Carousel;; Justyn

[[Midnight]]

Fly with me under the wings I gave you,
Try to be closer to me and I'll save you

Once he and Rose had parted seperate ways after their long "chat," the anger slowly started to come back to him, a burning ball deep in the pit of his stomach. Because the more he dwelled on the past, the more it ate at him. And Justyn was just really bad at letting things go.

Rose saw straight through him. Of course, he should have figured she would give it to him straight up; she was the most dangerous wolf in Falling Moon. Probably this entire deadened valley. She could cut through your mind like the prickly teeth of a yearling fox. And not just cut through it, but truly manipulate it into a false sense of security.

And yet, strangely enough, Justyn found himself completely unafraid of her.

Sure, she was good at lying. Sure, maybe she did lie to him. She was surely capable of it. But he was confident that he had finally found someone worth talking to. Yep, he was sure that Rose had been telling him nothing but the truth.
And maybe that was why being around her made him feel a little bit better about everything.


The Heathlands were pretty ugly in the summertime. When winter came around and cloaked it in snowflakes it would probably look a little better, but it was certainly not a sight for sore eyes. And by that expression, it meant someone who longed to see the old beauty of the old valley. When the terrible earthquakes struck months and months ago, it destroyed a lot of the beautiful things that Justyn had once been drawn to.

Gliding almost silently through the thick brush, Justyn's husky body avoided the prickliest bushes and created a path across the Heathlands. Despite the enlightening heart-to-heart with Rose that had left him with a little more feeling in his soul than usual, he still wore the same bleak, hard expression that he always had. Mostly for several reasons:

One, it really wasn't that he had a change of heart from the long talk with the Alpha's daughter. It was more of...a change of attitude. He would look at things a little differently now. He was still disturbed by the earthquake, still angry that his mother had tried to lie to him about his father's sickness, and still pissed that his father even dared to put his mother through such despair and condemnation. But maybe there would be a future for Justyn after all.

Two, he was the Beta of Falling Moon. You can't go soft when you are the second-in-command of a pack full of brutes. You can only go soft in front of wolves like Rose.

And three, as mentioned above, he had made a pact with Rose. They would continue on like nothing had changed. Rose would still be the Lie. Justyn would still be the Anger. Together, they promised to just be themselves, which was basically the opposite: the Truth and the Changed. It wouldn't be too hard for Justyn to be two-faced. He had been two-faced for a year; now he just had someone to actually show the first face to.

There was a hot breeze that offered no comfort for Justyn's sweaty tongue as he stopped in his tracks, panting. He wished there was a storm right now, and it was pouring rain. Lightning gave him a strange energetic feel. And the rain would feel really good right now...

He looked up at the sky in search of a cloud or two, his hazel eyes glimmering with sunlight.

[Paint]

Duke never really liked the places that he lived, unless he'd earned them in a fight or won them somehow. Earth that you just strolled onto and claimed as your own was boring to Duke; he knew he could defend any land of his, it was the fighting to get it in the first place which was interesting.

His blood was burning for a fight with Caden.

He wanted to rip that wolf down like he did Xaka, to show the whole valley that it was Duke's way or no way. It was this strange singular determination which kept him going most days, except of course Tallulah and Rose. They'd wanted to settle down here and start pack life again, so now that they were happy, Duke had to turn his attention to his own needs. The need to command and conquer.

So it came to be that Duke was strolling through the lands he'd claimed but had no real reverence for, and he found himself walking out under the burning sunlight into the heathland. A strange mockery of a clearing with prickly dry grass and no protection from anything. Justyn's scent was around, and Duke scanned over the clearing again before he saw the dark wolf. He growled roughly in greeting. It was no 'Howdydo!', but it was not threatening either- simple a nonverbal greeting as he padded forwards.

[[Midnight]]

Justyn swung his head around carelessly, his ears perking atop his face. Back in the day the sight of Duke would have brought fear and hatred to Justyn's heart, as well as maybe a lust for revenge. He hadn't been alive when his grandfather was killed but it had still left him with a bitter feeling.

Nowadays, Justyn was no longer scared of Duke, just reserved when around him. The Alpha had taken him in when he was just a pup. He supposed he could have something to be grateful for, right?
Nahh, not really.

