Julia's Pack.

Chapter 18 - Alpha, Beta & Omega

“We've had to pull back, Oliver.” Jennifer's voice came over the phone, soft. “Kale got to them first and we got too close.”

Oliver swore and gazed at the house, watching them finish dinner, relieved and stressed all at once to be at home. He didn't like abandoning the others, not really, but he hadn't been able to leave Julia in that state either.

Seeing her laughing and teasing the kids, playing, the warmth in her face, it had been worth the crazy dash home. Worth giving them the good news back in Brazil, because he knew it'd only help them do better over there, worry would only make their job worse.

He tried to focus on Jennifer. “Did you see much?

“Yeah. It would be funny if it wasn't so serious. He came in, expecting them to fight back like normal werewolves, and they all just scattered.” She was exhausted sounding, only slightly amused, as she added, “Maned wolves don't like conflict. They all ran. Experts at it. Made it hard for us to offer help but we're trailing after a couple of cars that he missed. He didn't know how to handle fifty people of all ages dashing for cars and driving off in different directions. Like a flock of seagulls. I wish I'd filmed it for you, the look on his face.”

“You could see his face?”

“Like I said, we got too close, and I think he only missed us in the chaos. The weather helped too. Your idea, to use strong perfume, it masked our true smells.” Jennifer replied. Oliver heard the rain start to pour on the car roof there. “A lot of rain out here.”

“If you can talk to the survivors, go ahead, if not-”

“I know. Move onto the next target. We'll fly to Chile and keep safely out of his way as much as possible till the innocent are out of the way. Two cars worth of survivors is better than nothing. I better go. We're leaving the town and Brazil hasn't got country reception.”

She hung up and Oliver sat there a while in the sunshine. He tried to relax, eyes going back to Julia, chest tightening at the look on her face. Felt the warmth there, the relief, and the trace of the fear and grief she'd suppressed so badly that she'd more or less shoved it through the mate-bond at him. He hadn't minded. Even if it had looked strange for him to be crying and shaking on the plane...

Oliver smiled somewhat as her eyes met his, saw her smile mirror his, and stood up to go back and join them for dinner.

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Julia watched her kids eat, so relaxed, slurping away the chicken soup leftover. Levi had gone back to bed, she'd threatened to tie him there if he didn't stay put, Oliver sitting with the five of them as he gazed at his kids.

“I missed you all.”

“I missed you too, daddy.” Angelica smiled up at him over her bowl. “You cook better than Mama.”

He shook his head, reaching out to stroke Julia's hand, and she grinned at him. She knew she'd have to be angry with him later. Julia wasn't okay with what he'd done. She just needed it, just a little longer, needed to enjoy it. Some part of her knew that she wasn't going to have both of them around at once for much longer, because the kids had to go back to school, the fight in South America might need Oliver, or something might happen.

Okay. She was really just putting off her temper because she was afraid he'd run off. Was that so unreasonable?

The sound of Levi's feet upstairs made Julia gaze up. She heard him come down the stairs, slowly, re-dressed and fixing Oliver with a cold stare.

“Levi?”

“Time for him to come and talk with the Beta.”

To her shock, Levi wasn't ...himself. Not exactly. He had that Beta thing happening and it kind of freaked her out a little. Levi hadn't forgiven him. He wasn't even trying to pretend. She felt his resentment and anger towards Oliver still, under the Beta attitude, and felt it long after they'd vanished out the door.