CHAPTER 8

Pip had been comfortable in the library for hours. Then an odd feeling brewed in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't sure if he was anxious, annoyed about the pain in his fingers, tired from doing homework since he got back from the doctors, or irritated that he would rather stay in the library all evening than go home to his aunt and uncle.

If Pip went home before he was due to finish work, his aunt and uncle would make fun of him for being so bothered about his fingers, then lecture him about how important it was that he paid his share of the rent, which Pip had paid since he was sixteen.

Two year dragged by and he had never paid it late

Pip tilted his head towards the splints. He didn't know if his fingers were broken because he decided not to go to the hospital. The doctor just bandaged him up temporarily, though Pip ran out of there before they could convince him to walk five miles for an x-ray.

Pip lowered his book, and for the first time in hours, someone else was in the central part of the library. Pip's eyes glanced to a guy sitting in one of the leather armchairs with sunglasses and a hood up. He looked to be staring his way, but the guy held a book open near his face and was most likely lost in another world of fiction.

Pip's eyes drifted back to his own book, then to the homework all around him.

He had missed dinner, but at least he was caught up on the work for tomorrows lessons. Pip sighed. Another Monday morning was arriving way too soon. The lack of sleep had burrowed deep behind his eyes. They stung every time Pip blinked. He was up early tomorrow for college and needed a good night's sleep.

Time to go home, Pip thought and crammed things back into his bag. When he packed away the homework, pens, and his water bottle, Pip walked to the bookshelf, which was just behind the couch.

He reached up to the shelf where his book belonged, struggling. Pip stood on tiptoes, yet still, the shelf was a few inches above his hand.

He looked left and right for the step ladder, but someone had moved it. Pip glanced back up to the space between two thick books, wondering why his belated growth spurt hadn't yet happened.

He tried reaching again, stretching further than before, feeling the muscles in his sides pulling until a hand took the book from his grip. Pip stopped standing on his tiptoes and watched the large hand slot the book back into place.

Pip's eyes moved to the man wearing the sunglasses, who now towered over him. He felt the body heat radiating from him because he stood so close. Pip flushed red and cleared his throat. "T-Thank you," he squeaked and stepped back.

The guy said nothing, only watched as Pip backed away into the couch. Pip chuckled nervously, feeling himself getting hotter by the second. "I-I'm going now... um-" Pip threw his bag over his shoulders. The man's blank expression didn't even twitch. "Thanks again, for the.. uh..." his words, like they usually did when he was flustered, lodged in his throat.

Pip turned abruptly and hurried out of the library before he could embarrass himself further.

He tumbled down the steps and once he breathed in cold air, he relaxed. In the library, Pip's head turned to mush in seconds. He was so used to feeling invisible, that someone noticing he had struggled and helped was like a gift from the heavens.

He smiled to himself and hurried down the street. Pip's mind replayed the act of kindness until a car horn, and bright headlights ripped him into the present.

"Get out of the damn way, Pippor!" a man yelled.

Pip leapt onto the cobbles quicker than the guy could give him the middle finger. The car continued to reverse, then sped off down the road. Only when it screeched around the corner, Pip realised his uncle was the one to nearly run him over. Thanks for the lift, he thought glumly.

Pip walked the rest of the way home without his smile.

*******

Krey's entire body pulsed. He stood in the library by the bookshelf for what felt like hours, repeating Pip's reaction.

The human had stumbled on his words, blushed hard with embarrassment, and almost tripped over the couch.

All Krey could see was the smile he had given him before saying thank you. Krey placed a hand over his heart. Pip struggled to reach a shelf that Krey didn't even have to go onto tiptoes to touch. Krey almost keeled over from his cuteness, and Krey never found anything cute.

He scrunched his eyes and shook his head. What am I doing? Krey jolted his legs into action and stormed out of the library. He looked left and right at the bottom of the steps. His mate had gone, but Krey could follow the scent.

