Part 16.

After about a month of preparations, the home was well equipped with barricades and a nice outpost for the incoming fight, it was small but it was enough to protect the blooming family inside. The place had changed however, Kyle had gotten so knowledgeable in his magic studies he was now no longer a beginner, more of an adept witch with reliable spells he doesn't fail much anymore.

Zayne and him had enjoyed a month together as a proper couple, they cant really go on a date but Zayne had asked his mother to help him make a meal for him the other day, it would've been hopeless without her help, and the two enjoyed a small candle lit dinner under the stars just outside the porch. Kyle was flattened with gratitude, the love for him was intense, the two had been experimenting over the month as well, pushing each others limits in how much they can take in terms of teasing.

Just this morning, they were making out in bed after waking up, and Zayne had begun to pepper kisses lower and lower and lower all the way to his belly button, Kyle was a bushing mess and promptly he:

"Stop!"

Zayne immediately lifts his face and hands, looking up with the glow in his eyes had slowly begin to fade away, his teeth slowly descending back to normal as he smiles at him, it wasn't a teasing one, but just a warm and comforting gesture.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No...no it was really nice but...I just never got a chance to do anything like this before"

"It's ok, I'm the same...we can go as slow or as fast as you'd like, anything so you feel comfortable~" He said, lifting his face back to his lips in a slow and gentle kiss.

When they separate, a question popped in his head.

"Have you...ever done this before?"

"Not...exactly"

He quirks his eyebrow, for some reason, a small pit forms in Kyles stomach, it was hard to distinguish if it was discomfort or jealousy, but he hated it either way.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, im still pure if that's what you're getting at.." Zayne looked somehow hurt by that comment, it comes out a little less nicer than he had hoped. Looking down at Kyle who was slowly back peddling, realising how he came across.

"No...Zayne-"

"No, no its fine"

He gets out of bed and started to strip his clothes, Kyle didnt Close his eyes or look away, looking sadly at his naked back.

"I gonna go for a run" he slightly turns his face to eye him from behind.

"Wait, can we talk about this?" Kyle was feeling guilty, hoping he wont leave for the rest of the day.

"Later"

He then turns, leaving the room in wolf form and going for a run in the direction of Fordwich, Kyle assumed he wouldn't leave the sanctuary as his wolf, and he was right, he had simply walked to the pond located nearby, safe enough to not put himself in danger away from home.

Kyle flopped backwards on the bed, a frustrated look in his face as he pulls the duvet over his head with a deep sigh.

Meanwhile, while the rest of the family chilled in the living room, Cara was boarding the windows with sheet metal they had bought from town, Shaun was in front of the fireplace, the black book in his hands, staring at it with a thought in his mind.

"What's that you're reading Shaun?"

"Nothing good..." he places it to the side as he looks back into the book he had actually been reading, the black book had remained unread since he took it from the bookshelf in Grandpa's Cellar.

He had been studying his own way, making time to take things out of the book and rewrite it on a slow piece of paper so he'd remember.

He had so many strung on the walls of his room, it was slight bit obsessive with the amount of them but it clearly works as he has remembered everything he's learnt from it.

Whenever he wanted to know about a creature or something about the Twilight Forest from the first book, Mattias wrote a lot about the types of monsters in there. He came across swamp goblins which have a small fear of sunlight, meaning they only come out at dusk, or that centaurs are unable to do anything if you jump on their backs unwillingly.

Another cool fact about werewolves in the book was that they not only have an aversion to silver, but a witches fire could incinerate it immediately, apparently, magic only has two foes that can actually rival against it.

The Reign cult, and the other was themselves, witches were often butting heads in the old days, causing them to fight to the death until only one witch was either devoid of magic, or dead.

But he had only looked at pages interesting to him, meaning all the writing often went amiss unless it was about weaknesses and strengths. He had a certain fascination with it recently, his only viewpoint was to try and find what made the hunters hard to track, he had been learning from the techniques in the other book, one of which was the tell-tale signs, the advanced planning ahead for what you choose to hunt.