With a greeting as unexcited as Duke's, Justyn watched the big male approach him, keeping his face passive. It was hard to be under Duke's command because Justyn was so stubborn nowadays. But he had learned to saw few words and learned how to keep his stance respectful.
And respectful didn't have to mean degrading.

"Weather sucks," he said in his young voice, deep but clearly belonging to a wolf barely out of adolescence.

His mind wandered to all the things Rose told him about her father and the relationship they shared, his eyes curiously studying Duke as if for the first time.

So this was really the guy that Rose was basically living for?

[Paint]

Duke would have felt oddly scrutinized by Justyn's curious eyes, had he cared. But Duke didn't care for what any wolf thought of him, as long as it stayed in their heads. If they insulted him outright, any wolf with a head on his shoulders would know it was exile or death. Duke was not an understanding sort of wolf.

"You could say that again," he replied in a tone as bone-dry as the weather, as he came to a stop, sitting down. His form was still ridiculously massive even when sitting.

He looked around, not quite sighing outright (Duke wasn't the sighing type) but not scowling at anything either. His expression was one hundred percent dead bored. The bloodlust pumping through his body was not evident on the surface.

[[Midnight]]

Justyn wanted to smile at the deadened expression on Duke's face, and was surprised at himself. Humor hadn't paid a visit to Justyn in a while, not since he was a little kid and he would tell mean stories to his siblings to scare them.
Thinking back on it, he remembered telling a story to his sister and his younger brother about "Big, Scary Duke" who was faster than lightning and as big as a bear.

"...He's so big that even all of Dancing Stars would have trouble defeating him!"

Of course, his big brother was always telling the little ones that Justyn didn't know what he was talking about and was making his stories up.

Flicking an ear as a fly buzzed by, Justyn took a moment to lick his chops, a drop of sweat falling towards the ground below.
"How're the girls?" he asked Duke, making small talk. The brown and black wolf noted that Duke probably was as big as a bear, which made him smirk. But the grin could be passed off as just a polite gesture to compliment his question.

[Paint]

Duke's expression changed to one of hidden adoration and interest as his daughters crossed his mind. The adoration, of course, was not evident on his immediate expression. But it was clear from the look in his eyes that his daughters were his world. He glanced at Justyn.

"Fine the last time I checked," he nodded his massive head, noting somewhere in the back of his mind that Justyn was in no way a small wolf. If he stayed loyal, he was likely to be a very large asset in the upcoming fight. "Rose getting along with the pack's social side as usual-" Lying to everyone in sight just to keep us happy. "-and Tallulah is off ruling the world in her own little way."

He smirked in return, realising he'd raised some strangely power-hungry daughters without even meaning to. Still, if you passed on Alpha blood it was likely to stick somewhere. Duke's attention was suddenly on Justyn and his expression dead serious, no affection in his dark eyes this time- they were like glass.

Justyn had Alpha blood, from both parents.

Duke didn't like that. He stopped himself from curling his lips back and jumping at the younger wolf's throat immediately, but his muscles tensed. He was not allowed to let his guard down around his Beta wolf, because there was no way Justyn would be content just being a Beta. Not with Caerwyn and Midnight's blood in his veins, no matter how much the young wolf resented them. Duke's eyes remained unfathomless.

[[Midnight]]

Justyn's eyes narrowed as Duke's entire demeanor changed. He watched as the Alpha tensed his muscles and his eyes turned colder, like the yearling had done something to offend him. Maybe it was his smirk. Maybe something else.
Either way, Justyn couldn't help but tilt his head down while keeping his eyes on Duke, his hackles bristling ever so slightly. Duke was not a push over, hell no, but Justyn still couldn't find himself afraid for his life. In fact, he realized that part of him wanted to fight the Falling Moon Alpha, maybe not now, but someday. When Justyn became a true potential threat.

If Justyn wasn't careful, this little meeting could turn into a pure testosterone-fest. He kept his cool, forcing his fur to lie flat. He was afraid to speak, however, in case he couldn't hold back his snarling growl.
"Hmmm," he responded with, as if he already knew what Duke had told him. Of course, he did know - he had just spoken with Rose not long ago at all and to be completely honest, he was one hundred percent uninterested in with boring Tallulah. Same old, same old with her. And the same old with Duke, really.

