Tyler watches him and says softly, “He hurt you.”
“I know,” Chase says, and he aches to pull the boy into his arms, to sooth away the goosebumps on his arms, to chase away the shadows in his eyes. He holds himself very still, so he doesn’t take what isn’t his. “He was a kid, a fucked up, jealous kid.”
Tyler jerks. “Jealous?”
Chase laughs, his eyes sorrowful and amused as he pushes past Tyler and drags his bag onto the table. “You’re really oblivious, big guy.”
~*~
Aurora hates Ryan, and she is a sharp cutting voice on the other end of the line, demanding he stay away from Chase, demanding Chase stay away from him, all ferocity and fury.
“What do you think is going to happen?” Chase says, grinning.
Aurora grits her teeth. She doesn't know. She doesn’t, and she doesn’t know how to keep him safe from the fear building like a scream in her throat.
“Chase,” she keens, high and helpless.
Lucas intervenes, taking the phone and saying, “Darling girl, tell me.”
“He hurt him. Chase doesn’t talk about it, but Ryan hurt him and he’ll do it again. That’s what they do.”
“Who?” Lucas says, gentle.
A continent away, in her dorm in Cambridge, Aurora shudders. “People like him. People like Mia.”
Lucas is silent for a long moment. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Like you took care of that orderly?” she asks, her voice a secret between them, sweet and vicious, and Lucas smiles.
“Yes, darling girl. Just like that.”
~*~
Chase is sitting in a booth at the diner with Caitlyn, almost asleep, when Tyler walks in. A pretty brunette follows him, holding his hand, and Chase stares at that, like if he stares long enough, it’ll make sense.
Or maybe it’s just that he can’t bear to see the pity on Tyler’s face. He knows damn well the ‘wolf can smell his distress, hear the wild beat of his heart.
“Chase,” Caitlyn murmurs and he turns into her, into her sweet smile and knowing eyes, away from Tyler and his pretty dark-haired girl.
“C’mon,” Caitlyn says, “Let’s get out of here.”
He follows her out and he can hear the brunette asking, “Tyler? Who was that?”
Chase doesn’t know what Tyler says. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t want to know.
~*~
“You can’t ignore me forever,” Tyler snarls on the far side of his door. Lucas gives him an arch look and Chase ignores him, highlighting another paragraph in his Psych textbook.
He’s very good at ignoring Reids, when he wants to.
“Did you know he’s dating?” Chase asks.
Lucas doesn’t answer, but then—Chase thinks that guilty look in his eyes is probably answer enough.
~*~
It takes three weeks for Tyler to pin Chase down, and by then he doesn’t even feel bad anymore, he’s just—he’s furious.
He’s furious because Chase dated other people and Tyler never treated him like a pariah, furious because Chase won’t even listen to him, just pulls away, furious because it doesn’t mean anything, ended before it began, because she wasn’t Chase.
He’s furious when he shoves into Aurora Black’s lakehouse and finds Chase laying on the couch, smelling of vodka and misery.
“You asshole.”
“We’re not doing this,” Chase says, sitting up. He wobbles and Tyler wonders how much he drank, before he remembers how pissed he is.
“Look, you want to date,” Chase says abruptly, “Fine. Go date. I’m not going to stop you.”
“You’re just going to stop talking to me,” Tyler spits, “You’re going to take away my Pack.”
Chase flinches but he doesn’t deny it, doesn’t defend himself at all.
“I—that was a shitty thing for me to do,” he says, “And I’m sorry. Ok? It just surprised me.”
“I’m not fucking dating her,” Tyler snaps, “I took her out to let her know it wasn’t gonna work out. I was breaking up with her.”
“Why were you even with her to begin with?” Chase demands.
Tyler snarls and pulls him off the couch, shaking him and shoving him against the wall. Chase’s hands are defensive against his shoulders, but they’re warm and pulling him closer. Tyler presses into his throat, presses the words there, like a secret, “Because I can’t be with you.”
~*~
Chase makes a choked noise and starts to pull away, and Tyler whines, holds him impossibly tight.
He closes his eyes and nods, letting out a breath slowly as he pets the werewolf shaking in his arms.
