The Ties That Bind

Maxim was sure Mercer could find out how high the price on her head was within a day or so, if not sooner, but he wasn't sure if that was really her worry. More difficult was the idea of figuring out how to eventually get her back to living a somewhat normal life. They could ship her off somewhere, get her on her feet in a different city, a different state, where Farkas' reach would be too short to find her, but it wasn't really a permanent fix. The only thing that was permanent would be getting rid of the man.

"Your safety is as important as the safety of others," Maxim reassured. When she looked at him he gave her a small smile, serious still but gentle. "You should get used to standing behind me if anything goes wrong. If you'll trust me to be your shield, I'll trust you to watch my back." Physically and metaphorically, they would both have little other choice but to begin to rely on each other.

"Come on," he said after a pause, finally opening his door to get out. "Let's get that coffee and let the nerves settle for a little while." Once they had rested, had a decent time to watch for any suspicious activity out the windows and to think of their next moves, they would head back to the office where it was safe and see what Mercer could dig up about Farkas. It was possible that for a while it would be best to stay at the pack house, or at least in areas of town where Farkas' lot weren't so present.
 
She made a soft non committal noise to his comment about her safety, not entirely convinced, but she decided not to say anything further.

Trust... that was a hard word for her. Outside of a few very select people, perhaps all of three, she didn't trust anyone. There was good reason for that, she'd been betrayed one too many times.

Still her situation what it was, she had no other choice but to trust him, at least, a little. His gentle smile was reassuring, and it helped to know he would have to trust her in return.

After a moment, clearly showing how seriously she took this, she nodded. "Alright, I'll do my best." She replied softly, before following his lead and getting out of the car.

"I guess you'll make a good shield." She continued as she walked beside him, "that was a pretty impressive take down earlier." Her tone was casual, as if she didn't really care, but it was clear she was paying him a compliment.
 
Trust and reliance weren't something Maxim truly expected to come easily to Madeline, after the life she had been living, and given how much more closely she had to watch her own back now he didn't fault her for hesitating to answer him. Though it was his instinct to protect even someone he had never met before, it would take her to get used to working with him.

"I've been told I have broad enough shoulders for it," he said agreeably as they walked to the door, entering first out of habit but holding the door open behind him for her to follow. At her compliment he only gave her a little shrug and smile over his shoulder as they stopped to peruse the menu. "I've also been told I rush into things I probably shouldn't sometimes."

Generally it was a person's reflex to move away from danger, but especially after gradually acquiring a pack of his own he was more prone to pushing forward to put an end to it instead, even if there were a cost to his own body. The sentiment was both literal and metaphorical, given that he had rushed the man who had tried to beat him with a pipe. Maxim was quick to assess, quick to respond, and didn't shy from taking a hit he was sure he could walk away from. The actual act of sweeping the man's legs out from under him had just been training, practice, and a decent advantage over the man in pure strength.
 
She let out a soft little laugh at his broad shoulder comment, not entirely sure if he was joking or not. Not that she was arguing with him, he absolutely did.

"Hmm a gentleman and humble." An amused smile on her smile as he held the door for her, "a wonderful combination." She teased lightly, while she looked over the menu, ordering a hot chocolate with so much extra flavours it was probably more sugar than drink.

She grew a little more serious at his comment about rushing in too things, "you should be careful with that." "Speaking from experience, it's not the best trait."
 
"I'm only sharing what others said," Maxim said with his hands raised in an exaggerated shrug, like he couldn't help how people described him. Broad wasn't even what he would call something to brag about himself, but to each their own. The same, he was sure, applied to her drink order which started off simple and then became so complicated he wasn't sure he could even remember all of it. For himself he ordered a simple chai and left it at that.

"Oh, don't worry," he said as they found a small table to share which had a decent view of the doors to the establishment and most of the windows that made up the walls. "I've gotten that talk from more than one person and promise I've taken it to heart. You should have seen the one that came from Aether." He added with a small, amused smile, as if they were having nothing but a casual chat and there was nothing dangerous potentially waiting for them to leave. "We call it 'angry hands', but if anyone said that to his face he would probably throttle them." It might be tempting for someone to say he was 'not one to talk' when it came to such things, given his age, but the young wolf had, in all fairness, carefully bided his time before finally taking on his late alpha.
 
She didn't comment further, though she did find his modesty a refreshing change of pace. With the exception of Doc, most wolves she'd met were rather arrogant, alphas especially so.

Though of course she hadn't exactly met the best examples, except Maxim and his pack. Though she didn't know them well, they all seemed like good, decent people.

She glanced out the windows as she sat down, smiling a little in amusement at his description of Aether. "Well he's right, he sounds pretty smart." "Even if his judgement of people is so off." She joked lightly, referring to his standoffish nature towards her.

"So did you already know sign language?" "Or did you learn when you met him?" She asked curiously, while they waited for their drinks.
 
