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We spent the next few hours sitting around in front of the fire and talking about the gifts and all the work we put into them. Callen's had to be the most painful, having had to go to Shelly to have a tooth pulled which thankfully had grown back quickly.

Eventually however Callen was called to go outside and help with the party arrangements and I was called to help prepare the meats. No one seemed to be able to understand how to prepare the moose for cooking. I decided to drag Xander and Ruban along so they could learn as well for the future if they were ever given the task.

The slaughter room was large, tiled and filled with metal preparation tables. It was usually cold and had some drains on the floor for the blood seeing as these animals tended to bleed a lot. The knives were kept razor sharp and being anything but human in the room was expressly forbidden, just to keep the room sterile.

On the main table was one of the moose, skinned, with its head and intestines removed in preparation for what was to come. I pulled on a hairnet and apron making sure Luna Ruban and Xander had as well before grabbing a knife and sharpened it on a steel while walking over to the large carcase. There were multiple people around me, male and female wolves from the pack all watching and I gave a soft sigh.

"Ok," I started slowly trying to ignore their looks of irritation or disgust towards me "It isn't actually that difficult to do this. Think of Moose as just extra large and more lean deer, however when you start cutting you need to be more careful as the tendons are more tough and its easy for the knife to jerk and cut you by accident." I started on the hind, carefully making a slice between the two main rump muscle masses.

"Go down to the bone and gently drag the knife along it like you would normally do. However be careful here in the joint between the hip and the femur, if you snag the tendons you could have the whole leg jerk out of place and cause you to slip," I continued on, carefully separating the meat as I went down "Once you're past that... continue to this point here and swipe the knife cleanly through, then repeat on the other side of the mass to separate the meat." I smiled and finished before showing them the other side and pulled away the hunk of meat.

I showed them how to do all the other parts, even how to separate the meat from the ribs so the bones could be prepared specially later. By the end of it my apron was covered in blood and so were my arms but I was proud I had managed to win over some of the males with my knowledge and expertise in carving the meat. I decided it was their turn to have a go, and had them flip the carcase so they could do the other side.

The others retrieved the other moose to work on that one at the same time hoping to speed up the process for preparing the meats.

"Let the knife do the work" I said softly seeing Ruban trying to put too much force into the cutting and I gently placed my hand on his to guide him "Firm grip on the knife but gentle back and forth movements, the knife is sharp and will do all the work, you just guide it." Once done, we were left with a large pile of meat, the bones carted off to be cooked elsewhere.

"The meat is generally tougher than most" I said as I grabbed a piece "Slow cooking it at a lower temperature is generally a good idea. As such what we need to do is prepare it as usual with spices and herbs, then place it into the roasting pots and put it at the bottom of the fire, under the burning wood but in the cooler coals around the edges. It will need to be done quickly or it wont be ready for the party tonight." they all nodded and rushed to grab the pots for it while others grabbed meat and started getting it ready.

"Normally we would age it for a week or so but seeing as its for tonight we don't have time, so instead we use this mix, it has citric acid in it in the form of lemon zest and some fennel, ground onion and a small bit of sulphur, this is non-toxic sulphur so it is safe to use on food. What we need to do is score the meat with the knife a little, cut some shallow lines with the grain like so," I instructed and showed them gently dragging the knife over the meat to make small lines and grabbed a handful of the mix "Then rub this into the meat firmly, it should start to turn a deeper red like so, don't be scared of using too much, it tends to even out on its own anyway."

I smiled once I was done seeing they were all copying me already as the pots were placed close by and turned to one taking the lid off and looking into it to make sure it was clean.

"Add some oil to your pot, rub it into the walls, then place the meat in followed by about a cup of fresh water, this will make it steam and keep the meat moist and tender while it cooks," I placed the meat in and prepared another piece to add to the pot "Have about two or three pieces depending on the size, then put the lid on and it onto the carts to be rushed outside."

I stepped back letting them work, quickly getting it all onto the carts and I smiled once they were done and were starting to clean up a bit.

"Xander, Luna, can you help me push these out to the yard?" I asked looking to them "I'm sure Alpha would like to see you Luna Ruben." I added quickly when I saw looks of irritation from the others when I had requested the Luna's help.

They nodded and they both cleaned up then grabbed the handles of a cart each and started following me. We walked out to the back yard where they had a fire already burning in the large fire pit. They were mid way through setting up the bar and Alpha's Leo, Callen, and Ramside who was in mid form were directing the workers on what needed to be done.

