"Uh huh," Dean says, narrowing his eyes. "So what, you just a good guesser?"
"I suppose," she says with a serene smile. "There are only five Hunters, no? Two females, three males. All alphas. Of the males, only one is unmated. John has two sons, both Hunters. And your brother is expecting pups, is he not?"
Dean bites back a growl. She isn't being threatening, he knows that, he knows their packs aren't friends. Still, it puts him on his heels that she seems to know everything about the Pack and he knows next to nothing about them. Especially that she knows about Sam, somehow. That worries him the most. He tries not to think about how he'd told Cas about the pups, because it's likely that that's how she knows.
Cas blinks, his mouth opening like he's going to speak and then closing before he tries again. "Your father is on the Council? The one that threatened to put you down?"
"Threat came from Dad himself," Dean huffs, forcing a bitter smile. Cas looks pissed.
"How could he—"
"He's taking care of the Pack," Dean interrupts, eager to defend. His dad might be a dick, but he knows what he's doing. "If he did it, it would've been necessary."
Before Cas can respond Anna is speaking again, and her words automatically make Dean's entire body go rigid.
"Well Castiel, you certainly wasted no time going straight for the top of the Pack," she says with a knowing smile. "It will be helpful for us to have Dean in the coming days."
In the coming days? The fuck does that even mean?
"Sorry? Not sure I follow."
"Oh, it's nothing really," Anna says casually, ignoring Cas' hissed Anna, stop it. "The Pack doesn't trust us, and your Council has been uncooperative. Now that we have you, someone highly ranked and highly respected, on our side, swaying your Council should be no problem at all."
Dean looks at Cas for some kind of sign, but there's nothing. His blue eyes are wide, and his mouth is clamped shut, and that's all Dean needs to see.
"I'm not on your side," Dean snarls, immediately feeling guilty when the baby makes an unhappy noise. Cas says his name but he ignores him, standing up and storming into the woods. He's being childish, but there's blood rushing in his ears and his wolf is growling and his vision is edged with red. His dad was right, about these cats. Right all along.
He doesn't want to believe that this is about his position in the Pack. He really doesn't. But fucking hell he doesn't even know Cas. The guy could be the biggest fucking liar on the planet and Dean would have no idea. He'd acted like he hadn't known about Dean's dad, but that was probably a huge act. Cas had probably known the entire fucking time, and Dean is just the sap who fell for his shit. God he's a fucking idiot. Sure Cas smells like fucking ambrosia, like Dean's personal heaven, but he's an omega. That's what omegas smell like. Like home and happiness and peace and mate—
Fuck.
Dean is so caught up in the raging storm of his own thoughts that he barely feels Cas' hand on his arm, barely hears his rough voice.
"Dean, look at me."
He growls and pushes Cas' hand away, careful not to shove too hard. His voice, when he speaks, sounds far away and way too foreign.
"You lied to us."
Cas' eyes are sad, but his face is neutral. Dean can smell his worry all over him.
"No, I didn't. I didn't know about your father."
"The red one knew," he snarls, baring his teeth. "You knew. You told her about our brother."
Cas touches his palms to the sides of Dean's neck, and this time he lets them stay there. "Anna is trying to cause trouble. Your pack is not popular among us, little wolf. But I didn't know. I swear. And I didn't tell her about Sam, I wouldn't do that. I don't know how she knows."
"Why should we believe you, cat?"
"Do I look like I'm lying?"
Dean eyes him, hears the steady beat of his heart, the way his eyes meet Dean's without faltering. Thoughts are whirling around his mind but they're all incomplete, running in circles, and Dean can't fucking think with his wolf riding him and Cas' fucking smell in his nose. He wraps his arm tightly around Cas' waist and covers his mouth with his lips, lifting him off the ground. Cas automatically wraps his legs around Dean's waist, and the wolf gets a shot of wild satisfaction at the whimper that escapes their mate's mouth.
