Mine, Chapter 11
A/N: Here we go again, peeps. I just want to say, for the record, that I fucken hate snow. I hate it and I hate shoveling it, and I especially hate driving in it. Aside from the fuckton of snow that we got this week, everything's been good. I've been banging out the short stories, so that's cool. I'm having trouble concentrating so if I toss out an iPod Shuffle, don't be surprised. There was a brief scuffle between Justin and Cody yesterday. *sighs* Apparently, they're trying to out diva each other. I'm holding out hope that they'll bond over moisturizer and waxing, but so far, nothing. At this point, I'd settle for them not killing each other, to be honest. In other news, I finally got my grubby little paws on a Jericho muse. It took fucken forever, and me using two of my muses for bait, but I got him. He's already insulting everyone and using big words to confuse Randy and John. Jerky's also demanding a story, but not in here. Jerky's every inch the pro and he refuses to be anything but the main focus of the piece. Ah, the egotistical hypocrite, I absolutely adore him.
A/N2: Thanks, as always, to everyone for reading this and leaving feedback. Especially this week; I don't know if I would have gotten the energy to write anything if I hadn't gone back and read your guys awesome feedback. Especially: candy_belle; for cheering me up with random convo's about MMG and how good a wife Jay really is. Oh, and, of course, the MMG rule. You can never say too much about how awesome that rule is, true facts. And another shout out to: energy_purple, your great feedback seriously kept me motivated the last few days, so thanks for that.
“It's a full pack meeting,” Randy repeated, a small smile on his face despite the seriousness of the subject.
Justin had moved closer to him, until the young vampire's thigh was resting against his. Randy felt some of his usual confidence return. Surely he could do this; he could make this work.
“I'm going to have Matt and Jeff come down,” Randy went on, looking around the room. No one looked surprised by the news, but then, they hadn't climbed to the top of the pack's hierarchy on their brute strength alone.
“Who's Matt and Jeff?” Evan asked hesitantly, his hand tightening in John's fur. He relaxed when no one yelled at him, scratching the top of John's head.
“They watch the border of our territory,” Ted answered after glancing at Randy. “It's a pain in the ass, and it means traveling a lot. Most of the wolves don't like being away from the pack that much, but the Hardy's are OK with it.”
“Jeff's always been weird,” Cody offered, wrinkling his nose. He looked at Justin and raised an eyebrow. “Jeff might be a little weird, but he's a good friend,” Jay said quietly before Cody could say anything. “He's always been there when I needed him to be.”
“Well, I know that,” Cody said indignantly. “But -”
“Drop it, Cody,” Alex said, looking amused when Cody glared at him. “You sound like a five year old.” “Do not.” Cody muttered, pouting at the older wolf.
He looked up at Ted through his lashes. “I don't sound like that. Do I, Teddy?” “Of course not, Baby Boy.” Ted answered, smiling indulgently at his younger mate. “See?” Cody stuck his tongue out at Alex, who just rolled his eyes.
“We'll introduce Justin and Evan at the beginning,” Randy went on, exchanging an amused glance with Adam at Cody's antics.
Justin looked at Randy nervously. He wasn't sure he could handle that many people staring at him. Randy smiled at him reassuringly; Justin just stared at him blankly before looking embarrassed and glancing away.
Evan looked just as nervous; he clutched a handful of John's fur and tugged on it absentmindedly. John gave a low whine and rubbed his muzzle against Evan's side.
“It won't be easy,” Alex said, his voice low and steady. “There's gonna be a lot of people there,” Chris went on, meeting Justin's eyes when Evan just kept looking at the ground. “They'll all be watching you, waiting to see if you make a mistake,” Alex said, an amused gleam in his eye suggesting he found the whole thing hilarious.
Of course, Alex did have a fucked up sense of humor, Chris conceded, glancing over his shoulder at his mate. Even now, Alex looked like he was just trying to figure out the best way to turn this to his advantage.
