"Why can't we just toss him over into Duncan territory? We could tie him up with a bow and hurl him over into that glade that's close to our border."
"Because we're trying to not start a fight."
"Yeah, about that, not sure what the problem is with a fight..."
"Dude."
"Bro."
Ryker stood on the porch of the guest house, his arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed as the twins bickered. Behind them, Charlie was leaning against the door, his expression long-suffering.
"Seriously, Ryker, if we just put them in their place--"
"No," Ryker said firmly, leveling a frown at Lincoln. The scruffier of the two identical twins, Lincoln's main difference from AJ was his nonchalant and occasionally antagonistic attitude. AJ, on the other hand, was always quick to help out and play by the rules. Lincoln, not so much.
"Why no--"
"There hasn't been an all-out pack war in our area in over fifty years, and we're not going to be the pack that starts it." That was a pretty good stretch of time, considering how territorial werewolves could get. The long record was mostly attributed to how well the Callahan and Monroe packs got along; the Duncan pack had always been the odd group out, but that was mainly because of how it was run. The Duncan pack had always been more brutal and difficult than the other two packs.
"Technically, we wouldn't be starting it," Lincoln said with a cocky shrug of his shoulders, "Duncan would be. Or we could pin it on Blake."
"Why are all your plans terrible," AJ said with a stressed out sigh.
"You mean why are all my plans awesome."
Ryker made a face and moved past the twins toward the door, leaving them behind to bicker and potentially get into a wrestling match.
Charlie shoved away from the door. "We do have to put him back eventually."
Ryker rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to retort sarscastically. "I know." Being even this close to Blake after he hurt Jo was hard, and he was about to have to be in a room with the guy. Maybe he should've brought Brett with him; his brother was always a good mediator, though Charlie was pretty good at it too.
Actually..."Charlie." he turned around, his hand still on the doorknob. "Come in with me."
Charlie raised an eyebrow while Lincoln snickered. "Scared of the big bad Duncan wolf?" Ryker shot his friend a look that quickly shut him up.
"More like he should be scared of me," Ryker said, glaring at the door before looking at Charlie again. "Try to stop me if I go to attack him, okay?"
Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. "Sure, I mean...you sure you want to talk to him?"
Ryker nodded. "I can't let who he is or who he attacked stop me from taking care of my responsibilities." He was the next Alpha, he was going to have to deal with a lot of moments like this in the future--although hopefully they would rarely involve Jo. He had a feeling it was always going to be tough to keep his anger in check if someone ever hurt her.
"All right, let's do this then," Charlie said, rubbing his hands together.
Ryker finished unlocking the door and then headed inside. The guest house was more like a one-bedroom cottage. One window looked out onto the front porch, but there was another window in the bedroom and a west-facing window off the living/dining area that both had guards stationed at them as well. He wasn't taking any chances, no matter how injured Blake was.
"So you're alive," Ryker said, folding his arms and leaning against the bedroom doorframe. Blake was sitting up in the bed, reading a book. He gave Ryker a flat look.
"Yeah, and bored to death. These books are ancient. Can I have my phone back?"
Ryker gave a half shrug, his stare cold. "We didn't take it. Sorry, guess you left it in the woods when you decided to shift on my territory and attack my family."
Blake groaned and leaned back against the bed's headboard, letting the book fall closed without a bookmark. "Well let me go back to my pack, there's no need to keep me."
Ryker snorted. "Wish I could. Doctor insists we monitor you until you've healed a little more." If Blake had been a human burn victim, he probably wouldn't be doing nearly so well right now. But he wasn't. He was a werewolf and he was mostly healed, although Ryker suspected he was going to carry some of those burn wounds on his arms for a long time.
"Plus, I wanted to have a chat first," he said, moving into the room. He grabbed the sole chair in there and turned it so that while sitting, he could rest his arms on the back of the chair. Charlie came and stood behind him--a silent reminder to Blake that he was outnumbered, and a reminder to Ryker not to attack.
Couldn't forget that.
"What, about how you're trying to alienate us from the other packs?"
"I don't think you need any help with that." Ryker narrowed his eyes at Blake. "I could've cared less about your pack until you decided to start bothering mine."
"You let the Callahans on your territory without causing a ruckus," Blake said. "Some of your members join their pack when they find a mate. So what's the difference?"
"The difference is how they go about it. And that they have permission."
"You guys gave our pack permission. Duncan said everyone but him could cross Monroe territory."
"Technically the agreement hasn't been signed yet. But yeah, if you'd shown up to the party like normal people, introduced yourselves, I probably wouldn't have stopped you. Instead you crossed as wolves, and then attacked unprovoked." Ryker frowned, finally getting at the question that'd been bothering him since last night. "Why did you attack them when they hadn't done anything? Hadn't even shifted."
Blake tapped a couple fingers against the cover of the book and looked out the window. "Yeah. I get it."
"That's not an answer," Ryker said, a touch of commanding rumble in his voice. "Dig deeper."
Blake shot him a frown. "It was an accident."
"An accident. Lunging at them was an accident, and you expect me to believe that?"
"I just wanted to scare them," Blake said, "We didn't know it'd be a problem to come shifted as wolves."
"It's considered rude," Charlie broke in, "For future reference."
"Not in our territory. It's a sign of trust," Blake said, shrugging, "But when you guys rushed us, we split up. We thought you were coming after us."
