Chapter 12: A Pathetic Bunch

Everyone in the yard practically froze.

The second Beta’s eyes went wide, his foot freezing mid-air, indecisive whether to charge me or run.

The two human thugs instinctively took a step back, their clubs suddenly feeling useless against a girl who was too fast for their eyes to see.

Bradford’s jaw hung open in absolute disbelief from the dirt, while Valerie’s terrified weeping cut off mid-sob. They stared at the towering Beta groaning in his own blood, then back at me—their frail, soft-spoken Brianna—as if a phantom had taken my place.

Jayden gulped loudly, his throat bobbing as he took a half-step backward, staring at my hands with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Brianna..." he whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of awe and sheer shock. "How... how did you...?"

Jordan couldn’t even speak. He just looked back and forth between my pitch-black eyes and the collapsed joint of the wolf writhing on the cobblestones. The family was frozen, utterly stunned, unable to process how an unawakened Omega girl had just dismantled a fully grown Beta using nothing but raw speed and leverage.

But before anyone could make another sound or move a muscle, a sharp, authoritative voice cut through the heavy air from the street edge.

​"What is all this commotion?"

​A man in a crisp, dark navy uniform stepped into the yard. There was a gold crest on his collar, wearing polished boots that hadn’t seen a speck of dirt all morning—an Enforcer of the Grey Moon Pack.

​He didn’t look at the Beta choking on his own blood, nor did he look at my father still lying in the dirt. His eyes swept over the run-down house, the peeling paint, and finally settled on us. His lip curled in immediate, unhidden disgust.

To him, this whole neighborhood—and everyone in it—was just cheap grease smudged across his boot.

​"You lot," the Enforcer sneered, resting a heavy hand on the baton at his hip as he looked at my father like a pebble stuck under his boot. "Making a scene in broad daylight? Do you Omegas have any idea how much paperwork a disturbance in this sector causes me?"

​The second Beta immediately seized the opportunity. He put on a pathetic, pained expression, pointing a trembling finger straight at me.

​"Officer! Thank the Goddess you’re here!" the Beta cried out, backing toward the Enforcer. "This... this crazy girl attacked us! We were just here to collect a legitimate debt, and she unprovokedly assaulted my partner! Look at him!"

​The Enforcer glanced down at the Beta writhing on the cobblestones, then turned his gaze to me. A frail girl standing in a defensive stance, covered in cheap, faded fabric.

​A sharp sneer broke across the Enforcer’s face, and he let out a short, mocking laugh, looking at the two Betas like they were absolute filth.

​"You’re telling me a Beta got beaten by a weak Omega girl?" The Enforcer spat onto the dirt, shaking his head in sheer contempt. "Truly pathetic."

​He crossed his arms, his arrogance on full display as he looked back and forth between us. "How could a grown wolf cry to enforcement because a little girl made you bleed? What a joke. Get your useless partner out of my sight before I fine you all for obstructing the street."

​The remaining Beta flushed dark red, his jaw working in humiliation, but he didn’t dare talk back to uniform. He and he two human thugs scurried to drag the bleeding Beta away.

​I kept my stance tight, my eyes locked on the Enforcer’s throat. He thought he was playing the big man, dismissing us all like vermin. But just like the rest of them, his neck was wide open, and his arrogance was the easiest blind spot to exploit.

The Enforcer, Steve, turned his head, his grey eyes locking onto me with a heavy, mocking sneer.

​"You. I know you. You’re the mutt I heard about from Vance. You’ve got a lot of nerve acting up in Ravenhollow, and now acting up on the streets under my jurisdiction."

​So he was friends with Vance, the retired enforcer who had tried to get me in the cafeteria but ended up with a broken nose.

​My posture remained taut, my mind running a rapid tactical assessment. Vance would have warned him, meaning Steve’s guard would be higher than a typical street cop’s once I made a move.

But as I studied him, I felt no real threat. Compared to the piercing emerald eyes of that instructor who had passed the cafeteria doors, or the sharp, calculating gaze of that Alpha named Damian, Steve’s grey eyes were dull. Unfocused. Weak.

​He was an enemy I could take on just fine. I might come out with a few bruised ribs or a hairline fracture given this body’s pathetic physical state, but I would walk away the victor.

​Steve scoffed, running a hand over his trimmed beard. As much as he clearly wanted to drag a disgraced Omega into a dark alley and put her in her place, he had a mountain of overdue paperwork waiting on his desk. He couldn’t afford to waste an hour dragging us down to the station.

​"Since you lot caused a public disturbance and damaged property," Steve said, adjusting his belt, "you’re paying a fine. Fifty credits. Right now."

​"Fifty credits?!" Jayden finally stepped forward, shielding me with his body. "Those thugs were trespassing! They tried to take our sister to the black market! What she did was self-defense and nothing more! Enforcer, please judge fairly!"

Fifty credits.... From Brianna’s memory, that’s about five thousand dollars. He’s basically asking us to die.

​"Silence, Omega," Steve snapped, his Beta aura flaring just enough to make Jayden’s breath hitch and his chest tighten. "I didn’t ask for your commentary. Move aside before I cite you for resisting enforcement."

​My father scrambled up from the dirt, bowing frantically until his forehead nearly touched Steve’s polished boots. "Officer, please! She didn’t mean it—she’s just a child—"

​"What’s the punishment if we can’t pay?" I asked, my voice cutting cleanly through my father’s desperate pleas.

​If it was a minor penalty I could handle, I wouldn’t waste my breath. If not, I would have to bargain with this shrew of an enforcer—or take his throat out before he could draw his baton. Regardless, he’s not getting those credits.