Hunting Red and Dancing Around Devils

–One Shot of extended scenes between Ruby Lucas and Alpha Graham Humbert taken from my other fic Ever Dance With the Devil. Not a stand alone.–

October

Ruby still sat, staring at the idle computer screen, minutes after Emma logged off to deal with whatever Killian Jones had planned for them at Brookside. "Well that was surprising."

Graham hummed in agreement. "Killian singing a shanty… honestly can't say I'd ever thought I would hear that again."

Ruby smiled to herself. "Yes, that too."

"Too?"

Ruby couldn't look to him, not enjoying the possibility of this conversation going where she didn't want to follow. "It's surprising to see you so calm when Emma is off alone with another male, while another male is off hunting her. You barely made a fuss at all over them going away, or the domesticity we just saw… did you find some new found trust in Killian Jones?"

Graham walked heel to toe to the bed of their rented hotel, "Yes… to a degree. He's more than proven that he's in this for the long haul for Emma. To me at least."

Ruby cocked her head, "Yeah huh… you want to tell me the rest of that or are we going to play Fae games?"

Graham scrubbed his face. "I'm not trying to play games Ruby, not about this. I just… I…" He groaned and flopped backwards on the bed. "Killian and I discussed a few things before we all left. I'll say we sorted out something, but it brought up new questions for me."

Ruby furrowed her brow, "Wait… did you give up your claim on Emma?"

Graham sat back up on his elbows, "My what?"

Ruby inched closer in her chair, "Your claim on Emma. Did you back off?"

Graham's mouth set in a contemplative line, "Ruby, I never had a claim on her. I never approached her romantically… well, once. But that was after all this started, and even when I tried, I wasn't trying all that hard. Killian coming around clued me in to something internal with my own wolf. I still don't like him much, but I do have him to be thankful to."

"So you don't–"

Graham sat up, eyes trained on hers. "I don't see Emma Swan as a mate. I never did. I confused familial love and a protective drive for the pull of a mate."

Gears clicked and whirled behind Ruby's eyes, "And it took Killian to show you the difference?" Graham nodded, "Graham Humbert… are you… are you telling me you feel the pull for a mate… for Killian Jones?"

Graham blinked at her, "I'm sorry, what?"

Ruby looked off to a wall, needing a blank canvass to see how the puzzle pieces might fit together; eyes still frantic as she calculated the history between Graham and Killian. "That would explain all the bickering. And stare downs. Sexual tension thick as Granny's potato soup… and eye fucking…" Graham tossed a pillow at her, but she only giggled. "You did let a part of him inside you with that potion…"

Graham was up in a flash, pulling Ruby from her chair and pinning her to the wall. Her eyes flashed amber and his responded in kind, both growling lowly as he squeezed her upper arms, "No Ruby Lucas, I do not feel the pull to Killian Jones."

Ruby could smell something heady coming from Graham, something new, and all she could think of was to roll in it. "Don't worry Graham. Someday you will feel the pull to someone."

He didn't blink, barely moved to breathe, eyes burning with his wolf. "And if I already do?"

Ruby swallowed, "Then I hope he or she makes you happy."

His eyes still didn't falter from hers, his new scent enveloping her senses. "She will. She does."

"Do I know her?"

Graham just nodded, giving her nothing else. He held Ruby another three breaths while ideas fired off in her head, only one being an idea she could live with, however improbable it might be. So she hoped. She had to do something.

Graham was tense the drive up to Brookside. Whatever information he found seized his thoughts, only to compound in a gangrenous spiral when their fears came true for Emma; but that heady smell was seeping from him at random intervals and Ruby couldn't fathom what it was supposed to mean for him, or how it tied in with their current situation. She couldn't talk down his stress levels, so Ruby went for the next best thing, touching his leg in a comforting gesture now and then, hoping it would ease one of the smaller mental blocks he was wrestling with. She couldn't save him from the ones that were drowning him, so far under that surface that he wasn't even listening to the phone conversation she'd been having with David for the last ten minutes.

