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chaoticgeminate · 3 years ago

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Natalie I love that GIF so much.

One thing can be said about my Fantasy AU loving heart, I will NEVER skimp on the diversity because this universe has a plethora of species and races 🤣

Ah yes, our wolfy boy is NOT a happy boy right now, no ma'am. I'm delighted you enjoyed this one 💙💙

Consequences

Part of the Iridescence Fictional Universe

Hunter’s Gambit Series Part Three

Werewolf!Francisco Morales x Selkie f!Reader

Rating: M

Word Count: 3.5K

Series Summary: The local Selkie pod hires Frankie and the boys to track down missing members who ventured outside the sea-side area of the city, reader comes with them to make sure the missing selkie come home. They end up tracking down something more dangerous to all of the shifting people.

Chapter Summary: The wolves do what they do and there's unrest in the pod

[AO3]

Frankie could feel Tom’s bubbling anger the closer he got as he hurried down the roadway, a few people turning to watch him lope by them once he hit the point where the path reconnected to the beach, and as he approached his pack he realized Will had yet to return. He changed back to his humanoid self to properly confront the other wolf, the creaking and grinding of bone sounding worse than it actually was, and Tom leveled him with a fierce look.

“I told you, the job comes first, Fish. What the hell is wrong with you?” Pope stepped between the them immediately, hands up and eyes firm, while Benny hovered close in case he needed to intervene too. It wasn’t uncommon for him and Tom to have flare-ups like this but Frankie knew part of his elevated temper stemmed from finding his mate, this job was far more importance for him than it was for the others.

“Some fuckin’ alpha bull was trying to lay claim on her, that she didn’t want.” Frankie’s reply sent a ripple of alarm through the rest of the pack faster than a spark to a dry pile of wood. Having a mate that wasn’t were-kin was hard enough, they wouldn’t feel the connection nearly as strong, but if Frankie had to win you over while competing with other potential partners there wasn’t any chance he wouldn’t end up in some pissing contest with the others whether they were male or not.

Tom scrubbed his face with his hands, frustrated, but Frankie couldn’t help that it made his anger spike more. The other wolf had been worse when he’d found Molly and hadn’t been forced to go against old laws, for him to be this frustrated was only continuing to compound the pent up agitation bubbling beneath the surface.

“We’ll get it sorted, selkie are technically were-kin, yea? If we tell the Elders that you’re mates they won’t let this bull lay claim to her until they know whether or not she accepts you, right?” Frankie’s throat tightened as he thought about what you said, about the old rite of claim, and he shook his head with a shrug; he didn’t know nearly as much about selkie laws as he needed to, not that he’d expected to ever need the knowledge.

“Fish, we’ll figure it out. But we have to find the pups first, that way your seal-girl will be all excited and happy and run right into your arms.” Benny’s lopsided grin was broad and Frankie exhaled with a nod, ignoring the sour look on Tom’s face, and the grumble from Tom melted into a fond huff as he offered a fist bump to clear the air that Frankie returned.

“Sorry man, just don’t want to blow this one, we need eyes at the docks. Plus, the last thing we need is you picking fights with the clients.” Both men knew that it wouldn’t be possible for Frankie to ignore any challenge, his instincts wouldn’t allow for it, so if Gavin really did start something the pack would have to be there to run interference. Frankie had a quiet strength about him, as Santiago had once said, where you never knew exactly how strong he really was until he got loud.

He genuinely hoped Gavin wasn’t stupid enough to test him, the adrenaline spike that came with protecting your mate or winning your potential mate would make him far more dangerous of an opponent.

“Hey, get in, got eyes.” Will’s sudden arrival came with a screech of tires and the pack piled into the SUV, the blond staying at the wheel since he’d been the one to follow the other vehicle.

“Definitely some sort of magic users, might be just magicians and might be a mix, but the runes that Oberyn’s little partner made for us are good. They didn’t detect the SUV at all and I didn’t set off any alarms.” Frankie made sure to pay attention to the route, his phone chiming loudly and he glanced down at the device.

OM: Magicians kidnapping selkie pups?

FM: Yes, we’re on the trail now. Any reason why they would you know of?