But the hunters put no notion of how to defeat them in the book, even though they were monsters themselves.

Instead he had to go of clues in the book, and how it is told.

They often refer to themselves as cleansers of the worlds darkness, though they only put out that they seek to destroy them, instead of truly learning about them. Which Shaun found really stupid, all this planning to learn nothing but what justifies your means.

Shaun put that book down and walked into the kitchen, where Adrian was washing dishes from the night before, a small apron around his bulky waist that read. Kiss the 𝙲̶𝚘̶𝚘̶𝚔̶ Wolf. A large red line in the name cook, with sloppy pink paint spelling wolf underneath it.

"Nice apron Ade~" Shaun says with a smirk, Adrian shakes his head amused.

"What? do you wanna kiss the wolf too?"

"No!-" Shaun says in a hurry to get away before Adrian wraps him in a large hug, landing sloppy wet kisses all over his forehead, they both laugh as he protests, plopping him down and continuing to wash as the radio played in the background. Shaun wipes his face and head of his slobber with a small smile on his face.

"That was gross"

"That wasn't gross, its called love, get used to it" Alyssa says, budging by him gently, joining him at the table.

"Crumpets crumpets crumpets!" Adrian sings as he picks them out of the popping toaster, placing plates down for everyone as he places a few crumpets (a small bread made from an unsweetened batter, with butter)each for breakfast. Cara sits down and noticed Kyle and Zayne both weren't there.

"Hmm, did I hear Zayne leave the house before?"

"Yeah, he hurried pretty quick too..."

"Without Kyle?" Shaun asked with his mouth stuffed with crumpets covered in melted butter.

Adrian nods, finally sitting down and eating his own.

"Oooooooo, first fight, this is juicy" He said, though it was muffled from the food.

"Shaun, close your mouth, now"

He gulps and pulls a neutral smile.

"Sorry, ma'am" he says, eating properly now

"Thank you...would you like to check on your brother? he might be upset if they've been fighting"

"That relationship in none of my business"

"but he's your brother?"

"And that's why I'm not going...he wouldn't want me to pry in it, he can figure it out"

He leaves the table, places his plate by the sinks drainer and walks upstairs. He had a feeling she was right but again, out of his own judgement, he left his brother alone and entered his cluttered and messy room. The were so many post-it notes, slices of paper and drawings he had took from the book, diagrams with circles and marking around them, mostly creatures and weak points.

As he settled in his bed and places the old school Walkman cassette tape player with a small half broken set of headphones attached to it. It used to belong to Kyle but when he went back to the house he found it in his room and never got around to giving it back, he only had 3 tapes from what Kyle had next to it.

Shaun entered the first, which was labelled "Ninth Birthday" and listened to it playing creakily in his ears:

"First recording! I didnt think I'd get anything for my birthday today...but my grandma found this old Walkman in this box from the attic! its so cool, Shaun doesn't even know I have it so he can't throw a tantrum when I dont give it him"

Shaun paused the recording and ejected it, sourly throwing it out after the 50th time he'd heard it in the month he had it, he doesn't know why but knowing he had one birthday present while Shaun got nothing made him jealous.

Entering the next one labelled "Shaun"

"Shaun was hit really hard today....It made him bleed, Grandpa stopped when he saw the red...I was so scared I just froze, I couldn't do anything why didnt I just DO something....Im such a coward" Kyle sounded around 14 here, and the sobbing voice on the other end was making Shaun feel sick to the stomach, this tape was probably the reason he left this thing behind, The sound of footsteps came up the stairs in the background and he quickly stopped the recording, these tapes weren't long, but the final one was the longest, and Shaun only heard it once during the month and couldn't bring himself to listen to it again.

He didnt even want to read the label.

Putting it back in the bedside draw covered in crumpled pieces of paper, and there was soon a knock at his door and Alyssa walks in.

"Hey bud, whatcha up to?"

"Just thinking"

"About?

"The Reign...and Kyle"

Alyssa paces his wall, reading all the notes he had prepared and wrote, a fascinated gaze in her eyes.

