Oh Hell No

Chapter 33

The boy had black hair, the ends of which were dyed navy blue. His blue eyes matched the color surprisingly well; whoever had done his hair clearly knew what they were doing. He was shorter than Chris, but appeared to be a little taller than Jamie, which wasn't saying a whole lot with their werewolf genes. Apparently, his name was Quinn, which was most of the reason Ryder assumed that he was actually a she. The rest of the reason was that being paired up with someone of the same gender was just rare.

With humans, sure, it doesn't matter who you like because you may not want kids. With wolves, they're genetically programmed to reproduce, not to say that there aren't those who don't want kids. Combining the DNA of both left you a sort of amalgamation of different wants and needs. A person's wolf side would instinctively want kids, but the human side might not want that, hence why it was even possible to be attracted to someone they could not possibly reproduce with. The wolf's primal urges were to pass on its genes, and you simply couldn't do that with someone of the same birth gender. So, males being paired with males and females being paired with females simply didn't happen all that often. It was actually more common for wolves to become transgender or nonbinary, because unless a gender change surgery was involved, it didn't change what was physically possible.

While Ryder never knew about Chris's preferences, it was clear that his wolf was destined to be okay with the idea of not having biological kids of his own. And while Chris did appear unsurprised with his mate's gender, he had never really considered that he could be attracted to men, but as soon as he saw Quinn any doubts flew out the window. Sure, he didn't expect it, but he certainly didn't have a problem with it. In his eyes, Quinn was absolutely adorable, and he could no longer imagine being with anyone else.

Deciding that the silence had lasted long enough, Jamie stepped forward and closed Ryder's mouth, which was still hanging open in shock, "Nice to see you again, Quinn," She greets, and he waves awkwardly in response. It was understandable since they had never been friends, but they still knew each other, "Now, I suggest we move this somewhere else before Lewis figures out how to weaponize cake frosting," By the looks of it, he was already thinking about it.

She was the first to leave the room, knowing that if she didn't they'd probably wait around for another few minutes. Ryder gestured for Chris and Quinn to go ahead of him, and the future beta reluctantly moved his arms from their position around Quinn to simply hold his hand instead. They moved out to the front porch because it was much quieter than the rest of the house.

"As you both already know, Quinn is my mate, and if anyone has a problem with that then I'll-" Chris starts, before Ryder cuts him off.

"Chris, you have been my best friend since my earliest memories. I don't care that Quinn's a boy so long as you guys have a healthy relationship," He wasn't a fan of the "you mess with my mate, I'll fuck you up" rants, especially since he never found them threatening. They were all very repetitive and a little insulting, so he figured he'd stop this one before it got going, "Have you guys even talked about this?"

"Not really," Quinn admits quietly, absolutely terrifying Chris. Obviously, he could sense that and quickly elaborated, "I do want to be with you, it's just that we haven't really talked at all aside from introducing ourselves and deciding who was moving packs, which was a pretty one-sided conversation."

Chris's face fell, "I just figured that I wouldn't be able to move packs, and I was more than a little distracted after meeting you," That might be the biggest understatement he had ever made, which in actuality wasn't saying a whole lot. He had acted like a lost puppy who had just found an unowned rubber ball.

"Well, I understand that, and I don't have a problem going with you guys. But, I would have preferred if you gave me a little more time to talk to you before we went to see Alpha Lewis," He defended quickly.

If Jamie remembered correctly, which she assumed that she did, Quinn had always been a very timid person, to put things lightly. In all the time that she had known him, or known of him, he had never raised his voice at anyone. He was still a capable person, but confrontation was not his strong suit. By his standards, admitting he was even remotely uncomfortable is a major act of rebellion.

"It sounds like you two need some time to figure some things out," Ryder observed cautiously, trying not to cross a line while also knowing that something needed to be said, "Once you've decided who's moving where and such you can let me know, but for now I think you guys should get to know each other a bit better," Chris and Quinn both nodded slightly.

Ryder and Jamie took that as their cue to leave the newly acquainted mates for the time being. He still had to inform the rest of their group about the delay, and Jamie had plenty of people here she would be busy avoiding while they talked. Besides, she still hadn't met Leona or Peter so she could use them as an excuse if she ran into anyone she didn't like. She had already met Henry when he took her stitches out, but she wasn't sure if that really counted. It didn't feel like it counted.

"How long do you think it'll be before they're cuddling on the pack house couch every night?" Jamie asked, partially out of curiosity but also because she liked the sound of his voice and this would be an excuse to get him talking.

"I'm sure that once Quinn has settled in and been accepted as a member of the pack, he'll be sitting on Chris's lap every movie night," He determines.

"So the day after we get back?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I would bet money on it." 

A/N: So, not the best possible start for Chris and Quinn's relationship, but nothing's perfect and they'll work it out just fine