A young man who believes rules aren't meant for him. A by the book law enforcer. An interrogation gone wrong puts them in each other's paths.
Half-shifter, half-vampire, Alec doesn't really feel he fits in with either species. He likes to use his lo...
"I'm sure Alec is changing and I'm sure it won't take that long..."
"But basically, you are still saying we should just let him run rampant and do as he pleases for now?" Jasper attacked once more. "That we should forgive him all those times he wronged us? And based on what? He's never done anything for this community and has never missed an opportunity to go against us. Should we forgive that just because he's your son?"
"Alec has made many mistakes..." Everett began anew, but Jasper wouldn't let him finish.
"Yes. And you've always come up with excuses for him. 'Please forgive him, he doesn't know our ways, but he'll learn'," Jasper slightly altered his voice in an attempt to imitate Everett. " Except, years later, he hasn't learned. 'Please forgive him, he's young.' He's not a child anymore. 'It's all my fault because I didn't raise him better.' That one is correct: you should've raised him better."
The urge to punch him in the face surprisingly returned at that very moment that I saw my father's face fill with anger and shame. It wasn't Everett who replied to Jasper though, and, to my surprise, it wasn't Keri either.
"Shut your mouth now. You know he couldn't take Alec away from the Maksimoffs." My Uncle Rhys was usually a calm man, but that changed when his mate and the rest of his family - myself excluded, of course - were involved so his voice came out with a warning inflection. In fact, those faint scars he had on his left cheek and his throat were courtesy of Jasper, from a long time ago, when Rhys had defended Everett's honor against the other shifter. The reason for the quarrel and the following fight had been that Everett had slept with my mother and had produced me.
A humorless grin spread across my face when I thought of how Jasper had hated me even when I'd been a baby... Or had I still been a fetus in Anastasiya's womb?
"Jasper, you are out of line," Keri warned. "We are not here to discuss Everett."
"You're right, cousin," Jasper said with mock reverence. "We are here for the offspring."
He glared up at me and I smiled brighter just to annoy him. Jasper's lips pulled back to reveal his teeth.
Keri ignored our "friendly" display and called out:
"Let's hear from the rest of the family."
"Well, I think that Jasper's right," a snotty female voice rang out. "Alec has caused us nothing but trouble and he's never done anything for us so he should be banned from the community," Melanie finished with her nose in the air.
"You are not family," Kennedy simply said, causing Melanie's face to heat up.
"I'm Carter's mate!" She shouted back.
"Not yet family." Kennedy insisted, keeping his cool.
"You can't talk to me like that!" The girl swirled to order her mate: "Carter, say something!"
Carter startled and immediately blurted out: "You can't talk to her like that!"
"You are such a wuss, bro." Kennedy sighed and a few people - myself included - chuckled.
Leave it to Kennedy to lessen the tension.
Taking advantage of the moment of silence, Lisa spoke up: "Can I go next?"
"Of course," Keri encouraged with a smile.
"Why does she get to speak and I don't?" Melanie stamped her foot.
"Because, she's a part of the family," Kennedy said, then grinned. "Plus, we actually like her."
The younger shifters snickered while Melanie looked about ready to attempt and hit my favorite uncle. Her mother put her hands on the girl's shoulders to stop her while Kennedy's mom quietly chastised him.
My own step-mother patted my baby brother on the head before she began to speak:
"I've always been afraid of Alec, but lately that feeling has almost disappeared. Seeing him interact with our Ollie has shown him in a new light and I believe... I am sure," she corrected, "that he has changed and will continue to change for the better. Even if he doesn't like most of us, I don't think he'll cause any serious trouble because now he has Ollie to worry about, and Alec wouldn't want to cause him any harm. He would never hurt Ollie, of that I stake my life on."
Those damn feelings!
Lisa was only stating a fact; I had no reason to feel grateful, but a tiny ball of gratitude and something else lodged itself in my chest. I had to restrain myself from rubbing the spot.
"I agree," Kennedy said. "Alec is still an asshole, as he so eloquently put it himself..." Kennedy's bright eyes, crinkled at the corners, found mine, "... but he's less of an asshole these days. He wouldn't hurt Ollie and since causing trouble for the pack means causing trouble for Ollie, he just won't cause trouble for the pack."
"I... Also find him changed," Riley spoke a little quietly, but with conviction.
"So do I," Kelly joined in, louder.
"And I," Keri spoke from beside me.
Fuck.
The ball that formed in my chest grew bigger and bigger.
"Fine, fine. Even if we accept the fact that he's changing for the better," Jasper's tone displayed how little he believed that, "and that somehow magically absolved him of all the sins he has committed against us, there are still the matters of him hiding his shifting ability and that stunt he pulled last summer."
"Shifting has nothing to do with you," I said, my voice even and definitive.
A few gasps came from the crowd. Jasper's eyes glinted dangerously.
"Oh, yeah?" He asked. "Do explain: how does shifting have nothing to do with us, shifters?"
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A short chapter, but it's just people arguing and I didn't want you guys to find it tedious, so I split the original chapter in two to let you rest between the arguments.
Anyway: what do you think?
Everett's defense: weak, good? Did you think he'd defend Alec to begin with?
Did you think the others would defend him as well?
Do you agree with Alec that him being able to shift has nothing to do with the Bullets?
What are your thoughts on Melanie and the way Kennedy treated her?
Please support this chapter with a VOTE if you enjoyed it! ❤
PS: Don't forget that there's still time to enter the game and win a chapter dedication. The details on how are in the bottom A/N of Chapter 42.
