:Ellana:
I sit in the corner of the couch, blowing on my tea, as Jack preforms fortnite dances aggressively.
I realize this is not something I will get to see every day.
That, I'm thankful for.
I dunno, I think it's sorta cute.
Well, of course you do.
You just mated last night. Let him rejoice.
Yesterday was embarrassing enough. Once I found out what was happening, I was panicked, because all those men were just staring at me like I was a piece of meat.
'Like a what?!'
I jump at the sound of Jack's voice in my head.
"Nothing. Just go back to... whatever that was."
Jack cocks his head, anger flaring in his eyes. "Did you say what I think you said?"
I stare at him. "Depends on what you think I said."
He sucks his teeth, nodding and smiling. But, that's not a friendly smile. He spins around and heads to the front door.
I groan and follow suit after setting my mug down. "Don't kill them."
"Oh, I won't." He stops at the door. "I'm gonna whoop some asses, though."
I try to think of an excuse for those poor guys. They couldn't help it. I was in damn heat. "You don't even know where they are, so ha."
"Is that what you think?" He opens the door, and right before he closes it, he adds, "Where else would they be?"
Crap. Those guys are going to get punished because of me. I mean, they would get what they deserved. Plus, I've never really gotten to see his angry alpha tone used...
But, no. It's wrong. He probably ran over there, and now he's yelling at them. Hell, he probably forced somebody to fight him already.
I open the door.
"Agh, shit!" I yell and close it, again. "Nope. Where's my coat?" I grab it off the hook and slip into it, then try again.
By the time I reach him, he's already got guys in the ring. Not literally, but it sure looks like somebody's gonna die.
I see his back tense, so I know I don't have to tell him I'm here.
'What are you doing?' he asks.
'I'm making sure nobody dies.'
'Trust me, somebody is gonna die.'
'If you kill someone, I'm leaving you.'
He spins around, infuriated. 'You wouldn't.'
'Would I, though?'
'You wouldn't dare run again.'
"Uh, Alpha?" The man looks unsure of what to do.
Jack ignores him, because he's busy glaring daggers at me.
I know this is mean to say this stuff to him, but if he is going to be mean, I can be, too. 'I don't know, would I run again?' I cross my arms.
His eyes narrow to mere slits. 'I will make sure you don't escape if you do,'
'Oh, really? Your pack trusts me, now. I can say that I am going for a walk.'
'I will tell them not to let you through.'
'Who are they going to listen to? The deadly alpha, or the pretty luna who can protect them from you?'
He snarls, showing me his fangs.
I shrug and start walking away.
A low growl is heard, telling me to come back. I even hear his voice crack a little.
Don't make him hurt like this!
I will do what I want. He'll come running, don't you worry.
If you don't apologize, I will take over.
As if I'd let her. I push into the back of my mind until I can't feel her anymore. I'll let her out for a run to make up for it, sometime.
'Ellana, come back here.'
'No.'
'Ellana...'
'Make me.'
He cuts the connection. His loss.
I did try to save those poor guys' lives. Jack will come eventually. I know he will. I just don't know when. This was the only thing I could think of that would make him leave the training grounds besides running around naked. I obviously vouched for the first one.
It would be nice to have a mate who actually cared enough to take my thoughts into consideration, not just his own. He annoys me, Jack. Like, seriously, just smarten up and make a decision based on whatever one is better. I think mine would probably be better every time, though. Because, I mean, come on. It's Jack.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and jump.
"Jesus." I come face to face with Jack, before he scoops me up into his arms. "Oh, hi. I didn't think you cared."
He ignores me, his jaw clenched.
"Well, that's rude." I cross my arms and huff. "Wow. So disrespectful. I mean, wow. I didn't know you didn't care. I would've said I didn't know that you did care, but your current mood goes against that. Woah, how fast do you walk?! How are we back, already?!"
He walks up the steps and inside, then sets me down.
When I turn to face him, he's leaning against the door, not making eye contact.
"Jack?"
"You disrespected me in front of my soldiers."
"I did? Oh, I did. I guess in the eyes of an angry alpha I did."
He inhales deeply, thinking about something.
"What are you gonna do about it?"
Without hesitation, he answers, "No cookies for a week."
"What?! You can't do that! You can't take fucking cookies away from me!"
"I just did."
I clench my fists. He can't do this. Cookies are life. I can't survive without cookies for a whole week.
"Atticus?" He calls.
Atticus peeks around the corner. "Yes, Master Jack?"
"Atti!" I yell and run over to him. I embrace him, so he hugs back, though hesitant at first. "He's trying to take away my cookies! Don't let him! Please!"
He looks down into my pleading eyes.
I look at Jack when Atticus smiles at me. "Ha!"
Jack shakes his head. "No cookies for a week."
"No! You can't do that! Atticus is my friend, and he will still give me cookies!"
"If Atticus gives you cookies, he's fired."
I gasp. "That's even worse! He's the best cook ever! I will never eat your food! Your meatloaf tastes like feet!"
I can feel Atti shaking underneath me.
"No, it doesn't!"
"Yes, it does! You didn't even eat it!"
He shuts his mouth. "Whatever. No cookies for a week, hear that, Atticus?"
Atticus nods.
I back away from him in frustration. "You're supposed to have my side!"
"How am I supposed to have your side if I'm fired? I can only give you cookies if I still work here."
"I'm serious." Jack points at Atticus. "I'm being completely dead serious. If I smell cookies on her, you're done." He reaches for the door and leaves.
I sulk on the couch.
"It's fine. I'll give you cookies."
"You will?!"
"I trust you can negotiate with him." He smiles at me.