'Lex, Chris warned, even though he knew it wasn't strictly necessary. Alex might be a lot things, and not all of them good, but ungrateful had never been one of them. He wouldn't do anything to undercut Randy, but ….
Alex just grinned at him and Chris sighed. At least he was never boring.
“We'll take you hunting before hand,” Alex assured them, moving to sit on the arm of Chris's chair. Chris moved slightly, enough so that Alex could sit down and stretched his arms out so the right one was leaning against Alex's back.
“Right before,” Chris added, after glancing at Randy. They exchanged another look and Randy nodded. “Maybe an hour before the meeting starts. We'll take you out the day before, too.”
“We might as well feed, too,” Alex murmured. “It couldn't hurt.” “Except the person you're biting.” Mike said, snickering.
“Trust me, Mikey, when you do it right, getting bit is the last thing you'll complain about.' Alex told him, his smirk rivaling the one Mike usually wore.
“Do you guys want to get the measuring tape out next?” Jay suggested sweetly, grinning.
Chris rolled his eyes when Alex and Mike both got serious; a familiar competitive gleam in Alex's eyes.
“Don't even think of it,” Adam ordered, smiling. “I wouldn't want you guys to embarrass yourselves when I'm the obvious winner.”
Jay started laughing hysterically at the look of outrage on Cody's face.
“No way, Adam!” Cody protested, leaning out of Ted's arms to address the older blonde.
“I'm sure Teddy's way bigger then you are! Teddy -” Cody turned to Ted, who was laughing and blushing at the same time. “Not even for you, Baby Boy,” he told him firmly, shaking his head when Cody sulked. “No, Cody.” “Fine.” Cody huffed, giving up when Ted used his real name; that was a sign that he was quickly crossing the line into annoying.
Justin couldn't help the chuckle that escaped; they looked and sounded like a group of teenagers instead of some of the most dangerous people he'd ever come across.
“You know, I never hear you arguing over who's smaller.” Randy offered, smiling.
“Well, we never have to argue over that,” Mike told Randy, his hand rubbing Riley's arm before he realized what he was doing. “We already know that one.”
Randy eyed his friends warily, he was sure he was going to regret asking, but he couldn't help himself. “Oh, yeah? Who's that?”
As one, they all pointed at John. Even Evan and Justin burst into the laughter at the look of indignation that was on the wolf's face.
Josh growled at Dan, neither one of them willing to back off. They closed in, circling each other before Josh swung at Dan. The other man took the hit before they started brawling.
Almost twenty minutes later, Dan was sitting on Josh's back. Josh struggled for a few minutes before conceding defeat. “Give.”
As soon as the word escaped Josh's mouth, Dan moved off of him and sat on the grass.
“So,” Josh said, relaxing now that their own statuses had been settled. “What now?” “Well,” Dan drawled, frowning a little before looking at the other wolf. “Let's do a quick perimeter check, and then let's see if we can find something to eat.”
Josh stomach rumbled and he grinned at Dan. “Sounds like a plan.” Dan smiled back and motioned for Josh to go ahead. “I'll be right there; I just want to check on him quick.” Dan told him, sneering at the mention of Griffin.
Josh walked a couple feet away and Changed; the blonde, cream colored wolf looked up at Dan, head tilted to the side when he just stared at him.
“Yeah, go ahead; I'll be there in a second.” Dan assured him. Josh barked once and then took off toward the woods to start the loop.
Dan shook his head and looked in the window and when he saw the man still passed out in the cage, he Changed and bounded after Josh.
Randy looked around the room, content for right now. Soon enough he'd have to leave and go check on Griffin and then he should go check in at the nursery and make sure the pups were all doing good.
But he was with his mate and that was all that mattered for right this minute. He looked at Justin and smiled at the happiness on the newborn's face as he talked with Evan and Chris.
Yeah, right now he had everything he needed.