Sirius was enjoying a wonderful dream when he heard Greyback's voice rumble in his ear.
"I know I always call you Puppy and, as lovely a dog you make, I'd rather see your handsome face when I wake up in the morning."
Sirius smirked as he shifted but then winced as the change sparked a pain in his backside.
"You're hurt!" Greyback gasped, rolling Sirius onto his stomach and pulling down his pyjama bottoms to inspect the area. "I knew I was too rough with you."
"You weren't too rough with me," Sirius argued, "although Remus could have warned me about the bloody knotting."
"I thought you knew, what with us being werewolves and all," Remus smirked, moving around to check on his mate as well, although clearly assuming Sirius was fine.
"How was I bloody well supposed to know that," Sirius huffed. "Its not like it ever came up in our Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. I wish it would have, though. If I'd have known you that I'd have gotten Moony to mount me years ago."
"That would never have happened," Greyback chuckled. "Our Cub is a submissive so he doesn't have a knot and his instincts wouldn't have let him top you, even if you'd have tied him down and jumped him."
"That's a shame," Sirius pouted.
"Why?" Greyback queried. "Is my knot not enough for you? It certainly looks like it was from the state of your arse." The older werewolf nuzzled the abused hole and then began to lick the area causing Sirius to moan out loud.
"Aren't you getting a good old taste of your own cum like that?" he queried. Not that he wanted Greyback to stop but he was genuinely curious.
"No at the moment no," Greyback replied, smiling against Sirius's skin as he continued to lick around his arse, soothing the still tender flesh. "I was very conscious of you being hurt last night so I licked you out very thoroughly before I went to sleep myself although it doesn't quite seem to have been enough."
"Really!" Sirius exclaimed, half sitting up only for Greyback to knock him straight back down so he could continue tending to Sirius's injury, growling low to make his point. "Sorry alpha but I was just curious. I thought werewolves might have a thing about eating cum after you had reacted so strongly when I went to lick Remus's arse."
"That was a territory thing because Remus is a breeder," Greyback explained. "As alpha and as my mate it is my right to try and get Remus pregnant. You trying to lick my cum like that was essentially a challenge as if you were trying to usurp my position with Remus and the pack."
Sirius looked a little shocked as he looked at Remus. "Are you alright with doing that? I mean you said you weren't interested in children."
"I know I did," Remus nodded, "and I'll admit I'm still not 100% sure but Link explained that, on the full moon, the only way to guarantee that I won't get pregnant is too take some seriously strong contraceptives, to counter the fertility boost of the moon, but they have a the side effect of reducing your fertility in general which, for me, might mean becoming sterile. I may not be sure I want kids in the future but I do know that a part of me was massively relieved when I found out that I hadn't completely fucked up my reproductive system and that same part of me loathes the idea of possibly doing more damage, especially when so much of me is still healing. I understand that doing nothing is a risk, I do, but it's a risk I understand and am willing to take."
Sirius gulped and nodded, happy for his friend and mate but also a little jealous. Thankfully there were still some things that he wanted to understand so a subject change was easy. He turned his head as much as he could and just managed to catch the older werewolf's eye.
"The behaviour you made me do? That was just asserting dominance right?"
Greyback sat up a little, a small frown marring his forehead. "It was a little more than that. For starters I was immensely jealous. You smelt of Remus and you clearly had a bond with him so a part of me thought you might try to take him away, especially after you went to lick him. I needed you to fully submit to prove that you also wanted to be my mate and weren't using it as a ruse. I didn't think it would be necessary but there were other factors at play last night."
"Other factors?" Sirius queried.
Greyback nodded. "There was another werewolf pack nearby, a group of unknowns. It meant my alpha instincts were in a higher state than usual and why I was a lot less trusting of you than I should have been. For that I am sorry." He dropped a soft, apologetic kiss to the base of Sirius's spine.
Sirius smiled. "There's no need, I'm fine."
Greyback let out a rumbling soft pur by way of acceptance. "I'll admit that you did seem to enjoy taking my knot, even though, unlike Remus, your body it's specifically designed for it."
Greyback's hands slid up Sirius's thigh to stroke the crease between them and his arse causing Sirius to sigh in delight. "It wasn't as bad as I might have expected, if I'd have realised it was going to happen that is."
"You liked the stretch," Greyback hummed appreciatively. "Maybe one day you can try taking me and the Cub at the same time."
