“Dude, I think she’s just not that into you.” Jase ambled up, a plate stacked high with food balanced on his hand.
“Hey, man. I was just getting to know your sweet little sister better. She is fine. I bet you’re glad you’re not really related so you can tap that.” I moved my head out of the way just in time. As it was, Makya clipped my ear when his head collided with Jase’s fist. I gave his arm an extra twist and muttered, “And I’m not his little sister,” before tossing him face-first on the ground.
“I fixed you a plate,” Jase said, ignoring the litany of curses coming from his blood-splattered cousin on the ground and the gawking stares surrounding us.
I met Jase’s eyes, my stomach giving a now familiar lurch. Everything else became nothing more than background noise as he soundlessly offered me the food. I might not have been on top of Shifter customs, but in my heart I knew accepting it meant something. The question was, was it something I was willing to give him? If it was forgiveness, then no. I wasn’t ready, and very well may never be. But was I willing to begin considering the possibility? To start rebuilding what was once the most important relationship in my life? Could I do that without betraying Alex or myself?
As I weighed the possible implications of taking him up on his offer, Jase’s face began to slowly crumble, making my decision for me. “Thank you,” I said, taking the food from him. He was my brother. I had to at least give us a chance to fix what was broken between us.
I stepped over Makya’s prostrate form and made my way to the place where Talley was looking from me to the beaten coyote on the ground and back again. I had already devoured a hotdog and half a cheeseburger by the time I made the twelve steps it took me to get there.
“Let me guess. That wasn’t proper Shifter etiquette.” I wiped some mustard off the corner of my mouth and contemplated whether I wanted ribs or a pork chop next.
“Etiquette-wise you were fine. It’s the besting Makya part that has people a little shocked.”
“Why? Makya is a loser. I could have taken him without the lycan advantage.”
“Scout, Makya is one of the highest ranked juvenile Shifters in the Pack. There are only five people above him.”
Makya was suppose to be strong and dominant? That was just sad. “Who are the five?”
Talley raised her eyebrows as if I was missing something obvious. “Toby, Jase, Charles, Charlie, and Robby.”
I choked on a bite of ribs and desperately wished Jase had thought to grab me a Mello Yello. “Jase and Charlie? Seriously? Like Jase Jase and Charlie Charlie?”
“How many other Jases and Charlies do you see around here?”
The dynamic duo in question were standing off to the side of the crowd with Toby and a few men I didn’t recognize. Jase and Charlie flanked Toby, and I noticed none of the other men would meet their eyes as they talked to them. “Jase and Charlie are Dominant?”
“Their grandfather was made Pack Leader at the unprecedented age of eighteen. Jason took his place when he turned twenty-two. After Jason’s death there was a bit of unrest, some of the cousins felt they were more capable of taking over than Charles was. He had to take on a lot of challenges, but he managed to keep the top spot until Toby was ready to take over.” Charlie’s dad, I noticed, was keeping to himself. He was also on his second case of beer for the evening by the glassy look in his eyes. “No one has ever challenged Toby because there is no need, he was obviously the most dominant.”
“Was?”
Talley looked around to see if anyone seemed interested in our conversation. There were several eyes glancing in our direction on a regular basis, but most everyone seemed more interested in talking about me than finding out what I was saying. “I don’t think anyone is paying attention to us,” I said.
Talley nodded towards the edge of the yard where Gramma’s ancient a/c hummed loudly. Catching on quickly, I walked over close enough that our voices would be drowned out without being too obvious to our intent.
“So, who is the up and comer? And please don’t say Makya, because that would be a very sad commentary on the strength of this Pack.”
“I already told you, Makya isn’t in the top five.”
“You think Robby can take Toby?” The Hagan in question sat on one of the benches, engaged in a lively exchange with a guy whose name might have been Mason. While Toby was lean and cut, Robby was built more like a linebacker. I could see where the fight would be close, but my money was still on Toby.
“Robby? Not a chance.” When she didn’t automatically continue I prompted her with an impatient wave of my hand. “It’s Jase. I think if he wanted, he could take over the Pack.”
“Delusional Talley says what?”
With the chaos my life was becoming, it was somehow comforting to hear Talley sigh at me in that exasperated way of hers. “You can’t see it because you’re too close.”
“Don’t see what?” From where I was standing all I could see was the brother who couldn’t remember to put the toilet seat down and had lost three different sets of keys in the past year. “Doesn’t leading a Pack require a responsibility prerequisite?”
“Responsibility can be learned, but what Jase has…” A couple of the younger Shifters wandered close to where we were talking. Talley stepped closer, linked her arm with mine, and rested her head on my shoulder. It was a familiar pose, one we assumed many times after some jerk trampled all over Talley’s feelings. This time, though, she wasn’t seeking comfort so much as way to get close enough we could lower our voices. “Haven’t you ever noticed the way other people react to him? The way people can’t help but be aware of him when he’s in a room? The way people always seem so eager to try to please him, to do something to make him proud?”
As she talked, it was almost as if I could see him through Talley’s eyes. Jase standing in the middle of a crowd, everyone focused on him; walking down a crowded hall, the masses shifting so so he had an easy passage to wherever he was going.
“And he’s a strong Shifter. Even as a newbie he could Change more quickly than Toby, and he takes lead on any hunt he goes on.”
“But it’s Jase…”
“He’s going to be our next Pack Leader.”
“If you say so…”