[Paint]

Justyn was smart enough not to provoke Duke further, and instead of making the Alpha feel better he felt instantly worse. He would've much preferred if Justyn was stupid and his anger took over him, any small bristling of Duke's fur would cause a stupid wolf to jump and attack- and Duke would teach them a lesson by pounding them flat. But Justyn wasn't attacking, because Justyn wasn't stupid.

That was worse.

That meant that Justyn knew he wasn't enough of a threat now, that he'd thought it over enough to wait for his opportune moment to strike. Duke ran through all of this in his head, and pulled his lips back over his long teeth, managing to turn it into a sort of twisted smile.

"Justyn, you know, it doesn't have to be this way," he said suddenly, his smile strangely friendly like he was offering a truce. "I've never once brought up your past, your family and connections, I let you into this pack out of the last bit of goodness in my blackened heart."

He wasn't sure where he was going with this. Unlike Rose, manipulating words was not his forte. He took a deep breath.
"I know you probably want to fight me one day. Take over the pack, that's only natural for someone like you," he thought again, frowning with the concentration. This was going against his Fight now-talk later general policy.

"Can't you wait until I'm gone before you take over? I don't care about handing the reigns to you one day, you'd be a good Alpha, I know that. But not now." his words became strong, powerful, and he stared at Justyn wondering vaguely what he'd say. Duke didn't usually talk in such large chunks.

[[Midnight]]

At first, Justyn was genuinely surprised by everything the Alpha had just said to him. It wasn't at all like Duke, he wasn't one to negotiate or to ask questions first. He was always in control of the situation, always on top.

But as the confused look disappeared from his handsome face, Justyn was suddenly amused. A smile just as twisted as the Alpha's came to his maw and he lifted his chin just a bit, to show he was comfortable. He wanted so much to laugh, so so much to let out a humorous chuckle, but he didn't let himself do it. That would piss off the old chap for sure.

"You're truly afraid of me, aren't you, Duke?" he asked him, all traces of boredness gone from his voice. He was actually enjoying this conversation, now that he felt Duke was no longer in control.

"No. Let me rephrase. You're not afraid of me, not yet. You are afraid of what I am capable of."

A gleam came to Justyn's hazel eyes, suggesting that he was getting a little c0cky.

"You didn't let me into this pack because you felt sorry for me, Duke. C'mon, at least be honest about that one. You took me in and watched me grow up, letting me become second-in-command because I might actually prove to be useful to you."
His eyes narrowed, and his smile was now sharper and more brittle, no more humor in it. Maybe just a little curiousity.
"You're right, Duke. I do want to fight you someday. But maybe not for the reasons you think."

He left it at that, wondering if the Alpha would be at all interested in hearing more. It was totally Duke's call.

[Paint]

Duke's tone was neither pleading nor worried, in fact a smile spread over his broad face darkly again. Afraid? Of Justyn? He did not refrain from laughing, he laughed genuinely, and it was deep and spiteful.

"Justyn, pity is not exactly my middle name," he was still chuckling darkly. "If I thought you'd really one day be a threat to me, I'd kill you right now. That's what a true Alpha does. Defeats the competition."

He narrowed his dark eyes, still smirking beneath them.
"Why would you want to fight me, then? Avenging your dead grandfather? Or perhaps your crazy parents? If it's not just a lust for leadership, then those're the only reasons I can think up." Duke took one small but obviously threatening step towards Justyn. "Go on, englighten me."

[[Midnight]]

No, Justyn thought angrily. That's what a sick pervert does.
Standing up to his fullest height, the male wolf recalled what Rose had told him. Continue to be vicious and strong. He could be strong, but what if he didn't want to call it vicious? He never wanted to be like Duke. The Alpha was the vicious one.

Never before had he considered surpassing Duke until recently. He wasn't sure if he had what it took to do it, or what he would do with himself once he was Alpha male. But just to get Duke off his tail would be relief enough.

"I want to fight you because you're the strongest wolf I know," he said simply, ignoring the threatening step Duke had taken. If he had to battle for his life today, then so be it. He'd just like to avoid it first if at all possible.
"I want to see what I am capable of. Hearing you deny that I am a threat to you... Just makes me crave to get stronger."

He low growl emanated from deep within his throat, and a sudden determination came to his appearance like a mask.
"I don't take lightly to insults. I pursue them like a bastard."

