“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.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
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.
“Daddy's in trouble.” Angelica commented. She didn't miss a thing.
“Yeah, he is.” Julia agreed. “So will you if you don't eat those vegetables!”
Somehow though she didn't have the heart to enforce it. Okay. Julia wasn't the best with discipline. But Oliver had cooked them pretty well and they were yummy, most of them more or less vanishing into hungry tummies, so she let it slide when she saw a few left over. Julia ate them instead.
She got them showered and ready for bed, this was one time Julia would have loved more water for more baths, and then they sat around watching the little TV while she changed the sheets in bed. Tried to tidy up. Hang up the clean clothing for the guys.
She had a really bad feeling about Levi's mood though. Maybe he intended on punishing Oliver for the two of them. Julia watched the kids watch some young talent time thing, Ophelia happy to try and copy, the four of them full of energy still as they bounced around to the songs and tried to copy the bigger kids. Maybe it'd wear them out.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
The second Levi had Oliver out of Julia's hearing range, he got stuck into him again, and Oliver had to grit his teeth as Levi showed a surprising amount of violence for a 'romantic artist type'. This wasn't a side he showed Julia, not really, but most of the fighters knew he had a bad tempter when he was pushed past his usual limits. Before Julia, Levi had been a lot worse, he'd had a harder time to hold his temper in and control himself.
Oliver had seen so much change in Levi after that it'd impressed him. She'd calmed him and apparently that was mutual because Julia calmed down around him as well. Each other's safe place. And his kids did the same thing.
Right now though, he didn't hold back, and Oliver gritted his teeth.
“You fucking asshole. Do you have any idea how fucking upset she was?” A fist crashed into Oliver's head, and he grabbed onto Levi's wrist, trying to calm him down. Too much damage and she'd get even more upset. His nose started to bleed and he tried to stop it by putting pressure on it.
“Yeah.”
“I don't care what your reasons were. You were selfish and you risked Julia's life and the Pack. And what about your daughters?” Levi snapped. He was furious. “You're a fucking idiot. What would your uncle have done if he got you? Just kill you? He'd have fucking tortured you and sent her the video. Just to make her easy pickings later.”
Oliver, admittedly, hadn't thought of this. Julia. How would she handle that? He didn't think she'd do that well with it. No one would. His father hadn't. When his mother had been captured...
He frowned then. Tried to breathe.
“Levi, stop it.” Susan's voice snapped over the two of them. Levi froze. “We've got to handle this as Beta. Not as her husband and mother-in-law.”
“Yeah.” He stood back, grasping his cane, sweating and his knuckles red with Oliver's blood. He wiped his hands on his shirt, annoyed with Oliver, watching him with clear disgust. “Yeah, we do.”
Susan shoved an icepack at Oliver and a cloth. He shoved the icepack on his sore head and the cloth on his nose.
“If Kale captured Oliver and told Julia he'd release him if she stepped down-” Levi couldn't seem to resist another painful jab.
Oliver wasn't sure she would do it. Not just for him. But for all ten of the fighters? She might have been more tempted. Susan nudged Levi and started along the path away from the Pack hall. She had set herself up in one of those round tent things Levi had insisted on them buying and it looked pretty cosy in the fading daylight. The lights of the yurt made it glow almost, the patterns along the edges standing out, the smell of a fire inside only adding to the warmth.
Susan waited at the door. “This is my yurt. So please take your shoes off.”
They did and the three of them sat down.
“Levi, you're Julia's husband, so you have to stay out of this.” She made sure her son got that, pausing, meeting his eyes. He nodded and looked away. “Oliver, what you did was serious.” Susan fixed Oliver with such a harsh look that he cringed. “We're a small pack. Taking ten fighters away and leading them-”
“I didn't lead them. We had no leader. We worked as a team. We came up with the idea together.” Oliver shouldn't have interrupted her, he knew that, but he couldn't help himself. She frowned at him.
“Yes, and you're all in trouble. As it happens, Julia already intended on sending assistance. She's already arranged with the Alpha of Australia to send help. Numbers. More than ten. The Alpha-Kale has too many. If you were captured or seen, he might not wait before he comes here. Then we'd have ten less fighters.”
“And you kept sending strangers here.” Levi added. He could have killed Oliver with that look. “Julia gave up our house for them.”
“Which she gladly did. Levi, I told you. It's okay. He's not getting off lightly.” Susan added. Her hand rested on Levi's arm, for a moment, gentle. “She gladly offered them a safe place. But you have to consult your Alpha, Oliver, and the Beta. You should know that. You were Alpha.”
