𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 ⸙

1.40𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪

"Um.." Liam glanced to Baela. "N-Not really."

He didn't want to say that he barely owned any clothes, let alone a shirt and smart trousers.

"Zayn asked me to go into Ethdellin Town to pick up some things for you, Liam," Baela said. "I'll talk to you about it before I go."

Liam noticed that Solana looked at Baela as though the sound of her voice irritated her.

Solana's annoyance was mild, but Liam was used to spotting tiny emotions on other people's faces. Most of the time, he was basically invisible, and nobody acknowledged him staring.

"Thank you, Baela," Liam said, taking another sip of his tea and looking towards the door again. This time, Zayn entered and the entire hall quickly stood up.

Liam, in a panic, tried to stand when Niall and Baela stood, but Baela quickly pushed him down. "Not you," she chuckled.

Zayn's frown turned to a glare as he sulked to the table.

Liam noticed that despite Zayn being very dominant, he hated the attention and would rather slink into the shadows any chance he got. Another thing we have in common, Liam thought.

"Alpha," Niall said, jumping at the opportunity to get Zayn's breakfast. Niall lowered his head and hurried off as Zayn sat next to Liam, immediately putting his arm on the back of Liam's chair.

"Zayn, we're leaving at seven tonight to go to the annual meeting." Solana stared as though her words meant something only Zayn would understand.

They usually travelled to the annual meeting as wolves. However, this year, Solana no longer had her wolf. "How are you getting there?" he asked.

"What do you mean how-" Solana paused. The realisation flooded her face. Just for a moment, she had forgotten.

Tears pooled her eyes and she excused herself from the table.

Zayn's blank face followed her through the canteen.

His face might have looked stone cold, but his heart ached for her. He couldn't imagine being in her position. Zayn looked down to Liam. He prayed he never was in her position.

The thought of having an empty void where his wolf was made him shiver. "Baela, arrange a car to take us to the meeting tonight" Zayn ordered.

Baela nodded, pleased to be asked to help. She hurried away as Niall returned with Zayn's breakfast.

Niall then left too, and Liam and Zayn sat alone with each other in a room full of werewolves.

The chatter was loud, and still, people stared at them. Zayn was starting to get irritated by the looks and the whispers. If it continued through lunch, he would snap.

"So, um, what is an annual meeting? I mean, what do you talk about?" Liam asked, curling his fingers around his warm mug.

"I don't know why it's called a meeting. It's basically a gathering where we just discuss the year." Zayn wasn't looking forwards to showing his face. In Zayn's eyes, he had fucked up massively, and everyone at the gathering knew his father's death was Zayn's fault. "I still don't want to go, but my mum's right. I can't skip it."

By going to the annual meeting, Zayn was loudly telling everyone that nothing could shake him, no southern wolves, no fear of losing his allies, no deaths. Even if Zayn was a mess and successfully running the pack into the ground because of losing his father, his allies wouldn't know that.

Going to the annual meeting will prove that Zayn had taken responsibility for his mistakes, and was trying to fix what he had broken, though nothing would ever bring Zayn's father back, and that was a nightmare he had to live with for the rest of his life.