Chapter Text
The black Rolls Royce pulled to a stop in front of the apartment complex. Enid winced guiltily as she stepped out of the car and gave the abysmal building a glance. There was trash lying outside the street and it smelled of urine.
The entire part of this neighborhood was in poor condition and Enid was mentally kicking herself for not coming in to check on her father and brothers earlier. He had said everything was fine, but clearly it wasn't if they had moved out here.
Not if Enid had any say. Ever since she'd become an official Addams all but in last name, she had come into a lot of money. She wouldn't let her family continue living like this. First, she had to face them.
Wednesday stepped out of the car next to her, slipping her hand into Enid's for support. The ride over had been short given the fact that Thing had driven them through a portal to get here and Enid had only had a measly 30 minutes to mentally prepare herself for this moment. She still felt badly for causing her family to separate even if it had been the right thing to do given all her mother had done.
“You'll be alright.”
“What if they hate me,” Enid said, staring up at the building which seemed to loom taller and taller over her.
“Why would they hate you?”
“You know why they would,” Enid mumbled.
“I only see a she-wolf who did the right thing, and the only thing that could be done when your mother tried to have me murdered.” Wednesday snorted and tugged Enid up the crumbling concrete stairs with her. “And that was take action. Like how you're going to take action now and go in.”
Wednesday pressed the buzzer and a voice crackled on the intercom.
“Hello?”
“Devin, it's us. Enid and Wednesday,” Wednesday said.
“Holy crude! How did you guys get here so fast?! I literally texted Enid like an hour ago,” he cried out.
“It's an Addams secret,” Wednesday said with the ghost of a smile on her lips. “Let us in.”
The door clicked open and they walked in and up to the third floor where Devin was waiting impatiently with the door unlocked. He hugged both of them close to him. “It's been so long!”
Enid hugged him back, a bit calmer at his reaction. He was happy to see her, and not angry like she had feared. She pulled away from him, concern running through her mind. “You said something happened. What's going on?”
“Come on in,” he said and they walked into the apartment. It was small and cramped with only three rooms- one bedroom, one master bedroom and a big room that was a kitchen dining room and living room in one. Clothes, lay all over the couch, there was a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, and empty snack wrappers on the counter.
Weights stood in the corner- they must be Chris'. Enid almost tripped on a football coming in. Murray was sat on the couch, watching TV on the small set. He rose up when he saw Enid and Wednesday come in.
“I didn't know you two were visiting,” he said.
“I told them to come,” Devin said.
Murray frowned down at his son. “Devin, I told you we were handling this situation.”
“You can't. Not without Enid. We all know it dad.”
Murray hung his head and sighed.
“Dad, what's going on?” Enid asked, voice soft. Fear raced through her. What was going on now? This summer vacation was just one thing after another. It was frustrating when all Enid wanted was to spend time with Wednesday indulging in their relationship. And they couldn't even have more than one evening of time to each other.
Murray indicated for her to sit at the small rickety wooden dining table smushed up against the wall with chairs cramped close to each other to fit everyone. “Could I ask for privacy?” he asked Wednesday. “I know you got here, but-”
“You two have boring adult talk. Me and Weds will go on a walk!” Devin said, leaping on this chance to get Wednesday all to himself.
“Weds?” she asked dryly as he pulled her away and out the door.
Murray sat down at the chair and rubbed his chin. He had a stubble, and there were bags under his eyes. Something was taking a toil on him. “Is it money?” she asked, sitting across from him, pushing a dirty plate out of the way. “I have money now dad. I can get you a better place. It wouldn't be an issue.”
“Enid, I don't want you spending money on me. I'm your father. I want to take care of you all, even if I failed to do that back then,” he said. “But....I was scared. Your mother is an alpha. Her commands dig into your skin and stay there. It wasn't until she tried to have Wednesday killed that the shock of her actions was so strong it woke me from her control. I was too furious for her to restrain me any longer. I was able to escape. I want to make up for everything.
“I'm worried about Abraham. She's got her hooks into him, and she is influential in the community. I took her last name. The Sinclair's are a long and powerful line of wolves. Despite my efforts to break away from her, she's made things rough. I can't keep a steady job, the bills are piling up,” he admitted, closing his eyes in shame before opening them. “This shouldn't be any of your concerns. I'll find a way to make ends meet.”
“Then why did Devin text me if he wasn't worried? They can get taken away,” she said. “Maybe not Bart, but Chris, I and Devin can get taken from your custody. We'll have to go back to her.”
“I won't let that happen. I'll move states, find work elsewhere, because I don't want this burden to be yours,” he said. “I was going to make ends meet until you graduated Nevermore so we could move with you wherever you decided to go to college.” He sat back, regarding her. “You've changed. The streak in your hair.” He pointed to it.
“Oh, this is permanent, I think,” Enid said. “It's a long story.”
“How was your summer vacation with the Addams?” he asked. “You seem more mature.”
Enid sighed heavily. How exactly could she tell her father about the horrors she and Wednesday had gone through without him banning her from ever visiting the Addams again? It wasn't their fault any of that had happened. “It was...interesting,” she settled on. “Because of it, I've come into money. Let me use it, just a bit to help. I promise you I won't miss it.”
