𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 ⸙

1.64𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪

Eventually, he got up and peeked down the hallway, eager to look for the medic. Liam still wore his green tartan pyjama's and Zayn's black hoodie that drowned him.

Southern wolves had thrown his clothes to the stone yard below, so Liam couldn't yet change. He slipped on his yellow converse and stepped into the long corridor.

Solana' bedroom door was closed. The silence made Liam anxious. He didn't know the layout of the institute and doubted he would remember his way to the ground floor, let alone the medic room.

Liam tugged on his neck brace. He wanted it off desperately enough to venture on his own. He hurried down the warn carpet, stopping by the stairwell. Liam froze when a guard stood on the other side of the door. He wanted to turn and run, but his heels dug stubbornly into the floor.

I can't be scared forever. This is my home now.

Liam opened the door and smiled timidly at the guard, who gave him a greeting nod. Liam rushed down the wooden steps that creaked under almost every step. He passed the second floor, then the first, until he peeked his head into the corridor of the ground floor.

Liam looked left and right. He knew left was the direction of the canteen, but he had no idea where the first aid room was and what direction to take.

Liam went right, stopping in front of a huge pool of blood that had dried into the dirty carpet. Liam cautiously stepped around it in mild horror. So many wolves had died a few days ago. Liam tried not to think about it and continued down the corridor.

The patterned wallpaper was suffocating, and most of it ripped at the corners. No wonder Zayn wants to redecorate.

Liam felt like he walked for ages without seeing another person, until he turned a corner and almost walked into a man carrying two big buckets of warm soapy water.

"Careful," the middle-aged man scolded until he saw who had almost walked into him.

"Oh." He bowed his head. "Hello."

Liam smiled, pulling sleeves over his hands to fiddle with the material. "Hello."

"You're in the Omega quarters. Are you lost?"

"Um, y-yes. I'm looking for the first-aid room." Liam pursed his lips awkwardly.

"Oh, you're almost there. Go down this corridor, turn left, and the door is the first one on your right. It has a red cross on the front. You can't miss it."

"Thank you." Liam stepped out of the guys way and waited until he turned the corner before jogging to the other end of the corridor. He felt like he was in a hotel with all the white doors in a row.

One door was open as Liam hurried by. He glanced in as he did, seeing a double bed, a desk, a door slightly ajar to an en-suite bathroom, a TV, games console, a big stack of DVDs, and books. Liam noticed how the Omega rooms were much nicer than the Sea Claw Packhouse ones with their creaky single beds, small desk and bare rooms with a toilet miles away from the bedrooms.

Liam liked how the Omega rooms were just as nice as Zayn's room.

He soon reached the first-aid room and the Omega Medic was already there. She triple-checked that he had no pain in his neck or back before taking off the brace. Liam rubbed where it had covered his skin, glad to be able to move his head back and forth.

The Medic checked his forehead wound and put on a new large dressing. As she fiddled with sticking it to his forehead, Niall waved a green casted arm at him from the other side of the room.

"Liam, hey! How are you doing?"

"Good." Liam smiled sympathetically at his casted arms. "How are you?"

"A little fed up of not being able to do anything. I'll get the casts off tomorrow though. Baela insisted on me resting instead of joining the meeting. I'm totally fine, I've only broken my arms."

Liam chuckled and approached the bed. Sid had more than just broken arms. His face was heavily bruised, and he had a bandage all around his head, holding thick dressing to what Liam guessed was a very bad head wound.

"What happened after I passed out in the library?"

"Well, I tried to carry you from the library, but werewolves were around the building. I fought as hard as I could to get us away from there. Too many wolves were punching me. I guess they followed us from the previous beach town when we were near that Packhouse." Sid shrugged.

"At least we're okay. Once the pack has settled, Zayn's going to give that Alpha who caught us a nice surprise."

Liam didn't want to know what Zayn had in store for her. "Do you think we'll find the Southern Alpha?"

"Eventually, but his plan didn't work to overthrow the North. He'll be hiding somewhere, plotting something else, but don't let that trouble you. He's weak and lost a lot of pack members."

Liam nodded to reassure himself. "Do you think Zayn's meeting will be long?"

"He'll be in and out of meetings all day. He has a lot to discuss and arrange for different Omega's. The building needs more protection, and cleaning, or better yet, completely redecorated. We need to train more wolves for the Medic position, and we need to check that no stories have surfaced about a very large group of wolves running through the woods."

"Sounds busy." Liam was starting to realise what being an Alpha meant. Zayn had to give orders and direction to his pack otherwise the pack would crumble. The wheel could never stop turning. "I'll leave him to his, uh, Alpha duties."

"Feel free to visit me later. I'm so bored."

"I will," Liam grinned, leaving the first-aid room with a bounce to his step. On his way to the canteen, Liam had to stop someone and ask for help with directions. The more smiles he received, the braver he felt.

When he found the corridor with the staircase, more wolves were leaving the canteen after breakfast. Almost everyone smiled, said hello, and a few even stopped Liam to ask how he was feeling.

Liam started to feel less like an intruder when the werewolves acted like he belonged there, instead of staring at him like he was dangerous mould that had grown overnight.

The canteen doors were propped open. Liam heard the noise of conversations before he entered. He paused, a little uneasy, hoping that nobody noticed him entering.

Liam smelt different to them, and he was shorter than everyone in the building.

He peeked into the large canteen. His eyes found a table in the middle, and instantly, his anxieties stripped away at the sight of so many books.

Liam stepped into the room, eyes round with curiosity.

Stacks and stacks of books were pilled up on one of the lunch tables. A few werewolves were looking through them while another was dropping off another big box.

When they saw Liam, they all nudged each other, chuckling at his adored expression.

"Liam," a woman said with short blond hair and a wild grin. She quickly blocked his view. "Don't ask us what these books are for, Alpha Zayn said to keep it a-"

"He said nothing," interjected another werewolf.

"Alpha Zayn said absolutely nothing. Liam, you can take any book in return for your silence about ever seeing this mound of  books."

Liam arched a brow, confused by their secrecy, but he was so desperate to hold a book that he couldn't resist approaching a table full of them. He looked through a few and picked one up about vampires.

"S-So, I'm not allowed to, um, to know what these books are for?"

"No," many werewolves said in unison.

Liam chuckled, connecting his gaze with many amused ones.

"I'll take this then," he said quietly, looking at the book in his hands. "A-And I'll pretend I haven't seen um... that." Liam gestured to the table.

He then left the canteen, wanting to find a warm and quiet spot to dive into the pages of another universe, just for a little while.