"This wall is coming along nicely, how has your training going?"

"Its one-sided, as usual"

She hums lightly, turning to look at him with her violet eyes burning in the dim room, he didnt open his curtains often and the room had lost the dusty smell it once had and was now the typical smell you'd expect from seventeen year old boy's room. Alyssa didnt care however and offers him her hand.

"Come on"

"What? Where we going?"

"You'll see"

Shaun does as she says and follows her to the outside of the house and into the sunny day, it was lovely outside, but the chill was biting and forced him to wear a coat. Alyssa however was stripping her outer layers into a simple black tank top, tying her hair up in a ponytail and facing him in the slightly tall knee length grass which had gone unattended since they started preparing for attacks or ambushes.

"So, what did you take me outside into the cold for?"

"Because, can you think of any situations where you'll be comfortable in a real fight?"

"No..."

"Exactly, and the only skim of a real fight you had was when your grandfather stormed this place and held me captive" She said, feeling over to the small thin scar she had across her neck, which she had covered by her jacket usually, the squish of wet grass under her black leather boots was distracting as she circled him, a serious glance in his eyes.

"That night might've opened my eyes if I didn't already know how to fight, that old bag was quick, and silent...so silent I didnt even hear him enter through the door"

"Stealth can only get you so far" He grunts, thinking of him again to his distaste.

She hums with a happy tone to it.

"I agree, but evidently, It works just as well, which means if we are to survive anything, we need to be prepared for anything"

"What are you saying?"

Alyssa takes no hesitation as she flips through the air in a stunning kick to Shaun's chest, rounding out onto her other foot while he was pushed to the morning dew on the grass his back soaked and his chest hurt slightly, it wasn't a super hard kick, but it was enough to wind him.

"OW...why...did you kick me?!" he says in-between wheezing breaths, coughing it down and looking at her with shocked eyes.

"Did you expect me to hurt you?"

"Why would I?!"

"Because I said you needed to expect anything, me hurting you was so far from your mind it hadn't even crossed it"

Shaun takes a moment before standing back up, taking off his coat and brandishing his slim shirt, which only made his limbs more exposed and freezing, like Kyle he was well built due to all his farm work, but practicing against nobody was a waste of time.

"That's more like it, come on, show me what you've learnt"

Shaun launches at her, his fist pulled back for a strike, but Alyssa grabs the punch mid air, flipping him over onto his back with a small thud, holding him in a headlock. She applied slight pressure to make him struggle, but nothing was coming to his mind, he was panicking.

"Come on Shaun, You know how to get out of this"

He takes his mind away from the fight and thinks back to his notes, pin pointing exactly where had wrote down the technique on his wall, placing his hands in a position under her arms, pushing her arm into an uncomfortable bend. She winces, moving away as she holds her arm in pain.

"Shit!" she curses under breath.

"Fuck, Alyssa I'm so sorr-"

Alyssa takes the chance when he approached her, sliding her leg under his feet and sweeping them, making him fall flat on his back for the third time today.

"You think the man slashing a knife at you will apologise? get up"

"Stop"

"No, you need to know that a real fight is nothing like what those books say, Kyle may have magic, and choosing a path that works for you was smart but dont let it be your downfall...its time for something practical now"

Shaun sighs as he peers into the grey sky, it had just finish raining despite the shining sun in the blaring light of the morning.

"Ugh...can we at least get a coffee before we continue"

The was a small pause before Alyssa offers her hand to him, pulling him from the ground up.

"Fine, you're lucky I love coffee"

The two head back inside where Cara was conveniently putting the kettle on, anticipating it through the steamed windows. Kyle had finally come down and his eyes look slightly puffy as he sat down, tired and gloomy, not speaking a single word.

"Good morning Kyle~" Adrian said as Kyle slowly cranes his head, an unimpressed frown on his face.

"No, its not...Can I take my coffee to go?"