Sirius groaned at the thought.
"I think I might be amenable to that," Remus smirked, "so long as I still get to be on the bottom."
Sirius returned his smirk.
"Not tonight though," Greyback said warningly. "You will need a little time to recover."
Sirius whined pathetically but Greyback simply gave him a gentle swat on his backside.
"I will not have you getting carried away and then injuring yourself Puppy. I want that delicious arse of yours available to use whenever I want it."
"Yes alpha," Sirius huffed, sitting up and pulling up his pyjama bottoms. He was still very tender, he could feel, but he was determined not to show it lest his alpha feel bad about his actions or, worse, forbid Sirius from coming out with him again.
"Should we go in and get some breakfast then?" Remus suggested.
Greyback was prevented from replying by the arrival of Deliah and an unknown woman. She had rich brown hair and held herself very regally even though her hands were bound.
"Alpha, we have an issue," Deliah announced.
"I can see that," Greyback said, standing up and switching to full protective alpha mode. "Who is this?"
"My name is Regina, Lord Greyback," the woman said, "and I have brought some werewolves to join your pack."
"Have you now?" Greyback questioned, stalking up to the woman and sniffling her. "That was very presumptuous of you."
Sirius had scrambled to his feet and positioned himself in front of Remus slightly, wanting to give the man some extra protection from this intruder. The woman glanced his way briefly but Greyback's growl had her quickly shifting her focus back to him.
"I am aware of that my Lord," she said, lowering her eyes slightly in contrition, "but the rumours of your great leadership have spread far and wide so I felt it only right that I should lead my pack to you."
"You were the alpha?" Greyback scoffed in disbelief.
"Not the alpha, no my Lord," Regina admitted.
"Then what right did you have to lead them?"
"The right that I was given, Lord alpha. The others in my pack expressed a wish to join you and appointed me to lead them here. I knew that you had a number of safeguards on your pack which meant that our best chance of finding you was on a full moon which is why we came last night."
"How many are you in total?" Greyback asked.
"Twenty Lord alpha," Regina replied, "of varying ages but all highly skilled I can assure you."
"They are currently being held on the edge of the forest," Deliah informed him, "and we have increased the patrols along the boarder to make sure there are no others."
"Thank you Deliah, I trust that you have everything in hand," Greyback nodded to her. "Unfortunately for you Miss Regina, or perhaps fortunately, it is not solely up to me whether or not your pack can be admitted. This is not my land, we are here at the grace of Lord Black and it is him who must decide your fate. Sirius, please go with Remus to the castle and ask Lord Black and his consorts to join us in the hall, it seems I have need of him this morning."
There was a somewhat sombre mood in the hall as Harry, Tom and Severus joined the werewolves for this emergency meeting and everyone seemed very on edge. Sirius had now realised why, mostly because Tom and Severus had talked about the possible ramifications at length as they made the way from the great hall at the castle to the werewolves meeting hall.
They had assumed that Castle Black was impregnable, that no one other than family would be able to enter. It was possible that the wards only allowed the werewolves in because of the full moon but it posed an issue that they had to get to the bottom of, especially if these wolves were not as friendly as they made out. The house elves had brought some breakfast things to the hall and everyone was sitting around looking and feeling very tense.
"So what made you decide to come to Castle Black?" Tom asked, opening up the questioning.
"I didn't know there was actually a castle here," Regina admitted, "only that this was the area where Greyback's pack was located."
"And how did you know that?" Tom continued.
Regina frowned. "All werewolves know this, and many others. Its why the hunters always congregate in this area. They are desperate to take Lord Greyback down as he is essentially the leader of all British werewolves."
"I wouldn't go that far," Greyback scoffed.
"I would," Regina insisted. "It is well known that you have managed to create a thriving community here, safe from outside influences. I'll admit the fact that there is an old family castle here now explains a lot of how you were able to do that but you are a beacon of hope to a lot of us of what can be achieved. Its why I wanted to bring my people here, to give them the same level of safety."
"And possibly diminish our resources," Greyback argued, "making us more vulnerable in the process."
Regina shook her head. "That was not my intention, alpha. I am aware of what safety costs and so we do not come expecting something for nothing. Your people are well known to be great hunters, my people are not, but they have a great many skills in other areas and will be able to support your pack in other ways."
"Like what?" Severus asked. "Do you have healers?"