“Ok, Tyler. Ok.”
~*~
“Why are you so fond of Aurora?” Chase asks curiously, in October. They’re Skyping with her and she’s vanished for a moment, and Lucas looks bored and impatient, but dazzled.
“She’s like you, Chase. Powerful, brilliant, and rare.”
Chase looks skeptical. “I mean, I know she’s awesome,” he starts.
Lucas laughs. “Pup, she’s a Medusa. She is as rare as your untapped magic, and just as powerful.”
Aurora sits primly back in her desk chair and arches an eyebrow. “And when were you going to share that information with me?”
~*~
He sits against the Standing Stones, the power of them a warm press against his back,. Part of him wants to sleep, wants to curl up and wait for the moon to drift across the sky and let him snooze.
He hears a wolf howling and smiles, because the Stones are pulling at him, always pulling at him, but he still dreams of his wolves.
His black wolf lopes into the clearing and snarls, as he is so apt to do, always distrustful of the magic that’s so foreign and alien on the air, the way that same alien touch wraps around Chase. But he noses at Chase, sniffs and snuffles, until Chase arches away and Tyler rumbles happily.
Mine. Pack. Friend. Love. Mine.
It comes in a jumble of sense and feeling. Chase startles, jerks away from Tyler with a wide-eyed stare, but the black wolf is settling down, his eyes gleaming and happy.
Chase never knows what to do with Tyler, but a nap sounds right. He closes his eyes and doesn’t think about the way he feels safe when Tyler presses his nose against the back of Chase’s neck.
Far away, he can hear the familiar howl of Lucas and the haunting echo of a scream that makes him think, Aurora.
~*~
October fades into November, and Caitlyn kisses him on the cheek before she leaves Harrisburg, promises to come back for the winter solstice. Tyler isn’t especially sorry to see her go, but Chase is a little despondent for a few days, texting her incessantly until Tyler coaxes him into a Marvel movie marathon that lasts most of a weekend and results in a two-hour argument between Chase and Ben and Tyler about who the best superhero is.
He goes to sleep smiling, Tyler sprawled out at his feet in his wolf form.
~*~
He wakes up gasping, as the tattoos on his chest burn to life and the ground rumbles beneath them.
“Chase,” Lucas shouts. Tyler snarls, braced protectively against the boy’s shins as magic burns through the air and the ground shudders and bucks.
“Chase!” Lucas shouts again, closer now, staring at him wide-eyed.
His phone is ringing, and he knows without bothering to look that it’s Aurora.
“My wards,” he murmurs, “Something—something bad tripped my wards.”
Lucas stares at him and Chase feels his stomach flip as he looks at a grinning Lucas and a worried Tyler, naked and human again.
“We’re being attacked.”
Chapter 18
Tyler forgets, sometimes. He thinks it’s fair. Chase slipped into his world as a heartbroken child, and even with the years that passed since then, years that feel like forever and never enough—sometimes he forgets that Chase is more. He’s Pack and he’s human, so Tyler wants to protect him, but more than anything, it’s because he’s C
hase and he’s his.
So sometimes he forgets that this fragile human boy is power wrapped up in pale skin, sarcastic smiles, and gentle, perfect hands. But in moments like this, while Chase braces his feet as the forest shakes and he breathes, power rippling off of him in almost visible waves—
Moments like this, it’s impossible to forget.
“The wards are holding,” he murmurs, “I need—we should go to the Stones.”
“Chase,” Tyler starts, panicked, “We need to protect—”
Chase turns, his smile dark and fierce, and it makes the wolf in him whine anxiously. “The land will protect us, but we need to go to the Standing Stones.”
Lucas moves first, and Tyler watches him, watches Chase patiently waiting, and he nods.
“Ok.”
~*~
It’s a Pack, made up of an Alpha pair and three green eyed betas.
The forest feels wrong, like the sharp edge of violence before a storm. Tyler wants to press into Chase, hold him safe and hide behind him all at once. He does neither, just stands tall and strong at Chase's shoulder with Lucas nearby.
“This is the mighty Reid Pack?” one of the betas laughs.
