Running Home

A Friendly Dinner

POV Kyle

I realized as I showed Tytus around the grounds that in all the years I'd known him he'd never asked to visit here, he knew what I was growing up together and had met my father a number of times, but unlike most humans he didn't seem curious at all to our lifestyle. It made me wonder if he secretly disliked shifters, yea he was always friendly towards me but it wasn't like we were ever best buds or anything. Honestly because I'd known him so long I never thought to look into any of his associates before bringing him into the territory, as far as I knew Tytus had led a boring life, he grew up in Gablesville, bought the auto shop and had spent almost every day there since, the most exciting thing he ever did was let Alex move into that crappy apartment above the garage, even when he went to the bar he sat at the same seat with the same drink at the same time every single night. He barely spoke to anyone except Alex and Kate, but he was never rude if someone approached him. Tytus Miller was boring, maybe he just didn't care about our kind?

"Wanna go a few rounds, ya know blow off some steam?" I asked. Tytus c****d an eyebrow "you still think you can take me huh? This isn't middle school anymore dude." "One I know I can, but how about I let you take the first swing to make it fair?" I baited. "You're on" Tytus grinned. We made our way to the training grounds, I had no intention on fighting him in the arena typically that was used for early morning training and full out sparing sessions, we entered the building just north of the arena we had recently renovated the building to make it a state-of-the-art personal training facility. "This place is pretty sweet" Tytus said looking around the room. "Yea, strap up, I don't want to hurt that pretty face of yours" I said tossing him a pair of gloves and helmet. He snickered "I think this is more for you than me pretty boy." Tytus strapped his gloves on tossing his helmet onto the nearby bench, "Whatever you want man" I said as I tossed mine aside too. We stepped into the ring, luckily most of the pack headed to their homes by this time so no one was in the gym to witness. "No shifting, if you can't beat me fair and square I'm calling it a win" Tytus stated with a nod. "Wouldn't even think about it" I smirked. Ding- let the games begin.

****

"What in the hell happened to you!?" Alex screeched at us as we walked into the dining hall. She ran up and grabbed my chin tilting it one way then another, then moved to Tytus examining the cut above his eyebrow, just then thwap thwap she smacked each of us on the chest and turned to sit back down. Zander sat smirking, leaned back onto two legs of his chair. "Fall down the mountain on your way here?" he laughed. Tytus looked over at me waiting for my response, "we decided to try out the new ring, this genius decided he wanted to go no pads for six rounds" I motioned towards Tytus. "Well it looks like you need to get your ass to training in the morning if he got that many hits on you" Zander said. I decided not to argue, its not like I went full out, Tytus needed to cool off before dinner and me kicking his ass would do the opposite of that, at least if he thought it was a good fight he'd be riding high and hopefully not try and kill anyone tonight. "I think you both should go see the doctor when we're done, both of you need a stitch or two at least and a long shower" Alex wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Yes ma'am" I smirked with a wink, Zander shot me a glare and a kick under the table. Alex slightly blushed at my advance, our friendship had mostly been built on a solid foundation of business with casual flirting on both sides, it always drove Tytus mad. "Ya know I haven't seen you so dirty since the last run to the Bad Lands we went on" Alex said casually. I choked on my food glancing up to be met by glares from both Tytus and Zander, "uh yea well five nights through the desert will do that to ya" I replied casually. At this point Zander had set his fork down waiting to hear more about this trip, Tytus had focused himself by stabbing at the steak on his plate almost violently. Alex either knew exactly what she was doing or was completely oblivious I hadn't figured out which yet. She smiled at me with a wink as she took a bite of her food, at this point Zander growled "care to tell me why you took an unauthorized trip to the Bad Lands?" he directed at me. "It wasn't unauthorized, remember the vacation I requested last year?" my eyes barely met his. Zander's eyes shot with rage. "Wait was that when you told me you had a job out in Emerald Cove?" Tytus said. "I did" Alex smoothly replied "Kyle rode out with me to keep me company." This was only a half truth, I'd also set her up with the job, I mostly went out to make sure she wasn't getting setup the MC Club she was hired by wasn't known to be the most upstanding of citizens. At this point I knew she was using me to poke at both of them, I wasn't making it out of this room alive. Tytus looked over at me with a grumble "keep her company? since when does the Jilaiya work with others?" Alex's eyes shot to Tytus with her lips sternly pressed together. I knew the name she worked under of course because I had helped her get a few jobs after she had settled into Gablesville but as far as I knew she never told anyone that name or even used it herself. I hadn't even used it when suggesting Zander hire her as that reputation wasn't needed for the job he had entailed. Zander shifted in his seat and his eyes scanned the room and then back to the three of us. "I don't" Alex finally said through her teeth "and if you don't shut your mouth I'll shut it for you." She was pissed, Tytus was red around the collar but I think he knew he was pushing her limits with that one. She'd teased him before flirting with me and he never got in a bunch like he was now, what the hell was going on. 

