"You know," Quinn says as she looks at Charlie who seemed annoyed that her mother was fussing over her. "That scar on your face makes me the pretty twin."
"Fuck you," Charlie muttered only to get tweaked by her mother gently tugging on her ear.
"Language. What were you thinking?" Judy says running a hand over Charlie's cheek and looking at the seven stitches that lined the bridge of Charlie's nose and ran down her cheek. Her sister had done an absolute number on her daughter, at least the other damage wasn't as visible.
"I was thinking that Aunt Cassie is a bitch," Charlie grumbled only to have her mother tweak her ear again. "What? You know it's true," Charlie muttered under her breath. "She was messing with my mate I had to. I don't even know what happened—I just got super angry and honestly—I don't remember."
"Well, you need to rest," Judy insists. She would talk with Cassandra who was probably raiding the fridge as they spoke.
"I'm fine—I just need to call Santana." Charlie insists and glances at her family who was still in her room. "I'm fine. My face doesn't even—"
Quinn threw a pillow at Charlie's face watching as her sister and smirks when Charlie starts cursing in pain. She ignores the pointed look that her mother shoots her and gets up to go and bother her aunt Cassandra. She had actually paid for dance lessons for her glee club, and she planned to collect.
"What were you thinking!" Russell roared loudly his voice booming through the house as the door slammed shut.
Quinn winced, it was going to be one of those days as she watched her father make a beeline towards the kitchen. Well there went any hope of getting her aunt to choreograph for them. Charlie always had to go and make a mess of everything.
"I was thinking that I was going to do your job and snap Charlie out of her little infatuation. What were you thinking she's a teenager, the moment that you say no she's going to do the exact opposite because it's forbidden and everyone fucking knows that forbidden sex is so much hotter than regular sex."
"Santana is—"
"Human. I know. It happened under your watch which is only proof of what a piss poor alpha you are," Cassandra snaps at him, a smirk playing on her face as Russell growls and his massive body shivers. Two fights in several hours this was going to be a good day. Now all she needed to do was find someone to fuck and today would be the best day she'd had in years.
"Stop it. Not in the house," Judy's voice snaps from where she's standing behind Quinn who immediately jerks up to her feet and stumbles down the stairs. "You're not teenagers, and you're both certainly not pups who need to constantly fight each other. There's something wrong with your daughter—your niece and you both need to fix it. Do not make me call your fathers."
Quinn glanced back at her father and aunt who seemed to have backed off a bit. "Wow mom—"
"Don't wow mom me, you're supposed to be the responsible one, why in the world did you think that this was a good idea?" Judy frowns.
"I went because Charlie would have done it anyway and I needed to make sure aunt Cass didn't tear out her throat. Plus, there was no way in hell I was going to let Charlie get ahead of me like that," Quinn responds. "She's been on some sort of mission as of late ever since dad forbade her from seeing Santana. Which you know, didn't work."
"Because it's not a simple infatuation," Cassandra points out before going back to making her sandwich, dumping a pile of meat onto the bread. "It's a full-blown mating bond, she wouldn't have turned if it wasn't."
"We don't mate with humans—"
"Yes, because it's practical, and for the most part we find another one of our kind and the bond just snaps into place. It happens for most of us, but it's not unheard of for one of our kind to bond with a human. But this—this needs to be managed the right way, because I didn't even teach her how to shift back and forth, it just exploded out of her, and that means her transformations are unstable. She's a danger to herself and everyone around her, especially this Santana person." Cassandra interrupted and looked at her sister.
"Bullshit," Russell snapped. "This bond isn't some mate bond. The mate bond goes two ways and humans don't get them. She's imprinted or something onto this human and has grown attached."
"It doesn't matter how they bonded, it matters that they bonded. Or that Charlie put a mate bond in place, and there is nothing we can do now to change that. Denying that it exists isn't helping the situation if anything it's making the problem worse. Infinitely worse. Russell, you think I'd be here eating your food and dealing with your shitty attitude if this wasn't a real issue? Well yes, probably to eat your food, but certainly not to deal with your bullshit. This is a problem, for some strange reason my sister thought you were a halfway decent alpha. So, act like one."
Russell exhaled deeply and frowned at Cassandra. "No one asked for your help."
"Your daughter did, so yeah someone did ask for my help."
Russell bristled, before turning and pushing past Judy and Quinn and heading to his daughter's room. It was a betrayal but he needed to deal with Charlie first. Cassandra was a pain to fight and he had heard that she had apparently torn Charlie's face in two. Concern, then anger, then hurt. In that order. He knocks on the door but doesn't wait for Charlie to tell him to stay out as he enters her room and walks up to her and tilts her head up so he can get a better look at her face. "I noticed her limp," Russell says after a moment. "Nice job, next time go for the throat."
Charlie smacks his hand away and pulls back, "What do you think I was trying to do?" She wasn't an idiot; her aunt had simply been to agile and for a simple throat lunge. Though if she was being honest, she truly couldn't remember what had happened. She was sure that her wolf wasn't a moron though, and knew the basics of fighting another wolf. "If you're going to yell at me then go ahead. I'm not sorry I went to aunt Cass, and if you're going to try and get me to submit then fine, whatever, still not sorry that I went. I wanted to protect my mate from you."
Russell hesitated for a moment, what happened next was going to be important. As much as he loathed to admit it, Cassandra was probably right. There was a frantic look in Charlie's eye that he hadn't noticed before. "When your mother's father told me no, I was ready to rip him a new one. He couldn't stand in my way your mother was mine, she was mine. So, we fought, and I won—barely. Your mother was not thrilled that I had to beat her dad to get her, but she understood. She understood why I did it, I had to do it. Santana isn't one of us. And she's far too young to make that decision to take the curse. She'll be a mutt, without status in our world. You know that—"
"I'll protect her. She'll be my mate, what does it matter if she's a mutt? There are plenty of mutts around. If she's my mate she'll live like one of us." Charlie insists immediately. "She's my mate." Charlie stresses.
"So, your aunt believes," Russell muttered. Cassandra was right this was a problem. It would only get worse, Charlie would only get more unbalanced. The space seemed to be good for them, because he could remember when he had met Judy. It had been hell not to see her every day, but Charlie didn't have a normal case. She couldn't feel what Santana wanted, she hadn't had sex with Santana either. It was a matter of time before it happened, then the problem would get worse. Desperation made people crazy and it was worse for them. "Invite her to the house."
Charlie narrowed her eyes staring at her dad suspiciously. She would fight him too if she needed to. "Why?"
"Because Charlotte, you're going to need a controlled environment if you're going to tell her what you are and explain to her that you're her mate."
"That's—"
"I'm aware it's against the rules, but you trust her don't you, and if she's going to be your mate then she needs to understand. She needs to learn what's in store for her. Which means that there are consequences if she rejects you. She's sixteen and human, you're basically asking for hand in marriage."
Charlie grinned, "Really?"
"Yes. But if she says no Charlotte, if she decides it's not what she wants, then that's it. You'll be going to live with your grandfather."
"Which one?" Charlie asks crossing her arms.
"Pop-Pop," Russell responds watching as Charlie's eyes widen. "Alaska is a far enough distance from Santana and hopefully that distance will help you heal. I believe that your wolf thinks Santana is your mate, I know that you think that, but there are consequences. And if Santana says no—Alaska will be good for you. All that open space you can work things out."
Charlie's jaw dropped. She liked her Pop-Pop just fine but Alaska sucked. "She'll say yes," Charlie insists immediately. She believed in Santana. She had to say yes.