i'm gonna change you like a remix...
Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3
Part 4
“Now, isn't this familiar,” Jessica taunted as she surveyed the five werewolves in front of her; the circle of mountain ash stark against the white tile floor. The two other Hunters smirked at them while they straightened the knives that were laid out on the table in front of them.
“I'm going to kill you for this,” Andy told her, a dangerous growl rumbling from his throat; his eyes were dark red and his teeth had lengthened into fangs but otherwise he seemed unaffected. “Even if it costs me my own life, I am going to rip your throat out with my teeth.”
“We both know that isn't going to happen,” Jessica smirked, sure in her victory already. “You can't get out of the circle and none of us are going to break it.
“All of you are going to stay in there while I make sure we get all of your pack this time, Hurley; I've got the others locked in another room and -”
Pete howled in rage at the words and threw himself at the barrier before Andy could stop him, Tony half a step behind him; slamming against the barrier of mountain ash felt like hitting a wall of concrete and it took Pete almost a full minute to hear over the ringing in his ears.
Andy ran a hand over Pete's head in comfort but his eyes never left Jessica; Joe and Mikey were standing close together, they were both tensed and ready for a fight and Tony was prowling around the circle, a steady stream of growls and snarls leaving his mouth.
Pete rose to his feet and took his place at his Alpha's side; now that he had calmed down, he realized he could still feel Patrick through their mate-bond and while Patrick felt pissed off and a lot of other things that were too rushed for Pete to get a reading on, he was still alive, still connected to him and as long as that didn't change, Pete knew they could get out of this.
“Not very intelligent, are you?” Jessica asked as the other Hunters laughed. “That's OK, sweetie, I think I can see why Ashlee was willing overlook it in your case.”
Pete fought off a shudder at the look Jessica gave him and Andy snarled and moved in front of his beta protectively. Before it could devolve into anything else, there was a some noise and then Pete exhaled in dismay when a familiar scent hit his nose. “You have to be fucken kidding me.”
When Ashlee walked in with her father, Pete felt Tony and Joe flank him while Mikey pressed against his back; Andy didn't move from his spot in front of him and when he flexed his hand his claws slid out.
“Aunt Jess, what are you -”
Ashlee's question cut off as her father squeezed her shoulder in warning; when he spoke to his sister, his voice was even but his scent was a mix of fear and resignation.
“Jess, I told you to leave them alone,” Simpson told her as he took in the mountain ash on the floor and the stainless steel table with the small array of knives on it to the Hunters that smirked at him. “We have a truce with the Hurley pack; let them go.”
“They're monsters, Joey,” Jessica hissed, her eyes narrowed angrily at her older brother. “How could you forget Dad's lessons? They need to be stopped before they do more damage -”
“Damage? Jess, what the hell is wrong with you; there hasn't been any attacks here since the rogue Alpha was killed. And that's the Sheriff's son you've got trapped there, do you think he's not going to want to find out who killed his kid?”
“Oh, don't worry, brother dear, I've got that covered,” Jessica assured him, a cold smile on her face. She turned to the other Hunters and barked out, “Go get the other three.”
They hesitated for a second before they left out a side door; Pete latched on to Tony's wrist and growled as his eyes followed them until the door shut behind them. Tony whined, low in his throat, and surged forward until he bumped against Andy's back.
“The other three?” Simpson repeated incredulously; his hand tightened on Ashlee's shoulder as he looked at his sister. “Jessica, please tell me you don't have humans here, too!”
“If you hurt him, I will rip you apart,” Pete promised her, his voice riding the edge between growling and talking. “Not even this fucken circle will stop me from getting to you.”
“And that's assuming I don't get to you first,” Tony snarled, his eyes flashed electric blue and his whole body was poised to fight at the first opportunity.
Jessica glanced over her shoulder and just smirked at them; they both snarled at her and it was only Andy' raised hand that kept them from leaping forward.