Maxim gave a soft, agreeable hum, unable to argue with her about how quick to judge Aether could be. It wasn't without reason, the younger wolf all but rabid inside with the need to keep his packmates from getting hurt, but he was going to have to learn to be less obvious about it. But he was young still, and he'd had a difficult life. He had time to learn how to live a 'normal' life again.

"I barely knew a few letters when we met," he said with a soft chuckle at the reminder of having to learn. "We 'talked' mostly through writing, then, but it was difficult and slow. It was better just to learn, so we could communicate more easily." Aether hadn't known any of it when he'd arrived either, so at least they had struggled through it together. "Most everyone has learned at least some for him. I'm consistently a bit jealous of how quickly the children picked it up. If, for some reason, no one is around and you need to speak with him, though, he's quick at typing things out on his phone."

Those instances would probably be rare, but it was always possible he would need to leave her at the apartment and would request one of his wolves keep an eye out for her in case anything should happen.
 
She nodded a little, imagining that writing everything down would get rather tedious. She thought Aether lucky, that his whole pack had done their best to learn sign language to accommodate him.

She thought it's what everyone should do for their friend or family member, but sadly it wasn't that common, at least in her experience.

"Children are naturally faster learners, and they seem like smart kids anyway." She said with a smile, her expression growing thoughtful. "I learned some as a kid, but I don't remember much."

She grinned a little, "nothing that would ingratiate me to Aether anyway."
 
"They are frighteningly smart sometimes," Maxim agreed with a little nod, "and since the oldest decided to take ASL as her language class in school, her brother was quick to follow suit." He glanced up when his name was called for their order, gesturing for Madeline to wait as he got up to retrieve it.

"In any case, you don't need to bother trying to butter him up," he continued with a little chuckle as he gave her the strange hot chocolate, sitting down with his tea and looking idly out the window. "Just make sure you're very nice to Simon and let him handle the rest. It's easier that way." Of all of them, Aether had attached to their human packmate the most firmly and was the most fiercely protective of him.
 
She didn't know if he even noticed but when he talked about his wolves, she could hear deep great pride in his voice. She thought it was very sweet, it really showed how much he cared for them.

"Thanks." She said with a smile when he handed her drink over, she took a sip, her smile widening a little in satisfaction. She laughed a little at the idea, "yeah that wasn't the plan."

"Though that's not something he's got to worry about." She said with an amused smile, but she was being sincere. "I think it'd be impossible to be mean to Simon."
 
There was nothing Maxim was more devoted to than his pack. He worked to earn money and to straighten out the city they lived in as much as he could for their kind, and he did what he could to rescue anyone within his power to make some sort of difference for, but if it came down to it there was little he would not drop if they needed him to.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," he said as he lifted his tea for a cautious drink, not wanting to burn his tongue or visibly grimace at the thought of Simon's past. "But Aether bristles if someone is so much as rude to him, unfortunately. We're still working on smoothing out the protective edges into something less touchy." Aether hadn't been around very long before Simon had been forcibly dragged into their lives, and the two had bonded over mutual trauma, despite the different sources. It was inevitable that Aether become protective, but it would take time still to make that feeling less intense.
 
She supposed she should have clarified that anyone decent wouldn't be mean to Simon, but sadly she knew there were people who would be.

She was curious about Aethers past and his connection to Simon, but she knew better than to ask. She had no desire to pry, knowing better than anyone how important privacy was.

"I understand why it could be an issue, but his protectiveness and concern for his friend isn't a bad thing." She said with a little shrug, "Simon's lucky to have soneone who cares about him that much."
 
Maxim gave a shrug of his own in turn, unbothered by her insistence. It wasn't an invalid point, and he was aware that she didn't make it from a place of hostility. "It isn't a problem in and of itself." He agreed with a slight tilt of his head as if to concede the point. "It's good to want to protect one's friends and family - but he's young still. He needs to learn what constitutes an actual threat and what's just someone being an asshole."

Simon was young too, but he was an adult. He could handle someone being unpleasant to him even if it bothered him a little. He didn't need to have Aether leaping to his physical defense over something that was just words, or Maxim was going to have to get the young wolf off assault charges far too soon. They had done well so far. If nothing else, Aether was aware of how to control himself, he just had to work on when exactly it was he should stop holding back.

Madeline was not fond of speaking about her past, and when it was unnecessary and they weren't in the middle of official interviews Maxim was willing to leave it alone. He had no trouble speaking of his own wolves at length instead. "He's come a long way since I found him, living on the streets, jumping at every shadow. Having Simon around has been good for him."
 
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She had thought he was just a little over the top but understandably so, she was technically a criminal Maxim had brought home on a whim. "I didn't realise he was that over protective."

She was beginning to respect Maxim more and more, he clearly felt deep love and pride for his wolves, but he could also recognise their faults and was actively working to help them overcome them.