Regina scoffed. "Of course we don't have healers, there are no werewolf healers or didn't you know that?"
"There are werewolf healers," Link argued. "Admittedly we are mostly on the continent but I am working to train up others here."
"You were a healer before you were turned!" Regina exclaimed.
Link nodded. "Yes, but I wanted to help werewolves so I went to a pack in France that had healers specifically trained in werewolf physiognomy and then came to England to try to spread the knowledge. I came straight to Greyback's pack since, as you said, it is very well known, even in mainland Europe. I am just one man, however, and my skill set is known to be nonexistent on these shores. You have a pack and, from what I've seen of them already, you have no knowledge of healing at all."
Regina bristled. "Are you implying that I cannot take care of my pack."
"I am not implying madam, I am outright stating," Link hissed darkly. "While you were all preparing this meeting I was busy examining members of your pack. It consists of women, children and the elderly, all of whom are injured. Some of those injuries are fresh, likely incurred when you had to tackle the hunters last night, but many are old and look like those I would expect to see on abuse victims so tell me Miss, what are you doing here?"
Regina paled as a room full of angry eyes turned on her. Then her eyes hardened and Sirius could practically see the rage boiling inside her.
"You want to know why I'm here? I told you already. You may be lucky enough to live here in relative peace but its a cutthroat world out there and, for most people, if you can't hunt you die."
"Is that why you beat up your pack?" Greyback asked accusingly. "Because they weren't good enough hunters?"
"You think I did that!" Regina yelled. "Do you honestly think I'd have risked my life to bring them here if that was the case! I fought to save them!"
"Then why did you come here?" Harry asked.
"What's it to you?" Regina sneered. "You're just a child and you've clearly never had to face any hardships in your life."
Harry laughed and Sirius could well understand his reaction although, looking at him through an outsider's eyes, he could also understand Regina's thought process. Gone was the scrawny kid that Sirius had bumped into on the street outside the Dursleys. A few short months of love and care had transformed Harry into a proper young lord and Sirius was proud of the steps that his son had made.
"That is the young Lord Black you are speaking to so I would mind what you say," Greyback growled and Regina visibly paled, clearly having thought that Tom, or perhaps Severus, were the Lord Black Greyback had mentioned before.
Pulling himself together Harry looked the woman square in the eyes. "I'll ask you one last time and I expect an honest answer or I will turf you and all of your followers out on your arses and let the hunters deal with you. Tell me, why did you come here? What are you after.
Regina gulped and whispered.
"Sanctuary."
You could hear a pin drop in the room as everyone was shocked into silence.
"Explain!" Tom demanded.
Regina nodded solemnly, obviously realising that this was her one chance. "We used to have a great pack but then our old alpha, George, got sick and Jacob took over. Jacob had come from another pack where he'd been kicked out for a failed challenge of the alpha and we all knew when he came that he was just biding his time with us until he could take over we just didn't realise how bad it would be once he did. You see Jacob is a chauvinistic pig who doesn't believe that women make good alphas or hunters, that all they are good for is breeding and thinks that man who can't hunt is dead weight. When George was leader we always had plenty of food: we had people who learned archery to take down small game and birds outside of the pack and people who learned to forage for food, mostly because we couldn't set up farms like here as there was too much risk of being attacked. There were others who learned to use the leftover bits of the animals to make things and they would trade those items for food so everyone had a purpose. Jacob got rid of all of that though. Only those who killed a creature got to eat it and he only ever took men out to hunt. Women might be able to exchange some scraps for sexual favours but that was it.
"My people were starving! Have you ever seen what happens to a werewolf when they can't eat meat? Our bodies can mostly sustain themselves on other things but meat is always meant to be the main component of our diet and I was forced to watch our elders waste away in terrible pain for want of little food. I did what I could, catching small game on the sly and sharing what rations I could get among those who needed them. I had to do some horrible things to get the scraps I did but I am not ashamed of any of it, not if it meant that others didn't have to degrade themselves in that way.
"It wasn't a sustainable system though, especially when prey was scarce as Jacob and his cronies would then turn inwards to get their fix of bloodsport and hunt or torture the weaker members of our own pack. There are young people present here so I won't go into detail about what happened on these occasions but I will say that those who didn't survive were the lucky ones as they don't have to relive their experiences every night."