Something Alpha Nolan found amusing while he spoke in her ear, "He's a focused hunter Red. Whatever has him that preoccupied over a debriefing on Emma has to be fairly huge."

Ruby sighed. "I think there was some sort of internal problem in his Pack. This probably has him torn between loyalties."

David hummed, "Maybe. But if I know Graham, it's something bigger than pack politics. Just give him time, if you're willing to wait for him that is."

Ruby moved the phone away and stared at it, wondering just when he learned to speak crazy. "Just what are you getting at David?"

"Oh no. Don't you try to pull me into the middle of you two."

"What 'us two'? What do you know David?"

A nervous laugh was followed by a clearing of his throat. "Not a damn thing apparently. What news is he bringing with him anyway?"

Ruby clicked her tongue, "He only gave me a few lines as he rushed me through packing. He was too close to his change to talk much. He was just adamant that I call you and tell you to have Killian sedated for a time. We can't chance him overhearing this until we have a plan of attack."

"Bad idea Red. We would have problems –much bigger problems– when Killian woke up from that. We're struggling with him as it is."

"We're going to be struggling with him regardless David. Putting him under will give us a moment to brace for impact."

David huffed. "You're sure you don't have even a small idea of what kind of impact we should brace for?"

Ruby raised her voice so Graham might finally come back to the land of the living; she couldn't play his press secretary forever. That job was better than the next as she felt more like a glorified phone stand, passively letting the men folk handle things. It was annoying to be sure, but she'd let it slide for the circumstances. Tensions were high all round and it wouldn't do to have these two Alphas –and good friends– bickering at each other. So Ruby slipped in between their words and did what she does best; distract the men with chosen words and an easy smile to give the ego's a chance to turn off.

An effort tossed to shit when David mentioned Regina. So Ruby handled the conversation again, if only to give Graham a moment to cycle through the reactions such a trauma would naturally bring. When they finally hung up with Brookside, Ruby had to lean her head on his shoulder. As much for her own comfort as his own. Graham still blamed himself for the night that Ruby met her Change; with Emma missing, the mention of Regina would only push him further into his guilt.

So she whispered the truth of him as she knew it, feeling his new scent wrap around her as he denied her words.

November

Graham knew Ruby was a beautiful wolf, but watching her run with the pack as they played their moon games was something else entirely; moving between cover points and trees with grace and precision, her coat blending in with the shadows seamlessly. For a wolf living in the city, this woman loved to run, looking more like she was flying low to the ground rather than touching earth with four paws. Not an ounce of energy was wasted in her movements, not even when she faked clumsy footing to lure another wolf into a hazard that would trap them for the duration of the games. She never made an attempt to hurt one of his pack either, not a nip or snap of the jaws; simply out thinking each wolf she came across in a matter of minutes, bounding away from each encounter like a pup in a ball house. Her joy of playing out in the light of the moon was infectious as she even managed to pull a few of the wolves formally of the separation movement into her play. He could feel a few bonds in his pack renew and strengthen because of it.

Graham felt his heart rip from his chest to fly to her feet.

His wolf filled the space with absolute pride for its choice.

He couldn't remain up on the roof of the garage to watch over them anymore. He needed just a moment to run with her, needed to cave to the enthusiasm she generated. Needed to see if her wolf would accept him. He didn't notice the ground fade under his feet as he tracked his way too her, too focused on the pull that shouldn't be so strong this soon. The pull, however, took him to an empty spot among the small trees along the southern wall. Graham whined a moment before putting his nose to ground, eager to the point of desperation to find the female fogging his mind as she sharpened his senses. Her scent was everywhere on the ground, not giving any real direction other than "nearby". So Graham widened his circle, marking any variation to the perimeter of her scent, eyes scanning for tracks or strands of fur; he'd take one of her elaborate earrings at this point. It was frustrating. Her scent was everywhere, fresh enough where she should be within visual range, but the damned woman was pulling a Houdini on him. He chuffed out a breath, raising his nose to the sky to scent the air, anxious for a clue of any kind to her whereabouts.