I jump up. "Of course I can!"
Then I pick up my cold tea.
:Shane:
I walk into the living room and stretch.
Ellana is sitting on the couch watching a show.
I sit on the other side of the couch.
"What show is this?"
"How I Met Your Mother," she replies, her eyes trained on the TV while wolfing down some sugar cookies.
I nod. "Never heard of it." I move the pillow to my side.
"Where's Tyler?"
"In bed."
She doesn't respond. Maybe she's lost in the Netflix world. Maybe she just doesn't care.
I unlock my phone. 121 notifications on Snapchat. 34 notifications on Instagram. Not bad for a night. I don't get a lot of messages because I don't have many friends out of the pack. My life is here. I rarely go out.
I answer one after the other so I don't have to worry about them for a while.
A few people have left me on read, but I don't take it personally, because honestly, I'm a boring person.
I go into Gallery and surf through the pictures. The majority of them are me and Tyler, at Starbucks, for some reason he loves McDonald's, Dairy Queen, the mall, random places, Peru...
"That's a nice picture," Ellana comments. "Where was that?"
"We went to Paris in this chunk."
"Woah, cool. Can I look at them?"
I nod and hand her my phone.
The people on the TV talk about a crooked apartment as the screen rotates.
"This one is nice, too."
I look over my shoulder. It's a picture of Tyler and I at the airport. He's always been photogenic. Even when he's drunk, which is not fair. I rest my head on my hand.
Just as I'm thinking about Tyler, he jumps over the back of the couch.
He snuggles into my side, so I wrap my arm around him.
He smiles up at me.
"How was your sleep?"
He shrugs. "Alright."
"Just alright?"
Before he has the chance to answer, Ellana butts in, "What is this?"
I inspect the screen as she holds it up for me to see.
Tyler pokes me. "I didn't know you took a picture."
I clear my throat. "Yeah, uh... It's nothing important."
"That was when I got braces," Tyler says.
"That would explain your straight teeth, then," she sighs. "If only..." She continues scrolling. "You guys always look great. This isn't fair."
"I always look good in pictures, what are you talking about?" Tyler smirks.
"But, look. Here, you have this weird face, but it suits you. You would look fine making any face. Then there's me. I can only stick out my tongue. If I raise an eyebrow, it's game over."
"That's not true," I say. "You're beautiful."
"Thanks. At least somebody thinks so," she sighs and watches the show, again.
"So," Tyler grins. "How was last night, huh?"
I almost think he's talking to me because he nudges me.
"What do you mean?!" She yells.
"Woah, calm down."
"How'd you know?"
"Why are we whispering?" Tyler leans in.
"I'm sorry. How'd you know?"
"Well, that's easy." Tyler throws himself across my lap with his arms crossed behind his head. "We heard all the moaning-"
"No, you didn't!"
"Yeah, we did."
Her eyes widen and she blushes. "Did you actually?"
"No, we didn't get home until four this morning. But, you have his scent all over you."
She places a hand over her heart.
Tyler adds, "But now I know you were moaning loudly."
"I was not!"
"Were too! You just totally admitted it without admitting it!"
I whisper for him to be a little more quiet.
"Excuse me? No." He frowns. "Me and Ellie can yell if we want!"
I raise my eyebrow.
He quickly adds, "Although we could also be quieter if you wanted us to be, right, El?"
I smirk as he looks frantically in her direction, but she completely ghosts him, too engulfed in the TV to pay any attention.
I lean my head back and close my eyes. It would be nice to get some quality sleep every now and then.
Tyler lifts his head up, as if he's going to sit up, but he thumps back down.
I flinch and stare at him, my head not resting anymore. Actually, I'm all tense now, so no part of me is resting, thanks to Tyler.
He shrugs. "Had to get your attention some way."
"What do you need me for, then?"
"Well, right now..."
"Choose your next words very carefully."
"I need you to... uh... I actually, um, forget what I was going to say. So, we'll pretend this never happened, m'kay?"
The front door opens. Jack walks in with basketball shorts.
"Damn, if I didn't have a mate, I'd be into you," Tyler says.
Jack and I both glare at him.
"What, you want me to lie?"
A quick movement is made from the corner of my eye, but I don't know what it was.
I focus on Ellana as she wipes her hand and continues watching the TV, ignoring Jack's presence.
"Ellie, what are you doing?" Jack asks.
"Nothing."
"Obviously you're doing something."
"Why do you care?"
"Because I care about-"
"You didn't seem to care earlier."
"What did you expect me to do?"
"Hear me out."
"You walked away."
She shrugs. "I wonder if you can figure out why."
Jack sighs and strolls over, picking her up and sitting where she was.
She completely avoids all eye contact.
"You can't ignore me for- are these cookie crumbs?"
"No!"
I think she's got some weird thing where her mood changes when she lies.
"What is it, then?"
"Well, it is, but-"
"I was eating cookies." Tyler raises his hand.
Jack looks at him. "You're not supposed to lie to your alpha."
"Guilty as charged."
"Nobody charged you. You-"
"I charged myself."
Jack inspects Ellana's face and wipes a crumb away, I'm guessing. "If you didn't eat any cookies, let me smell your breath."
She starts getting up. "Yeah, sure let me just throw up, then you can."
"No." He holds her still. "I'm serious."
"You're always serious. Have some fun."
"Ellana."
"No, it's weird. I'm not letting you smell my breath."
"That's fine. I just did while you were talking." He stands, Ellana still in his arms, and strides to the staircase, heading up.
"Busted!" Tyler laughs.
Then he looks at me.
"Oh, shit. She's not the only one, is she?"