POV Alex

I wanted to launch through the table at him, using that name, I hated it. Somewhere along the line whispers began circling in towns after I'd done a job, I never knew where it started from, by the time I realized people were referring to me when they used it, it had spread through all the underground circles. Jilaiya- a demon who flies in the night to drain the blood of common people. I can't say it wasn't a good description of many of the jobs I did, but it wasn't common people I killed, they all had secret lives and layers of evil that the average person wouldn't understand. I'd be hired to remove them from a situation, night gave me better cover and since I was fairly small it made it easy for me to get in and out of places completely undetected. I glanced over at Zander who's eyes hadn't left me in the last few minutes, he had only known half of what I did from the looks of it Kyle must have kept the darker side of my skills off the record. A smirk must have escaped my lips by accident, "Care to tell me what you find so pleasurable?" Zander's voice was low and deep. I needed to escape this new revelation as quickly as possible, ah ha! "Just thinking about that trip, you know I always thought you wolves saw better in the dark, your buddy here ran himself straight into a cacti, I swear he cried like a baby" I quickly diverted the conversation back onto Kyle. "You know damn well I didn't walk into it you tricked me!" Kyle declared. "Blindfolded or not your wolfy-senses should've saved you" I grinned. Zander's hand came down hard on the table. "Kyle with me, NOW!" he boomed. Kyle jumped from his seat following behind Zander as they exited the dining room. Tytus still sat stabbing at his food, "you could've told me you slept with him ya know?" he said without even looking up. "What I do or don't do isn't any of your business for one thing and two since when do you care?" I said. He looked up at me, I could see the hurt in his eyes, "You're right Alex I don't" Tytus sneered and walked out. Well this hadn't gone like I expected, I looked towards the doors where all three men had exited, this day has just become one big mess.

Pov Zander

"You have five seconds before I rip your head off your shoulders" I growled at Kyle using my Alpha tone. Kyle's eyes shot back and forth deciding what to say, "Listen Z" he started. "Don't you start with me did you or did you not sleep with MY MATE!" I pointed towards the dining hall, my wolf was edging towards the surface he wanted to eliminate him right here. Kyle put his hands up in surrender "She wasn't your mate then, hell she wasn't even a wolf then you know I don't mess she wolves." Mother Fucker, I felt my blood boiling, he was right though she wasn't technically mine then, and she still wasn't now not until we sealed the bond. We both had our fair share of women, neither of us had found our mates and we'd both silently decided we never would, still we never messed with another wolf just in case that was somehow too close to home. I took a deep breath trying to calm my wolf, "We worked together, I'm not going to say it was a one time thing, but there wasn't any strings attached, just blowing off steam ya know" Kyle tried to explain. This wasn't making it better. "Why didn't you tell me she was Jilaiya? And since when do you mix in with that kind of work?" I questioned trying to change the subject. "It kind of just happened, not long after the first time Alex came through town there were a few guys asking if I knew where to find Jilaiya, it wasn't hard to figure out that she's who they were looking for even though they didn't have a description. One night she came into Dolly's filthy right after closing, I had stayed behind for Kate to lock up, I don't think Alex even knew I was there at first, she had slunk into a booth laying her head on the table, knuckles split and bloody, head to toe black and a butcher's blade strapped to her boot. The moment she realized she wasn't alone she tucked her pants down over the blade and gave me some bullshit about falling off her bike. I happened to have the card of one of the guys who'd been looking for her in my pocket still and laid it on the table in front of her. I almost think she was relieved that I didn't say anything about it. After that when I got wind of a job I'd slip it off to her and she'd give me part of the cash" Kyle said still hoping I wasn't going to rip him apart. "From now on I'd prefer those types of jobs be ran through me before you hand them off to anyone, I don't want our Pack's name mixed in with some of that business" I stated firmly. "Got it" Kyle nodded. I walked back into the dining hall to see Alex sitting alone pushing her food around the plate, this woman was going to be the death of me or someone else if she wasn't careful.