The smell of Cas' slick hits the hair and Dean growls, nosing at the corner of his jaw and the line of his throat. Cas tilts his chin, and Dean is glad that Cas doesn't choose this moment to challenge him.
"What do you want from us?" Dean rumbles against the skin of Cas' neck, feeling Cas' fingers tighten on his skin. One of them is still on the side of his neck, while the other arm is wrapped around the back of his neck.
"Nothing," Cas groans. "Nothing, Dean. Just...you."
"And your pack?"
"I don't...know," Cas manages, his words broken up by his breathing. "They didn't...tell...us any of that...stuff. They won't...use you. I won't let them."
Their cat is protective of them. Good. The wolf wants to believe him, too, but Dean doesn't trust him. Has no reason to trust him. And his rational brain is rebelling against all of this, even as Dean's lips cover Cas' throat with wet, sucking kisses. He wants him, wants him so bad, but he also wants to get away from him, needs to get away from him, from the threat to his pack and his family. He just needs to-
"Dean," Cas groans, and the spell breaks. Dean pulls Cas off of him and stumbles away, putting distance between them.
It's too good to be true, anyway. Of course it is. The wolf howls, but Dean ignores it. He has no idea how much of this shit is real, how much of it is just exactly what Anna said. That the leopards need an in. And he will not endanger the Pack to help himself. Not even for his true mate. He won't do it.
"Stay away from me, stay away from my pack. I see you again, I'll tear you apart."
Castiel starts to speak again, but Dean ignores him. He tears off his sweats and forces himself to shift. It hurts—fucking hurts like a bitch—but the clear-mindedness of his fur is a welcome relief from the swirl of thoughts in his head. He tears off through the forest, and he isn't even really sure that he's going the right way but he doesn't care. He smells six or seven different leopards before he hits the territory line, and maybe Dean should care about the repercussions of a wolf running through their territory but the wolf doesn't give a fuck what other cats think. It's too busy tearing at the restraints to go back, but Dean has just enough self-control to stop himself.
He crosses into Pack territory, and walks the rest of the way to the den, because his dad will be pissed if he goes tearing in there all pissed off. So he walks, and acts like he has some control over himself.
All in all he's not sure what he's feeling. There's too much going on to process. He just knows that angry is definitely one of the many things, and definitely the easiest to access. So he lets it flood him, until he decides he's ready to deal with the other shit.
Inside the den, he doesn't shift back. Everybody avoids him. It's par for the course, at this point, but it doesn't suck any less.
He thinks for about .02 seconds about finding Sam, but his brother would probably be all fucking rational and reasonable and that's not what Dean wants right now. He wanders down to his room instead, feeling the wolf bubbling under his skin and hoping that a cold shower will help. He's about halfway down the hallway when a door to his right opens, and he's doused with the scent of salty seawater.
"Oh. Dean. What's the matter?"
The wolf immediately quiets down, no less cagey but far less willing to show it around Layla. Dean stops walking and stares at her, rumbling low in his chest in response. She glances up and down the tunnel, but there's no one else around.
"Would you like to come in? Talk?"
Dean doesn't want to talk. But Layla doesn't know about Cas, so she won't ask about him, and her scent is helping clear his head. He trots through her doorway, careful not to brush against her. She follows him inside and shuts the door, sitting down at the edge of her bed. Dean stations himself between her and the door. Just in case. She smiles at him.
"You can shift, if you want," she says, pausing to see if he'll listen. He doesn't. "Should I talk, then?"
He huffs and lays down at her feet. She seems to take that as a yes.
"How much do you know about my pack? Your sister pack?"
Dean grunts and shrugs, or shrugs as much as he's able in his wolf body. In theory he should know all about them, but he finds himself unable to really come up with any concrete information.
"The beginning, then," Layla smiles gently. "Your grandparents, Samuel and Deanna, they were our leaders when I was born. We did not, in our pack, have a Council like you have here. Samuel was a good alpha, and Deanna was a tough omega. Your mother had already left, at that point. They died peacefully. Deanna first. Samuel followed her not long after. I do not think he wanted to be without her. We mourned them for a long time."