It was the mark of a true leader, what an alpha was supposed to be, at least in her opinion. When he mentioned him living on the streets, she nodded a little. "That is a hard place to be." She said softly, her tone sympathetic and knowing, as if she spoke from experience.

"It sounds like they're both lucky to have each other then." "And lucky to have you too." She smiled a little as she stared out the windows, "all of you are really lucky, I'm a little jealous of the family you've built together."
 
Maxim shrugged slightly, knowing Aether's bristling at Madeline suddenly being in their home wasn't unwarranted but also that he could have handled it with more grace. They had spoken about it already, and the younger wolf had understood even if he hadn't been happy about it. Maxim was sure it would be a point of tension between them for a while, but they would get through it.

"It doesn't help that Simon is human," he said rather than get fully into it. "Everyone wants to protect him, Aether is just a bit more intense about it." The fact that Simon had come to them injured as he had was a factor as well.

When Madeline praised him he was a bit taken aback, not because he thought she had viewed his leadership negatively before but because he hadn't imagined she would let herself say something so soft and vulnerable so quickly. "Thank you," he said gently, something sympathetic in his eyes even as he took another small sip of his tea. "You'll find your own some day."

He couldn't help but want to reassure her, though he knew that it was already beginning to be a problem. As with many of his wolves, Maxim had seen a person down on their luck and in need of help, and he was growing protective of her too quickly. Jackson's urging to watch over her had only made it worse and Maxim could at least acknowledge that within himself, but they had only known each other a couple of days. He was going to have to be wary of himself just as much as her.
 
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She nodded a little to his comment about Simon being human, she could see why that would make them all extra protective of him. She almost felt sorry for any fool that might hurt him, they'd be incurring the wrath of an entire pack of pissed off wolves.

Her smile faded, her expression growing a little sad. She wasn't looking at him, her gaze focused out the window. "I appreciate you saying so, but I don't think so." "It's blown up in my face too many times."

She shook her head a little, taking another sip of her drink. "So how long do you think we should wait here?" She asked curiously, perhaps changing the subject.
 
Maxim only made a small, thoughtful sound, as if conceding the point to her for now, but he wasn't so sure. She was stuck in his home, after all, and with time and proximity would come trust. Even if she fled once it was safe to do so, for the time being she would have a place with his pack. It was dangerous, deciding that so quick, but he was sure he was beyond hope already.

"Five or ten minutes, I think," he answered when she asked, letting her change the subject without protest. "Shouldn't be much longer now for anyone to poke their head out while we're here. Rest. Enjoy your chocolate." He gave a little shrug, settled in comfortably as if he had nowhere better to be. "In the meantime, feel free to ask questions, if you have any. We should get used to talking to each other." There were still things to be worried about, surely, but he hoped in time she would be able to relax around him.
 
She looked thoughtful for a moment, leaning back in her chair as she drank her chocolate. She guessed he was right, they were stuck together for the foreseeable future so they might as well get somewhat comfortable with each other.

Especially since they'd have to trust each other if they were going to keep getting attacked, which she figured they would be. It's not that she couldn't make friends, it's just everytime she did, something went wrong, or she was betrayed and she, or someone else got hurt.

That hadn't happened with Doc yet, but the way he was going... she was afraid he'd be lost to her soon too. So she kept her distance, not letting herself get attached. Still she could at least be friendly with Maxim, since she knew their association was temporary.

"Alright i will, but fair is fair." She said calmly, determined to try and be fair. "If you want to know anything ask, I can't promise I'll answer but I'll do my best."
 
Maxim hid a small smile behind his cup at Madeline's thinking face. It was amusing, though in some ways it was also a bit sad, how she had to consider it for so long. He had to remind himself that she had lived a difficult life, and that even that had been turned upside down in a matter of minutes. Having a civil conversation with someone who might once had been her enemy, or suggesting that they should try to trust each other was not going to go over well immediately.

"All right," he answered, as if he were about to call her bluff, and didn't have to pause to think, just observing to catch her reaction. "What kinds of movies do you like to watch?" Work was work, and there was still a lot for them to talk about he was sure, but it didn't have to be the only thing they talked about. He wondered if she would find it strange that he would want to know things about her that had nothing at all to do with her 'case'.
 
She was preparing herself for questions about her past, her involvement with Farkas, Alex or perhaps Doc, but he took her by surprise by asking about her taste in film.

She blinked a little in surprise, a bright smile appearing on her face. "Good question, I like a bit of everything, animated films, musicals, fantasies, adventures, but if I had to pick a favourite genre, it'd definitely be comedy."

Her smile grew a bit amused as she looked a little sheepish, "I also have a soft spot for trashy films, I know they're terrible but they can be really fun to make fun of." That was one of the few things that made her think about the good things in her childhood.

She looked at him curiously, "what about you?" "What's your favourite type of movie?"
 
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