There was a delay in the response, likely thinking or trying to come up with an answer that would help, and Frankie watched the triple dots appear on the screen after looking away to clock the SUV’s route. It wasn’t a familiar drive but it certainly was proving to be out of the way.

OM: So there’s two reasons they might, first is to steal their coats to try and siphon the magic from them.

OM: The second would be to try and use them as test subjects for potions or spells, though I can’t think of a reason they would specifically target selkie.

FM: Thank you for the advice, we’ll let you know what we find.

OM: Do you need me to come out to you? I have a teleport rune I can activate linked to the SUV still, though Oberyn might get pouty if I run off without him.

He genuinely took a moment to consider having the magician join them before telling her to hang back, just for now, and to keep her phone handy as a precaution. That way he could message her to activate the teleportation as back-up if they found themselves in some hot chaos for any reason. Frankie made sure to share his location with her, asking her to have the Consortium on speed dial too, if they needed to elevate this it would start with the agency in charge of the spell casters.

“There, see?” The SUV passed under charms tied to the steel beams of the nearly abandoned construction set up, the old mall was set to be demolished since there was no saving it after Pero’s heavily pregnant wife flooded the building ten years back because some moron tried to kidnap her pre-teen daughter. If anything they were lucky that Pero hadn’t been around at the time, taking his eldest son to live with the dragons on the Scaleborn Isles for the summer.

Now they had a permanently flooded building and in order to get the water out they’d have to just tear the top stories away.

Frankie had Will pull over and tucked his phone away, a visual sweep showed nothing out of the ordinary save for the runes. No tire tracks, no footprints, no garbage littered around to indicate anyone had been here.

“We’ll get out one at a time, to see if we set off anything alarm wise, I’m going to change forms.” Tom was the one to slip out first, keeping low and changing half way since it was his most preferred, and Benny followed after. One by one they exited the SUV, the charms silencing the sound of the doors closing worked at least, and Santiago stayed fully humanoid and instead made sure he had his gun and Frankie’s phone. The rest of the pack were in various states of the change, with Frankie fully changed over, and they began creeping through the area.

He slipped in through one of the doors and paused, keeping low and close to the shadows, glancing down to where the basement floor was half-submerged with water; there wasn’t any sign of the kids swimming around, not that he’d want them to be given the algae build up and the visible murk. A soft whimper had his ears shooting up, careful to keep his claws from clicking on the tile as he maneuvered toward the sound, and he crouched low at the sight of a shadow moving across one of the paper sheet-covered doorways.

Nobody was talking but he could hear the sound of kids sniffling, the scent he’d gotten from Lottie was here and the freshest for sure, and Frankie heard the soft click of a door opening across the way. He kept low and still, the shadows of the building perfect for his nearly black fur to blend against, and a woman stepped out of what used to be a jeweler’s place holding a basin in her hands that she brought into the room he could hear the kids from.

“We have about one more week before the Anchor will be strong enough, then we can begin gathering the rest of what we need.”

“Then we can go home?” Frankie bit back a sound at the question asked from a young boy, his tone rich with anger, and he had no doubt that it was one of the older pups and part of him suspected it was Colton.

“Yes, kid, then you can go home.” Something in the woman’s voice told Frankie that was a lie and he could hear the hissing reply of the young bull that followed, clearly the kid recognized the lie, and Frankie felt the lightest touch of Santiago’s hand on his flank before the door to the shop opened again. The woman didn’t notice them at all as she returned to where she’d been, leaving Frankie to creep closer, and he could feel the others beginning to set up the perimeter.

Santiago turned his gun safety off, the slow order from Tom to engage rippling through their bond, and Frankie used his entire body weight to shatter the glass of the papered up store window before snarling at the magician that jumped to his feet in alarm.

“Freeze, now!” The order from Santiago was ignored, fire crackling to life in the magician’s palm where his mark was tattooed into his skin, and Frankie was already in motion to put himself between the magician and the pups as Santiago took the shot. The man dropped like a sack of spuds and Frankie hurried to inspect the six kids, all tired but not injured, and his teeth crunched down on the chains of the cuffs so they could have their full mobility back.

“Come on, kids, Frankie is going to take you outside to the SUV.” Santiago covered them as Frankie led the pups through the small gap, seeing Benny half-changed grappling with a magician that had some sort of golem, and once the kids were tucked safely away he forced himself to change partially back.

