#wolfandarrow

"Love?”  Emma scoffed.  “August’s not the type.”  More like a woo and woo-hoo, not a love and last.  “And since when have I encouraged anything?  He’s my friend, I’m just as nice to him as I am --”  Well, she didn’t have other friends, but if she did.  “With my female friends.”

“brilliant, you’re here so i don’t have to stop by the station later on. belle wanted me to drop those off for you,” liam greeted the sheriff, pointing to a small stack of books sitting by the bar’s register.

“Not a fan of all the attention, your highness?” Emma smirked, giving Graham’s hip a light bump from her own as they watched Princess What’s-Her-Name walk away after a slightly embarrassing display of promises and interest towards her friend. “Don’t you know, Graham, you steal the heart of every girl you meet. Pretty sure it’s those captivating eyes of yours, they just grab hold of a girl’s heart and the next thing anyone knows, she’s spewing her sudden love for you.”

Leaning forward, she wrapped her fingers into the front of his coat for leverage.  She wanted him to hold her and for it to be as simple as that, but it wasn’t.  Albert’s underhanded attempts to discredit her and run for mayor had been calculated, cruel, and it had hurt to have the people look at her with so much distrust when he’d accused her of being another witch queen out for power.  “I have to deal with this on my own.  I can’t have you seeming like an enforcer to everyone, it’ll just make him right.”

Emma had been drinking with Killian, laughing at another bawdy tale, when Graham moved between them, seeming none to happy.  She cleared her throat, straightening up.  “There you are.”  She looked past him at Killian, realizing what it must have...well, okay, what had been happening and that Graham might not be pleased about it.  “Killian was just telling me a great story.  Do you want to...?”

Alphas and omegas that she’d thought were just -- strange couples.  People with roving eyes.  Handsy.  Alphas with more than one omega.  Alphas that lured omegas despite their own being with them.  Alphas that went out without their omegas.  And Belle was ‘just friends’ with her Graham.  Sure.  “Not automatically...”

Emma turned her flashlight on him, scowling.  “I was perfectly capable of doing night patrols on my own before.  Are you saying I’m incapable now or something?”  The edge on her voice challenged him, dared him to bring up the change in the town and her own strange changes ever since the curse had broken and magic had returned.  The last couple of days had been even stranger, like the world around her had been put into a sharp focus.  Smells, sounds, sometimes to the point that it was dizzying.  And the ache low in her belly, too low to be hunger...  She looked him over.  “Just leave me alone.”

The moment she locked the bug, though, the car turned the corner and she saw it rolling slowly down the road, its lights off.  She moved up towards the steps, going to his door and knocking until it opened.