Dean raises his head and listens intently. Layla is staring down at her hands. Even his wolf, ears pricked, is listening.
"An alpha named Roy, and his mate, a beta named Sue-Ann, took their place. For a long time, we thought they would be good for us. The pack changed, it was true, but I think I was too young to really understand it. And anyone who spoke out, well...I suppose I was too young to understand that too."
Dean shifts back, almost involuntarily. By the time he's changed and is cracking his knuckles, Layla has retrieved a plain pair of black sweats and hands them to him. He pulls them on and sits at her feet, submitting himself to her. Some instinct tells him that she needs that, right now.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asks quietly, staring up into her eyes.
"I think you maybe need a distraction, right now. Besides, someone should know where I come from."
He doesn't feel worthy of being that person. But he listens, because she wants him to.
"When I was eleven or twelve, we had an unusually high number of omegas in our pack. It didn't take long for Roy and Sue-Ann to realize the usefulness of such a thing. Especially when their leadership started to fail. You know, I'm sure, the importance of the role the dominants play in a pack."
A wave of angry protectiveness flares in Dean's chest. She doesn't even need to say anything out loud for him to know what she's getting at.
"They didn't lead us in the way that we needed. The pack didn't bond, our Hunters lorded their power over us, skin privilege was limited to mates only; we were so isolated that even families barely even spoke."
"The pack rotted. From the inside out," Dean says quietly, the calm in his voice covering up how angry he is. Alphas, dominants, Hunters, they're supposed to protect and comfort, keep the pack healthy. They aren't supposed to abuse their dominance, hold it over the submissives like it makes them better, in some way.
Layla nods and smiles, but it's filled with sadness. "The power went to their heads, along with the isolation. You might imagine how it was for the omegas. Roy and Sue-Ann used us, hoping that we might reverse the effects. Bring the dominants back from the edge of madness. It didn't work. We learned quickly that submission was the quickest way to get by."
Dean is thankful, in that moment, that Layla is an omega, that her scent soothes his animal. He has enough shit that he's pissed about, and the addition of this information is just making it worse. Realistically he knows that she, at least, is safe from that threat. He cannot say the same for the others in her pack.
"Why didn't you call for help? Reach out to us?"
"Honestly? I'm not sure that I knew anything was wrong. I had grown up in that pack, it was all I had ever known. I thought that was my life. It was Roy, who sought help. I think, had Sue-Ann not been around, he might have reached out sooner. It was your father who came to our aid."
Dean freezes. His dad had gone on a trip, almost a year ago, with his mom. Neither of them specified where, and Dean hadn't asked. Now he knew.
"My parents...you met them?"
"I saw them," she nods, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I don't think either of them noticed me. There was much else going on."
Dean nods. He's sure his dad noticed her, and probably his mom too. The urge to protect is too strong, and there's no way the alpha in John didn't notice an omega who must've been hurting so much.
"Your father, he...well, it couldn't have been easy for him. It was too late for some. They were lost, all of the ones he took, and I think he almost became lost too. I think that's why your mother was with him. She was as strong as he was. In her own way."
That sounds right. Mary isn't one to be messed with. Dean, probably more than anyone else here besides maybe Layla, knows how much John needs her. And really, Dean and his father aren't so dissimilar in that way.
"And now, is everything...?" he lets his voice trail off, hoping she'll fill in the blanks.
"We are healing. Slowly, but surely."
"I'm sorry," Dean says, not sure what else he can say. Even that, seems pitiful. Layla offers him a smile, though, and it's much warmer this time.
"I am here, because of you. Because of your family. I was given the opportunity to leave and I did. The apology is not yours to give."
Dean sighs and stares down at the floor. He can give her this much. She is quiet for a minute or so, but her next words almost make Dean jump out of his skin.
"Would you like to talk about your mate, now?"
He flinches and stares up at her, eyes wide. "What? What are you talking about?"
