm her down. “I told you, I wanted to do him in. He’s my former brother and thus I get dibs.”

“So how did you end up with Mr. Draco”

Flora simply smiled at that memory.

Flora ran. Ran like her life depended on it. Why? She managed to escape the clutches of the gang after a week of being their plaything. The things they did...Flora didn’t want to think about that, she still got nightmares.

Slipping into an alley, she waited as she saw several gang members run past it, breathing a sigh of relief as she slid down the wall, curling herself into a ball, burying her face into her knees.

“Damn It, Grove...We only had each other...why would you do this?”

“Hey...Are you alright?” An old voice reached her ears, causing Flora to flinch. Out of the shadows stood Lumen Draco, himself with a bag of groceries.

“AYE! Stranger Danger!” Flora yelled

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.” He commented, but Flora didn’t believe him

“YEAH RIGHT!” She yelled as she went on the attack with a flurry of punches...which didn’t connect as Lumen blocked and re-directed them all, further pissing her off.

“LET ME HIT YOU, DAMMIT!” She yelled.

“Please...That ain’t gonna happen.” A deep voice rang out. Turning her head, she saw Shade leaning against the wall.

“The geezer may be wrinkly but you might as well look for a flying porker than try to hit him”, Shade said

“SCREW YOU!” She replied as she continued to attack.

This went on for ten minutes until she began to sway.

“You got too much rage in your attacks. It’s blinding your judgement. Something tells me that you are suffering from a deep pain in your heart.

“You don’t know shit! You didn’t have to deal with gangbangers and drug dealers hunting you down! And you didn’t have to deal with the fact that it was due to your older brother causing this due to being a druggie!” She screamed as she began to step forward.

She made three steps before fainting from exhaustion.

Walking over, Shade check her out

<Pause>

“Like a perv looking through his porn” Falco chimed in only to get a foot to the face by Shade

“Ignore bird brain.” Shade said with a tic mark

His eyes widened by the state of her body. She was extremely thin, her ribs were showing and she looked really pale.

“We need to get her to the house...NOW”

“By the time I woke up, I was in this place. There was a bowl of soup and a bread roll to which I decided to scarf down” Flora said looking at the ceiling

Sunset had another look of awe at this girl. She managed to show some extreme endurance

“At first I was worried that they would force me to leave” But she was interrupted by Shade

“Worried? You BEGGED Draco to let you live with him!” Shade spoke out in an amused tone as Flora blushed in embarrassment as she looked at Shade

“OK, so I bowed down to him and said I would do anything as long as he wouldn't drop me off at that alley! At least he gave me a good offer!”

Flora shook her head as she remembered that moment

“That training may have been brutal, but it was worth it. I found a new home”

Author's Note

I am on a roll!!!!!!!!!!!