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"Guess there's not a lot of point to hiding from one of you, is there?"

One of you, Isaac snorts. "No. Not really. Know your scent. Made sure we did."

"I'm honored," he says with a touch of sarcasm. "Derek's call, was it?"

"He made sure we knew it'd be in our best interest to know when a hunter was around."

"He also remind you that as long as you don't hurt anyone, I have no problem with you?" Chris asks, tilting his chin up defiantly, as though he has something to prove to Isaac.

"Do I need to remind you that you seem to be the only one who follows that code? Didn't feel like Allison was following the code when she shot me with an arrow." He and Allison may not have been friends before that -hell, Isaac didn't care for her all that much at all and was aware that the feeling was mutual- but it had still come as a surprise when she hadn't hesitated for a second to sink twin blades deep into his abdomen.

Chris hadn't been happy about that turn of events himself, but family loyalty and all. "Gerard's been dealt with. And Allison has removed herself from hunting for the time being."

"Was that her decision?" Or did you finally step in went unsaid, but he can't keep the sneer off his face.

Chris doesn't back down from that stare. "She is the official head of the family now," he says evenly. "It was her decision to make."

That made Isaac do a double take, both brows rising in shock. "Oh. Wonderful." He filed the information away to share with Derek later.

"Problem?" Isaac was pretty easy to read, at least going by Chris's baseline for wolves. Part of him thought that was because he was young, but Erica and Boyd were almost as hard to read as Derek.

He had to work to school his expression, and not for the first time he envied his fellow pack mate's and their ability to remain neutral, to show only what they wanted to. "Easily manipulated and unstable. Is that... wise?"

He nodded in acquiescence, raising his eyebrows. "I did say officially. Unofficially, I'm handling things until she's more mature."

Isaac nodded, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He resisted the urge to shuffle his feet. The fact that Chris was, for the moment at least, in charge was mildly comforting; with that came the knowledge that the code would be followed and he wouldn't have to spend every second paranoid that a hunter was following him.

At least, not following him with a sword at the ready.

"We're on the same side as long as this Alpha pack is around, remember." Chris had no idea why it bothered him that Isaac seemed so afraid of him, but it did, more than Isaac's mistrust of his daughter. Allison had at least stabbed the kid to earn his dislike.

"Is that your way of telling me to trust you?" He furrows a brow, tilting his head. The fact that Derek was willing to work with him meant that he wasn't a total threat; Derek was too wary of anyone to take on something like that lightly. But there was always the niggling reminder in his head that Chris Argent was a hunter first and an ally second.

"Have I given you a reason not to?"

"Have I given you reason to view me as an animal?"

"Do you think that's how I view you?" Was it? He'd stood by and watched Gerard kill an Omega; he'd been part of the mass hunt that followed, however unwillingly. Actions speak louder than words, and all that.

"You've never given me a reason to think you don't. After all, people don't hunt other people."

"No, they don't. That's what the Code is for--we hunt the ones who are hunting, because they're not people anymore."

"You." He nods once. "You hunt the ones that are hunting." And so maybe, a little trust was deserved then.

He nods. "The family does. We will again, now that Gerard's gone."

"Then maybe we can work together."

"Your Alpha thinks so." Cheap shot? Maybe. If what Chris had been taught about wolf packs was true, it probably was--then again, that knowledge had been severely strained by the last few weeks.