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In the small living room, Elliot was pacing, while Rafe sat in an orange and brown striped armchair that looked like it belonged in the 80s.
“We can’t let this sit, Rafe,” Elliot was saying. “He can’t get away with this!”
“There isn’t anything we can do right now,” Rafe’s voice was smooth and calming.
Elliot stopped his pacing and looked pointedly at Rafe. “Bullshit.”
“He’s pack beta, Elliot. You challenge him, and you challenge Thatcher. You want that? You really want to deal with that headache?”
“He hit her, Rafe! Her face is black and blue. She’s barely twelve years old! You want to just let him keep doing it? Turn a blind eye?”
“Of course not,” Rafe sighed, becoming irritated.
When she’d shown up, she hadn’t expected to ignite such a dramatic reaction from them. Challenging her dad, the pack beta, would be a big deal, a huge deal. It could get them killed, and that was the last thing she wanted. If Rafe was gone, so was any chance of salvation for her.
“Rafe’s right. It’ll be okay, Elliot. It isn’t like this all the time. I’ll just be more careful from now on.”
Elliot looked at her as though she were deranged. “That’s no way to live.”
“What I did today was foolish. And I’m sorry.”
Rafe stood up and crossed the room. “Don’t apologize.” With a knuckle beneath her chin, he raised her gaze to his. “What you did was brave and compassionate. I appreciated your concern. And I’ll always be your friend. You can always come to me, or Elliot, but right now, you’re young. You haven’t even gone through your first shift.”
“That’s coming soon,” she objected. Her first shift would soon arrive with the onset of her menstrual bleeding. She could sense it coming.
“Don’t wish away your innocence, or your youth. And please,” Rafe stressed his words, “don’t pin all your hopes on a man, on your mating. Please, try to figure out who you are first.”
She looked down at her bare feet. “He threatens to mate me off to awful people. His friends, or Jessop,” she said, referencing the pack alpha’s terrible offspring.
Rafe raised her chin once more. “That’s a long way off. He’d need Thatcher’s permission to do that before you turn eighteen. I think it’s an empty threat.”
Elliot snorted. “Rafe’s probably right on this one. Norman is full of hot air. You come to us if you’re worried, though.”
“Okay.”
Rafe pulled her in for a hug. “Is your dad going to come looking for you?”
“Not tonight. He told me not to come back until I showed him some respect.”
Elliot collapsed into the armchair Rafe had vacated. “He deserves no respect.”
Vivian hid her smile.
Rafe chuckled before nodding to the stairs. “Head up there and sleep.”
“But…”
“I’ll sleep on the couch and don’t even argue with me about that.”
Tears, this time happy ones, built in the corners of her eyes. “Thank you.” She glanced around him to Elliot. “Both of you. I promise I won’t make a habit of this.”
Elliot frowned. “You come for help whenever you need it, girl. You got that?”
When she didn’t answer, Rafe interjected. “That’s the promise we want from you. You come for help when you need it.”
Nodding, she blinked back tears. “Okay. Thank you.”
She grabbed Rafe for one more hug, needing the extra comfort.
