Fighting with Fire #2 ✔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔 - 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫

Jason and Theo started arguing as soon as we'd got Maia patched up and asleep in Abi's empty bed. I could hear them from where I was sitting — next to Maia who was sleeping peacefully.

"It had to have been an Alpha!" Theo hissed at Jason.

"I know that!" Jason growled back at him. "Because if it was a normal werewolf, they wouldn't have just bitten her, they would've torn her apart."

"What the hell is she even doing here?" Theo exclaimed exasperatedly.

"I don't know. But we need to find out who that Alpha is," Jason replied, voice quiet.

Sensing that Maia wasn't going to be waking up any time soon, I stood up and headed to where Jason and Theo were arguing — Jason's room.

Ryder was down in the cellar watching Jade; he'd volunteered to go down there so that Jason could come up and decide what the hell to do about Maia showing up out of the blue with a werewolf bite on her leg.

Hovering outside Jason's room, I shivered and pulled my cardigan tighter around me.

"I didn't know that there was another Alpha around here," I spoke up, surprising both Jason and Theo.

"Yeah, well." Jason shrugged and glanced across at Theo. "We've not exactly been super territorial recently, so it's possible that another Alpha, or a whole other pack, is intruding on our territory."

Not understanding even half of that, I blinked.

"Do you need me to go out and have a look around?" Theo stepped forward to Jason. "I could see if there have been any 'animal' attack reports recently."

"I need you to stay here." Jason placed a hand on Theo's shoulder. "I need to keep you safe." He looked across at me. "All of you."

And there's the Alpha... But since when am I Jason's concern as well?

Jason turned back to Theo. "Theo, do you think that you could go and watch Jade? Ryder's been down there a while, and I don't want to push him for too long."

"Sure," Theo agreed instantly. "I've not had a shift for a while, so it's only fair."

"What do you want me to do?" I questioned, fidgeting slightly as Jason's powerful gaze turned to me.

"There's not much point in you watching Maia; she'll be out for a while — that relaxant Ryder gave her does its job well. And I wouldn't dream of putting you in charge of watching Jade after what she did to you," Jason explained, "So, I don't really know if there's anything that you can do..."

"I want to help," I insisted, sounding annoying and pathetic beyond belief.

Theo was at the doorway now, beside me, and his mere closeness was making me hot down under and a little lightheaded.

I didn't know what I'd been doing around him recently, from admitting my extremely private dreams to him to kissing him in a supplies room — I just kept throwing myself at him, hoping that he would catch me.

And he did keep catching me, which was why I needed to stop throwing myself. I needed to back off him, cool it down, and take a step back. The only way I could do that was to be as cold towards him as possible.

Which hurt.

So bad.

I swallowed; mouth dry. "Just give me something to do, Jason."

"Are you sure?" He asked, voice filled with concern.

"Positive." I nodded.

"Okay... I guess you could go and gather some firewood from the forest," he suggested. "We're running low, and it gives you something to do. I'll send Ryder out once Theo's down there, so you've got a little protection."