Wolf Bound

Chapter 20

   To say that, things between me and Jason were back to normal, was not what I would use to describe us... right now. I mean, we were not arguing or yelling, but we were not all, 'I love you', still.

I think everyone was just glad to not have the awkward tension around, at least.

I was sitting at the kitchen island, watching as my mom pulled out ingredients to make pie, since she thought today was a good day for pie, literally, her exact words to me, when I sat down.

"So... I know with the whole plans to attack going on, I was thinking that, maybe, we could redecorate the house... just to lighten things up?" mom suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea, but I doubt anyone would feel better by it." I sighed.

"But you love decorating for holidays!" she pouted, but I just gave her a look and she smiled.

"Fine! But when he pops that question, do not expect me to have an off switch for wedding planning, because THAT is not negotiable, besides, you'll be marrying a very generous man and his very generous green lined wallet." She grinned like a little kid.

"I'm not a gold digger!" I said.

"I know... but you'll be able to get and do whatever you want!" she giggled.

"Don't you mean, whatever you want for my wedding?" I scoffed playfully.

"Not just your wedding, sweetie!" she smiled bigger than ever before.

I groaned and put my head in my hands.

"Lord, have mercy." I said into my palms.

"Mercy for what?" Nick's voice asked as he sat down beside me.

"She's just being dramatic," mom said shaking her head.

"Clare isn't known to be dramatic, so, I'm goanna take her side on this," Jason said appearing on the other side of me, before smiling crookedly at me as he sat down.

"Thanks," I smirked, before slapping my hand on his shoulder.

"Oh! Before I forget, Clare... I need you to clean the library." Mom said, using a knife to point at me.

"Why do I have to do it?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because, your still my kid and you'll do as I say," she smiled.

"I stopped having 'chores' when I almost died from being turned," I muttered.

"And you'll do one more, got it?" she said eyeing me.

"Fine!" I groaned as I left the guys with my mom and headed into the office, which had books misplaced and almost everywhere on the shelves.

This is going to be a LONG day...

Two hours and many misplaced books later...

I was in the office, sorting the books, so they were by genre. I thankfully was the only one in the house, so I was playing music freely from my phone via my speaker.

I sang along and danced to the music, my dad hated my music, since he liked country. My mom was a bit chill, but she had her limits with the rap and pop music after about the tenth song.

I spun around and smiled before going back to work. Still, swaying to the music, I placed books on the shelves and turned to grab a few more, when I swear, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Don't do that!" I yelped when I saw Jason standing in the doorway, watching me with an amused look on his face as he smiled and walked over to me.

"You are so weird." He said as he handed me a book from the stack on the desk.

"And your so mean," I shot back, smirking a bit, he rolled his eyes before

"If I was mean, I would've actually tried to scare you, not just walk into a room and you just get all jumpy." He shrugged.

"Whatever... helping me or not helping me... pick." I said raising an eyebrow.

"Helping... I guess." He said, before I shoved a stack of book into his hands and pointed at the other side of the room.

"Second row... fifth shelf."

"Now, that's mean." He teased before going to put the books away.

"So... you guys got a plan and everything?" I asked when I saw the map on the desk as I picked up a few books.

"Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, but we've come up with almost every tactic of how to surround them, the real problem will be how to prevent deaths from our side." He sighed running a hand throw his hair.

"... You can't..." I muttered sadly.

"Wish, I could just figure out another plan that would prevent deaths on our side." He said, I nodded.

"Guess being the leader sucks at times."

"Having to lead people you call friends into a fight that you can't promise they'll live through... is one of the hardest things I have to do... it's funny... when I was first turned all I could think about was becoming an alpha, just so I could protect Meagan and make sure we would be safe... but ever since I became one, I haven't been able to protect people, not the way I thought I could, and now I've been planning on how to not keep us safe, I don't know how the hell to even beat Nick at Call of Duty... I suck at it!" he explained.

"That's why, I play for you, then I'll just destroy Nic." I joked.

He smiled faintly and shook his head.

"You two, I swear, play that game too much."

"I find it very therapeutic." I smirked, before adding, "and you'll never be able to always keep everyone safe, it's impossible, I mean... think of it as like when I was little, and I fell and got hurt, you were there to help me afterwards, you couldn't have guessed I would've gotten hurt, you just knew to help me the second I got hurt." I told him.

"Clare, it's not-" he started, but I cut him off, by putting my hand over his mouth.

"Shut it, I'm being wise for once... do you understand that sometimes we can't always protect the people we love, but we can always help them when they need us?"

He sighed and nodded from behind my hand.

"Good, now get back to work." I said, he smirked and then grabbed a pile of books and started to put them away.