"You think you've got everyone here fooled, don't you? You think everyone believes the stories you tell them so easily? Well, I don't believe a single thing that comes out of your mouth so you can stop lying." Ruby had been at Topher's home for the better part of three hours, she had run from Salix as soon as her brain and legs begun working again. She couldn't believe how quickly people were being moved in, though was glad the extra people were now almost in place.

"Excuse me?" Ruby asked, being pulled from her thoughts.

Hollis had been extremely hostile towards her for much of the afternoon, Ruby couldn't understand why and he wouldn't even at her. Whatever was wrong he wasn't willing to fix it, not even Topher seemed to be able to get his beta out of his deeply depressing mood.

"You're a liar and a fake," Hollis seemed to have let some of the anger go, he leaned against the door frame while Ruby leaned back against the railing along the deck edge. She'd come outside to get a little bit of fresh air while everyone else scattered for a half hour.

"How do you figure that?" Ruby asked confusion written clearly across her face.

Hollis pushed off the door frame with a snort and walked towards her. He seemed too smug and arrogant, the small smile playing across his face only added to that image as he came to a stop in front of her.

Ruby was wary, what was he going to do just to prove his point?

"You walk around like you're hot sh*t but in reality, you're just like the rest of the young pups in this pack. All bark and no bite," Ruby wondered what Hollis was playing at. Did he want to challenge her to fight? Did he want to get his ass kicked in front of everyone?

"I walk normally, I treat people with kindness. Perhaps you're the one with warped ideas, maybe it's you that's arrogant?" Ruby studied the guy, he didn't like what she had to say. Immediately she noticed the change in his body language, he seemed to loom over her in a very domineering way. But she didn't cower or back down, she stood her ground and kept a firm focus on the temperamental beta.

"I feel a duel coming on!" The tension between Ruby and Hollis was broken by Topher, leaning slightly Ruby looked around Hollis to see Topher and several others standing there watching.

Hollis turned angrily towards his alpha, some of the anger seemed to leave his body but Ruby knew he needed showing.

"Fine, let me change then we can duel." Ruby was left wondering just exactly Topher was trying to do as she walked off to change into something a little more fitting. She assumed they would be duelling in human form as there was the potential she could kill Hollis if they transformed into their animal forms.

When Ruby emerged again there were a few wolf whistles, she looked around at the gathered crowd and wondered if Hollis thought he was going to win. Then again Ruby wasn't sure she could win this fight either, she'd spent years perfecting her fighting skills but every so often brute force could catch her off guard.

"Rules are simple, no shifting, no magic, no weapons, no deaths. Just brute force and natural instinct, we haven't had odds in sparing like this for a long time." Topher explained as Ruby and Hollis squared off on the lawn in the backyard of Topher's home.

When Topher cleared the way Ruby only had a split second to think of what to do before Hollis charged at her, wide-eyed she braced herself for impact and tumbled backwards as Hollis bowled her over. When she landed under him he began raining blow after blow down on her face, shoulders and arms.

Ruby brought her arms up to protect her face as she rolled from side to side to try and unseat Hollis when she felt one of Hollis' hits miss its mark she opened her eyes and brought her forehead up to connect with his face.

Pain exploded in her forehead, Ruby wondered why she'd been stupid enough to do that but didn't have long to think as Hollis rolled off of her holding his nose. She hadn't heard the crack but hoped it was broken as she straddled Hollis and began doing the exact same thing that he'd done to her.

Her hits weren't as hard as Hollis' had been but with a broken nose he was at least incapacitated for a while, but when Hollis caught hold of her left fist flipped her over she knew she was in trouble. He had one hand pinned above her head and attempted to grab the other but Ruby grabbed hold of one of Hollis' nipples and twisted as hard as she could.

Hearing a few noises of echoed pain from the sideline she slid out from under Hollis and straddled his back, Ruby brought her arm around Hollis' neck and held him in a headlock and tried to choke him into submission.

But Hollis was having none of it and rolled over onto his back, Ruby knew that if he were any heavier he could easily dislocate one of her hip joints. But when she felt his arm wrap around her own neck and begin to pull her forward she resisted and punched him in the side of the neck a few times.

She heard Hollis grunt as she continued hitting him.

"Goddammit," Hollis grumbled, Ruby grunted when Hollis' jabbed an elbow into her ribs. She wasn't sure how he'd managed to do it from the angle but when she felt his elbow connect with her rib again her grip loosened as she felt pain and knew Hollis had broken a rib.

Letting go, Ruby ignored the pain as best she could and rolled away before Hollis could reach her. Now was the best time to incapacitate him before he knew just how damaged she was and how close to winning he was.

Quickly, before Hollis could straighten, Ruby pulled her foot back and let it swing towards Hollis' groin. She knew she'd connected well as she watched him crumple to the ground, hands grabbing at flesh. Ruby felt bad about resorting to such tactics but she felt her breathing grow more laboured and also fell to the ground, grabbing at her left side as she slowed her breathing to try and alleviate some of the pressure on her chest.

"Well, I'd say that's a tie!" Ruby opened her eyes to glare up at Topher as those pack members gathered around began to clap as they realized the fight was over.

"That was kinda exciting, now don't you two feel better?" Ruby knew one thing for sure, if Topher was standing any closer she would have kicked his feet out from under him. She could only glare up at him though as he stood just far enough out of reach of Ruby and Hollis that they couldn't touch him.

Slowly, extremely slowly both Hollis and Ruby got up from the ground.