"I only did one rotation with the mind healers but I will help where I can," Link said, his eyes glistening with tears at the story.
"Thank you," Regina said, sighing in relief at the implication. "But can you understand now why I did what I did. It didn't help at the end we were in a bit of a panic. Under George we had used the practice that most packs do to increase their numbers, to turn abandoned or seriously ill children and give them a life and a home. I am aware that some people disagree with this practice but it is what we must do to survive and we always gave the children a choice. Jacob disagreed with this practice of course and would rather attack people he thought would make good hunters and turn them by force, though obviously not someone who was strong enough to challenge him, the coward that he was."
"Why didn't you challenge him?" Sirius queried.
Regina shook her head. "I am aware of my strengths but also my limitations. I think that if I was lucky, very lucky, I might have been able to take Jacob but, if I did, I would have been severely injured and would probably have been instantly challenged by one of the others who had come with Jacob. Either way I would have been banished, or more likely killed, and there would have been no one to take care of my people. That was always my priority in all of my actions."
"Then why did you take such a risk in entering as you did?" Remus asked. "Wouldn't it have been better to try to get in contact with us first?"
"We were out of time," Regina replied. "One of the boys, who had been turned after been abused by his family and ending up on the streets, presented as a male breeder. We covered it up because I feared what Jacob and his men would do to him but I knew that wouldn't last forever. The poor boy had only just managed to heal from what he'd previously been put through and I couldn't live with the idea that he would have to go through it again. I had heard that Lord Greyback's mate had been a male breeder and I had hoped that you might be persuaded to take us in if we had something to offer."
"You would have prostituted a child for your safety!" Severus exclaimed.
"He was all for the plan," Regina insisted, "and he is 16, old enough to understand. You can talk to him if you don't believe me. I talked to him about the plan and didn't keep any of the risks from him. He felt that even if Greyback was cruel, at least it would only be one man as opposed to all of Jacob's men, as there was no hint that your previous mate was shared around."
"Of course I wouldn't," Greyback huffed, "although I wouldn't have taken him either. It may have escaped your notice but I have already taken new mates and, unlike some, I am not interested in children, no offence my Lord."
"None taken Fenrir," Tom chuckled.
Regina frowned. "If the boy is Lord Black, why do you refer to him as Lord, alpha?"
"That would be because of the title I used to go by," Tom explained. "You may have heard of it. I was known as Lord Voldemort."
Regina gasped, then gulped, then nodded as if in understanding. "I suppose you will want us all to swear loyalty to you and join your cause then my Lord."
"Not in the slightest," Tom said. "I have seen the issues in having such an obvious group of followers and we have had a hard time breaking them out of Azkaban."
"I'd heard they died!" Regina exclaimed, causing all in the room to scoff.
"A ruse, I assure you," Tom smiled. "We didn't want to risk starting a manhunt when we got them out of that hell hole. But I digress. I admit I am still in the very early stages of planning the changes I want to make to the wizarding world and I will certainly be moving a lot more slowly this time, as I've learned that that is the only way to get things to stick. I will, however, be working to change creature rights to allow for you all to live in peace so I ask that you do nothing to jeopardise that, although, from what I've heard, that won't be an issue."
"It definitely won't," Regina agreed. "I will say that I used to work at the Ministry before I was turned. Only in administration, but I do have some knowledge of the laws."
"I have a number of followers in high ranking positions so that isn't an issue but thank you for the offer of help. I'm sure your skills will be greatly appreciated in the colony however, especially now that Eric is so busy with teaching."
"Does that mean we can stay?" Regina asked, her voice full of hope.
Everyone looked at Harry who nodded.
"Lord Black has agreed, you can stay," Greyback announced and Regina visibly drooped in relief. "There will be provisos however. There will be a period of probation. The slightest hint of trouble and you will be out, but that will be treated on an individual basis, not the group as a whole. You will also be confined to the interior for that period, anyone who strays to the border will be instantly ejected; I can't risk any of you having worked with outside forces for numerous reasons. Your younger members will have to join in with lessons and I expect the others to become productive members of society. We have a delicate balance here and I will not risk that. I don't expect everyone to hunt but there are numerous things that can be done other than that. Do you agree to those terms?"
"I do," Regina stated, "and I will check with the rest but I am sure that they will agree as well. You truly are a just and fair leader Lord Greyback and I will be happy to call you alpha from now on."