Oh Hell No

Chapter 8

After a few minutes of awkward silence that Ryder didn't know how to break and that Jamie didn't seem to notice, he decided to go get some lunch for them both. As far as he knew, she hadn't eaten yet and he'd be damned if he let his mate starve. Hold on, was she anorexic by chance? It wasn't common for werewolves to develop eating disorders, since shifting practically forced you to eat with the amount of energy if took, and if they went too long without food their wolf would end up taking over and finding something. She certainly didn't look anorexic, and he hadn't seen any indication her wolf might be trying to take over so he figured he wouldn't have to worry about making her take care of herself.

"I'm gonna go get some food, do you want anything?" He asks, getting her attention.

"A sandwich is fine, do you have any chips?" He had to stifle the urge to smile at the way her eyes light up at the mention of the salty snack.

He silently hopes that his gluttonous housemates hadn't eaten all of them yet, "We should still have some regular and sour cream and onion Pringles," He tells her, hoping that she is not one of the few people that hates the addicting chips, "Do you want to come with me?" He offers, knowing that would severely limit his chances of failure. Making a sandwich wasn't the hard part, getting everything about the sandwich right was the problem. Was she allergic to gluten or certain meats? Did she like turkey or ham better? What else did she like on a sandwich other than meat?

Jamie looked unsure, "No thanks, I think I'll stay up here and put on a movie or something. Do you guys have Netflix?" She asks as an afterthought.

It wasn't as though she was afraid to meet more of his packmates, she simply wanted to avoid the effort conversation brought about since she had no plans to actually connect with any of them. Also, getting a movie started would give her a decent excuse to largely ignore his presence. Two birds, or whatever the human saying is. She hadn't been around them enough to learn all the metaphors, having decided not to finish high school. Why would she continue going to a place that seemed to directly violate the eighth amendment, when there was someone in the pack that could make it look like she graduated with high honors?

He laughed lightly at what he assumed was an unintentional innuendo, even if he hoped otherwise, "We do, I doubt half the girls here could survive without it," He reluctantly nods to himself, "I'll be back soon."

The clingy part of him was pissed that he was leaving her alone, even in the safety of his room there were still plenty of unmated males that might take a liking to Jamie. At the moment, most of them wouldn't be able to figure out that they're mates based on their lack of markings. Even though he would normally trust just about every member of this pack, right now he was having a hard time ignoring imaginary images of another wolf making a move on her. Every guy he passed managed to get thrown into one of these mind pictures, which led to him plotting their deaths prematurely to keep him from audibly growling.

To further distract himself, he got to assembling lunch for them as quickly as possible. He didn't want to end up attacking someone for no reason, and he had a mate to get back to, "So, I may or may not have heard that you found your mate," Someone says, practically appearing out of thin air next to him.

"Not a chance, Sadie," He responds without looking up, already knowing what she was going to ask. The girl was incredibly nosy and his younger sister, a combination that proved to be most irritating.

Sadie's jaw drops in shock, "What? I just want to meet her!" She argues.

"You mean you want to terrorize her, and if it turns out you like her, terrorize me with her," He translates, finishing off his own sandwich before raiding the pantry.

She had already done the same several times over with new members of the pack, embarrassing him in front of each and every one of them. She claimed to have a selective memory, wherein she recalled every single stupid or embarrassing thing he had ever done. It sucked, and he'd rather keep Jamie from knowing about any of those things. Even if Sadie didn't approve of his plan, he'd keep her away from Jamie for as long as possible. Once she was madly in love with him and wouldn't make horrible, horrible fun of him? Sure, especially since it'd be hard to keep them from meeting for that long.

"I would never do that to you," She replies dismissively, "So when do I get to meet my future sister-in-law?"

"Hopefully never," He answers jokingly, dividing the rest of the Pringles between their plates, "But I know that won't happen so just give me a few days to get closer to her, I don't want you to crush any attraction she may feel for me."

"Oh please, if you guys are like any other pair of mates she'd find you hot even if you were covered in garbage," She points out, despite having no experience with her own mate.

Problem is they weren't normal mates. Normal mates would have kissed by now, maybe even marked each other. Or if worst came to worst, rejected each other, "The answer is no, Sadie. Just give it a day or two and I might let you, Astral, and Chelsie take her shopping or something," He concedes, only considering that they might not want to go afterwards. Then again, those two never pass up an opportunity to get out and spend the pack's money on clothes they don't really need.

"Fine," She agrees, snatching a chip before running off.

Ryder shakes his head, not exactly amused but not overly frustrated either. He took the plates and went back upstairs, having been gone for "too long" in his opinion. In reality he had only left Jamie in his room a few minutes ago, but that fact didn't matter to him. All that mattered was he had spent an unacceptable amount of time away from his amazing, unmarked mate. He tapped the door lightly with his foot in place of knocking, seeing as his hands were both occupied. She opened the door for him and moved out of the way, revealing that she was watching what he guessed was a horror movie based on the title and paused image.

"Kind of surprised you aren't scared of this," He admits after a few minutes of them silently watching the film.

"Pretty sure you're just salty that I'm not cowering in your arms like a five year old," She fires back calmly.

"That does sound nice," He smiles charismatically, "Would you mind pretending to be scared for my sake?"

"Very much so," Ouch.

A/N: Not my favorite chapter ending, but at least it's somewhat entertaining. Also, what do you guys think of the story so far?