It came as roughly 120 pounds of brindled jubilation landed on his back howling its victory over the Alpha.

Clever girl…

Graham rolled and Ruby leapt off of him, racing away to a small cluster of trees with Graham close behind her. Her excitement was a drug on the wind flying back to him to flirt with his senses, causing a loss of control to his wolf, to his baser needs of chasing and taking what should be his. Ruby was nimble as she danced over the green ground, deftly avoiding rocks and other debris left on the ground in a decorative attempt to imitate the wilds. But Graham was bigger, with more power pumping into his legs, overtaking Ruby was only a matter of time. Ruby changed that too, pulling a Crazy Ivan and closing the distance Graham needed to nip at her hind leg and cause her to stumble. Instead he rolled over her body again, rising up to see her positioned in a traditional pose of a dog at play; front down and legs splayed, rump in the air with the tail wagging.

Graham felt the pull towards her as if a seven-ton truck was hauling him.

She bounded away one more time and he let her go. Graham needed to be human before his wolves came in from the games. He needed control in case a few of the younger ones had trouble letting go of the hunt. He needed time to adjust his blood flow before he saw Ruby again.

Ruby was the last back, having helped round in the young wolves to show them the feast set up to sate their other needs. But she was human as she did so, clothed in thick yoga pants and one of his old college sweaters. (He refreshes his degrees every ten years to maintain his businesses in top form.) It meant that she had cut her play short for the sake of helping the pack; the knowledge of her compassion and the sight of those stretched pants left his blood moving of its own free will to whatever extremity it pleased, urging him once again to stride over and claim her as his. It wasn't until his wolves had been fed and were off to whatever devices they needed to pacify the remnants of the call of the moon, that he finally found her at the backdoor gazing up to the bright white of a full moon. Her pale face was glowing under the luminosity, her dark hair picking up glittering silver streaks with its shine. She smelled of peat fires and the wind, and Graham felt the world shift under his feet; angling his steps towards his Ruby. An unnamable sound escaped him as he stumbled once under the altered balance, prompting Ruby to finally pause her adoration of the moon and look at him.

"I was wondering when you were going to say something to me. Though I thought it would be more than a grunt. I'm sorry if I got out of hand earlier during the games. I just… I forgot how much I love to run. Can't do that too much in the city. Can't even see the stars, and here you have enough to make me think they're fireflies stuck up there."

He didn't respond. Not much he could say –to any of that– which wouldn't sound horribly like a line. Or worse, a line Killian would use. For all his education and all the training his Da had put to him to be a proper gentleman and Lord, Graham Humbert's brain couldn't find a viable connection to say the words he needed to say. Everything wound up lost on the floor in a heap simply because Ruby Lucas was within proximity. She turned to him again, brows knitted together with concern. The ground held steady as she walked closer to him, remained solid when her hand lifted to cup his cheek. Though his head had taken a drastic measure in separating from his body to float precariously in the air above him.

"Hey… you ok there? You look a bit pale, even for an Irishman."

He shook his head just as it decided to lean into her touch. "I'm fine. Fine… I was just wondering if you worked for the heating company is all."

This time, her eyebrows nearly become one piece across her forehead. "Wait what?"

"Standing there with the door open and letting in the winter air… making me pay more next month on the heating bill…" She tilted her head slightly as the brows unfurled to let one rise incredulously. Graham gulped down the anxiety in his throat, "It… it was a joke…"

Ruby's hand flexed against his skin before retreating back to her side. "Right. I think you need to go to bed Graham, you're starting to think you're funny again."