Which they had been. Ryker was suspicious of this whole innocent act, but Blake seemed generally sincere at the moment. "That doesn't explain why you attacked."
"I wasn't attacking, I was going to scare them," Blake said adamantly. "Look, I don't have to explain--"
"Rethink that," Ryker snapped, cutting him off. He could feel his barely-suppressed anger rush to the surface. If this guy thought he could come and get sympathy or avoid Ryker or try to run the show--
"Just tell us what happened," Charlie said calmly, "So we can figure out what we're doing from here."
"What, if I give you the wrong answer, are you going to execute me or something?"
"What if I said yes," Ryker said in a deadpan tone.
Blake's eyes widened, and Charlie put up a hand. "No one's saying that..."
"Like I said, I wanted to scare them," Blake said, "As pay back for you all rushing us. But it went wrong."
Ryker scowled. "Explain."
"I dunno, like your sister jumped at me and the fire went crazy, and then I was on fire, and there was a lot going on, okay?" Blake said uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to claw your girl."
Ryker shifted forward, leaning his weight toward Blake at the mention of what had happened to Jo. Charlie cleared his throat.
"And what was the rest of your group doing?"
"Probably running away from yours," Blake said. He seemed to sink further back into the pillow. "You charged us."
"Because you were on our territory," Ryker said, "As wolves."
"We didn't know we couldn't do that," Blake growled back, averting his eyes when Ryker stared him down. "It wasn't on purpose."
"I don't think I believe that," Ryker said, crossing his arms tighter over his chest. It still seemed like a blatant threat on their part, especially when part of his own pack had been having a party.
Blake scoffed. "What do you want me to say then? You're obviously determined not to trust anything I say, and I don't have any proof besides my word."
Ryker growled at the implied disrespect--if it wasn't for Charlie shifting behind him, reminding him of the whole reason he'd wanted him in there as well...
Ryker rubbed his hand across his face, reminding himself that he didn't want a war with this pack, no matter how tempting it was. And just because Duncan irritated the hell out of him didn't mean every single member of that pack was just as bad. Hopefully.
And in all fairness, the guy was probably really confused about how the heck he ended up burned so badly. Well. Served him right for trying to scare Lexi and Jo. Ryker wasn't going to feel bad about that and he was going to make sure Jo didn't either.
"Look, whatever happened, I just need you to tell your pack not to do that again, okay? Especially while tensions are high between our two packs. Come as humans, let us know you're here, and it won't be a problem."
Blake studied him for a moment, then gave a short nod. "I'll let Duncan know when I get back."
Ryker held out his hand and after a brief hesitation Blake clasped it in a quick handshake before Ryker stood.
"You know, you should give him a chance," Blake said.
Ryker raised an eyebrow at Blake, questioning who he was referring to even though Ryker had a pretty good idea. Blake shrugged, jaw tight with tension. "He's the first Alpha trying to do right by our pack in a long while. It's not easy with the legacy he inherited."
He had to respect Duncan's Beta for standing up for him. A Beta was supposed to be your right-hand man, the guy you could count on. The same way Charlie was for him. "Look," Ryker said, glancing at Charlie who was leaning in the door frame before looking back at Blake, "I don't know much about what happened with your pack. You guys kept to yourselves for a long time. But if you need help you gotta let us know. Talk to the Callahans if you don't want to deal with us. We're not unwilling to help another pack, you just need to actually communicate with us."
Charlie chuckled. "Instead of always starting fights, maybe?"
Blake rolled his eyes, although he had a half-smile on his face. "Okay fine, I'll pass that message on too. Got a notebook I can start writing them all in?"
Ryker snorted. "I trust your brain." He started to head out again then turned toward Blake. "I'll have someone lend you a spare cell phone so you can call Duncan and tell him you're alive."
Blake scratched his head. "I...err...I don't have his number memorized. Always just kept it in the phone, y'know?"
Great. Trust a Duncan to be such a pain in the ass. Looked like he was going to have to find someone to head toward the territory and try to get word to Duncan. "Fine," Ryker said, groaning a bit. "I'll send someone to let him know, but I don't want my wolf attacked. I need to know your safeword." There was always a code phrase wolves shared with allies for crossing over into other territories.
"We don't really use one," Blake admitted, "Since we haven't had allies outside the pack in a while." Ryker rubbed his temples tiredly--this pack really did need help. "Just tell whoever it is to enter as a wolf, or go to one of the public human buildings in our territory as a human. Duncan will find and question them..." He trailed off, thinking. "If there's a phone number you can send with them, it will probably go better for everyone if Duncan can call me and confirm I'm ok."
God, what a complicated mess. "Fine," Ryker said, shaking his head. "We'll try later this afternoon and see if we can get in contact with him."
Blake nodded in agreement and Ryker and Charlie finally left. Looked like he had a lot to do before dinner and Jo's reveal this evening. Not to mention Lexi's birthday tomorrow night.
"Well Ryker," Charlie said, draping an arm over his friend's shoulder. "No one can say small town life is boring, at least not in our town, right?" At the look Ryker gave him, the Beta just started laughing.
Glad someone was entertained.
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A/N: Sorry for missing the Wednesday update this past week, things have been a little crazy! Hopefully there will be a Wednesday update this week! :D Thanks for reading, commenting, voting, and adding this story to your reading list.