"Alpha, we have the moose meat here" Xander called out getting the attention of all three Alpha's and we each chuckled softly at that. They had a brief conversation between them before Alpha Leo and Callen walked over, Ramside returning to direct the workers about the bars construction.

"Hey you three, we were wondering when it would be done." Alpha Leo said with a chuckle "Lets get it in place to cook" he adds before grabbing some of the pots and Callen doing the same.

"It's normally ready before now... why the delay?" Alpha Callen asked and I gave a sigh.

"Until now, I've had to stay up all night to do the work," I told him as we placed the large pots and covered them with warm coals "I was usually the only one doing it so I had no other choice if it was to be ready in time to cook."

"Wait... other than making you do all of the cooking normally, missing out on the hunts and most months the feast as well, you had to do all the work to prepare the meat too?" Callen asks and I nodded making him sigh and roll his eyes.

"It's why no one knew how to prepare the moose," I answered

"Or anything last time... I literally had to have Sarabi come and teach your wolves on how to prepare the other meats." Alpha Leo said with a chuckle "Should have seen her reaction when she found out why, we nearly had some wolf meat on the fire last time."

"I was ready to cut a few of the bitches in there when they were huffing and ignoring Neil teaching them how to do the moose," Ruban said irritably "Two of them even complained to each other that they were getting blood under their nails."

"Luckily I was too focused on what I was doing to hear what they were saying or doing." I said making Leo chuckle.

"How about we give them a shock?" The male said with a smile "Seeing as Ramside has it handled out here and the next step is Luce's speciality, decorating, how about all five of us go back in there to see how they are doing?" he asked and I laughed.

"Ooo, evil," I said with a smirk "Can guarantee that the females aren't doing much and the males are struggling."

"Id make a wager with you about that but I'm sure I'd lose" Callen said with a groan as we placed the last pot of meat. We grabbed the carts and started pushing them back to the slaughter room, slipping in silently to find them in exactly the positions that I had said they would be in. The females chatting away in one corner complaining about the smell and their nails and the males, while working, complaining that they were being made to do it and not me.

"I had hoped you guys would have learned, made some improvements," Callen says loudly and angrily making them all stop with a jump and slowly turn their heads towards us "You guys have ONE job to do today and that is to prepare the meat for tonight! You all have three hours to get it all done and the room cleaned! Or you will join Rachel in the cells!" he snarled loudly.

"I will be sending Sarabi in to check on your progress in two hours! You also wont be leaving this room till she is pleased with how clean the room is! Better get to it!" Alpha Leo added and it was oddly enjoyable to see them all pale at the mention of the Luna.

"What exactly did she DO to them last time to get that reaction?" I asked as they rushed and grabbed the boars to carve next.

"You don't want to know," Callen said with a chuckle "Leon told me and I'm telling you, you don't want to know." Alpha Leo chuckled and smiled as we started to walk back out.

"So Neil, how are you and Lien since the commune?" the Alpha lion asked as we headed back outside to the back yard.

"We are doing ok" I answered honestly "We are a little closer and understand each other a bit better than we did before but there isn't much of a change." he nodded seeming to soak it all in.

"It took a few communes to get as in tune with Sama as I am," he said simply "Have you thought of trying to do more since then? I can guarantee that it is a different experience when she is actively aware of what you are doing."

"We have talked about it" I answered truthfully "But we can't help but feel we wont have the strength to... Luce said it clear as day that only Alphas are supposed to Commune because of the demands on the body. Sure I did well last time but I had a goal in mind and stuck to it. I didn't let anything get in my way and sort of rushed through it, even when I was assaulted my defence was a pure instinct reaction."

"Even so, you two should see that as a good sign," he retorted as we finally exited to the back yard "That kind of shows you have an affinity for it, if and when you try a commune again you should be able to handle it better than I did"

"Don't pressure them Mufassa" Callen said jumping into the conversation "Luce is possibly the reason he did so well. With his energy feeding into him, it may have boosted the strength or his defences." I sigh and nod agreeing. If it hadn't been for the powerful Sigma I never would have succeeded, or survived the commune.

"If we do do another commune... it wont be for a while" I tell them almost firmly "I still have a lot of recouping to still do after the most recent incidences." they nodded and decided to drop it for now.

"ALPHA!" a call came distracting us and we looked up to see Ares or rather Ersa was his human name, running towards us looking panicked.