“Jessica, this is murder,” her brother said, his tone almost pleading. “I hate werewolves just as much as you do, but they haven't broken the Code, you can't -”
“It's not murder,” Jessica argued, she checked the circle again and turned towards her brother. “They're monsters, Joey! You know it as well as I do -I'm helping people by getting rid of them. Ashlee will be safe without them roaming around her school, this is for her.”
“Don't drag her into this,” Simpson said through clenched teeth. “You're doing this because you want to, don't use my daughter as an excuse.”
“Aunt Jess, why is Pete here?” Ashlee asked tentatively. “He didn't kill or hurt anyone.”
“Ashlee, sweetie, trust me, it was only a matter of time before he did,” Jessica told her niece with the same warm smile that Ashlee had seen on her face her whole life. “They can't help it, they're animals. They put on a good show, but it in the end they need to be put down, like the rabid dogs they are.”
“Did you burn down the Hurley house? Patrick said you did, but I know -please, Aunt Jess, you didn't did you?” Ashlee questioned in a quiet voice, her tone begged her favorite aunt to deny it.
“You'll understand when you're older, Ash,” Jessica answered, she took a step forward and her eyes searched the teenager's face. “Sometimes you have to sacrifice a few to save the many; look at it as exterminating some cockroaches so they don't infest the whole neighborhood.”
Pete looked over to the door when it opened and his heart skipped a beat as Patrick walked in with Pepper and Bruce behind him; before any of them could make any noise, Andy held up his hand to quiet them.
He kept an ear on the Simpsons but his eyes were on his second's; Andy raised an eyebrow and nodded the way they had come. Patrick shook his head and ran a finger across his own throat.
Dead, Pete thought and he felt a fierce pleasure at the idea that his mate had killed them, had gotten rid of the threat to his pack. They deserved it, they hurt us, brought us here, would have killed us, Pete crooned to his wolf and fed all his pride and love into the mating bond so Patrick would know how proud they were of him, how much he meant to them.
Patrick's lip curled into a smile but he kept his eyes on their Alpha and Pete felt the echo of Patrick's feelings; there was a scrape along Patrick's cheekbone and he had a black eye as well as a cut through his eyebrow that had bled over the side of his face, but he was alive and as long as that stayed the same, Pete would do whatever he had to to keep it that way.
Andy nodded once more and Patrick walked towards where the Hunters were still huddled together while Pepper and Bruce went to break the circle of mountain ash that had the rest of their pack imprisoned.
“I don't understand why you're so upset, Joey, I'm just -” Jessica made a surprised noise that ended in a wet, choked sound that made her brother's face harden as he drew his gun with one hand and shoved Ashlee to the side with the other.
Jessica dropped to her knees, her eyes locked onto her brother's face as she tried to breath.
“You know, I can't decide if I should be insulted that you restrained us with zip-ties,” Patrick said conversationally; his voice was even as he stared at Simpson and his arm was steady when he twisted the knife in Jessica's back. “And then didn't even bother to search us once you got us here. Or if I should just be amused at the whole scenario.
“For someone who murders people for a living, you're a lot dumber than I thought. Or maybe you're just so focused on the supposed damage werewolves are capable of that you forget just how much damage us humans can do to each other if we want to.”
Ashlee stared at Patrick in confusion, unable to reconcile the quiet kid who sat behind her in Chemistry with the person in front of her who looked so comfortable with a knife in his hand.
“I'm going to lean towards amused, if only because I've wanted to do this to you since I found out who you were,” Patrick went on, cool and collected, not even flinching at the gun the Hunter had pulled on him.
“Ashlee, get behind me,” her father ordered harshly and then to Patrick, “Don't think I won't shoot you.”
Patrick raised an eyebrow as he pulled his knife out of Jessica's body and casually slit her throat before he wiped the blade off on his shirt. “Believe me, I know what your family's capable of -questionable self-defense isn't the worst thing you guys have ever done.”