She patted his cheek before striding for the stairs, leaving him alone with his malfunctioning mind. She had made it one flight before the pull had him sprinting to her side once more. He was halfway down the hall to Emma's room when he caught up, pinning her to the wall and swallowing her surprise with his lips. Her yelps and shrieks muffled under him as he slanted his mouth to taste her deeper. Her whimpers drove his hips forward; her nails in his ribs drove his teeth to nip her chin. She breathed his name while her mouth was free, pulling him closer until there wasn't anything between them but the clothes on their skin. His mouth swallowed her cries once more, demanding every sound she made be given to him. Time took a break while his kisses cemented something in his core. His senses returned slowly as the haze of needing her became something manageable again letting his mouth soften its demand. Graham's hands moved from her arms up to cradle Ruby's face. A hand on each side, letting the pads of his thumbs make similar worship to the apples of her cheeks. The man returned where the beast had claimed, so he pulled back enough to rest his forehead to hers, panting his breaths to mingle with the woman under him.

My woman. Mine.

"Ruby, I…" But what the hell could he say when he had assaulted one of his closest friends yards from another he almost lost?

"I swear to god Graham Humbert if you apologize for that, I will murder you and bind myself to someone else."

Graham snapped his head back. She knew. Bloody temptress knew the hell he was in and hadn't seen fit to give him any direction for what to do. His pride had him nearly ready to walk away and make her chase him for once this damnable night, but she shifted her hips and the altered pressure pressed against a part of him almost as demanding as his wolf.

He leaned in and nipped her bottom lip, "Walk down this hall and enter a room Ruby Lucas. Make a choice, and I will honor it. Any room but my own and I'll rescind my suit. Choose my room, and Tá mé ag dul a plough mo coileach domhain laistigh do teas fliuch, arís agus arís eile, go dtí go dearmad fiú do mac tíre a bhí sé raimh aon rud ach mianach."

Ruby's pulse picked up, but her mouth curled in cruel mischief. "YA mog by yezdit' vy v gallop, poka vashi nogi ne podkosilis', i vashi glaza zakatilis'. YA mog szhat' vas, poka vy ne pop, kak teploye shampanskoye, i vy menya umolyat', chtoby prichinit' tebe bol' chut'-chut' bol'she."

Graham groaned and Ruby shoved him to the other wall, her mouth still set in in its punishing upturn, testing his restraints against rutting her here in the sodding hallway where all and sundry could witness his claim on her. She moved down the hall until she was only a yard away, glancing over her shoulder one more time to taunt him with that mouth of hers, breaking into a dead run to his door. What else was there for him but to give chase again?

Graham had her make it up to him as he had her chase release after release for most of the night.

Though if you ask Ruby, she had him begging for everything she gave him until sunrise.

Neither would be lying.

Ruby found Graham in the weight room, head in hands as his arms and shoulders shook. A rare moment for an Alpha, when pack bonds would reverberate his sorrow down through the ranks. Not that she gave a damn; Emma would be gone for close to a year before they even had a chance to see her again. Graham could be upset over losing his friend as much as he pleased, and Ruby would see to it that anyone feeling differently would see how much like Granny she really was.

"No Ruby. You can't start riots on my behalf." Graham's voice was muffled through his hands, low and burdened with more than just an absent companion.

She moved to stand in front of him, feet stopping between his own and his head finding rest on her stomach. She allowed her fingers to slide through his curly brown hair while forcing her voice to come as soft as his, "Watch me. Or tell me what's really wrong."

"Emma's scared of me."

Ruby's fingers clenched his hair, "She is not, don't be absurd."

"I can't get close to her; I can't comfort what is mine by rights to comfort…"

"That blame belongs to a dead wolf Graham. Emma needs time to heal from that."

"I wanted us to be a family here, the three of us like it was before."

Ruby sighed and pushed Graham's shoulders back until he uncurled his back and his lap presented itself for her to sit. She straddled him on the bench, pressing their bodies close and wrapped her arms around his neck; nails still scratching his scalp as she pressed her nose into his neck. "Our Emma went through something horrid and we couldn't protect her from it. We both feel the guilt of it. But we have to move passed it, and past the pain that we can't help her get better any more than we have. She'll come back to us eventually, it'll just take longer than any of us would like."

