Oh Hell No

Chapter 36

T.W: Slight spoilers for Enola Holmes (I highly recommend watching that movie in your free time if you haven't, it's pretty long but I think it's really cool)

"My baby marked his mate! This is the best day of my life," Danielle pressed a hand dramatically to her chest.

"So much for the day we met," Mason muttered btitterly, any pride he felt for his son instantly being overshadowed.

"Yeah, that was great too," She waved his foul mood off, "Let me see!" She grabbed Jamie by the face, peering at the mark a little too closely, not noticing how awkward her future daughter-in-law felt. She squealed loudly at the sight of the white bite mark, pulling Jamie into an air-restricting hug, which was more than uncomfortable for the latter.

After being marked, the instinct to only have contact with our mate got quite touchy, and Jamie had never been a big fan of excessive hugging in general, so it was fair to say that she was uncomfortable. She stared at Ryder, even going so far as to mouth, "help me." He tilted his head to the side, faking innocence and mouthing back, "sorry, I can't read lips." In reality, he meant that there was no way he would get in the way of his mom's excitement, unless she was in actual danger.

Danielle wasn't the only one happy to see that the future pack leaders had marked each other, unfortunately for Jamie. Sadie shoved past Ryder, "Move it, bitch. Now that Jamie's stuck here we gotta make sure she doesn't get too sick of you," The "we" being her, Chelsie, and Astral. They quickly followed behind Sadie, Chelsie pushing past just as harshly while Astral apologized for them as she passed, "So, we're having a girl's night to celebrate her return and give her a break from your...overwhelming presence."

"How nice of you to put it that way," Ryder said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I thought so," She agreed proudly, "Come on, ladies, to the movie room!" Sadie drags Jamie along with them down to the basement.

They went to a side room full of plush chairs and couches, complete with a large TV, microwave, and a pantry of different movie foods. As far as mates went, Jamie could have gotten stuck living in a crappy, old-fashioned pack house that had winding staircases and a wine cellar that could collapse on you at any moment.

"Allen, get your ass out of my seat, we've got dibs on the movie room for the rest of the day!" Chelsie oh-so-kindly told him, hijacking the remote and practically shoving him out of the faux leather chair.

"You guys suck," He mutters from his new spot on the floor, his pout only getting worse as she turns off the horror movie he was watching.

She shrugs, "What can I say? I like to abuse my power," Especially when it came to him, it seemed.

He left the room, only protesting in the form of cursing them out under his breath which was all he really could do without invoking her or Devin's wrath. Jamie and Sadie sat down, while Astral put started making some popcorn, grabbing some other snacks while it popped.

"Ooh! We should watch that new Netflix rom-com," Sadie suggested, "I forgot the name."

"You forgot because all the titles are basically the same," Jamie argued. If she was going to be dragged into this girl's night, she might as well enjoy it, "They all have something about love or kissing in the title, and I swear the main character in each are just carbon copies of each other. I say we watch something with more action."

"Have you never seen To All the Boys I've Loved Before? That movie is full of action!" Sadie defended, more than a little offended that she didn't share her tastes in trash films. It was fine though, she happened to be a very understanding person, unless you counted all the times she kicked Ryder out for insulting her movie preferences.

Jamie dramatically gagged. It happened to be one of the best rom-coms she had seen, but even at such an elevated position she could barely tolerate watching the entire thing, let alone the sequels. Luckily, Astral was a great mediator, "Why don't we watch Enola Holmes? You two liked the Sherlock show, even if you thought the episodes were too long, Sadie. Jamie, I don't know about you, but I've heard that it's really good and if it's not we can just talk over it."

As usual, her suggestion was the one that everyone agreed to. That didn't keep them from complaining though, the movie provoking several conversational gems.

"I really hope Mycroft dies at some point," Chelsie commented, Sadie and Jamie agreeing quietly as they continued to watch the scene where Mycroft continued to spew nonsense about how Enola had to basically give up her happiness to conform to societal rules.

"Sadly, they probably aren't going to. He's a Holmes, and they can't kill any of those guys without pissing off the Sherlock purists," Jamie pointed out cynically. She actually knew more about the franchise than the others first suspected, but they probably should have seen it coming. She didn't think she came off as the type of person to flinch away from bloody murders and psychopaths.

Once the credits started to roll, Sadie threw the pillow she had tucked under her chin, having more than enough to say, "That's it? She and Tewkesbury didn't even kiss!"

Chelsie tossed her own pillow at Sadie, "That's the point, dork. Enola's supposed to be this kick-ass girl who doesn't need a man, hence why the writers didn't force the relationship to turn romantic out of nowhere."

"It wouldn't have been forced, they were adorable together!" Sadie argued, enunciating her words in a way that reminded Jamie of a hysterical soccer mom who couldn't find her kid when he was only five yards away in actuality.

"So we're not going to talk about that cute reunion between Enola and her mom? Okay," Astral mumbled, finishing off the rest of her licorice.

"Her mom is a glorified terrorist, who cares how wholesome their reunion was meant to be. She'll still be a wanted criminal, and from the sound of it, she hasn't quit her woman hit squad," Jamie scoffed, respecting only Eudoria's beliefs, not her methods. Blowing up a bunch of shit would only prove that women are dangerous, not that they deserve equal rights. Under her logic, they'd get fair treatment when it inevitably came to their trials.

"Okay, way to put a damper on things," Astral replies gently, her mood a little crushed, "Now that the movie's over, we should just talk."