Night's Omen

Rook flinched ever so slightly when Claire went all nuts about not telling her dad, and she put her hands up in a defensive position, repeating 'okay, okay' a few times to get the point across.  No telling Claire's dad, she got it it.  The problem was, Rook really didn't think Mr. O'Riley would make her quit, and Claire wasn't kidding when she said that she was related to pretty much every wolf in the area.  They need to find a non-Westing-chick for Claire to ask things of, just for an unbiased opinion.  From what Rook understood of the O'Riley/Westing interactions, Claire's dad was trying to integrate the two groups into one pack, but the Westings had a weird matriarchal thing going on that wolves didn't really do, and Thane wasn't trying for an alpha male/alpha female co-op situation any more than the Westings seemed to be.  Rook still thought it was all pretty weird, but she'd decided to start reading up on wolf habits in the past weeks, just to feel a little more 'in the know'.  Her sister would be so proud of her for the research.

That was why she wasn't telling.

"Well, we'll have to see if we can find you an unbiased wolf somewhere.  For now, I don't really think he's doing anything weird, chica.  He's kind of just standing around, talking to Coop and being pretty polite.  He's kind of hot, too, but I'm totally watching your reactions and sticking with your opinion for right now.  We both know how useless I am with the wolf stuff," she pointed out, all honestly.  She never knew what was going on with the wolf stuff, but she had to admit --- male wolves were pretty damn hot.  She didn't know if it was the dominance thing that turned her on, since all the males Claire spent any time with were totally alphas, of if there was something else in there, but she definitely dug it.  She'd met some other shifters, and they really just didn't do it for her the same way.  Come to think of it, she was totally going to start paying attention, and trying to meet other shifters.  She needed to test that theory.

See?  She had that scholar sort of thing going on, too.  She just went about it differently.

"Agreed," she offered about going back out, giving Claire a good squeeze before accompanying her, and she was mostly quiet and nonchalant about Claire dealing with things.  She wanted, and she noted different things, including the eye contact.  She'd read something about wolves and eye contact, but these were werewolves.  They were human AND wolf, which made things complicated.  Damn it.  She was going to have to drill Claire later for more details so that she could tell the difference later. 

"Whoa, the Hilton?  Really?" she blurted when Nathaniel said it, having missed it the first time they mentioned it in favor of paying attention to Claire.  "I heard the place is really great.  Doesn't Di work there?" she asked, and then it clicked in her head about Nathaniel and Di both being wolves, and there'd been mention of a Lucas.  Another wolf?  Well, it couldn't be BAD for them to know there was another wolf there all the time.  Better that they not just randomly run into each other, right?  At least they could be prepared and think about the fact that they weren't going to be assholes at each other?  She hoped, or she'd just screwed things up for her favorite wolf pack.  Lame.

Yeah, going to her house would be cool.  It'd get them away from Nathaniel and Coop, and away from that tension.  She didn't like it, nor did she like watching what she said.

"Does Lucas always have that rain cloud?  He never seemed incredibly happy when I saw him.  Seriously, you're welcome at my place anytime.  It's too quiet there, anyway," he assured Nathaniel, grinning about the couch.  "This one is pretty comfortable, too, and bigger, so you should be golden."

Frankly, he didn't get the weirdness from Claire, but he assumed it had to be wolf-related.  That still didn't explain anything, but he knew that he didn't understand those things, and he'd be asking Nathaniel for details after Claire and Rook left.  He'd have bet Rook was as confused as he was, but she covered it pretty well in favor of standing by her friend, which he approved of.  For a human, Coop knew that Claire was in good hands.  Being human himself, he didn't mean that as an insult, but he could admit that humans weren't the best back-up in the world unless they were trained to be.  Rook wasn't, as far as he knew, but she was still a good choice. 

"That sounds fine," he agreed easily, not even thinking twice about Claire telling him where she was going.  It was good practice in case her family called or stopped in, anyway.  "I doubt we'll be needing you today, just make sure everything is stocked before you go, just in case."

Claire honestly believed her dad would make her quit, so that was all that mattered. She was thankful for Rook's compliance, however begrudged some of it really was. "Maybe they are being polite, and maybe he is kind of hot, but he smells bad," Claire said. She didn't know what other word to use to describe it. "Not bad, maybe - trouble. He smells like trouble," she said under her breath as they went back out.

  When Rook brought up her uncle, she wanted to just fade into the cracks of the floor. "Uh, yeah," she said, looking at something elsewhere that was suddenly interesting. She looked back at Nathaniel for a moment. "He's the head of their security, actually." So you'd better watch your ass, she though silently. She didn't know if she felt it out of concern for him or as a warning to him.

  To Daniel, she said, "It is." And with that, she got her coat and grabbed Rook, ready to head for the door.

  "He does," Nathaniel said. "Long story short, Lucas is in the middle of a nasty custody battle, which he will win. His bitch of an ex-wife is trying to say that he's got anger management issues, and that he hit her - he didn't," he said quickly to Daniel, brows raised. "I know my brother. So anyways, long story short, she's pregnant again and trying to say that he needs to pay child support for both children, but on the ultrasound the child is shown as female." He paused, and gave Daniel a very flat look. He knew their story enough to know which one of THOSE things was different.

  "He's got an amazing lawyer, I'll tell you that. She's here in town, too. Her name is Tara Westing, and she's actually a wolf, too, which is kind of funny. She's one-hundred percent certain that she can get his son back and expose the lying bitch in the process, and I've seen her track record, so I have no doubt she can't do that. I'm a little excited to see her rip Rachel's throat out, honestly. Bitch has it coming. She's been nothing but a leech on my brother and she's only made his temperament worse," he said hastily, drawing in a sharp breath. Nathaniel wasn't a woman-hater, but his opinion of a lot of human women was pretty god-damned low on the list.

  When the girls re-emerged, he said nothing until Rook blurted out this and that about another O'Riley, then. He studied Claire, knowing that she had thoughts she wasn't voicing, and then gave a little wave as they left, choosing not to comment at all on the matter. Once they'd gone, he looked back at Daniel.

  "Anyways, if you see Luke, don't bring it up. I doubt you'll see him at all, but if you do - well, I warned you," he said.