She smiles knowingly. "Whoever they are, I have yet to encounter them around the den. Unless they aren't in the den?"
Shit. Shit shit shit.
"Who told you?"
Layla laughs. "No one told me." She taps her nose with her finger, smiling down at him. "I know things. So what happened?"
Dean blinks. He didn't rinse off after he got back to the den, or before, so what Layla is smelling probably is Castiel's scent clinging to him. Still, he's not sure how she jumped straight to mate. He decides to let it go, though. Omegas can smell all kinds of shit that alphas and betas can't. With his mind relatively clear, the events of the day don't seem as clear cut. Why would Cas lie to him anyway? What benefit would he get? And he always seemed so honest, how could he have hid in those clear blue eyes? But then Dean would do a lot of things to protect the Pack. Cas is probably no different. And—yeah. He definitely needs to say this shit out loud.
"I thought he lied to me. About something big. Now I'm not so sure."
"Do you have reason to believe he lied?" Layla asks, tilting her head to the side. Dean considers this.
"I don't have reason to believe he didn't lie."
That makes her laugh. Dean isn't sure what's so funny.
"An awfully pessimistic point of view, don't you think?"
Dean shrugs. "Maybe. Maybe not. When the Pack is on the line..."
He clamps his mouth shut. Shit. He said too much. Layla doesn't pry though, she just gazes at him calmly.
"So this is about the Pack. Not about your mate."
"It's both. They're not, like, mutually exclusive. Or whatever."
"I see," she hums. "Has he tried to hurt the Pack?"
"No. But he could."
"So could I," Layla adds, raising her eyebrows. "Why aren't you worried about me? You don't really know me, but you accepted me with open arms."
"You're a wolf," Dean says simply, like it's obvious. Wolves stick together, no matter what pack they're from.
"And your mate isn't."
Dean freezes again. Shit. He can't answer that. But from the look on Layla's face, he doesn't have to.
"So that's why I haven't smelled them around."
Dean sniffs and stares at the floor. "You can't tell anyone. Not yet."
She doesn't respond right away, and he keeps staring at the floor until he feels her palms on his cheeks.
"Not all wolves can be trusted. Learn that lesson from me. And not all non-wolves are undeserving of your trust. Learn that lesson yourself."
She meets his eyes directly as she speaks. Clear, blue, unfaltering. But not the right shade of blue. Not his blue. A smile spreads across his face.
"Thank you," he says, standing up and backing towards the door. She nods and smiles, quiet and beautiful like always.
Dean doesn't go right back out into the woods. He makes a couple of stops first. To shower, to see Sam, to check in with the Council. There haven't been any more human sightings, and for that he's glad. Kevin finally got in touch with their embassy, too, and should hear something from them soon about the mishap with the hunters. He promises to update Dean once he's met with them, too, which Dean feels good about. Then he heads over to IT, to pop in on Charlie and see if there's been anything else interesting happening. There usually isn't much going on in IT, so it catches Dean by surprise that he seems to have arrived at a bad time.
There's a screeching noise that hurts his ears, and one of the computers has all sorts of lights flashing.
"What up, homie," Charlie says with a smile when he enters, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "A little busy. Something I can help you with?"
"What's going on?" Dean asks, squinting at the computer. All of it means nothing to him.
"Minor perimeter breach. No biggie. Probably one of those deer, or a really big bunny. Jo is going to check it out already. Just trying to shut these damn things off."
Dean furrows his eyebrows and looks at a different computer.
"A breach? Where?"
"Uh," Charlie glances at the computer quickly, pointing vaguely with her finger. "There. Southeast. Ish."
Dean locates the spot on the map. It's the rock. The flat rock. Shit. His wolf has been relatively quiet ever since he left Layla's room, but it is anything but right now.
"Fuck," he growls, already rushing out the door. He thinks he hears Charlie say something as he exits, but he doesn't stay to listen. Jo is the bite first, ask questions later kind of Hunter, and in no world does he want her to find his cat before he does.