One of the alphas snarls at him. “It does seem that our...information...regarding this pack and this land might be....mistaken,” the Alpha, a tall man with a disconcerting gaze and drawling Southern accent, says. “Tell me—where is your Alpha?”
“Too busy to meet with you,” Chase says cheerfully. “Why don’t you tell us what you want, so we can tell you ‘no’, everyone can snarl and snap, and then you’ll leave. We don’t have to waste time on pleasantries.”
“But they’re so fun,” Lucas says mournfully, and Chase’s grin flicks wider.
“I’m Luther, of the Southwest Pack. My Alpha heirs, June and her mate Warren. Our betas, Kevin and Kelsey,” Luther says, indicating to each of his wolves.
Chase sighs and points. “Lucas and Tyler, betas. I’m the Shaman. Now, what the hell do you want?”
“No name, little Shaman?” June says, honey sweet through sharp fangs, and Tyler growls, low and furious.
Chase touches him, a soothing press of fingers against Tyler’s wrist. It feels electric and hot, a caress that burns through him to settle in his groin, and he has to fight to keep his eyes open, to keep his groan behind his teeth.
“It’s not important. Why are you here?” Chase bites out, the question a sharp demand.
Luther smiles then, and it’s all teeth and threats. “Why, dear boy, we’re here to take the territory.”
~*~
Harrisburg belonged to the Reids.
Before the accident, they were a sprawling family that kept to themselves, even as they were doted on by the city.
After, Chelsea ran, too scared, traumatized, and angry to stay, and she dragged Tyler with her until he was old enough to leave. It broke something in him, leaving his Alpha. But leaving his family’s land, leaving the home that they had protected and run for over a hundred years—that broke something, too.
It’s a matter of living with the damage, he thinks. What kind of brokenness is something you can carry, something you can breathe through?
He stares at Luther—at his strong, unified Pack—and feels the Shift prickle over him. He roars.
~*~
“This land belongs to the Reid Pack,” Chase says, while the echoes of Tyler’s roar still reverberate through the air. “It belongs to me,” he says, grinning.
Luther huffs a sigh and June snarls, charging forward. Tyler moves to meet her, lunging, claws extended.
Power flares up, a white-hot burst of it that wraps around him, holds him still while it throws June back. The she-wolf yelps when she slams into a tree, collapsing.
Luther looks back at his fallen packmate, then back at Chase, and a smile ticks up the corners of his lips.
“Get out,” Chase snaps, “This is the only warning you’ll get.”
“We’ll go,” Luther murmurs, “For now.”
~*~
Chase sways a little, after they vanish into the woods, and Tyler catches him before he crumples. He whines as he holds the boy close, and Lucas looks at him.
“His tattoos, Lucas. They’re burning.”
~*~
Tyler refuses to leave Chase. He can see the way it grates on the boy’s nerves, being constantly in his space, but Chase doesn’t protest.
The rival pack doesn’t actually leave Harrisburg. He thinks that’s the only reason Chase doesn’t order Tyler away and ward the house against him. Instead, he sleeps like the dead for almost twenty-four hours, and when he wakes up, curls sleepily on the couch and eats three bowls of soup before he finally says he’s had enough.
“What happened?” Tyler asks, and Chase laughs, sounding a little nervous. Tyler’s stomach sinks. He won’t like this.
“The wards—they’re defensive. The forest works to keep any threats out—Caitlyn didn’t think I could twist the wards to do that, but I mean, I was pretty motivated and changing spells is something I’ve been doing almost since I started learning magic, and it’s actually really cool. It’s kinda like in Sleeping Beauty when the castle is surrounded by briar patch to keep the Prince out, except this is mistletoe and aconite and belladonna—werewolves like avoiding that, right? So it funnels them where I want. And it’s dangerous, ok—that’s partly why Caitlyn didn’t think I could do it, I think? Because that kind of magic takes a lot, more than a shaman or a druid should be able to channel, but I don’t fuel the spell—my magic doesn’t. It’s the Standing Stones. I’m just the middleman, but it’s still a lot, you know?”
“Chase,” Tyler says tightly.
