October 7, 2011
Paul smelt really good, Seth noted as the shifter walked into their alpha's house, like wild raspberries and what he could only think to describe as sunshine. The scent clung to him lightly, hardly noticeable over the pinewood smell the man usually carried, but to Seth it was soothing, and as clear as a light up sign at a rest stop. They'd expected the police chief to be with him, so when Charlie didn't follow and they didn't hear the sound of his cruiser Sam looked to the lone man in askance. They'd heard it approaching, but also heard it turn around about a quarter mile back.
"Man, you won't believe it! Charlie and I were on our way here when some chick stumbled into the road and we almost hit her." So that would explain the smell, Seth thought.
"A woman, what was she doing there," Sam asked concern.
"She said her Taxi abandoned her, but I could tell she was lying," Paul shrugged.
"Well, that's alarming," Sam furrowed his brow.
"Not really, I mean yeah she was a bit shifty but she was telling the truth about everything else," Paul admitted.
"What truth," Seth piped up with intrigue.
"She's running from someone. She was part of some underground war in England, real hush hush, she had her godson with her, his parents died in the war, and the way I take it some wackos want them for revenge," Paul explained.
"That could be a problem," their beta, Jared, acknowledged.
"Only if we stand in the wackos' way, according to her," Paul rebutted.
"Yeah, but we always stand in the way," Embry argued.
"Only when it comes to Vamps," Collin piped.
Leah snorted, "Yeah right, y'all are nosy bastards. Y'all will be sticking to her like rotten fish stench to a crack whore within the week if you think she needs protection."
"Nah, she's not some damsel in distress. She gives off serious warrior vibes, a little broken and jaded, but still tough. She even has combat medal for valor, the Victory Cross or something," Paul argued.
"You said she's from England, right?" Brady questioned as Paul nodded. "Do you mean the Victoria Cross?"
"Yeah, that's the one. She threw it at my head because I kept bugging her with my questions," Paul smirked.
"DAMN," Quil exclaimed. "That's like the highest honor they give in England, she got it from the queen herself! Girl must've done something crazy brave and important."
"What do you think it was? Those things are rare to receive, like really rare, it had to have been big," Brady emoted.
"We get it, you guys are nerds that know about British war Medals," Collin rolled his eyes.
Paul snorted and nodded in agreement, but explained, "she took down some genocidal terrorist cell in England."
"Genocidal? There were a lot of mysterious deaths in England for like three years starting in 2007, maybe it had something to do with that," Brady pondered.
"How do you even know that," Leah snorted.
"I like to be up to date on current events," the younger wolf answered, sticking his nose in the air.
"Nerd," Paul coughed.
Brady growled at him in response.
"Enough guys," Sam cut in with authority, "none of that matters right now."
"Yeah, what matters is, was she hot," Collin grinned.
"Fuck hot, curvy little thing. Accent, obviously, she's from England. Think she said her name was Hermione. She's eighteen with wild, curly bedroom hair. I'm going to see what Rachel thinks about a threesome." The pack rolled their eyes, long since used to Paul's strange dynamic with his imprint.
"Eighteen?! And she has the Victoria Cross?! That's wicked," Quil exclaimed.
"Yeah, I bet she's fierce in more ways than one," Paul waggled his eyebrows.
Seth shifted uncomfortably, something about this conversation didn't sit well with him. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about her like this. She had to have been through a lot to earn that medal, it feels kind of wrong to diminish her to just another body."
"Aww, sensitive little Seth is worried for the Lady's honor," Paul batted his lashes at him.
Seth shot to his feet with a glare as he squared up to the arrogant shifter. "No, I just thought I should remind you that we are wolves, not pigs." Seth was shaking with the rage that signaled an impending shift, and it was only the shock of this fact that calmed him down. He hadn't phased out of anger since his very first time when he'd been in a little scuffle with Leah over the T.V. remote. Then his father had a heart attack and died. Feeling like you're the cause of that really helps you learn to control your temper. It helped that he wasn't naturally the angry sort. Heck, Leah even called him Smiley Seth, which was annoying but apt.
Shock registered on Paul's face at his demeanor for all of two seconds before he recovered. "Ooo, Baby Seth has claws," Paul taunted. "Who'd have thunk it. You know, I'd been doubting how much of a wolf you really are, why don't you prove it to me."
"Don't talk to my brother that way," Leah snarled.
But Seth didn't need her protection anymore. He was a grown man and he could fight his own battles, he'd killed vampires and he had no doubt that if there was sense for Paul to have, he could knock it into him. That's exactly what he was determined to do as he lunged forward and broke the older wolf's jaw with a resounding crack.
Paul was quick to recoup as he jumped at him in return, but Seth managed to flip around the tackle as he pushed the other wolf underneath of him. They tussled on the floor for all of ten seconds before Sam's voice rang out with the power of an Alpha command. "ENOUGH! Paul. Seth. Separate and be seated! We are here to talk about the latest Vampire activity in the area and how we are going to handle it. You have responsibilities to this tribe, and if I have to schedule you both with double patrols to remind you of that I will!"
Paul clenched his already healed jaw as he glared at Seth from his chosen seat, but the younger wolf couldn't meet any of the other wolves confused eyes, and he wondered at what exactly had gotten into him as the meeting went on.