Ruby leaned back, capturing his face in her hands, though he kept his eyes down. A tear rolled its way down his cheek, traversing the crease made where her skin met his. She bushed it away, only to have another fall down the opposite side. There was a longing in him that was more than just for fixing and keeping Emma close. "Graham?"

He raised his eyes to her then, pain slicing through them. He said nothing before he moved in, taking her lips in his. They bruised and commanded her compliance where his hands soothed in passing strokes up her spine. She whimpered as he moved her above him; Graham growled in response, but pulled away all the same. They panted into each other, mirroring slants and sways as they tried to find balance between them. Not that she'd ever complain about his kiss, or getting them like that, but she couldn't let him start thinking she was so easily distracted.

Ruby tugged the hair still in her hands. "Graham."

He sighed, his fingers pressed in where they lay, and then his entire embrace fell away. "When do you leave for Granny? I'd like to get the pack together for a proper send off. Food and drinks and the like."

Her brow flew up, "You want to give me a farewell ball?"

His brows knitted, "Nothing so elaborate, but you've made an impression here Rubes, made some friends. They should be given the chance to say good-bye."

Ruby bit her lip, "I hadn't thought too much on it…" A piece clicked, then another. "Graham Humbert, are you under the impression that without Emma here, I wouldn't stay?"

His eyes did a funny dance of color, "You are an independent female Ruby. I would never presume to take such a rare thing from you simply because you graced my bed for one night."

Ruby used to think that if Graham would show interest in another female, then she would know to move on and she could be happy. But Emma proved that it wasn't enough. Then Ruby thought that if Graham could then just be a good friend, she could be happy. But time proved that wasn't enough. Ruby satisfied her baser needs with him, and she thought the one time would satisfy her curiosity and quiet the need to be around him. It might have, but she entered his room and he closed the door behind them and she knew. It would never be enough. And now he was telling her it could mean nothing to her at all, and it would be enough for him.

It could mean one of two things for Ruby. "Do you want me to leave Graham?"

His startle was cute. "What? No. Is that what it came out like? God no Ruby, no. I know my choice; know it wolf and man. But you've yet to say anything one way or the other, and I wouldn't ever make that call for you, or assume to know what it was. Emma taught me well enough to stop doing that."

Ruby smiled, letting her hand caress his face once more. "I know what I want. Wolf and woman. And it's more than just as packmate Graham. Could you handle more?"

His mouth twitched. "More might not be enough Ruby. Could you give me all of it instead?"

She giggled, "All formal proposals must be taken to Granny. But yes, I could give you all of it."

He blanched a moment, which Ruby expected; Granny was a great and terrible thing. But he shook his head and the expression fell away. "Worth it."

She laughed again, settling her form against his and her head on his shoulder. Her anxiety and his pain dropped away a little more. (Though until Emma was better, a sliver would remain.) "Did you really think I would only stay and pick you if Emma did the same?"

"Well, to be fair, you two have been a package deal since she came to live at Granny's."

Ruby snorted, "You know what the pack gossip would have eventually named Emma and me?"

Graham shook his head, "No?

"Humbert's Harem."

The line worked, Ruby's special talent saving the day again from the melancholy of reality. Graham was laughing bright and open, his chest bouncing them both.

But then he gasped and tensed his frame, "Can I tell Killian that I almost had you two as my harem?"

A/N: Ruby's Russian for the translator: Я мог бы ездить вы в галоп, пока ваши ноги не подкосились, и ваши глаза закатились. Я мог сжать вас, пока вы не поп, как теплое шампанское, и вы меня умолять, чтобы причинить тебе боль чуть-чуть больше.

(Which is a quote itself from another show. Couldn't resist.)

Just remember that the translator isn't exact, but I'm sure you'll guys get the general idea.