Harry pulled him close and hugged him, loving nothing more than Louis being his happy self.
Only recently, the human has fully adjusted to this new way of life; loving Louis. It felt strange and very new to him, especially when he has always been a casual dater, and had to get used
to the fact that he will be in a relationship with Louis for the rest of his life.
The old Harry liked the idea of settling down with someone, and now that he admired the idea again, maybe the old Harry is breaking through his barriers. He can see that people care for him, and he has never been in the way because he's only human.
It is daunting living in a house with supernatural beings who are much more potent than the human is, but he has found his worth. Harry has finally made it out of his depressed episode of self-loathing.
"This is a big step for us," he said when Louis lifted his head to look him in the eyes.
"Yep, and the next step is to move all of your stuff in here."
A loud knock interrupted their conversation. Zayn stood in the doorway with an intrigued grin.
"You finally made the switch then?" he said to Harry.
"He did!" Louis said, jumping off the bed and joining him at the door. "Did it feel just as good when Li entered your room?"
Zayn nodded and said, "It's one of the best feelings." He then straightened up, inspecting Louis with thoughtful eyes. "No more time off now. I need a Beta. Piper's great, but she's just not the same."
"Do I have to today? Please Zee, can I join you tomorrow? Haz has his first physio session today, and I want to be with him."
Zayn sighed and glanced at the human, then to his Beta.
"Fine, but tomorrow you'll join us nice and early for a workout, followed by a hunting session, then a pack meeting. Understand?"
"Yes! Thank you" Louis said as Zayn walked back down the corridor. "Love you!"
"Shut up." Zayn turned to smirk before entering his own bedroom.
Liam was lying on the bed, watching a film on Zayn's laptop. The werewolf stopped and tilted his head. "That is how I want to spend the rest of my day."
He jumped on the bed next to him, snuggling into his side, giving himself a few seconds to lap up his scent.
Liam put an arm around him, and they shared a kiss before turning their attention to the screen.
"How was your run?" The God asked.
"Good. I reached a personal record."
"That's great! What else happened on your run?"
"Not much." Zayn could feel Liam's eyes
burning the side of his face.
"Really?"
Zayn remained silent, and Liam pulled up his t-shirt to reveal four deep scratches, certainly from another wolf.
"We ran into that white wolf on the edge of our territory. It hasn't been back for weeks until today, so we didn't expect to see it. I changed into my human form so we could talk, but it lashed out at me and ran before my pack could do anything."
"And the scent of the wolf is still familiar to you?" Liam asked, examining the scratches.
"Yeah. It's familiar to Louis too, but not the rest of my pack."
"I wonder if it'll be familiar to me."
"Maybe, but the wolf will be bold to return. If I see it on the edge of our territory again, I won't want to talk." Zayn pulled his t-shirt down and took
Liam's hand. "I shouldn't have let it get away; I should have stood my ground."
"It altered your pride, didn't it?" Lia. said, trying not to smirk as he squeezed him tight.
"A little bit," Zayn admitted. "I want that pride back."
Liam rested his chin on the top of Zayn's head and closed his eyes. He waited until the silence settled, and the film turned into background noise.
"Do you ever think about who will be on our side during the war?"
Zayn zoned in on his mate's thoughts.
"I do. I think your cousin is an interesting person to look at because Vic, Nathan and Kayla age like us, and they are almost close family. Well, Nathan and Kayla are, but Vic hasn't been to visit since that day in the sports hall when Haz yelled at him. He obviously doesn't like us, and if the wrong side tries to bribe him in any way, he'll go running into their arms."
"I agree, but who is the wrong side? The angels have faith that we'll win, but who are we fighting? They talked about a great betrayal, and there's always two sides to every war. So what is the betrayal?"
"I have no idea," Zayn said, sitting up and running a hand through Liam's brown hair. It was always a little darker during the cold seasons. "A betrayal between the God's? I don't know. When it does happen, we'll be ready and a lot wiser.I feel wise, and we've only been alive for thirty-eight years. Think about being thousands of years old and all the knowledge we'll learn and all the experiences we'll have."
"It sounds strange when you put it like that." Liam said, playing with the back of Zayn's hair in return. The werewolf recently got it cut, leaving the top longer than the sides and back.
Liam's other hand rested on the side of Zayn's face, rubbing his thumb against his stubble. "I aim to be as wise as my dad," he smiled, "or as wise as Micah."
"I want to be as wise as Nana." Zayn lent
forwards, pecking his mate on the nose.
"You'd think she is hundreds of years old with everything she knows."
"It wouldn't surprise me."
"She looks it too," Zayn shouted when he could smell her scent.
Athena quickly shuffled to their doorway, pointing a crooked finger at her grandson.
"Watch your mouth boy. Every wrinkle tells a story. If you want to be as wise as your beautiful grandmother, you better change your attitude."
Zayn laughed, and his Nana winked, knowing he was joking.
"Anyway," she continued, "You don't need to be thinking about this war just yet. You're still teenagers. Let the adults think about that, and you two have fun while you're young enough to get away with having fun. The world is too uptight for us oldies to do childish things. You won't have this much freedom forever."
"Wanna get drunk tonight then?" Zayn loved his Nana more than the world itself.
"You don't have to ask that twice," she grinned, beaming wider at Liam, loving to see him out of his shell from time to time. "We can include young Harry now that he is off his medication."
"That's a great idea," Liam said, enjoying the thought of living in the moment, instead of worry about the future or stressing about the past. He's going to miss the present if he doesn't stop to take a breath.
"I'll send that hybrid kid out to get us some alcohol, yes?" Athena winked again and left their doorway, completing her mission of changing their conversation to a cheerful topic.