"Now what?" Callen asked looking irritable and the wolf pointed off behind him.

"I...It's the Sigma's! Th...they are doing it today!" he said panicked and we all blinked.

"AH FUCK!" Callen exclaimed and started running, the rest of us following.

"What's going on?" I asked and Leo chuckled softly as we ran soon finding a large empty field. Although in the middle of it was every Sigma in the community.

"Once a year the Sigma's of the community have a battle," Alpha Leo said as we approached "While we have Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Omega ranking for the packs the Sigma's rank themselves simply by pure power. It changes time every year and is usually quite spectacular."

"And MUST be witnessed by at least two of the Council" Callen said irritably "I told Luce to tell me when it was going to happen!"

"Ah but I did, who do you think sent Ersa to inform you?" The Sigma said as he walked between us and towards the group in front of us "Now for your safety, approach no closer." his warning was growled as Culem walked up to him.

"You all know the laws!" he called out "Do not involve the witness party! Only Sigma's are to be engaged! All engagements are Non-lethal and must not leave this field! Any who are defeated, are to join the witness party and not be engaged. ANY breach of these laws will be punished! Am I understood?" there was a nod from the whole group and they quickly changed to mid forms.

It was the first time I had ever seen so many wings on display. Every sigma had some form of wings from feathered angel looking to leathery demon wings and from white to black in colouration and all different sizes. Luce however was the only one with four wings and his tail wagged lazily behind him as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Begin!" Callen called out and all hell broke loose. They did something I hadn't expected and ganged up on Luce to start with, every single one of them letting loose a magical attack. From a blast of ice to lightning to fire or simply a shock wave. Luce didn't move except to flair his wings a little, the attacks all being deflected about a foot from him.

"Well this Is a first, trying to knock me down are we Vicky?" Luce called calmly, a lioness Sigma with demon wings snarling from the group "You have gathered them all together to take me down I see, however, it still won't be enough." he reached out and plucked one of his longest feathers, it quickly changing shape into a sword and he charged forward at the group making them all scatter. Vicky to her credit didn't flee, merely pulled out a sword of her own and countered. The shock wave given off from their clash nearly blasting me off my feet.

The others all turned on each other using spells or weapons of some form. It was spectacular to witness as they all attacked each other with as much power as they could muster. The field was torn up rather quickly by what they were doing, turning into what looked like a warzone of craters. Giant ice spikes flying around, electric blasts and fireballs flying in every direction.

Soon though they were starting to join our group one at a time. It was as a horse Sigma walked past me that there was a cry of 'thought you could hide?' and I looked up in time to see a fox Sigma with black feathered wings descending on me with a large sword similar to Luce's drawn over his head ready for the blow.

Before anyone, even the Other sigma's could react he was flying away from me, Luce standing in front of me snarling loudly.

"Damn... nearly." Vicky said angrily and Luce just snarled louder clearly pissed.

"YOU DARE!?" Luce screamed looking at her "You dare control someone else to do your dirty work!? Just to get past my defences you would break one of our prime laws?"

"She isn't a bystander! We can all feel it, she has Sigma blood in her!" she called back pointing at me with her sword "The attack was still permitted by our laws! She should be involved in the rankings."

"She has MY blood in her," Luce responded "She is not a Sigma, it was done to save their life several days ago and it has yet to pass out of their system. Now Vicky, allow me to demonstrate why even your parents feared me and why I am on top!"

"Oh shit here we go," The horse Sigma said from behind me "Barrier the group! Use everything you have guys!" he instructed to the other Sigma's and there was a static like feeling in the air as they joined hands. Luce stabbed his sword into the ground then slowly unbuttoned his top before pulling it off exposing his torso and revealed something I had never seen before. He had a third set of wings, a small black set, no more than two foot wide for each ones span, that were tucked up close to his body that he now extended to fan out.

"Luce," Callen said loudly and firmly "Permission to break power control restriction Two is accepted, access to level one is now granted. Permission to break restriction one is denied, You are not permitted to go berserk. This is your order from Council head Alpha Callen Smith and Council Alpha Prime Mufassa Leo, bring her to heal."

"Understood my Alpha," the feline answered and his middle pair of wings slowly started to turn black "Time restriction imposed, three hundred seconds till limit reached. Now Vicky, Let me show you why you NEVER should have broken that law and tried to mess with my pack and friends!" she went from shocked to cocky quickly, composing herself and getting into a defensive stance.