Just enough to stand easier on his hind legs, his front paws becoming more hand-like, and he roared in challenge at the magician with the golem; the sharpened bolt of ice launched at him made Frankie swat it away, barreling toward the man with a snarl, and one good blow to the head dropped the caster so Frankie could help dismantle the stone behemoth with Benny.

Two loud shots popped across the area, the sleep spell bullets dropping the magicians like flies and guaranteeing they would stay down, but Frankie grunted when the golem’s arm swung back and caught him in the ribs. Golems weren’t inherently intelligent life, they were animated by magic with one job, this one was to protect its magician and that meant it would keep going until it was destroyed or the caster was dead.

Being made of concrete and steel beams meant this sucker was strong and his ribs throbbed, he had to thank the Huntress that his healing metabolism was much faster than a standard human, so Frankie backed off a moment as Benny slipped under a swing and went into a grapple.

Benny’s bark was all he needed, Frankie hooked his arms around the golem’s ‘neck’ and they pulled in opposite directions, the soft crumble of everything falling to pieces came after the horrendous shriek of the animation spell being broken. As they let go of the parts that made up the golem he heard the howl of pain, felt the ache that ripped through the bond, and Frankie didn’t even think.

He moved.

Gavin was being insufferable, his footsteps echoing as he paced around the main lobby in his fit, and you could feel the tension radiating off every selkie present as the Elders faced your Nana. Elder Reagan and Elder Malcolm were red with anger while Pappy Rowan was shaking his head. Arranging the entire pod to meet here had taken some time, since a few members were still down at the docks working, but when the final fishing trawler had been clocked in and cleaned they’d ambled up to the lobby.

“Tell me Caoimhe, are you an Elder of this pod?” Reagan’s shrill voice was tight with irritation, you knew that the only reason she was so outraged was that Gavin was her son and you had never wanted to slap someone more.

“Not as Council, no, but I am an elder.” A few chuckles went up from the crowd, nervous laughter at her clear dismissal of Elder Reagan’s position if authority, and you couldn’t help the way you grinned wide. Elder Malcolm let out a hissing bark of warning and you met his gaze head on, eyes hard with anger and loathing, and he looked away from you first this time.

“What then, might I ask, gives you the right to assault the Alpha Bull of the pod?” A barking laugh escaped your Nana, that you almost mirrored, the fact that Reagan had the gall to use the word assault was laughable.

“Assault? Is that what he’s claiming now? I swatted him with a wooden spoon because he was squaring up to one of the detectives we hired to find his pups. Or do you not care about the pod’s reputation among the city?” Reagan hissed in warning and your Nana returned that sound, the two were probably more than ready to shift and settle this in a fight but your Pappy held up his hand and both cows quieted.

To your surprise Pappy Rowan motioned to you, gesturing you to step up beside your Nana, and you obeyed the quiet order. It wasn’t missed how you moved to stand just slightly in front of your Nana and between her and Reagan, a direct challenge to the Elder selkie and a quiet declaration of championship, which made Reagan’s lip curl.

“I need you to tell me why Gavin was trying to challenge the werewolf.” Your grandfather’s request was spoken softly, curiously, and you could only imagine the outrage that was going to come from Malcolm and Reagan now. It wasn’t a secret they detested your clear refusal to pair off with any of the pod’s bulls or even submit to Gavin’s attempt to claim you, everything you did went against what they had instilled into the other cows of the pod and they’d only ever be happy when you finally settled down with some bull and began having pups of your own.

“Gavin tried to make a show of claim over me, which he doesn’t have, and Francisco was furious on my behalf. Unlike our pod the other species and races see rape as a crime, including the Faldes Point Pod, so when Gavin made that threat Francisco reacted accordingly and saw me in need of defense.” The silence that followed your statement settled along the room, you could feel the discomfort of the cows behind you since many of them had not chosen the bulls they were currently married to or had pups with.

It was a cruel, archaic, system of ownership that had no place in Se’Kvia anymore.