The boy sighs. “I had to, Ty. We’re too small to hold the land, but we have to. Not just because it’s Reid land. I’m tied to the Standing Stones and that means the Pack is, too. We have to protect it.”
~*~
Tyler is at the grocery store waiting for Chase in the frozen aisle when he meets her. She’s pretty, startlingly so, and he stares at her, holding a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream in one hand.
“Hello,” she says, a smile bright on her lips. He wants, almost desperately, to taste those lips, wants to spend hours lost in her, wants to drag her to his bed and claim her.
“Hi,” he breathes, and her smile is shy and sweet, and she’s fucking perfect.
“Any good?” she asks, nodding at his ice cream.
He blinks at it. “I don’t know,” he says honestly. She laughs and it’s the best thing he’s ever heard. A whine builds in his throat and she glances at him as she selects a box of Dove bars.
“Do you want to—”
“Tyler,” a sharp voice barks, and he flinches. That voice, he knows it, knows it’s safe. Who—
“Stay,” she murmurs, and his thoughts drift, fading as he leans into the touch on his arm.
Fury rips through him, and it’s so strong, so achingly protective and familiar that it makes him whine. A hand clamps down on the back of his neck and Chase snarls, “Get the fuck away from him.”
She falls back a step and it makes him whimper, makes him take a step toward her before Chase’s grip goes tight, holding him still, and Tyler turns into his boy, because he doesn’t know why he wants her, but he knows Chase.
“It would be easy,” she says, taunting. “I could take him from you with nothing more than a few words.”
Chase laughs. Power ripples around him and the fog, the want, is dissipating, leaving only startling confusion, a furious shaman, and a woman he doesn’t know, doesn't want.
“Bitch, he’s been mine since I was fourteen. I could die and you still couldn’t take him from me.”
A dark smile curves her lips, nearly covers the anger still lurking in her gaze.
There is a tendril of want now, tugging at him, drawing him to her. Gentle, familiar fingers are on his jaw, turning him down and away, tucking him into the curve of Chase's throat, his voice a crooning murmur. Tyler shudders as the fo
ggy want melts away. He doesn’t look up, though, doesn’t move away from Chase until long after her heels clack her retreat and Chase murmurs, “C’mon, big guy. Let’s go home.”
~*~
Tyler knows that Lucas is angry, and he knows that Chase is too warm, laying curled protectively around him. He thinks he should probably talk, figure out what the hell she wanted—why him— and what they’re going to do about it. But he feels safe here in Chase’s embrace, his brother’s fury buffeting the warm little cocoon he’s tucked himself into, comforting and right, so he doesn’t let himself think.
“He doesn’t need our anger, Lucas. Not yet,” Chase says, and Lucas snarls but slides into the bed, pressing against Tyler, pressing his scent into him.
“You’re safe,” Chase murmurs, and Tyler closes his eyes.
~*~
Chase is watching him when he jerks out of a nightmare, and Tyler stares at him. For a moment, he isn’t sure what he was dreaming—Mia or the woman in the store, and suddenly, it’s burning against his throat, everything he hasn’t told Chase about Mia and the accident. And Chase is still there, patient, whiskey-gold eyed acceptance.
“She was a librarian,” Tyler says hoarsely. “I was seventeen and she—she was a librarian, Chase.”
Chase pets a hand through his hair and Tyler whines. “She kept checking on me, after I broke up with my girlfriend. She said she was worried about me, said I looked sad and lonely, said that I could trust her. And I was a fucking idiot. I did, Chase, I trusted her. I knew she was from the Drake coven, and she used me. I fucked her and she killed them.”
“Hey,” Chase says softly, drawing Tyler up, forcing him to meet his eyes—eyes that are soft, sad, and loving. “She was psychotic, Ty. She was always going to kill them. She used you—”
“I loved her,” Tyler whimpers.
“You love the lie that she created,” Chase says, “That person? The one who listened and cared about your mental wellbeing, who kissed you and flirted with you? The one you thought you were sleeping with? None of that was real. It’s what she wanted you to believe. You were a kid who trusted the wrong person, but there is nothing wrong with trusting, Tyler. You didn’t do this.”
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