“Patrick,” Andy said quietly as he came up behind them; Patrick slid over so he was on the Alpha's right, he put his knife back in the sheath on his calf before he straightened and pressed close to Pete so their shoulders were touching; it wasn't as close as he wanted to be to him, but it was all they could do until they cleaned up this mess.
He could see everyone else grouped around Andy; Tony on his left with Pepper and Bruce slightly behind him and Mikey and Joe on his other side.
“You can do whatever you want to me, but let Ashlee go,” Simpson told them, his voice steady; he ignored his daughter's distressed, “Dad, no!” and concentrated on the werewolves in front of him.
“Jesus, do we look like hunters to you?” Joe asked angrily.
“Unless you had something to do with this, I'm not going to hurt you,” Andy told him, his voice heavy. “I have no reason to want you dead as long as you leave us alone; I'm not human, I don't blame you for something you didn't know about or have any control over.
“I'm not sorry your sister's dead -she took more from me than you'll ever be able to understand. And if you ever get killed, I won't feel bad about that, either. But I can promise you that none of my pack will bother you as long as you leave us alone.”
“And if we run into each other any where?” Simpson questioned even as he took a couple steps backwards.
“Please, we can control ourselves,” Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“That doesn't matter, we won't attack you until you attack us,” Andy said patiently; he eyed Ashlee as she looked around her father's shoulder. “That includes Ashlee shooting Patrick with a crossbow. If she -”
“That wasn't me!” Ashlee protested unconvincingly.
“Liar,” Mikey said flatly; when she she glared at him, he just raised an eyebrow and lifted his lip so his teeth were visible. She flushed when Pete growled softly and ducked back behind her father.
“-can't let her thing with Pete go, someone's going to get hurt,” Andy ignored the interruptions and went on. “Mates are important to us, more important than anything -except for our cubs. If Ashlee hurts Patrick again, Pete's going to go after her -he won't be able to help himself, his wolf will push for it.”
“I'll talk to her about it,” Simpson said after a long silence; he held up a hand when she started to protest. “You have my word that she'll leave him alone.”
“Your word?” Pepper repeated incredulously.
“Pepper,” Andy said; he didn't do anything else but Pepper subsided without another word. “We'll clean this mess up and fix something so it won't get traced back to us.”
“My father owns the building,” Tony interjected, his usual smirk firmly in place; there was a tremor in his shoulders and despite the arrogance in his tone, he sounded half a step away from collapsing. Pepper placed a hand on his lower back and after a moment Bruce carefully put one on his shoulder. When he spoke again, he sounded a little more like his normal self. “If we make it look like an accident -fray the wiring, overload some of the circuits- Howard won't put more than the minimum effort into investigating it. Less if I tell him I was messing around in here when the fire started.”
“I can take the bodies,” Simpson volunteered and managed a small smile at the confused looks he got. “When Hunters die during skirmishes, we can't just call the cops; there's a system we use for it.”
“Alright,” Andy said after a minute. “Tony take Bruce and Patrick and set that up; Pete, you and Joe -”
Andy paused at the low whine Pete let out; Patrick bit his lip and looked just as upset at the idea, but he didn't say anything. He mentally chastised himself for not thinking that they would want to stay within sight of each other for a few days.
“Tony take Bruce and Pepper instead; Patrick, take Pete and Joe and carry the bodies out to their SUV. Come back in here when you're done and we'll see where Tony is at.”
Patrick nodded and headed towards the side door his hand tangled in Pete's and Joe crowded on the other side of him.
Tony strode over to the far wall, Pepper's hand firmly caught in his; even as he waved his left hand around to point out the various weak spots in the wiring, he kept his grip on Pepper. Andy was unsurprised when he kept brushing his shoulder against Bruce's as well; he had suspected for a while that Tony, Pepper and Bruce were a triad -Patrick had mentioned it to him and once he had confirmed that triads were possible, if not exactly common, Patrick had laughed for a good ten minutes before going to tell Pete.