~o~O~o~
October 8, 2011
Hermione woke from one of her repetitive nightmares and spent all of thirty seconds confused about where she was before the reality of the last twenty-four hours registered in her mind. She felt her eyes well but refused to let a single drop fall, she'd done enough crying. She glanced at the sun that seemed just over the horizon and figured she'd get a start on preparing breakfast to thank Charlie for his hospitality and feed the growing toddler she cared for.
She wandered down to the kitchen to find concerningly bare cupboards, but still managed to scrounge ingredients for a quick scramble and some chocolate chip pancakes. She was halfway through her cooking when she heard Teddy wake upstairs and dashed up to grab him. She quickly changed his nappy, gave him another potion to mask his abilities, then bounced him on her hip as she continued to flip the pancakes and sing a simple toon to soothe him, "Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo. Here comes the sun, and I say, it's alright."
That's how Charlie found them ten minutes later and she glanced over her shoulder as he called to her, "you really didn't have to do that,"
"Please, it's the least I could do since you refuse to let me pay you," she smiled at him.
He blushed with a shrug, "it wouldn't feel right to accept it."
"Well then, accept breakfast instead," she said as she placed a heaping plate in front of him. She grimaced slightly as his eyes widened, "sorry. I'm used to cooking for Weasley's, one of them eat enough to feed a family of five. I don't know how they aren't all obese, and I don't know how poor Molly and Arthur managed to keep a roof over their heads with seven children eating like heathens."
Charlie's eye's widened again. "Seven children, my heart goes out to them. But you should see the way the guys on the Res eat, forget a family of five, they eat enough to feed a small village, so they'd love you."
Hermione snorted, and got started on feeding Teddy as she picked at her own breakfast. "I'm sorry if Teddy woke you. I promise we'll be out of your hair within the hour." She said a few minutes later as she walked the dishes to the sink.
The chief of police waved her off, "I was already up, I've got work in thirty."
"Okay, good. Then I'll just clean this up and head out," Hermione nodded with a light smile.
"To where," he asked.
She sighed, "To that bed and breakfast you told me about, and that diner Paul said was hiring. Oh, and I'll need to pick some things up for Teddy."
"Do you know how to get there," Charlie raised a brow.
"It's a small town," she gave a strained smile, "I'm sure I'll find my way."
Charlie shook his head, "No, go upstairs and burrow some more of Bella's clothes and I'll drive you over to the diner to talk with Emily on the way to work. I'm sure one of the Res boys will be there to escort you from there."
Hermione glanced down at the pajamas she'd borrowed last night. The size of her bag made it appear that she had nothing to change into, and Hermione could hardly prove that statement wrong without exposing magic, so she'd accepted the over large t-shirt and lounge pants he'd shown her last night. She doubted he'd be able to tell the difference, so she would just put on her own instead. She could tell from the pictures around the house that they weren't the same size, Bella was taller and thinner in comparison to her ridiculously short and curved.
"Thank you, but as a law officer shouldn't you be telling me not to get in the car with strangers? I certainly don't know these, 'Res boys.'" She said, lifting the corner of her mouth in a small grin.
"Probably so," Charlie snorted. "But you stayed in a stranger's home last night, so I think things are going to be a little abnormal for you. Plus, those boys are harmless. They seem big and intimidating, but really, they are just puppies in wolf bodies," He explained with a secretive little smirk that she did not understand.
Hermione shrugged, even if that wasn't true it wasn't like anyone here posed a real threat to her when she had magic on her side, so she'd trust Charlie and his judgements for now. She turned back to the sink as she finished scrubbing the last pan. "Okay, thank you. I'll just go change Teddy and I, then I'll be right back."
"You have clothes for him," the man wondered.
"Yeah, my bag is small but Teddy's clothes are smaller. But this is my last outfit for him, so like I said, I need to go shopping."
"Why is that little bag all you had with you," Charlie asked.
Hermione grimaced, she thought the man was going to leave her suspicious circumstances alone after the sympathy he showed last night, but she supposed that was too much to ask for from someone who was paid to investigate and ask questions. "I think it's pretty clear by the way I was dressed that I didn't have time to change, let alone pack. I was about to drop Teddy with a sitter and go out for the night. But then I was alerted to the fact that my location was discovered and I had to leave immediately. I keep this bag packed with our passports, a few nappies and clothes for Teddy, and a moderate supply of cash. It's a go bag of sorts, small and light like a duffle isn't so fleeing is just that little bit quicker. I already have Teddy to carry, I don't need a bulky bag too, there's not enough room for my clothes, but I can always buy some when I get where I'm going, which is what I'm going to do here. I grabbed the bag, he pointed to Forks, and we ran."
"Right," he said with a bashfully apologetic half smile. "Well, you'll probably need to go to Port Angeles for that."
"I'll call a cab," she nodded.
Charlie let loose a woosh of air, "that'll be an expensive cab ride. Let someone take you."
"You know, for someone who probably sees horror stories every day, you really aren't getting the whole cars with strangers dilemma," Hermione observed with bright laughing eyes.
He chuckled, "even if they were dangerous, something tells me you could take 'em."
"With my hands tied behind my back," she agreed with a quirk of her lips, before she hurried upstairs to get dressed. The people in this town certainly are helpful, she thought as she pulled a cable knit sweater over her head.
AN: I don't know anything about British war medals so sorry if any of that was wrong. Hope you liked it and I apologize for the long wait!