Wordcount: 1,145 words
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 for cursing and off-screen death
Summary: What it says on the tin.
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Too Stupid To Die
“Yeah, that’s him.” Theo confirmed as Christopher hauled Corbin into the apartment. She’d just finished warning the night-shift wolves when Christopher had called to warn her they were incoming. “You should’ve killed him.”
“We need him.” Christopher dumped the old alpha on the couch. “Besides, he’ll have to answer to the Council.”
“Then he should have tried harder to die.” Theo huffed in annoyance, but didn’t get any closer to Corbin than she had to. Meg hadn’t seen her this angry before and for a moment she was worried Christopher wouldn’t be enough to keep her from avenging Donny.
“Hey,” she tried to catch Theo’s attention and the other werewolf growled, then caught herself with a tired sigh.
“Sorry Meg, I just–” Theo shrugged in frustration.
“Yeah, I know.” Derek was off digging for a first aid kit and Christopher had Corbin well in hand so Meg snagged Theo’s arm and headed into the kitchen where the old alpha was out of sight.
We really need Pizza Hut on speed-dial. Meg was already three hot dogs into Derek’s remaining stash by the time the younger werewolf returned with a dusty surplus army kit. Theo had calmed down, somewhat, and they both headed back into the living room to keep watch.
Christopher made quick work of the wounds, although most of the damage was superficial. The broken ribs would have to wait until the Council took over and if he was lucky they wouldn’t break anything else first.
“So Gil did this?” asked Derek, once Christopher was done. “Why?”
Corbin just glared at him until Christopher stepped forward. “Yes– yes, sort of. They were going to kill me, I heard them talking about it, but it was Gil who said I’d be useful.”
“Who did he say it to?” asked Christopher.
“I don’t know,” Corbin snapped. “I didn’t see most of them, just heard them talking in the next room. It’s not like they stopped by an introduced themselves.”
“So there’s a chance that Nico didn’t know about this, or at least he can pretend he didn’t.” Meg finished off the last of the hot dogs. “What good is hearsay anyway? Gil will just say he never talked to him, the Nico will say he never authorized it, and the Council will take Corbin and we’re left at square one.”
“Nico didn’t get to be alpha by being an idiot.” Christopher pointed out mildly. “And we’re not going to the Council until I can confirm if they are involved or not.”
“How?” snapped Theo. “We’ve got no proof.”
“Which is why Corbin is going to help us.”
“The hell I am!” said Corbin, “Two sets of bad silver isn’t coincidence, he must have known you were coming and set me up to take the fall. If I go back now he’ll just kill me.”
“That’s why they invented phones.” Christopher tossed his cellphone at Corbin who caught it with a hiss of pain at the sudden movement. “Call him, tell him you got lucky and I got hit by a car after you shot me. An ambulance picked me up before you could finish me off and you don’t know what to do. Two rounds of silver in the back are enough that additional trauma would have pushed me into a temporary coma.”
“What, you know that from personal experience?” asked Corbin sarcastically, flipping open the phone and starting to hunt through the contact list.
“Yes.”
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“You did what?” Gil’s voice was easily recognizable over the speaker and Meg wasn’t the only one that flinched. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“You said kill as many as I could!” objected Corbin and Meg wasn’t sure his panic was just acting. “How was I to know he wasn’t part of the pack, you said Donny had plenty of new wolves. This is getting too dangerous, I did what you wanted– I need the oath.”
“I don’t care what you need, if he saw you the deal’s off.”
“He didn’t see me! What part of ‘shot him in the back’ wasn’t clear? I never took off the medallion, there’s no chance he saw me. I want the oath Gil, you promised.”
“Not till we’ve cleaned up your mess,” snapped Gil. “And not until Southside is gone. You’re useless to me if you can’t use the medallion, I already have plenty of wolves. So get back over here, I’ll find out which hospital he went to and you can go finish the job.”
“I want to talk to Nico!” Corbin demanded, “I’m not going after an enforcer by myself.”
There was a pause. “You don’t want to talk to Nico,” said Gil in a terrifyingly calm voice. “You want to do what I tell you to or not even that dammed medallion is going to keep you safe.”
“You promised–”
“Now.”
The phone call cut off with a beep and Corbin stared at the phone for a moment.
“That sure sounded like Gil didn’t want Nico finding out about your little deal.” Christopher took the phone back from a deflated Corbin. “You really were hoping they’d offer you the oath over the phone, weren’t you. You know that wouldn’t have stopped the Council, right?”
Corbin nodded, then looked away. “I’ve been to an execution before, I just– I wanted the chance.”
“Is that enough?” asked Theo, ignoring Corbin. “He didn’t say anything directly.”
“He said plenty,” Christopher flipped the phone open to make sure the recording had taken and then snapped it shut with a predatory grin. “Planning to kill me is more than enough to drag him before the Council, but it’s pretty clear he was behind the murder as well.”
“But won’t he figure out what happened when he can’t find you at a hospital?” asked Meg. “There are only two here, so even if he checks with the ambulance crews it’s not going to take that long.”
“He won’t run,” Derek shrugged as they looked over at him. “Well, he won’t. Northside’s upper ranks have been together for centuries now. Nico can’t save him and Gil won’t leave him– they aren’t stupid; Gil will be dead by the time you show up to arrest him.”
Christopher shrugged, “Makes my job easier then.”
I’d forgotten how much I hate werewolves, though Meg catching Theo’s own angry glance. Pack justice tended to be swift and vicious, but she couldn’t imagine having to kill one of her friends just to spare them the Council’s tortures.
“So now what?” asked Corbin, after a short silence.
“Now we go back to the house, I call in the cavalry, and we put this whole mess behind us.” Christopher rolled his shoulders with a wince. “And we stop for burgers on the way, because I think he broke my collarbone in the fight and I’m starving.”
And where does that leave Southside? Meg wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
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