“You didn’t think to inform him that our pod-“

“That our pod breaks the law and gets away with it because we follow the old ways like we haven’t grown past The Sundering? You know that’s why none of our pod has a seat on the Council of Were-kin and Shifters, right? Because they all have agreed that the old ways are cruel and demeaning and that any who follow them shouldn’t hold a voice of power.” It was a hard truth you had grown up with, after meeting Bryn and Saraya and the others and learning that your pod lived like the world was still ending, and seeing how much happier the other pod was had really been a slap to the face.

Pappy Rowan held up his hand to silence you, his eyes soft and tired, and you suspected this was a constant battle for him between Nana and Reagan. That you were now feeding into and giving him an added source of contention in the pod among the cows.

“You think our ways are cruel, or I suppose barbaric is a better term?” The question asked was not what you expected in the slightest. He had grown up in those ways, lived by them, so while you hated that he hadn’t been willing to change you knew that it stemmed from his own raising and what he knew to be normal.

“I do.” Lying to him was not something you could do, you lost your parents because of Gavin’s rise to power as the Alpha when his battle for the seat of power led to your father dying and your mother’s quiet death from heartbreak. Your parents had wanted to change the Pod for the better, your father only took a harem to protect the cows that asked him to keep them safe and refused to get them pregnant unless he knew they truly wanted to have his children, a blend of following the old ways and still trying to be better.

Unlike Riona, Marnie, and Kara you resented the traditional ways of the pod because you knew that all of you were worth more than having pups and living a life shut away by the pier.

“You do not belong in this pod-“ Reagan’s outburst was interrupted by your Pappy holding his hand up, the barking sound of warning from your grandfather answered by Gavin’s as the alpha bull moved to stand in front of his mother. Every cow shrunk slightly in their seats, the pups quiet and cowering, and the bulls were tense with unease.

“If you dare to stand against me Gavin I will meet your challenge, otherwise you will stand down and I will not punish you for standing against your Elder.” The warning was delivered in a low voice, slow and steady, but if there was one thing you knew it was that Pappy Rowan was still stronger than Gavin could ever hope to be. Gavin let out a hiss and your Pappy stood up, taller than Gavin by just enough to be noticeable, and Reagan tugged her son’s arm to try and get him to back down.

Sharp and sudden the sound of a ringing phone made you all jump, your hands flying to your pocket, and you took one glance at the name before answering and hurried away from the center of the group.

“Frankie, is everything okay?” You could hear voices in the background, a lot of them, and a low chuckle.

“Yes, the pups are fine and we’re on our way back now. They’re a little underfed but unharmed and we had a medic check them out before you ask.” Frankie sounded so proud and you couldn’t help but smile, relief making your smile wider and brighter, and you grinned at your sisters as they looked at you from where they were sitting.

“Thank you, Frankie, really. That’s amazing news. How soon will you be here?” The soft sound of Will speaking in the background made you giddy with a blend of nerves and excitement.

“We’re turning down the road now, so maybe ten minutes. I also wanted to know if I could talk with you? When we get there?”

“Of course, Frankie. See you in about ten minutes.” As you ended the call you could practically feel the eyes on you.

“Did he-“

“Frankie?”

"What about the-“

With everyone trying to talk at once you had to hold out your hands, a little happy to know that you could silence the pod the way your Nana could, and Riona blushed as she rubbed the back of her head in apology while Marnie and Kara practically danced on their tip toes.

“Frankie and his pack found the pups, they’re a little underfed but not harmed, and they’re on their way back now.” Marnie’s cry of delight was silenced by Gavin’s full bellow of a sound, his clear outrage making you flinch back a step as he began storming toward you, and it wasn’t what you wanted to do but you began backing away from the outraged male even as your grandfather shouted at the man to stop.

Choosing your battles had been something you vaguely remembered your parents teaching you, even though you’d lost them young, and this was definitely one of those situations. You booked it for the door, knowing that leaving was a better choice than trying to hide in your room, and you barely made it out into the road when you began hearing the SUV heading down the path.

Gavin gripped your arm tight in hold, spinning you around to face him, and his other fist was cocked back ready to swing until your grandfather’s grip snatched the bull’s wrist and the back of his neck right as the SUV rounded the bend. You had maybe two seconds of your heart racing as you tried to get out of Gavin’s bruising grip before the door to the SUV practically flew open and Frankie’s outraged howl echoed in the air behind you.

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#comment reply #i have royalty reblogging my fic now #natbat

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