"Now you will see why he is called the Avenging Angel," I muttered to Ruban and Xander next to me and I shivered a little "I had hoped I would never see him like this again."

Vicky's preparation did little to help her, his movement was so fast that I lost sight of him before he was in front of her. His sword still implanted in the ground in front of me, he punched her directly, shattering her sword and sending her flying backwards away from him. She impacted with an invisible wall at the fence line and quickly tried a counter, lashing out with a blast of ice then fire which was simply negated before it got anywhere near Luce.

To her credit it didn't slow her down, she then started summoning blades to fly at him, all which deflected away when they got close. One blade even flying at us which made the Sigma's behind us all cringe as it hit the barrier they had erected, the ground shaking with the force of the impact. Luce just stood still as she circled around him throwing attack after attack none having any effect. Eventually she was standing just to our left when she threw another attack making a large explosion under Luce.

"That was a very good try," Luce called before the smoke and dust cleared and it was quickly blown away by a wave of his wings to show he was floating above a reasonably sized crater "Five centuries ago, that one may have gotten me, an explosion directly under my paws where my defences are weakest. However my defences have improved somewhat since your parents came up with that tactic, I don't have that blind spot in my defences any more kitten." She swore and he started walking towards her. There was a blur of movement and there was suddenly a blade at my throat. I whimpered suddenly standing rigidly still and Luce did too watching as she held me tight.

"You do have one weakness," she called with a smirk "This little tart here, I'm betting that if I cut her throat, the blood bond you formed giving her your blood will slit your own. That's how they work isn't it?" no one dared move but Luce's eye twitched.

"Again you shamelessly break our laws," he says "You are correct about the blood bond, however you have missed a vital point."

"Oh and what is that?" she asked smugly and I was suddenly standing where Luce had been, the feline in my place in front of Vicky, the blade she had now embedded in the floor between her toes.

"I am not stupid enough to leave them defenceless again," he says and punched her firmly in the stomach making her fall to her knees trying to breath. He poked her in the forehead with a claw, hard enough to draw blood and her eyes went wide but held his finger there. "Sigma Vicky, as Community Sigma representative and current head Sigma of this community, I hereby seal you under the Sigma laws. Your powers will now be locked away outside of war times and will only be granted access under direct Council approval and Strict supervision by a high ranked member of the Sigma community. You are hereby lowered to the bottom placement of Sigma status where you will remain and may not take part in future rankings. Your punishment for endangering the life of Omega Neil will be decided by the council Alpha's present to witness the ranking ceremony." he pulled his finger back and her wings suddenly vanished as he did leaving her as just a normal looking Lioness.

"Take her to the holding cells" Alpha Leo said angrily and she was quickly grabbed by the others and carted off.

"Time... eternity rest, returning to level five restraints," Luce said calmly and his wings turned white again, the black pair folding up against his back before he put his top back on "Neil? Are you ok?" he asked turning to look at me and I nodded.

"Y...Yeah... not the first time I've been held at knife point by a maniac" I said getting a soft chuckle from them all "I didn't know you had a third set of wings."

"Heh, I don't make it a habit of showing them off" he says simply with a shrug "just like you shouldn't make being held at knife-point a habit."

"I don't do it intentionally!" I protested with a groan "How many Sigma have three sets of wings?"

"Only one." Callen answered smoothly "And he spends his days enchanting cleaning items to chase puppies while singing some song about being human again."

"I only did that once," Callen retorted then his usual grin returned "After you watched beauty and the beast."

"I spent weeks looking for that rose!" Callen grumbled and everyone started laughing "Anyway, we should repair the field and return to the party yard."

"Yes, Alpha." Luce said with a soft bow and, after returning to his full form, stamped his feet on the ground and clapped his hands together, opening them slowly in a grand gesture. It was slow to start but quickly picked up speed, the sods of dirt flying around the field before returning to their original place. Even the snow covering returned leaving the field how it had started.

"Excellent." Alpha Leo said "Just how it was. Lets get back now before the bears make the bar big enough for an army to stand at."

"Or just all the bears?" I asked and he smirked down at me.

"Yes, or that, we would never see them away from it if they did that." Alpha Callen said with a roll of his eyes "And Luce, you need to decorate the yard too."

"Ooh goody!" The sigma exclaimed gleefully "I can't wait! It's time to deck the halls again!"

"What halls? We are outside." I said dryly and he laughed kind heartedly.

