To Dance With Wolves ▪Liam Dunbar▪

| 23. Don't Hide Away

With so much weight off my shoulders from finally talking to my brother, even if it was only over email, I could finally focus on something else. 

Writing about Mason had reminded me he was my best friend, maybe even better than any of the friends I had back in Vermont, and I had been neglecting him. Lately I'd been so focused on my own problems, that I'd let him slip away a bit. I had snapped at him earlier, and I had lied. That wasn't going to happen again. Mason had completely changed my life for the better, and I was not going to forget that. He deserved the world and I was going to do everything in my power to get him just that.

I was just about to grab my phone to see if he had texted back, when it started to ring. It startled me, and I almost dropped my laptop. When I recovered a few seconds later, I fumbled for the source of the noise.

"Hello?" I asked when I finally managed to locate the device. I hadn't checked to see who was calling, so I wasn't sure which voice to expect. 

"Oh my god you little f-"

"Mason." I said, smiling as I cut him off. "What's up?"

I heard sputtering on the other end before he responded. "What's up? You were acting shady as hell and then you disappeared, and you're asking what's up?"

"Did you get my texts?"

I was greeted by silence. Then the sound of button pressing and then a very loud and drawn out oh.

"This is why you have to check stuff before you lose your mind, Mase. We've been over this."

"Oh get off your high horse, Em. Like I'm the only person that freaks out for no reason. Remember when you and Liam came barging into my room because you thought I was dying?"

"You screamed like you were being murdered, Mason." I deadpanned, trying not to laugh.

"Nuh uh."

"You sounded like a little girl." 

He cleared his throat and I could imagine him shaking his head. "Ok truce, none of us are perfect."

"Sure." 

"Ok, well I was just calling to make sure you weren't abducted or anything, Liam and I were about to hit the training room. He's got that game tomorrow and I'm just trying to get those guns blasting."

I snorted at his last remark, "Good luck with that."

"Shut up, you're such a bully."

"Love you too." 

Homework took up the next hour of my day. When it was finally done, I let myself collapse back into the inviting sheets of my bed. I rolled over and pulled my laptop open, just in case Ben had already responded to my email. To my utter surprise, he had.

Dear Emily,

First of all, I'm a bit delirious considering it's the middle of the night - or the early morning - however you want to see it, but I couldn't sleep and I saw you FINALLY wrote to me so I had to respond right away before you forgot about me again. 

I'm really glad that you're happy. It's been a rough year and I don't know about you but I am  definitely ready to get back to the good stuff. Mason sounds great, and you should totally send pictures next time you write. Not just of him, but of everything. I've never been to California so I don't really know what to picture when I think about it. I wish I could meet him and all your other friends, but I'll settle for just hearing about them from you. 

Speaking of friends, I actually did manage to leave the library a few times since I've been here and I met some cool people too. There's Alisha, who is like the older, classier version of you. She's funnier too. And Isaac, who's a bit strange every now and again and is a bit closed off but mostly just a great guy who is shockingly good at Call Of Duty. Then there's Jane. She might actually end up as more than a friend but I'm not quite sure yet. Since you asked for no details I'll keep them all to myself, even though there really aren't any. And that's pretty much everything.

Basically France is really cool, and even though I don't know if I'm going to stay here after college, I'm definitely enjoying it here. I know we're not really face to face but it's still really nice to be at least sort of talking to you again. Don't go too crazy without me there to watch out for you. Oh, and show our poor aunt some respect. She's been sending me nonstop emails asking for advice on how to handle your crazy little butt. And something about those messages are making me think there's a boy (or girl) that you haven't told me about. Whatever it is, just stay safe and don't do anything I wouldn't do, because as annoying as you are, I don't want to lose you too. You are never allowed to leave me. Okay? 

Now I have early classes tomorrow, actually it's today at this point, so I have to get back to sleep.

Love you (more than my masculinity want's to admit)
Ben

Just as I got to the end of the email, I was startled up by the loud banging on my front door.

I furrowed my brows in confusion at the sudden loud noise. I closed my computer and walked cautiously down the stairs, the ruckus from the door refusing to cease. I was quite a bit worried about who might be on the other side of the door, so I peeked out the window before opening it.

I relaxed when I saw it was just Liam, but just as quickly as it left, the worry returned. Something had to be wrong if Liam was pounding on the door as relentlessly as he was. I pushed past the couch and towards the door.

When I pulled it open I was greeted my a sight that shattered my heart into about a thousand little pieces. