Haunted and Holy | T|Raeken

Chapter Four

That night the Puppy Pack comes over but I'm not around to hang out. I hole up in my room, watching Netflix and eating some snacks I've had stashed in my room. I don't have the energy to deal with them. They aren't over for more than an hour before I hear the creaking coming up the stairs, meaning one of them is coming to talk. There's a quiet knock, before the door opens. Alec pokes his head in and looks indignant that I'm watching Netflix on my laptop.
"What are you watching?!" He asks.
"Cheer Squad." I say, patting the bed next to me.
"Join me if you are brave enough." He ends up watching two episodes with me before I hear more footsteps on the stairs, and my door nudges open. Ah. Nolan.
"Wait, you guys had the good snacks up here the whole time and didn't tell me?! Rude!" He squawks, before pausing in the doorway. "Wait, are you ok if I come in?"
"Yeah dude, I don't care. We're watching Cheer Squad." I tell him. He comes in, before telling Alec
"They're down there arguing again. I think Liam broke Theo's nose."
"Uhhh what?!" I ask, butting into the conversation.
"Oh, this is normal. They get mad, they punch each other a couple times, and then their good."
"Oh hell no." I tell them, before getting off my bed to go sort it out. "Don't eat all my animal crackers. Everything else is fair game." I march my way down stairs, ignoring the frantic "no wait!" that comes from Nolan. I turn the corner to see them circling each other like dogs, fists up, blood pouring from both their noses, and Jamie watching like it's a WWE smack down.
"KNOCK IT OFF!" I throw the closest thing to me at the back of Theo, which happens to be Jamie's shoe that I've told him a million times not to leave on the stairs. Thankfully, he did, and thankfully I have some semblance of aim with my left hand, because it hits target and both boys startle to attention, Theo turning to look at me with a growl and eyes flashing gold. Ok, maybe that wasn't the best decision, but I didn't have many options.
"What the hell." He spits out. I grit my teeth and bite back.
"You are so lucky that it was with my non-dominant hand because I would have thrown that as hard as I could with my other hand. Get it together."
He glares at me before letting out a slightly menacing laugh.
"That was such a stupid thing to do, Selah."
"No, what's stupid is that you two are fighting in MY house, which made Alec and Nolan go hide in MY room and you don't even know anything about MY family." I spit back. "Because if you did, you would know that Vince came from a physically abusive household, and if he walks in on you two fighting it'll send him into the worst panic attack you'll ever see and it takes us days to get him fully back into a manageable mindset."
"What?!" Liam drops his fists very quickly, Theo right behind him.
"I'm sorry." Theo regains control, his eyes flashing back to hazel. "You're right. That was stupid of us."
"If you two are going to have issues, do it outside, hell leave and come back. I don't care. Just not where Vince is going to see you." I turn to head back up the stairs. "And Theo, you have ranch on your cheek." He looks mildly disgusted and quickly wipes it with the back of his hand.
"Wait, whoa, hold on. You don't get to come in here, yell at everyone and then go hide again." Jamie protests.
"Wait, you weren't scared of Theo. How were you not scared of Theo?!" Liam adds, and Theo looks between Liam and I with a matching expression of interest.
"When you grow up out west... well, we'll just say what happens on the res stays on the res." I shrug.
"Res?" Theo questions.
"Our grandparents and parents are Native American. Since we're all adopted, we grew up on the res." Jamie fills him in.
"Hey, how's your shoulder by the way?" Liam switches tactics again, and I find Theo studying me very closely.
"It was fine when I was in bed watching my show, now it hurts. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going back upstairs. Mostly to rescue the remainder of my snacks from the other two."
"You let them have your snacks?!" Jamie gasps, and I fight the urge to smack him.
"Yes. Yes I did."
"What's the big deal about snacks?" Liam asks.
"The only sibling in the family that gets snack privileges from Selah is Vince, and that's literally ONLY when she's in a very specific mood."
"But you're letting Nolan and Alec eat them?" Theo asks, looking a little confused.
"Look, someone had to distract them while you three were down here being stupid." I shoot back, just as I hear running coming down the hallway.
"SELAH! SELAH! THEY WON WORLDS!"
I yell back
"I KNOW! THIS IS MY SECOND TIME WATCHING IT!" Before turning to a now very confused Theo, Liam, and Jamie. "If you'll excuse me, I am going to go rescue my snacks and finish watching Cheer Squad with the boys."
"Wait, you got them to watch Cheer Squad?!" Jamie and Liam both look shocked.
"We'll do it for her, she's nice!" I hear from behind me, and I turn to find Alec. "We left the animal crackers and half of the cheezeits for you."
"Thanks bud. Let's go." We go back upstairs, and not even thirty seconds pass before the other three are following us up.
"Can we be included?" Theo asks, leaning against my door frame with his arms crossed.
"Sure, but we should put it on the tv instead of my computer then."
We all tromp back downstairs and I have to laugh when the boys get more into it than I am. I'm in my chair, but figure I should get my ice pack so I head to the kitchen. I know I'm being followed when I don't even make it out of the room before there's a creaking coming from the couch. I manage to make it to the freezer before he catches up.
"Here." Theo grabs the ice back from me and motions for me to turn around. "Can I look at your incision?"
"I don't care." I tell him. I pull the sling off and manage to pull my arm through my shirt, exposing the incision. I'm grateful for the tank top I have on though, because I'm not very confident in my body the way he seems to be. But, when you're a shifter and you have a metabolism that runs faster than any other living thing, I guess that works in your favor.
He gently inspects it, before I feel his hand a little farther down my arm and my pain levels dissipate.
"You don't have to keep doing that, I know it burns up a lot of energy." I tell him quietly, and he just shrugs.
"It's just energy, it can be replaced. Pain, especially physical, is hard to push through without relief."
I nod in agreement, before he offers to help me slip my shirt back on. Between the two of us we get it on, and I get the sling back on before heading back to the living room, to find Alec and Liam trying to figure out a way to base Nolan with our 12 foot ceilings. Again, Jamie is just observing for kicks and giggles.
"Boys!" And the following action is EXACTLY why they shouldn't have done it in the first place. Liam startles, loses his grip on Nolan's foot, and Alec can't hold him up on his own. Sending the three of them toppling to the ground. Somehow, in a blink of an eye, Theo grabs Nolan from slamming his head on the edge of the coffee table that they apparently moved, opting instead to hit the ground underneath him.
"Oh shit Nolan! Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm alright. Theo you good?"
"You are so lucky I can bench double your weight kid." Theo grumbles underneath him, gently pushing him into a sitting position. I can't help the laugh that sneaks out at that point, and pretty soon Jamie loses his cool at the look on my face and breaks into a laughing fit. It doesn't take it long to spread throughout the room, before all of us are laughing at what just happened. I happen to look back at Theo and see him with the cutest little derpy smile on his face but I'll never admit it out loud.
"Ok Mr. Grumpy Gills, get up." I offer my good hand to Theo to help him up, but he quickly shakes his head and gets himself to his own two feet, smile dropping and face going stoic.
"You are still hurting, Missy. Sit down." He directs me to my chair, before laying his hand on my arm, pulling pain, and then walking away like that didn't just happen.