Jughead watched as Betty interacted with Joaquin, a small curve of his lips as she made Joaquin laugh at something that she said. It wasn't hard to make Quin laugh, not really. You just had to understand his sense of humor. It seemed that Betty had learned that humor over the three days that she had been with the Serpent pack. Jughead was quite alright with that. He wanted his pack members to embrace her as much as he did. And it seemed like they did. Especially Sweet Pea. The taller had taken an instant liking to her the night they got her away from Penny and Malachi. Just thinking those assholes' names ignited a fire in him that made his blood boil. He wanted to be the one to rip their fucking throats out with his bare teeth.

Just then, Betty looked up and made eye contact with him, making all of his anger abate with a simple, gentle smile.

Omega is pretty.

Jughead rolled his eyes internally at his innate Alpha voice. But he couldn't dispute it. Betty was pretty. A simple fact.

"The sky is blue, the grass is green," came a voice, and Jughead spotted Toni smirking at him from behind the bar.

"Get out of my head, Topaz," Jughead muttered and the petite woman laughed.

"Got it bad, boss," she replied smugly before growing somber. "Don't worry. We'll protect her."

Jughead looked back at Betty who had moved onto playing pool with Sweet Pea and Fangs, shaking his head a moment later. "I think she can protect herself just fine. We just need to make sure she doesn't go off wandering on her own. You know as well as I do what lies beyond Serpent territory."

It was said grimly. Toni nodded and Jughead knew that she too was thinking of the Ghoulies base. Betty wasn't ever going back there. Over his literal fucking dead body.

"All of our bodies, boss," Sweet Pea's voice piped up in his mind. Looking at the pool table, he spotted Pea hunched over his pool stick, taking aim as he concentrated but knew he was still paying attention to his Alpha as well. It was why they were so in tune. He was the best beta Jughead could have hoped for.

"Stop, you're making me blush, boss," Sweet Pea teased. Jughead flipped him off, resulting in a bark of laughter from the dark-haired man. Betty looked up at him curiously, before smiling and taking her own aim, sinking a solid with a satisfied grin.

Jughead smiled at her expression. It looked genuine; happy. That wasn't something any of them had been all that privy to the past three days. That's not to say she was rude or anything. Just shy and still heartachingly sad over the loss of her family. As she had every right to be.

The Serpents didn't know the Coopers as well as the Northsiders did, but they knew them well enough. They weren't a bad family. Maybe a little uptight as far as Alice Cooper was concerned, but not awful towards the Southsiders. Jughead had a feeling, as he watched the golden ray of sunshine, that that was all Betty's doing. He didn't suspect that she had a judgmental bone in her body. So, Alice may have been reigned back in when her youngest came along.

"Want to play a round, Jug?" Betty called, smiling encouragingly at him. That was the other thing. Once she had started talking a bit more, Betty had adopted his nickname that the Serpents called him. Normally, he'd demand to be addressed by his full name by anyone outside of his inner circle, but Betty Cooper only needed to blink her doe eyes at him, and he was dropping to his knees, ready to make her every wish his command. He nodded.

"Sure thing, Betty," he replied back with a smile, heading over to the pool table. He grabbed a pool stick on his way as Fangs tapped out of the game to let him in. Oddly enough, Pea stepped out at as well, something altogether surprising. The taller loved playing with Jughead, the two trying to see who could continue to keep the high score. So, he didn't really want to read too much into why his righthand was suddenly stepping away from their tradition.

"You're right boss, you really don't want to," Pea's voice rang through his mind, followed by Quin and Fangs' quiet snickers. Jughead huffed but said nothing, instead just choosing to play a couple of rounds with Betty, watching in interest to see her tactics for the game.

A few games down, the door to the Wyrm opened and all heads snapped over towards the newcomer. A brunette-haired boy was standing there, looking slightly scared but determined, nonetheless. Jughead gave him credit for that at the very least.

"Who are you?" Jughead growled just as Betty gasped a "Kevin?"

Whipping his head around to her, he watched as the blonde girl ran towards the brunette and threw her arms around him. Bristling, Jughead tried to rein his growl back.

"You're doing a shit job at that, boss," Toni murmured, watching the pair with interest. "Besides, he's gay."

"Really?" Jughead asked hopefully, heart beating a bit slower.

"Definitely," Joaquin spoke up, watching the brunette, Kevin, with something akin to wonder. Jughead recognized the look in his eyes.

"Remember, you can't force him to mate and you sure as shit can't coerce him into accepting your mark if he doesn't want to," Jughead muttered.

"I do," Kevin said, standing next to them suddenly, eyeing Quin with such intensity that, had Jughead been gay himself, he was sure he would have felt arousal. "Or, at the very least, I'd like to get to know you. You seem to be a part of the group who's been protecting my best." He squeezed Betty's shoulder gently.

Betty quickly made introductions. "This is Kevin Keller. He's been my best gay since first grade."

"I pushed an idiot in the sand box for her and she shared her snacks with me afterwards. Haven't split up since," Kevin added, a fond smile on his lips. At that moment, Jughead knew he couldn't split the two of them up if he tried. And he didn't want to. If Kevin had the balls to walk into the snakes pit just to make sure his best friend was safe, he was good enough for Jughead.

"Welcome to the Serpents, Kevin," he said, smiling at him.