“I know.” He did know that. Oliver sighed. “I just couldn't let him do that. To so many people. Hurt so many people. None of us could. We've suffered so much. I didn't want more people to go through that.”
“We've all lost people that matter to us.” Susan said quieter. Her face seemed to soften slightly at that. “He is your Uncle. I haven't forgotten that. But the responsibility is with all Pack. Not just you.”
“I have to be the one to kill him. For my father and Julia.”
“I don't know if we'll allow that.” Susan shook her head. “For now, you need to stay here. Both of you need to.”
Levi clearly had not been let in on this part of the plan. He stared sideways at his mom. 'Hang on, Mom. The kids.”
“Myself and Andy are taking our grand kids to school early tomorrow by plane. I'll act as the Beta. You're sick, Levi, and Oliver's in trouble. So neither of you can leave the island this week. Julia did a fantastic job as Alpha under stress but as Julia? She fell apart.”
Oliver felt a tinge of guilt there, mixed with pride, shifting uncomfortably where he sat on the ground. “She did good?”
“For her first few days, she did great. Arranging an alliance of six packs?” Susan's lips twitched then. “Not bad. But you three are supposed to be married. To work together. Which is why I've decided your punishment, Oliver, is to start training under Randy. Pack Enforcer. You've got to learn how important these laws are.”
He saw a flicker of jealousy cross Levi's face, for a moment, but it was distracted by Susan. Train under Randy? Did that mean what he thought it meant?
“Don't get your hopes up. This doesn't mean you're going to be trained to replace him. Oliver, after the last stunt you pulled a lot of Pack are angry with you. They blame you for the ten of you leaving. Randy's the Pack Enforcer and you need to learn the Pack Law and see the consequences.”
Susan glanced at Levi. He'd crossed his arms, fixing Oliver with such a dark look, as if he was tempted to hit him again.
“And you might not see Julia much. Officially, you're now the Omega.” She added, quickly. “Not forever. All ten of you are going to be that for a while till you've recovered respect from the Pack. That's up to Randy. From now on, what you do day or night, you ask him first. If he tells you to sleep, you sleep, if he tells you to stay awake, you stay awake. If he lets you have a few hours alone with Julia, then he does, but you can't just expect that. You have to learn some control. You should have talked to us about what you wanted to do. Let us talk it over.”
“By then, the otter and the jaguar would have been dead.”
“Yes, true.” Susan agreed. She didn't smile though. “That doesn't change it. Now. You're going to give me the phone numbers of everyone there. I won't order them back- they're already there- but we'll need to send some help. Organise teams. There's only ten there and there's over thirty small families you want to protect, right?”
A nod from Oliver.
“Then we need to get some team work happening. Plan a strategy for how we do this. Get them out of there as quickly as possible.” Susan glanced at Levi. “Which I need you to start doing. Once Julia's had tomorrow's meeting at eight, you'll have numbers ready to leave on Tuesday, and we'll need to know where to send them.”
“How many?”
“Teams of four or five. Smaller the better. We get in, offer them a way out, and we get them out of there. After that, it's none of your business for the time being, unless Randy decides you're involved.” Susan stood up. “Oliver, you've got tonight with Julia and the kids. Randy will be expecting you at six tomorrow morning at the pier. If you're late, he has permission to drag you there.”
“Fine.”
“Levi, stop beating him up. Let Randy do that.”
Levi scowled and nodded. He turned and headed back for the house, leaving Susan and Oliver behind, and she sighed.
“You might want to stay away from him for a few days. He has issues with forgiving people. Also, crack that broken nose back into place before you see Julia.”
Oliver suspected she was right.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
Julia had spent the evening with the kids. Tried to get them to calm down, read them several books, until all four of them were asleep, then remembered that they hadn't brushed their teeth and she felt like the worst mama in the world. But should she wake them or let them sleep?
The return of Levi and Oliver distracted her. She shut the door quietly and turned to watch Levi come back in, his anger still brewing, but he managed to stop and kiss her before he headed upstairs. He felt hot again. Was it still fever?
“Do you want chicken soup?” She called, as he started up the stairs, and Levi shook his head.
“I don't want anything he cooks. You can cook me some.” He replied and headed upstairs before she could ask. Levi's mood was growing worse. Julia stared at him and then to her fridge. She didn't even know how to cook chicken soup.
Did people just throw a whole chicken in it and hope?
