Blood of My Blood, Flesh of My Flesh (Bughead)

15. Animal

Song for this chapter is Animal by MISSIO

Sweet Pea had hardly gotten back to the trailer park before FP was slamming him up against the side of one of the homes. This was becoming annoying consistent, and Sweet Pea would rather not be roughed up against metal plates, thank you very much.

"What the hell you think you're doing, son? Going to the Blossoms?" He demanded, snarling close to Sweet Pea's face. Sweet Pea was rarely intimidated, but he shivered at the expression in his Alpha's eyes.

"Following the Jason lead," Sweet Pea said weakly.

"What happened to the Football team?" FP said, but his grip on Sweet Pea's black shirt didn't loosen.

"Most of the boys who really knew him got suspended. It's slow going for other info," Sweet Pea stammered out, "This is where it lead. Betty was going to shake her down, and there's something off about them, I couldn't let her get hurt. Cheryl, she knows something boss, I swear to god-,"

"I don't care. I don't want you around there again, you fucking hearing me?" FP shook Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea swallowed hard, nodding twice. If he was in wolf form, he'd be tail-tucking and offering his neck to his Alpha right now.

"Say it with me," FP said slowly, "You're not going near those fuckers again."

"I'm not going near the house again," Sweet Pea echoed, albeit slightly twisted, "But, FP, really...I think there's something there that's so much bigger, or, they know about us or maybe..."

"Let me deal with the Blossoms," FP patted Sweet Pea's shoulders, setting his feet back on the ground, "Not you."

"Yes, sir," Sweet Pea whispered. Even once FP was gone, Sweet Pea stood, still shaking. He'd seen FP's anger before, once or twice directed at him. It wasn't just that FP was angry, he was frantic. He was scared of something. Not of the Blossoms, Sweet Pea doubted, but of what the boy couldn't figure out. The look in FP's eyes was a man who was running out of time.

Sweet Pea counted to 100, letting his pulse return to normal, before kicking the side of the trailer, hard.

This wasn't adding up. Nothing was.

He holed himself in his room all night. He wasn't even sure if Jughead returned, for he was too far deep in research and translating the pictures on his phone. He combed through the video Betty had taken and saw a ritual set up, not unlike the one Dilton had described (but was still no closer to figuring out what it meant). He had Fangs and Vade come to his window in human form to pass along what they'd seen. They couldn't share knowledge as wolves, not now, not with FP watching them. He was the general in this war, if it was one, and his soldiers didn't have to take the blame if everything fell. Sweet Pea would. Better they only knew their individual sides.

But he could talk through it with Betty, who wasn't part of the Pack collective. And, fuck, did he need to talk it through with someone.

He texted her to meet him in the woods at around 3 AM. He almost wasn't sure she'd come out, but clearly, she couldn't sleep either.

"Have you slept at all?" Betty gaped at his appearance.

"No." Sweet Pea rubbed his eyes, "I'm too...in my mind. I can't figure it out, it's not coming together."

"You're not making any sense."

"This isn't making any sense!" Sweet Pea snapped at her, "God, sorry, I'm not..." He huffed, "FP is so adamant that I am not allowed to look into the Blossoms. He knows something. I fucking trusted him and he's holding out. What else could he be lying about? I can't have him know, we gotta follow this."