Love, Sex, Alpha, His

Family dealings

"So, you gonna tell me what this is all about?" Cam was leaning back in his chair casually as he watched her eat, his long legs stretched out and arms folded behind his head.

"Might as well, Haley's going to tell you sooner or later anyway and now that Sarah's here, best get it all in the open." So she told him the whole thing, only this time she'd already told the story enough that it didn't upset her as much as it did with Josh and Haley, and it was different with Cam, she couldn't quite place her finger on it but somehow she knew that no matter what she could always count on him to stick up for her and not judge her. He was just that type of guy she figured.

"Hmm, this Damon guy sounds like a real piece of work" she snorted and shook her head as she shoved away her empty plate and leaned back in his chair to look at him.

"Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate alright" Cam smiled that goofy boyish smile she'd come to associate him with and she realized just how lucky she'd gotten with her group of people. Josh was everything she could ever want in a guy, and he made her feel whole like no one else had ever been able too, it was like a piece of her had been missing and she didn't even know it until she met him and that both terrified and excited her. Haley was her rock, in lack of a better term, she knew exactly how to brighten her day and lift her spirits and she knew that no matter what happened after college, her friendship with Haley was for life just like it was Sarah. And then there was Cam, this goofy relaxed guy friend that could get her mind of things with  a simple unguarded comment that would leave her in giggles, and not to mention he was exactly the sounding board she needed when it came to dealing with all things Haley and Josh.

"Don't worry about it sweetheart, we got your back" she smiled at Cam and stood to clean away the dirty dishes, leaning down to press a kiss to his cheek as she collected his and carried it all into the kitchen.

"Thanks Cam," she glanced at him as he carried in the rest of the empty breakfast-supplies, save for the pancakes and one unused plate, that she had told him to leave on the table because Sarah was very much like Haley, always hungry and especially for pancakes.

"Don't even mention it, besides your my best friends girlfriend and my girlfriends best friend, I have to have your back by sheer principle" she burst out laughing and punched him playfully on the shoulder. "Is that all I am to you now; your best friends girlfriend and girlfriends best friend?" He smirked and pulled her into his side, grinning down at her in a way that was contagious and made her want to smile too.

"I like to think of myself as the big brother you have always wished for but was never lucky enough to have... until now" he added smugly and she rolled her eyes before pulling away, but she didn't say anything to contradict him because in all honesty, she kind of thought of him like that too. 

*****************************************************************************************************

Josh couldn't help but notice how quiet Haley was on the ride to pick up Sarah, it wasn't like his sister to keep things inside when he knew she had things she wanted to say.

"Come on Hales, talk to me" she turned away from staring out the window and gave him a conflicted look, like she knew exactly what she wanted to say but just didn't know how to put it into words.

"I just... Chloe is family Josh, she belongs to us now and I can't even imagine what she must have gone through. And now that, that psycho is on the loose again... what if he decides to come after her, what then? And she doesn't even know what we are, I'm afraid she's going to think we're monsters." He had no idea how to respond to that, not yet, because the truth was he'd been thinking along the same lines himself and he knew damn well what he would do if Chloe's past nightmare came looking for her, as for the whole "monster" part, he didn't have a damn clue how to deal with that. 

"I don't know Haley, I don't know how she's going to react to the truth about what we are but lets take this one thing at a time. Right now it's about her and getting her back to where she needs to be, which is happy and feeling safe, and if the bastard decides to come looking for her, we'll deal with it the way we always deal with threats to the family. We take care of it." Haley watched him with contemplative eyes, he could hear her mind working, knew she was thinking about pack-laws and the fact that they weren't allowed to harm humans in any way, but there was a loophole to that rule that even the Great Council couldn't ignore and he knew just how to utilize it. 

"You don't need to say it Hales, I know what your thinking. Even though it kills me, I'm gonna leave the sick bastard alone, but as soon as he crosses into pack territory and so much as looks at Chloe, he's fair game. All you have to do is let me take care of it and it'll be fine." As future alpha to the pack, he'd been reading on pack-laws and traditions for the past three years, by now he had just about everything memorized and while his father still held the official title of alpha, it was Josh who effectively controlled the pack. Whenever there was an issue they would come to him because whenever they went to his dad they would just be re-directed to him so the members of the pack had given up on that route a couple of years ago. 

"Maybe it won't come to that, maybe he'll just stay where he is." Josh didn't know who Haley was trying to convince, him or herself, and he didn't ask because they both knew it was only a matter of time before shit hit the fan and worst case scenario... the whole pack could be punished for it. 

"Yeah, maybe," he wanted to believe Haley was right, that everything would just magically sort itself out, and they could all go on with their respective lives and live happily ever after, but... he knew as well as anyone that things didn't work like that and the more prepared they were, the better.