Oliver wasn't far behind. She watched him come in and he sat on the bench beside her, clearly much more bruised and bloody than before, holding a bloody rag to his face. Julia grabbed it and rinsed it, before offering it again, and he smiled a tired thanks at her.
“So, what's your punishment?”
“You're looking at the new Omega, baby.” He tried to joke. “Randy's new pet dog.”
Somehow Julia didn't feel all that sorry for him. She leaned against him, between his legs, watching him try and slow the bleeding. Levi had done a pretty good job of breaking his nose. Julia was glad Oliver had already cracked it back into place. Ow. When she didn't look sympathetic or show any sign she was, he sighed.
“Guess you're upset.”
“You left without telling me. I like what you were doing but ...” She stood up, as he reached for her, going for the fridge. “But you left without telling me.”
“I know.”
Julia was quiet for a long time as she tried to figure out how to make the soup. She stared at the fridge. Cold chicken. Could that be used?
Oliver watched her. It was worse than her usual rages. Julia going quiet was never a good thing. He waited until she was ready to look at him, a long time, and when he reached out to touch her, she flinched. It made him cringe.
“Sorry. I should have told you.”
“Yeah. I needed you.” Julia said quietly. She met his eyes. “Ben was killed and Levi vanished.”
“I came home when I found out.”
“I know. But your kids. They needed you. I needed you. If you had told me then at least I'd be able to know you weren't dead or dying or that I'd never see you again.” The words hurt and she said them quietly. No fire or anger. Julia was hurt and she couldn't bring herself to get more angry than this. She was more sad than angry. “I would have agreed with you. To help them.”
“Susan said you got them help.”
Julia nodded and tried to think. Reached out for him, grasping at his leg, quiet. “I love you but … sometimes, you need to stop treating me like that. Like you have to protect me by lying to me.”
“I want to protect you.” Oliver muttered. He tugged her close, when she didn't pull away, and leaned against her. “All the fucking time.”
“You hurt me more by running away like that. And your girls.” Julia leaned against him, shutting her eyes, as his head rested against the top of her head. “And Levi too, I think.”
Levi too? That made his lip twitch. But he didn't argue.
“I don't expect you to be happy with me. But I'm not going anywhere. Randy has me as long as me wants me.” Oliver muttered. “And you have me as much as he'll let you. Heh. Who knew we'd be the family of official ranks?”
“Huh?”
“The Alpha, the Beta and the Omega.”
Julia did smile a little then. It was kind of funny. Oliver was now 'Pack Dog'. The one everyone could harass with every little chore, job or task they needed. Use for training sessions. Ignore. She should have felt bad for him but he should have guessed that was the kind of reaction he'd get after running away.
“Well, Omega, Levi won't drink your soup. So you have to tell me how to make soup.” Julia stared at the fridge. “I can't figure it out.”
“Fine by me.” Oliver jumped down. “Get that chicken out. And garlic and onion. I'm the Omega. I'll cut the onion.”
They ended up with, more or less, an okay soup. It might have burnt a bit on the bottom but she didn't pay attention to it. Neither did Oliver. Julia took it upstairs and Levi was very happy with it. She actually saw a smile return on his face.
“I did have to ask for help from Oliver.”
“I know, I can hear you two down there.” Levi tugged her over, wrapping an arm over her, and sipped the soup. “I can't forgive him as fast as you.”
“I didn't say I forgave him. Just-” Julia hesitated. She shut her eyes against his chest. “I care about you both. I nearly lost both of you.”
Levi sighed softly and leaned down to kiss her hair. “Just don't let him walk all over you. He shouldn’t forget. You're supposed to be his equal. Our equal.”
“Yeah.”
“Mom's taking the kids by plane tomorrow morning. She and Dad want to take them for the week. They said they were happy to take their grandkids.” Levi said softly. “I think we should let them.”
“I suppose so.” She still had this urge to keep them close. Julia nodded and pushed the bowl at him. “You eat.”
He ate quietly as Oliver came up, tension rising in the room, Oliver flopping on Julia's other side. Neither of them spoke to the other. Finally Levi finished the soup and pushed Julia down, kissing her gently, the strange possessiveness in his face as he ignored Oliver. Oliver just growled softly and shut his eyes.
Oh fuck. They were back to this. 'Compete for Julia'.
Julia was not going to have much fun with this.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
A/N Thanks for reading! :) Please remember to vote!
Will take a break from this till I get the other two updated, Guardian and Gargyole. Feel free to take a read of those stories too. :D Shouldn't take too long.