He shook his head. “Enid, the worst concern isn't the money. Or your mother's meddling.”
“What is?” there was something worse?
“We can't get recognized as a pack,” he stated.
“Why not?” Didn't he just have to sign some paper work?
“We don't have an alpha, Enid,” Murray said. “We need an alpha.”
Enid nodded her head. “Okay, so then we elect a new one and go to the council. I'll support your claim even if mom denies it.”
Murray shook his head. “I don't want to run for alpha. I don't have what it takes.” He paused, before looking seriously at her. “Enid, I want you to be pack alpha.”
She sat back in her seat, mouth dropping open. “Me?” she shrilled out. Never in her imagination could she ever think she'd hear those words directed at her. She was used to being the runt of the litter.
“You're more than capable of it.”
“What about Bart?”
“I don't trust him. He's not entirely on our side, but not on your mother's either.”
“And Chris? He could technically be alpha as long as it's under your guidance.”
“If I had wanted Chris I would ask him. I don't want him leading the pack. He's hot headed and doesn't have the mind for leadership positions. You do, Enid. You're caring and kind, but you won't roll over and let people walk all over you. And you're a wolf now. You can be alpha of the new Sinclair pack under my guidance.”
“I...I don't know what to say about this. It's a lot to take in.”
“Take time to think about this. But we need an alpha Enid. If we don't have one, we won't be able to be recognized as an individual pack. Which means your mother has legal right to us still.”
Enid swallowed thickly as Murray's voice lowered, trying to hide the pain in it.
“She hasn't stormed in yet, but she doesn't feel the need to. She's dealing blows in other ways, making sure we're weak enough to come crawling back to her so she doesn't have to beg for us to come to her.”
Enid pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. A familiar tactic. How many times had she made Enid feel like shit and worthless only to offer a shred of praise when Enid did things her way and made Enid feel like she was on top of the world.
“Again, I don't want to burden you with this, Enid,” Murray said. “But the alpha issue is one I cannot handle on my own. I was contemplating waiting until you finished school to tell you-”
“And then what? It would have been too late and mom would have reclaimed us. We would have to go back to living under her roof,” she spat out, growing frustrated. She didn't want to have to face her mother again. Didn't want to give her the chance to sink her nails into her again.
He offered a hapless shrug. “I know. It's....harder than I thought it would be. This living on our own from her.”
“Don't go back to her.”
“I won't,” he whispered.
Enid waited on the front stoop of the apartment for Wednesday to come back. She and Devin smelled faintly of smoke and ash. “What have the two of you been doing?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
Devin looked too happy and Wednesday had a light smirk on her face; they had clearly done something illegal.
“It's better if you don't know,” Wednesday said as Devin rushed past Enid into the apartment. “Less witnesses to interrogate.”
“Weds is so cool. Please tell me the two of you are staying for the rest of the summer.”
Enid shook her head as Wednesday stopped in front of her. Enid wiped a bit of soot off of her black dress front.
“How was the talk?”
“Not great. Things are falling apart in the Sinclair pack.” Enid bit her bottom lip. “Dad wants me to take over as alpha.”
Wednesday's eyebrows rose up. “Isn't that a good thing.”
“I don't know if I have what it takes to be an alpha.”
Wednesday took Enid's hands in her own, kissing the back of them, leaving black lipstick marks.
“Enid, you question yourself? You took on an Eldritch Being with nothing but your claws and canines and hatred fueling you. He could have easily snapped you out of existence but you didn't even blink at that notion. You fought valiantly to save me and my family from him. If anyone deserves to be alpha, it's you.”
Wednesday's words and faith were reassuring. “Thank you,” Enid said, flushing a bit. Wednesday leaned up on the step to kiss Enid when someone interrupted them.
“Oh, shit, you're back!”
They turned to see Chris was coming down the street, hands tucked into the front of his hoodie. Behind him were two other wolves, about his age. Skinny, with tough looking faces, and scars littering their skin.
He grinned wide. He had a buzz cut now and a strip down his eyebrow. A fresh tattoo ran down the side of his neck.
Enid's eyes widened on the new ink. He didn't- he couldn't have-!
“Come back for a rematch with me?” he asked, tossing his head back cockily.
“Do you want to get beat again that badly?” Wednesday asked.
“Hey!” he called out, mindful of his friends around him. “That's cause you cheated. You didn't fight me hand to hand.”
“I don't make it a habit to housetrain pups.”
His friends laughed at him and he flushed red, telling them to shut up.
“Calm down, Chris,” one of them said, placing a hand on his shoulder and shutting him up.
“Did you join up?” Enid hissed out between tightly clenched teeth. “With the Blood Moon gang? Really, Chris?”
He grinned back at her, eyebrows hiked up. “What? You think that's bad? At least I'm not slinging back drugs and booze like Bart is.”
“For fucks sake,” Enid cursed under her breath. Things were a lot worse than Dad made them out to be. It seemed her decision would be made quickly. She grit her teeth. “None of that is going to be allowed anymore.”
He snorted. “And who are you to tell me shit?”
She drew herself up, squaring her shoulders back. “Your new alpha.”