[Paint]

Duke laughed again, setting his narrowed eyes on Justyn. This could go one of two ways. One, Justyn would grow up like a true Moons wolf and agree to staying the Beta until Duke decided otherwise, he could channel all of that anger and strength into defeating the other pack.

Two, he could continue this 'I want to defeat the Alpha' path, build himself up and use his strength to self-destruct within Duke's grasp. If it was going to go this way, Duke knew what he'd do.

"Justyn, one of these days you'll have to pick a side," he said darkly. "You were born a Stars wolf, you became a Moons wolf. If you want to stay a Moons wolf, I'd strongly suggest you stop planning to fight me because I can assure you, unless I am bitterly old and falling apart I will kill you if you so much as lay a claw on me." This time there was no joking tone to Duke's deep voice, every word he uttered was the absolute truth.

[[Midnight]]

Duke was just convinced that Justyn wouldn't have what it takes to defeat him. Ever. That should have made him enraged and deeply offended, but it made him smile on the inside. Justyn may have been born a Stars wolf, but to him it was like he had been raised by himself. He made up his own rules, and he had chosen to walk away from his old ties because he was bitter. Most would probably see him as a little wuss. But they'd all be surprised once Justyn took down Duke in a one on one match.

"Why does it have to be about sides? Maybe I want to be on top. Maybe you're in my way. And what does a true Alpha do? He gets rid of the competition. Falling Moon or no Falling Moon."
His words were half fake. Part of his facade. But they were half true, too. Justyn was now determined to prove Duke wrong and to show him that he could win if he wanted to. His past had nothing to do with it. He was just finding something else to strive for.

"I'm not afraid to die. I'm not afraid to fight you. Your threat doesn't phase me one bit. I just thought you deserved to know that."
There was only one thing he was afraid of losing right now, and he wasn't about to blab that to Duke. That would hit the only weak spot the old man had and he'd kill Justyn right here, right now. Or at least he'd try to. Justyn was starting to believe more and more that Duke wasn't an unstoppable force.

"You want more power. I'm starting to understand that I do, too. I'll work with you as your Beta until the time comes for me to take my place as Alpha. Whether or not you're still around, I guess we'll have to see that for ourselves in the future. I don't know when or where I'll decide that I want to rule, but just always remember that I'm not afraid of you."

His blood was boiling now as he, too, took a step forward.

[Paint]

Duke laughed hollowly, advancing as well. It was only a few steps but it was enough. If Justyn wanted a fight, what was he waiting for? He was going to build himself up until he thought he was actually strong enough to take Duke down?

The chances were so very slim.

"Justyn, you're very wrong if you think that at any time this will be a one-on-one battle," Duke said, offering a new and hopefully unexpected twist to the conversation. He raised his lips. "As much as I would want to confront you alone, rip you apart bit by bit- I know that as soon as I step onto any kind of battlefield, Rose will be there in a second. She'll rally anyone she can with her... persuasiveness. I don't think you quite understand how much Rose and I depend on each other."

He let a snarl escape his lips.
"As much as I want to tear you apart myself, she will get involved and she will bring the pack with her. Justyn, she does not fight fair. As despicable as you think I am, at least I'd face you myself, alone." Duke shook his head as if he was disappointed in this bitter truth.

[[Midnight]]

It was the most rediculous thing Justyn had heard, and yet part of him believed the words Duke had said.
The only thing that could possibly save Justyn in that situation was the bond that he and Rose had formed from their one conversation. And she would have to choose; Daddy, or Justyn. He knew exactly what the outcome would be, and he couldn't blame her. Not at all.
He just wondered if Rose would feel anything at all if she had to watch her father kill him.

He took a step back, trying to rid his body of all it's agression.
"So that's how it's going to be. I'll never be able to fight you because the daughter will get in the way. That sounds so masculine, doesn't it, Duke? Very Alpha like. I have to blame myself, though, for being naive. I let my guard down in thinking it would ever be a fight for honor. In Falling Moon, honor doesn't mean a thing. It's all about survival of the fittest. I knew that but I still tossed my words around like an idiot."

It looked like if Justyn would ever want to challenge Duke for authority or just for the kicks, he would have to ambush him somewhere. That's how it was going to be. He'd have to corner him somewhere, with nobody around for miles.

"The sad thing is, I think I'm more afraid of Rose than you."