"I suppose..." Cara said, a narrowed expression in her eyes "I you tell me why my son was storming off, seemed a little mad"

"I dont want to talk about it..."

Kyle snatched up his brew and left the house, walking through the grass with his steaming coffee waving in the breeze, he looked into the forest and thought of Zayne. looking down at the grass and sighing deeply.

"Sequor~" He lightly whispers as his vison goes bluish and Zaynes tracks were highlighted bright yellow in contrast, making it easier to know where he went, following them with ease. He wandered down to the pathway where he first entered the sanctuary, seeing Zayne had wandered back to the pond where they first met.

After walking there, he spotted Zayne laid by the back, similar to how Kyle was when he came here, the water was just as gross as last time, but the fish were thriving and his back was turned to him, but his ears perked slightly when he approached.

Kyle first tried speaking to him telepathically.

"Zayne can we please just talk?"

Nothing. No voice on the other end, he just stared at the water as if it wasn't sitting still.

"Really? silent treatment?" He said out loud, he still remained statuesquely still, but could tell Zayne was still listening to him.

"God...I didnt mean it that way...I just, you never told me you've even been in another relationship before..." Kyle admits, setting the brew down on a tree stump nearby.

"It wasn't a relationship...not like it is with you" He finally speaks.

"Then can you just tell me...I'm not going to think differently of you"

"Its not that...Rumours of werewolves finding mates was big talk, bonds that go until the end of time even after we die...It was said that if you hadn't found yours by seventeen it wouldn't happen...so I assumed it passed me..."

Kyle hugged his knees as he listened to his boyfriend talk about his past, they had focused so much on Kyle's life he never got the chance to ask more about him and his family.

"When the walls weren't up in the forest, we were more free to go about town and one night I....met a girl"

"Girl?"

"Yeah, not like we know the gender of our bonds so most wolves are Bisexual by nature...I didnt know if I'd ever find you" Zayne tipped his head down sadly.

"But you did...till the end of time until we die...right?" Kyle reaches over and gently directs his head to gaze in his eyes, his hands smoothing downwards to his mane and stroking it softly.

"Right~"

"Can you turn back now, This coffee isn't mine...too much milk~"

The tone had shifted friendlier and the two were both chatting, though Zayne was naked (which he oddly was a lot of the time) Kyle had grown used to it, he never looked for anything, but small slithers make his heart skip beats, he was a massive fan of his broad shoulders and how they carried such a neck on them. Face plump yet hairy, and the eyes under his bushier eyebrows were glowing a hazy amber, he hadn't shaved in awhile and was growing a beard, it was just starting to curl at the chin, there was a small bump on the bridge of his nose and his teeth were as white as ever.

Kyle had changed a lot as well, his ginger hair had grown slightly longer, though not long enough to wrap in a bun, his freckles were pretty scattered and the skin wasn't as pale as it used to be, he was healthier than he'd ever been and was looking great, his green eyes blazing into the amber ones he stared into, Zayne cheerily talking but everything was going amiss, he was so focused on his features he couldn't hear a thing.

"You're not hearing a word I'm saying are you?"

"Sorry?" Kyle snaps out of his staring daze as Zayne chuckles.

"Heh, suppose I should take it as a compliment~"

"You should...and I dont wanna come across as the jealous boyfriend or possessive but...You are mine...nobody else can have you like I have you~" he said, caressing a finger along his hairy chin, now Zayne was the one in a trance, enticed and transfixed by his touch and his assertive side.

"You uh...dont think its...too late for bed is it?~" Zayne asks, blush creeping and his hand resting on top of Kyle's thigh.

Kyle chuckles to himself.

"That's a very tempting offer...but we still have a lot to do today~"

Zayne leans his head against Kyle's shoulder and gazes back into the pond.

"You sure now how to tease a guy~" He says, his voice low and tempting.

"Oh please, didn't your mother ever teach you?~"

Kyles eyes turns to the sky hole in the trees surrounding the pond, the feeling of Zaynes body was hot, making the chilly day nothing more than a breeze.

"Patience is a Virtue~"