Page 9 of Scarred Resolve

“Good,” he finally answered, stretching out his legs and leaning back on his hands. “You?”

“Better,” I said, hoping it was an honest answer. “How was the meeting?” I didn’t want to be the topic of conversation.

He was quiet for longer than I expected. It was a long enough silence that I bumped him with my elbow because I knew he’d heard me.

“They’re leaning on me,” he finally said softly, his expression becoming unreadable. His scent told me too little, or maybe it was too much. There was a tangle of different emotions that I recognized but didn’t understand in the context. I wasn’t sure why he was confused, for example. He was uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure if it was from my question or the situation he was talking about.

“Um… you’re the second in the pack. Of course they do,” I said, frowning as I kept trying to put together the puzzle pieces he was providing me.

“I mean physically. They’re leaning on me physically.” He rubbed his head, almost as if he was frustrated, but I was still lost.

“You’re going to have to explain, Landon. I’ve been around werewolves a lot, but clearly, I’m still missing something here.” I was trying to sound kind, but I really needed to have more context.

“You wouldn’t notice it, huh?” He gave me an off smile. “The lower-ranking werewolves are physically leaning on me. I guessit’s not very obvious. They’ll hover near strong werewolves they trust. Their bodies will tilt toward them, almost like…” He trailed off, looking around, then pointed at a small green sprout. “Like a small plant toward the light,” he finished.

“No, I never noticed that, actually.” If I had, I certainly wouldn’t have noticed the importance.

“It’s really subtle. Most werewolves don’t notice it, either. I don’t even think Pa notices it when they do it to him. Normally, people see strong werewolves or in situations where we’re trying to suppress instincts to behave in front of everyone. When we’re all really mindful of how we look, like work or school. But in relaxed environments, the weaker and younger werewolves will do it. It happens more often and more noticeably when things happen, like a… a death.”

“And you’ve noticed them doing it to you because you notice everything. Is that a… bad thing?” One thing I realized was that this was probably a conversation he should have been having with Heath, but I wasn’t going to send him away. I just needed him to lead me to the actual problem. Or not-problem.

“It’s a new thing,” he whispered, and that’s when it clicked into place for me.

He’s never had them lean to him before because of what he is…

“Oh. Landon, they trust you to protect them. That’s… I know you’re not good with the pack structure like other werewolves, and if it makes you uncomfortable, just tell them. I’m certain they’re all mature people and will understand.”

“They’re leaning on me because of you,” he said, not looking at me anymore, as though he couldn’t bring himself to.

Oh.

“Since we told them about Fenris, one or two of them have hovered a little closer at every meeting. Today, I caught one of them leaning on me and stepped away. An hour later, anotherwas doing it, and I couldn’t move because we were talking to Pa about this pack house idea.”

“Landon…”

Anger and frustration flooded over his other emotions.

“I have no problem with the contact. Well, I do, but I can get over that. They need it, and I can offer it. It doesn’t hurt me. It pisses me off that they think I’m going to protect them fromyou,” he said, growling softly as he slammed a hand down on the rock. “But I don’t want to scare them with how mad that idea makes me, so I’ve been avoiding even thinking about it.”

“I wouldn’t hurt them,” I said softly, sinking a little at the very thought. “I would never?—”

“I know that,” he snarled at me. “That’s why it pisses me off. They don’t trustyou? Are they serious? All because you did what had to be done…” He shook his hand, the movement full of venting anger.

“Have you talked to Heath about this?” I asked in a small voice.

“I’m going to, but I don’t know the solution to this. I don’t think he knows a rational way to fix this, either.”

“Yeah…” I sighed, pulling my knees up to my chin. Landon was still stretched out, and now I was curled into a ball. “I’ll work something out.”

“No, no, youwon’t. This isn’t your problem to fix, Jacky.” Landon waved a finger at me, a mimic of what Carey had started recently. “It’s my problem. It’s my problem for not being a strong enough werewolf to kill him myself, which is my duty to the pack.”

“How do you know it’s even about me?” I asked finally, trying to step back and look at the situation differently. I didn’t want to think that they were scared of me, and my killing Fenris wasn’t the only thing that happened recently. “Maybe they’re just finally getting to know you, a newly mated male who’s dotingand loving with his mate. They might respect that and see that level of trust between you and Dirk, therefore find you more… approachable to find that sort of comfort and security.”

“Sometimes, you pull stuff out of your ass with such ease, I’m stunned by your talent for it,” he said, snorting as I had earlier. “There’s a joke in there somewhere about how you should have been born a?—”

“Don’t finish that,” I ordered quickly, knowing where he was going with it. “And you know, it’s gotten me out of a lot of problems.”

“It helps that half the time, you’re right. Or close enough to it. Even if you were always wrong, though, being able to think fast is an essential life skill in our world.”

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