In Our Blood

Chapter Twenty-Six

The usual four along with Callie and Jana were walking through the hall, Rhydian trying to explain to Jana why she couldn't just growl at people here.

Beca was lagging behind, getting more and more irritated at the passing comments. Jimi just happened to be the one who hit her breaking point. He mentioned something about Jana's smell and Beca's anger flared.

She turned around and glared at him. "How about you be concerned about yourself for once?" She shouted, catching the attention of other students in the hall.

Jimi just scoffed. "My nostrils are burning. It's a matter of public safety."

The girl bit her tongue but her actions soon continued what she didn't communicate verbally. She stepped forward and slammed him into the lockers behind them. She heard the shocked murmurs from her peers as she swallowed a growl, her eyes narrowed to slits.

"You say one more thing about her, your gonna lose that pretty little face," she threatened. Then she shoved him into the metal even further before releasing him. She needed to think.

She needed to breathe for a few minutes and frankly, the looks her friends were giving her wasn't going to help with that. She just shook her head and walked up to Maddy. "Keys," she muttered low enough so the humans in their group didn't hear.

Maddy just looked at her, as if she was going to lecture the girl.

"Maddy," she said lowly and glanced towards her hand. The veins were darkening the longer she was forced to stay under the stares of high schoolers.

"Don't mess anything up," her sister said with an undertone implying they would talk about this later. Beca sighed and snatched the keys from her sister's hand, shoving past Rhydian and Callie to walk through the halls.

She reached the green door of the photo room quickly, as it was just a few twists and turns away from their last class. She tried to shut the door when she got inside but there was a force against it. With a sigh, she released her grip on the knob and turned, expecting to see Maddy or Shannon.

Rhydian poked his head in and met her with worried eyes in the dark lighting. "Hey," he muttered, his forehead creased as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.

Beca sighed loudly and turned away, walking over to the dark room area of the photography room. it wasn't much, only separated by wooden shelving that held cameras and photo books. The distant sound of the bell ringing alerted them that they were both now late for class.

"Beca," he called softly, following her. She was leaning over one of the wooden units, eyes fixed on something. Her black hair was down, curling over her shoulders and hiding her face.

"I'm still mad at you for leaving, y'know," Beca said as she felt him move closer to her. He stopped at that. She just sighed again and played with the pictures that were in front of her.

Rhydian leaned himself against another shelving unit, arms crossed as he watched her. She glanced over at him before she turned to face him completely.

"And Jana being here... I feel like I'm responsible for her somehow. Even if it is hard to know that you left us to spend six months with her."

The blonde boy furrowed his brows at her, his lips turning down. "I didn't just leave for that -"

"I know," Beca waved him off. "It doesn't make sense to me either. I just... I'm really confused at what I'm supposed to be doing right now."

"Well I'm glad you want to protect Jana. Her dad may have kicked me out, but she's pack. And so are you guys," he added.

"She's just pack, right?" Beca wanted to clarify, though she regretted it almost instantly when she saw Rhydian's expression.

"Of course she is. Why, did you think -" He cut himself off as a grin grew on his lips. "Is that what's been bothering you?"

Beca scoffed. "Don't be stupid. I just... we need to get to class," she rambled, now worked up even more. She tried to pass Rhydian, but he stopped her with a grip on her left shoulder.

She glanced up at him questioningly and he pulled her close to him in a hug. She didn't even think before she wrapped her arms around his torso, not able to rest her head on his shoulder since he was a good four inches taller than her.

Something inside of Beca settled when she breathed in his scent; crisp burning wood in the middle of a hard snow. They stayed like that for a while, and Beca couldn't have been any calmer.

"I'm not going to leave again," Rhydian assured her. "I promise."

A/N:

SORRY FOR THE LACK OF POSTING LATELY. I've been swamped with work and a want to write Beca/Rhydian fluff when the story isn't really there yet, and I don't want to rush it. Also, there's not way I want to cut out/fast forward through any Jana-related things because I want to create a special bond between she and Rebecca. It's just a struggle. So here's a mini-chapter to help ease in Jana's fitting-in to the Smith pack and throw in some fluff where it actually kinda makes sense.