Ashes

→ chapter ten.

∘ ∘ ∘ ☾ ∘ ∘ ∘ 

EVEN TO AN OUTSIDER, it became glaringly apparent that Leah and Jared would only continue to butt heads until they talked through their issues.

So Jake called a Meet, just the three of them, and it took place in the new Pack house, which was the Blacks' house. 

Currently she sat at the kitchen table in a chair that squeaked and wobbled every time she shifted.

"He'll be here soon," Jake reassured her, even though she hadn't asked, hadn't wanted to know. He'd simply called her and told her to come to the house, as he knew she would. When she knocked, he informed her he'd called a Meet. With Jared. His tone had brooked no argument, and she was too tired to walk back home.

After that, he disappeared upstairs to tend to something. Maybe he just didn't want to sit with her. She wouldn't blame him. While she'd been doing better, she still wasn't pleasant and demure, the way she knew the Pack wanted to be. Since she'd Phased, any remnants of human socialization had fallen by the wayside. Sure, she could interact decently but, with Pack, it didn't matter anymore.

She closed her eyes and inhaled the bitter aroma of the coffee he'd offered, taking in the stillness, the comforting silence of the kitchen, as she sat. She resigned herself to the Meet. When an Alpha put his mind to something, there was no arguing. Arguing would require energy she definitely didn't have.

Somewhere down the narrow corridor, the front door banged open. She leaned back to spot Jared walking in as though he owned the house and watched as he froze in the doorway upon seeing her. 

"Thanks for coming over," Jake said as he appeared behind Jared and slid passed.

Jared scowled, ducked through the open doorway, and remained close to the wall. A muscle in his jaw feathered as he watched with narrow eyes.

Leah twisted the mug in her hands and watched the coffee ripple, the hot ceramic searing into her fingertips. It must've truly been hot for it to not feel lukewarm to her.

Jared broached the topic first, brash and loud in the silence. He demanded, "Why is she here?" 

"Because you two need to air whatever this" —Jake turned away from the counter where he stood and waved a finger between her and Jared— "is between you. We're Pack, whether you like it or not, and we need to work together. I know me being Alpha is weird and we're all still adjusting but what I won't have is you two at each other's throats." His tone was steady and quiet, the way it had seemed to always be since he'd stepped into Alpha-hood. It seemed his new manner was more effective than screaming had been.

Leah stared down at the mug and watched her reflection warp in the ripples of black coffee.

Jared scoffed. "The way I've been? She's awful, mean, and cruel. She's bitter, and she wants to drag everyone else whose happy down to her level." He gaze slid to her, sharp and intense, hate-filled. "I don't have any problems with her. She's the problem. She wants to ruin everyone's lives because she's upset like a bitch." 

"Enough," Jake commanded. "Sam might've been content to let your behavior slide but I'm not. This is my Pack now and that includes Leah. I don't give two shits about whether you like it." His glare was cutting. "Now why do you hate Leah so much? And don't bring up how she's a 'bitter harpy who wants everyone around her to be miserable like she is.' She's been in a Pack that's made it clear they don't want her here yet refuse to make her feel included. I am done with the pettiness of you all, myself included."

Jared snorted. "Maybe it's because of how rude she is to everyone? Especially Emily and Kim, you know, Sam's blessed mate and mine. Why should I like her? She's been nothing but awful to be around since she Phased!" he complained. "Why should I be nice to someone who won't be nice back?"

"Do you hear yourself?" she asked finally. "Do you think I want to be angry? I have no idea how you expect me to be happy-go-fucking-lucky when I'm surrounded by people who are supposed to be closer to me than family reminding me I'm a freak? That I'm unwelcome? That I need to get over my fiancé and my sister cheating on me?" Her eyes burned with the prickle of impending tears but she scrubbed them clear. "Every time I Phase, I hear your thoughts. How I make everything weird and awkward. How I should just get over everything that happened. How I should make myself small and meek and palatable for you boys. Does that sound like I have any reason to be nice?"

He blinked and then laughed dryly. "All you've done since you Phased is make everyone uncomfortable and be ugly for no reason!"

"No reason? No reason!? Every time I've been 'ugly,' it's because one of you has thought something nasty about me while on patrol or acted like I'm one second away from kicking a puppy! You all are my Pack but you don't act like it. At all. Instead of being understanding, instead of being compassionate, instead of treating me like Pack, you've all—especially you, jackass—have made it clear I'm not wanted. That my pain is an ugly, unwanted thing I should just hide so it doesn't make you uncomfortable. That I should just twist myself into something more...hospitable for you." She snorted. "But Black over here can moon over some white girl who strung him along for months and that's fine, right?"

Jake had the good graces to look embarrassed. "She's right, Jared. I was given a pass so why shouldn't she? Bella...and I were never more than friends, not for my lack of trying, but no one batted an eye when I went against the Pack for her, when I brought—tried to bring her into the fold. You welcomed her in a way you didn't Leah, who's our Pack sister."

"Because she's a bitch!" Jared snarled. "Because she shouldn't have ever Phased! Because she's a freak of nature! We were fine before her. She makes patrols—"

"That's enough!" Jake thundered, and an Alpha command colored the words.

Jared froze, his eyes bulging in his skull as he strained and heaved to free himself beneath the mandate to no avail. His face flushed with anger and exertion.

She swallowed, tasted bile, and took a long drink of the coffee. It was bitter and black but it was better than nothing. It also let her gather herself enough to not blow up. 

"If anyone's a bitch," she said as she set her mug down, "it's you." Lifting her gaze, she gave Jared an unimpressed, neutral look. "Yes, I haven't been pleasant but I shouldn't have to be in order to be treated well. You can behave however you please and that's perfectly acceptable, but in order to be given common courtesy, to be given respect, I have to be the perfect docile woman." She snorted. "I'm not going to roll over and give you my belly for to be treated like Pack. I'm not going to be submissive and I never will be. Not to you. Not to the Pack." A pause. "Not to anyone. Ever."

She looked at Jake. Jake looked back at her with unflinching dark eyes that soothed her animal side, recognizing that he was Alpha.

"So what do you have to say now, Jared?" Jake asked.