Ruby knew that her broken rib would be healed in a few hours, one or two transformations would fix it properly, Jonah's magic too could fix it well enough.

"I'd say good fighting but that wasn't really fighting," Hollis just didn't know when to shut up, Ruby wondered if he made a habit of baiting women.

"Can't admit you lost? A bit of humility never hurt anyone, least of all an arrogant, pig-headed a**hole." The moment those words left Ruby's mouth there seemed to be a sudden and extremely heavy change to the atmosphere. Topher's smile faltered and left his face completely as his attention snapped to Hollis.

The physical pain Hollis had been feeling seemed to be gone in the blink of an eye, anger and hate replaced every other emotion on his face. Ruby knew hate, she made enemies no matter where she went and apparently she had just made another one.

Hollis didn't say anything else and stalked off towards the swamp, Ruby watched him leave.

When he was out of sight, however, she turned to Topher with a confused look, wanting an explanation but he only shrugged. "It's Hollis' story to tell, come on let's go get you cleaned up." Ruby looked down at herself and realized she had a bit of blood across her arms, had the fight been that bloody?

Putting a tentative hand on her face she pulled it away to see blood on the tips of her fingers.

"So, how bad was that?" Ruby knew her fighting had been about as good as a cornered dog. She'd lashed out and hit the easiest points first, points that would give the most impact when greater force was applied. She never usually fought like she was in a street fight but something about Hollis made her movements erratic and sketchy.

"Honestly? Pretty bad, I don't think you gave many warriors hope." Ruby groaned, it was disappointing to hear that but it was her own fault. She'd allowed herself to be baited into rushed combat and had failed to keep a cool and calm head in battle, now she would need to work twice as hard.

When Topher closed the door to the bathroom behind him, closing he and Ruby in there he sat her on the toilet whilst he went to the medicine cabinet to retrieve supplies.

"We can talk a little more freely in here, a lot of the rooms in the house are soundproof. Anyway, Hollis was married. She was lovely and brought out the best in him, she died...they were destined, mates. You've heard of that kind of mate?" Ruby had, it made her win sting all the more now that Hollis' reaction had some context. She had definitely made an enemy in him today and wasn't sure how or if it was worth apologizing to him.

"Dammit Topher, I wish you'd told me earlier. Ouch!" Ruby exclaimed when Topher began wiping some of the blood from her face.

"Shouldn't you have gone after Hollis? Your pack members are going to start thinking something is going on between you and I if you carry on showing me this much attention." Ruby knew nothing was going to happen, Topher wasn't interested in her. He seemed to be the kind of shifter that was happy to wait for the right person to come along, Topher didn't register on Ruby's radar and she didn't register on Topher's either.

"Nah, he'll be fine. Besides he's the worst to follow when he's in one of those moods, he'll come back soon enough anyway. We'll probably talk later," Ruby eyed him as he wiped her left eyebrow, she felt a stinging sensation as the anti-bacterial wipes did the trick and killed any germs.

"I'll be back for a rematch in a few weeks but right now I need to get back to Ben's place. A few more protectors have shown up today and I need to get them sorted and their profiles figured out. Thanks for saving me from Sevyn's insistent want to study this afternoon too." Ruby stood from the toilet, she just hoped Ben and Oliver had done enough of the induction for Yeva and Salix that things began to make sense.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about it. She can be a little narrow-minded sometimes but she's a good kid, you should really give her a chance. I know, I know. You're old as the dust in the air, you've seen and heard everything, you've met every kind of person you can possibly get in the world. But she really isn't always that rude, I think she's just protective and wondering why you've got a better relationship with her alpha than she does." Ruby rolled her eyes, she was going to give Sevyn plenty of opportunities. They were stuck together in at least one class but also the girl was a curious thing.

"Don't be stupid, one thing I learned long ago is that there really is a first time for anything and you never truly know or understand everything." It was the truth, Ruby had learned it the hard way several times in the last few years. Many times she walked into situations where she assumed so much and held herself higher than others, it was always humbling to know she could still be caught off guard.

"Okay you look presentable, I'll walk you out to your car to save questions." Ruby was thankful that Topher was so thoughtful, it also made her wonder where his mate was.

Mate's weren't a sure thing in life but more often than not they did find themselves, as shifters were becoming more common through the years so the chance of finding their mates was also becoming more common. The last shifter pack she had visited, many had found their significant others and they'd be happy.

When Ruby arrived back at the house it was too absolute chaos, Yeva had pinned Salix against the sink with a knife against his throat. Oliver and Ben were standing there trying to calm her whilst Jonah was sitting on the other side of the breakfast bar with a bag of frozen peas against his left eye.

"What the hell is going on here? Yeva put the damn knife down, Oliver, Ben sit down. Jonah, what happened to your eye? I leave for a few hours and come back to stupidity?" Ruby was angry, they were grown, adults...older than grown adults but sometimes their maturity levels lower than a five-year-olds.

"Salix and Jonah got into a fight over something he said, Yeva got offended by something else Salix said and then you walked in just as she was about to kill him." Ben tracked through everything that had happened, Ruby figured some of what Salix said had to do with her and wondered if this would actually work.

"Thanks, Ben, Salix I'll ask for you to be reassigned shortly. It's clear you don't want to be here and I can't afford to have a fractured team. Anymore surprises or can I go and have a shower?" Everyone was looking at Ruby strangely, Yeva looked like she wanted to ask a million questions.

But they would need to wait, Ruby had people to contact and others to move but she wasn't going to do anything until she had a shower.