It had gotten to the point where it was an open secret among the pack, much like Patrick being Pete's mate had been before they had mated -except now it was Pepper, Tony and Bruce that weren't in the know about it.
“Ashlee, stay here. I'll be right back.”
Ashlee watched her father lead the way through the main doorway and to the hallway, Pete and Joe each with a dead Hunter slung over their shoulders and Patrick carrying their weapons in his arms, before she turned to back to Andy and looked apprehensive.
Andy eyed her speculatively; she smelled like prey to him, afraid and half ready to run from him at the slightest excuse.
“Wolves mate for life,” Andy told her quietly, hoping to save them all a lot of trouble by making her understand why Pete would never go back to her. Mikey snorted in amusement next to him as if he understood what his Alpha was doing and doubted it would work. “And so do werewolves, Ashlee; in some things, we're very much like the animals Hunters think we are.
“Even if Pete managed to survive Patrick dying, there would be no one else for him -or his wolf- for the rest of his life. Both halves of him bonded with Patrick and it wouldn't occur to him to even think about anyone else. It may sound ridiculous to you, but Patrick is all Pete is ever going to want or need.”
Ashlee bit her lip and looked away from them, tried to block the words out.
“It was always going to be Pete and Patrick,” Mikey added, his voice softer than Andy would have expected. “They've been tied together since they were kids; trust me, we've been in a lot of the same classes all through school. Getting bitten just made it, like, official or what have you.”
“But we started dating after that, after he got bitten,” Ashlee hissed out, her voice slightly desperate; for a second, Andy felt sorry for her. Being convinced you loved someone who didn't love you back was hard under even normal circumstances, never mind these ones. “And he cared about me, I know he did. He didn't even want Patrick, not until that stupid party and Patrick kissed him.”
“Wrong,” Tony interrupted as he came back over; his hand was still wrapped around Pepper's and Bruce was close behind him. “I happened to be outside when they kissed and Pete definitely kissed him first. And I don't know what he did before he was a wolf, but by the time I was bitten, I could smell it all over Pete that he wanted Patrick.”
Ashlee opened her mouth but before she could say anything her father came back in the room; she looked unhappy enough to make her father frown but he didn't mention it when he spoke. “Are we done here?”
Andy waited until Patrick, Pete and Joe were back next to him before he nodded. “Yeah, we can take care of the fire here. Do you want help moving Jessica?”
Ashlee made a distressed noise and Simpson's mouth hardened, but when he spoke his words were even. “No, I got it, thanks. Come on, Ash.”
He bent over and lifted his sister's body over his shoulders in a fireman's carry; his face was set in hard lines as he turned to go. Ashlee glanced back once before she followed her father out.
Pete waited until their footsteps faded out and then he latched onto Patrick, buried his face into his mate's neck and inhaled. “Patrick.”
“Hey, Pete, I'm right here,” Patrick murmured soothingly and softly ran his hand up and down Pete's back. “I'm alright, I hardly even got hurt. We're both alive.”
Pete whined and pressed closer to Patrick, rubbed his face against Patrick's; Patrick wrapped his arms around him and held on -he needed to feel Pete under his hands, alive, just as much as Pete did.
Tony pulled Pepper to him, buried his nose in her hair and clutched her tight enough that there would probably be bruises along her back from his fingers; she leaned into him and pressed their faces together. After a second, Tony reached over and dragged Bruce into the hug; Pepper wrapped one arm around him and one around Tony. Bruce stayed tense for a second before he exhaled and relaxed into it, a small, happy smile on his face.
Andy smiled to himself as he turned to take one last look around the warehouse; they would need to leave soon, but there was time to let his pack relax for a minute.
As he watched Mikey and Joe rough house; Pete and Patrick cling to each other, Tony, Pepper and Bruce start to understand what they were meant to be, Andy thought that while he would miss his family for the rest of his life, he could do a lot worse than what he had now.
*