The next few hours flew by without anything overly exciting happening. Luce decorated the yard as gaily as he possibly could. The fairy lights alone would be enough to illuminate everything with a charming colourful mood lighting. All of the hedges were made out to look like miniature Christmas trees, with several pruned into the classical cone shape, the decorations reflecting the colourful lighting around the yard.

I stayed back to one side of the congregation, close to the house, watching Xander and Randy in mid form socialise while we waited for Alpha Callen and the others to appear to officially open the event. I nursed a goblet of mulled wine and couldn't help the soft smile I had but couldn't explain where my feeling of blissful contentment was coming from.

"Neil, you are wanted on stage with Callen." Anders called as he approached me "It's nothing bad, promise, something about wanting family close." I nodded and started heading in that direction, Xander following soon after.

"Ah there you are!" Callen called with a smile as we approached he was already in mid form and his tail wagged a little at seeing us "If I'm going to announce my new Luna on stage I want the rest of my family there with us."

"You really are adamant that they are family aren't you?" Ruban asked as he stepped out in only a thick bathrobe. The human looked cold but if he was going to change to his mid form during the presentation, he would either need to wear clothes that were big enough to accommodate his changed form or strip before shifting. Callen clearly wasn't going to let him strip, in public anyway and they had no clothes for his mid form yet. So clearly they compromised.

"Where is the pup?" Xander asked and I chuckled softly.

"He's hiding under the stage waiting for us" Ruban said with a shrug "It was the only way for us to keep him hidden till the announcement."

"Well he won't need to wait much longer. Neil, Xander come out with Ruban once I call him," Callen said as he walked out onto the stage "Greetings everyone! Bears! Don't make a habit of being told off for not paying attention! Now, I have a few announcements I need to make, starting with reintroducing my mate!" Xander and I escorted Ruban out onto stage, the crowd murmuring about what was going on.

"Stay calm, you know how to do this." Callen told him and Ruban nodded with a soft sigh. He looked to us and gave a soft smile before he closed his eyes. It was slow at first, fur sprouting on his face here and there but it quickly sped up till he had finished his change. His eyes opened and they quickly found mine and Xanders and we couldn't help but chuckle when his tail wagged under the gown which he quickly sloughed before turning to the gathered masses.

"May I introduce to you all, Luna Barrun!" Callen called proudly to which there was a round of applause and celebration "Now to the second piece of news..." Sadly before he could finished he was interrupted by armed men storming into the field.

"FREEZE!" One called drawing screams of alarm from the gathered Weres "FBI!"

"LUCE!" Callen called turning to the Sigma who merely took a step forward.

"SIGMAS!" Luce in turn called out. He shifted instantly, wings exposed and so did the others, a large shield dome bubble covering the pack house and gathering, cutting off the intruders. A moment later guns went off and bullets ricocheted off of the barrier.

"Everyone inside!" Callen called just before there was a loud explosion from the other side of the pack house and several of the Sigmas gave a groan of strain.

"They brought a fucking tank!?" Luce called irritably as he undid his jacket "Emergency parameters met, release of level two restrictions authorised, access to level one now granted. Sigmas, assist the community and release shield control and generation to me." his wings flared and quickly changed to black while everyone was escorted inside.

"Xander, Ruban, Anders, Neil and Council Alphas with me!" Callen called drawing our attention away from trying to flee inside and find a hiding place. We quickly gathered to him before he walked to the edge of the barrier and gave a growl at the human on the other side getting his attention, they had all stopped shooting once they discovered it was pointless to continue "We are the leaders here, contact your superiors and we shall talk." the human seemed mildly fearful of the looming werewolf and simply nodded before turning to make the call.

"Callen, our calls are going through now," Alpha Tango says with a phone to his ear "We will have the Board on call in five minutes."

"Great I'm not looking forward to this... Now all we need is a Monger diplomat and we will have the whole damned spectrum in on this." Callen growled softly.

"You called?" a voice called from behind us and I turned quickly to be face to face with the same Monger from before making me pull away into Xander in surprise "This Pack seems to cause nothing but problems."

"Thank you for that analysis, I must say that it is not helping... how long have you been here?" Alpha Leo asked rubbing his temples.

"I never left," he simply answered "Did you really think we wouldn't keep an eye on someone of his level?"

"Who?" Alpha Raven asked curiously as footsteps approached from the house.

"The only one who can touch on our level of power," he answered looking over his shoulder at the approaching individual "Sigma Luce."