The Wolves and the Vipers

Chapter 7 - A Heteronormative Mix-Up

Good evening folks :) How are we all? School / uni / work getting the better of you yet? Me, now, I'm very ready for the holidays. Had one of the fun weeks where trained actors are paid to scream at me while I do my best not to cry. You guys should definitely try it sometime. Super fun - and necessary training for anyone who is dumb enough to pick a career which involves customer service, like I did. Anyways, on with the chapter!

For forty-seven minutes, I sat on the sofa and stared at Tyler. He sat opposite me and stared right back. My attempts to walk casually out of the door had not impressed him, so here we were, at a stalemate despite the fact that Kara had gone to finish her nap and I wouldn't go anywhere without her.

"Is this really necessary?" I had asked him, forty-three minutes ago.

"You are going to be here when Jace gets back," he had said. "That is not up for debate. So ... yes. Apparently, it's necessary."

And so we sat there. My bag of borrowed food and essentials was resting at Tyler's feet. He had opened it at one point to take out a handful of cereal bars and eat them. Now, the wrappers lay strewn in a little circle around him, and I could still see crumbs on his jeans.

The door opened and closed again without hardly making a sound. Jace was wiping his boots on the mat by the door when I looked up. His hair was wet and tousled, so I assumed it was raining again. And the smell of smoke had followed him into the room. He came and stared at me for a long moment before turning to Tyler and clapping him on the shoulder.

"Thanks. I've got it from here."

Tyler stood up, but he didn't go any further than that. He was watching Jace with big eyes. "Did we retaliate?"

Jace shook his head slowly. He looked and sounded very, very tired. "I told you. No more retaliating. It has to end somewhere."

"Makes us look weak. The guys won't like that," he murmured. I was starting to get the sense that maybe they'd had this conversation before - and more than once.

"Yes, they made that very clear, thank you, Tyler," Jace replied shortly.

He took the hint and disappeared off upstairs with only a handful of backwards glances. Most of them were directed at me, but not all of them.

"Is he your brother?" I asked Jace. They didn't look much alike, but I thought it was worth asking, since Tyler seemed to live with him.

"No," Jace said. "I do have a brother, but he's ... not here. Tyler will be my Beta when he turns eighteen in a few weeks. Until then, he's working as a fighter."

"Got it," I replied. "Who's the current Beta?"

As long as it wasn't Bradley or Ryan, I would be happy.

"The man who came to the door earlier. Tyler's father. But we're not going to talk about the pack right now, Emma."

"No?" I asked, almost nervous, because he seemed very serious. I had known he wouldn't like me running off, but I hadn't imagined that he would be properly angry about it. It was hard to even picture him angry.

"No," Jace said. He sat down where Tyler had been and braced his arms against his knees while he stared at me. Contemplating, it seemed. I tried not to meet that stare. The bag of food lay between us - damning and ... perhaps a little pathetic.

It was a while before Jace spoke again.

"You don't want to be here," was all he said. It wasn't a question, and I could understand why.

"Not really, no," I replied after a moment's hesitation. "Before your men arrested us, I was trying to find someone."

His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "Yes, I was told about that, actually. A man called Rhodric, wasn't it? I feel like I should tell you a little bit more about Rhodric Llewellyn, because it's only fair to assume you don't know who he is."