彡 cora hale | teen wolf

[impetere]

	✔ Cʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀs/AU ✔ Aᴄᴛɪᴏɴsᴘᴀᴍ ✔ Pʀᴏsᴇ	✔ Pɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛs ✔ Oᴛʜᴇʀᴡᴏʀᴅʟʏ ✔ Sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀs	♥ F/M, F/F ⏰ Uᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ

Comments

[splinted]

Alek nods slowly. "It's just ... not as official here, really. Especially not when the pack mostly consists of family. You're going to want to get to know them, of course, but they're not going to ask you to ... address them that way. We're all pack. Logan may be the one to make the decisions sometimes, but he never - there's no real hierarchy?"

[impetere]

She nods slowly, taking that all in. It's going to take her a while to get used to something that relaxed, but she's reached the point where she'll take whatever pack she can get. Even with her and Derek, where it was just a pack of two. (Well, two and a half if you count Peter, which Cora usually doesn't. Hence the half.)

"Okay. Just ... let me know if I'm stepping on any toes."

[splinted]

"Hey."

Alek reaches out with his hand to place it on top of Cora's. He doesn't mean to - or rather, he does, but it's instinctive and he isn't over thinking it - he just wants to reassure her. It's accompanied with a faint smile. "You won't. They're going to love you. Trust me."

[impetere]

She shouldn't.

Trust him, that is. She's just met him, and she's met far too many werewolves trying to lure her into packs with snake oil and promises of trust, wanting nothing more than to claim the honor of having one of the last living Hales among them and not really caring about Cora. She's built walls thick as stone, burying that desire for pack and family because the ones with something to offer never would have considered her anything more beyond a trophy to tote to their own honor.

But Alek asks her to trust him and for some reason she does. Maybe it's because he's a Hale already so he doesn't need her, maybe because it's a brand new world and she doesn't exactly have a whole lot of choices, or maybe it's just something about Alek that makes her believe that she can do that and it won't come back to hurt her later.

Whatever it is, she just stares at their hands for a moment, almost as though she's trying to remember the last time someone touched her for comfort, rather than the other way around. But eventually she blinks it back and nods, withdrawing her hand hand out from under his - not a rejection just needing that space when she's still figuring everything else out.

"Okay."

[splinted]

It doesn't come all at once.

Trust, that is. He doesn't expect her to place her life in his hands - though maybe that's exactly what he's asking - but he isn't expecting it. Those walls she's built around her, thick as stone, are far too familiar for him to not understand they come from somewhere. They come from a need of hers to survive, to protect herself.

She's wounded, whether she admits it or not, but if she's going to be part of the pack, then you take care of a wounded pack member.

Letting out a breath, he nods. "There's a spare room - several of 'em, really - if you need a place to stay."

Until she gets her bearings. Not forever, not if she doesn't want it.

[impetere]

She pauses for a moment, weighing her options, but it's not like she has many. She can't go back to the park and live in a den like an actual wolf - at least not while she's person shaped. She's probably going to be leaning on the new Hales a lot lately.

She doesn't have much of a choice, but she'll pay them back. One way or another.

She nods. "Thanks."

[splinted]

Alek nods back, bringing himself up to his feet. The pizza now left aside, he motions toward the door to lead her to said guest room, so that she can start to settle in a bit better than she has in the past weeks.

/END SCENE