He loitered on the steps once more, wanting to follow the human, but not wanting to stay out for too long to make his mother suspicious. If Krey followed the human back to his house, he worried that he would draw attention to himself. Krey couldn't risk anyone coming after his mate, not before anything even started.

Krey walked down the road with his head down. If, Krey, if anything starts between us. Now he had seen him and been in the presence of the human, his wolf wanted him more than anything else. Krey didn't know if it was possible to stay away. At first, he thought he would be able to get over it.

Yet he stood alone in Crescent Town after seeking the human out by his smell and watched him from afar. Great. Now I'm a bloody creep.

Krey stormed down the street and instead of turning the corner where his mate's scent went, he returned to the woods, shifted into his brown wolf with black patches, and returned to the institute.

*********

Krey woke up with a scowl. His tired eyes trailed up the person standing over him with crossed arms.

"Mother," he growled, "Fuck off."

"Krey Graymer. Your language is disgusting. Direct that word at me one more time, then see what happens."

Krey turned around and pulled the cushion over his head. His mother yanked it away and threw it across the room.

"Where did you go last night?" Makena asked.

"For a run," Krey mumbled. His head was suddenly busy with the human's blue eyes. His heart parkoured around his chest. Krey was glad to have sunken under his duvet so his mother couldn't see the scowl softening. Or his lips trembling towards a smile. A smile was something he never showed and something so rare, he would have better luck finding a unicorn.

"Why did you cancel the hunt?"

"Why do you care?"

"I care because you're Alpha. You can't just cancel plans and shut your pack out."

"They're not my pack."

"They are now." Makena ripped the duvet from the bed and pulled on his arm. "Get up, eat breakfast with them, train with them, reconnect." Krey didn't move and his mother lifted her arms with frustration. "Because I swear, if I hear Jordan complain about you missing training one more time-"

"He does what?" Krey leapt out of bed immediately.

Makena grinned. "I knew that would work." She turned, her grey hair whipping round in her ponytail, and marched out of his room.

When she was gone, Krey fell back onto the duvet. Now that he remembered about the human's existence, he couldn't stop thinking about him. Krey was foolish to visit him yesterday. If anyone had been following Krey, they would have known he was up to something.

No werewolf ventured into the town to sit in a library. Krey only hoped he was discrete enough not to raise suspicion. His mother didn't count; she was always suspicious.

He got a shower, and amidst the steam, the boy's face was all Krey could see when he closed his eyes. The thought of not being near him made him shiver uncomfortably in his hot shower. He rubbed his eyes and water ran down his face.

Krey stood in the shower for almost twenty minutes. He had a choice to make. Krey could try and bond with the pack and train and socialise, or he could go back to the town to see what the boy was doing.

His wolf senses begged him to go back to the town and seek out his mate, but Krey knew that was a bad idea. He couldn't attract attention, especially not from his enemies.

Krey dressed in his usual black jeans and black knitted jumper with a small wolf's head embroidered into the left side of his chest. He hunched over his laptop, tracking the whereabouts of his enemies. If every other pack is more than fifteen miles away, I'll find him, he thought.

His enemies were never more than fifteen miles away. At least one of them was closer than ten miles. Krey just wanted an excuse to stay away from the town because if he had the slightest opportunity to slip out of the institute unnoticed, he would take it.

Krey wasn't sure if he pleaded for enemies to be close or not. Either way, he wouldn't be thrilled. Krey played a dangerous game. He hunted the mates of others because they were a weakness, and now he had a secret weakness of his own.

He pulled nervously at the front of his wet hair, waiting for the trackers to load.

"Please be close," he whispered, ignoring the inner whining of his wolf. "Come on." He drummed hard on his desk, brown eyes staring intensely.

Krey tapped harder until the ends of his fingers hurt.

Finally, the page loaded and Krey froze, staring at the red pulsing trackers across the screen. North, East, South, West, every single enemy, despite how much they were a threat to the institute, was fifteen miles away or further.

Krey stared with his mouth ajar. Fate had spoken.