Chapter 9

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Asher watched Rooch slowly reach towards his boot and from the back pulled out a-

"Is that a gun?" he hissed. Rooch didn't look at him, his gaze focused on Jacob. Jacob's eyes flicked from Raven, to Asher, to Rooch, and back to Raven.

"Who the hell is that?" demanded Jacob, trying to push the door wider and sticking his foot inside, and Asher grimaced as the slight stench of alcohol caught his nose.

"No, I think the question is who the hell are you and why are you in my house," said none other than Raven. "I have a bottle of pepper spray and I'm not afraid to use it," she warned, hand reaching into her pocket and taking out the tiny bottle.

"Raven I thought I told you the pepper spray was for emergencies-" began Asher, voice rising.

"This is an emergency!! Some wackjob is trying to break into our house!!"

Rooch stepped towards Jacob. "Sir I'm going to need you to leave." he warned, slowly pulling out his gun. Jacob puffed up his chest.

"I'm not going anywhere," he snapped. Raven waved her hand around.

"Ahem. Pepper spray right here. And a gun. And my dad can turn into a wolf and chew your face off," Rooch walked even closer.

"Look- I don't know who you people are but I just need to talk to Asher," pleaded Jacob again. Asher felt his chest tighten.

Suddenly, Rooch had gotten close enough, and pushed Raven away and swung the door open, wrapping his arms around Jacob.

"Got you now, you fucker," he said with a heavy breath. Jacob squawked and flailed his arms, as his face slowly started turning an alarming shade of red.

"I-I- I am an Alpha! You shouldn't be treating me like this! I'll be telling Alpha Wyatt about this-" he rasped. Rooch grunted.

"Sure you will. He was the one who ordered me to protect him from you. I'm going to count to three and on three you're going to get your ass off of this property. You got me?" he threatened. Jacob wheezed, and after a moment nodded.

"One," Jacob tensed.

"Two."

"Three."

Practically throwing Jacob out onto the front lawn, Jacob tumbled down to the ground. Asher watched for a while as Jacob gasped for air, stood up, and turned around.

"Asher. Please. Just- just talk to me sometime okay? Here's my number. Call- call me ok?" taking a crumpled piece of paper out of his jacket pocket Jacob moved forward to hand it to him, but was stopped by Rooch's glare. "I'll... just leave it here instead," he said, setting down the paper.

Turning to leave, Asher and Raven watched his back as he walked out of the driveway. Stopping by their mailbox Jacob turned around.

"And Asher? I can treat you five times better than whoever that is," he said, motioning toward Rooch, whirled around, and promptly climbed in the passenger seat of a sleek black car.

"What a pompous jerkhole," muttered Raven, then turned to Asher. "Are you okay dad? You're pretty shaken up," Asher gasped and every breath in felt painful.

"Fuck- fuck-" he said, over and over again as he noticed his hand was shaking. This time it was Rooch who spoke.

"Asher- listen to my voice. Listen. I need you to breathe in and breathe out with me ok? Here- sit down. Sit. In. Out. Focus on me, just me. In. Out. In. Out."

One breath after another, it felt easier and easier to take in air. Finally, after long, tense moments, Asher looked up.

"I- I'm ok now. Really. It's fine," he insisted. Rooch glanced at him.

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