Running With Wolves

I drifted toward the kitchen then, drawn to it by the scent of cinnamon and apple.

I expected to see a beautiful golden brown turnover on the counter out to cool. What I hadn’t been expecting was Mia perched up on said counter with my brother standing between her legs with his hands in her hair and their lips connected.

I barely saw but a flash of them before I ducked quietly back into the hall. A million thoughts flew through my head the majority of them being a long the lines of, ’that was fast’ and ’Jasmine will be fun to deal with.’

That last one was closely followed by the thought ’Oh fuck Jasmine is going to be hell to deal with.’ She wasn’t particularly known for her easygoing personality. She was also notoriously territorial—whether or not she had any right to feel protective over Conan was irrelevant.

…where was Jasmine anyway? I could sense her presence somewhere close. I couldn’t describe to you what it felt like, to sense another presence. I’d imagine the most accurate comparison was a combination of feeling someone watching you and déjà vu. It was just this weird six sense sort of feeling that, for a Were, was second nature. I couldn’t pinpoint her only gauge it by how strongly I felt her. My eyes instantly adverted toward the ceiling. She was somewhere upstairs, which meant that for now, we were all safe from Perfect Storm Jasmine.

A pot clattered to the floor and I darted back into the living room with Lukas and Knoll. My swift entrance had easily gained both of their attentions, both looking alert and questioning. I opened my mouth but then closed it again. Mia and Conan, whatever they where now, could wait until morning. Enough had been said and done for one night in my opinion.

“Pie not done?” There was a teasing edge to Lukas’s voice and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“What’s it to you? I’m not sharing.” I grunted.

He stuck his tongue out at me and in a moment of immaturity and I couldn’t help but stick my tongue out at him in return. Knoll just rolled his eyes smiling silently as he flipped lazily and unseeing through the magazine.

A while later footsteps creaked above us and I made the decision to venture up to the second level of the old house. I don’t know what made me want to go up there when I could stay within the presence of people who actually liked me but I did. I found her in the library while Rune slept in the bedroom next to it.

“Hey,” Some part of me was pleased that she jumped, startled as she turned in my direction. She glanced away, snapped the book closed in her hand, and returned it to the shelf.

“I wasn’t snooping,” She stated guarded, her posture slightly rigid. She glanced to me then, a combination of annoyance and guardedness in her dark oaken eyes. “I just…I’d rather be up here then down there around people who want nothing to do with me.”

I stared at her for a moment not quite knowing what to say. What was I suppose to say?
Telling her that everyone downstairs adored her would just piss her off for trying to reassure her with a false truth.

“Then why are you still here?” hurt flashed across her eyes so fast I wasn’t even sure I’d actually seen it before it was replaced by the stony glare she loved to fix me with. I struggled to explain, “What I mean is, why stay if you feel that why? Why not just go home like everyone else? No one else in West Blackwood dared to stay—especially within the mixed company of Lukas and Knoll.”

She stared at me for a moment shifting on her feet uncomfortably. “Because,” Jasmine began, “maybe, I don’t know,” she was looking everywhere but at me. “maybe even though everyone hates me here I still feel like I’m right where I need to be. Somehow I feel safe, like I belong.” She laughed uneasily at herself. “How fucking stupid does that sound?”

I stared at her for a moment in a way I’ve never looked at Jasmine in my life. What she said wasn’t stupid, in fact I think I understood perfectly even if she didn’t. I stepped toward her but she still refused to look at me even when I placed my hand on her shoulder.

“No,” I murmured. “I don’t think it’s stupid. I think you’re Were is telling you what to do more than you consciously think.”

She met my gaze then with surprise and confusion. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

I swallowed, quiet for a moment as I tried to gather my thoughts. “You used to hate me remember? In fact I think you still do and yet you are in the house of your ex and the girl you hate. Conan and I are the only people remotely Pack here. Rune, Knoll, Lukas, they’re all Eastern and yet you still stay. Think about it.”

“What are you getting at?”

I licked my lips hesitantly. “You’re drawn to me, to support me, protect me—at least your Were is.”

“I’m not your fucking lesbian lover Sage.” She scowled thinking I was messing with her. But I wasn’t, in fact I was far from joking. I wish I was joking.

“No but I am, technically within Were pack law, the rightful Alpha of Western with my father gone. You’re Were…It’s allied itself with me—not Mankato.”

“That’s—“ But she paused, unsaid words dying in the air as she thought about it. Jasmine paled as she gazed at me reproachfully and swallowed hard.

“Fucking A,” she hissed turning away, her hands going to her head suddenly stressed. She paced back and forth across the room, her lips pursed as she shook her head, lines of worry, anger, and fear had begun to crease her forehead. “No,” She stated suddenly, stopping and turning to me. “Just—no. You’re wrong.” She declared her anger suddenly turning on me instead. “You’re so fucking full of yourself. What? Breaking up me and Conan wasn’t enough? You have to find some other way to fuck with me?”

“Jazz,-“

“Don’t call me that!.”

I paused, hesitating for a moment. “Jasmine, first of all, what happened with you and Conan was a long time ago, in fact you pinning the entire break up on me is a little ridiculous don’t you think? Second of all, I was just trying to help you figure out exactly why you’re still here since apparently you don’t even know. But actually, now that I think about it, I think you should leave.”

She scowled at me angrily before she turned curtly on her heels, threw open the door, and made her way swiftly down the stairs.

Jasmine was like a bomb constantly on the verge of going off. You had to be careful with how you approach things with her. I suppose she’s more in touch with her Were than most; anger her, make her Were feel threatened and she’ll bite the hand that feeds.

I suppose I had not handled that as well as I should have but as emotionally drained as I was I couldn’t bring myself to walk on eggshells and cater to her today.

I moved toward the big old plushy chair with the creaky springs and I couldn’t help but collapse into it. It was too easy to curl up into the piece of furniture and shut my eyes, praying for peace as I slipped into darkness.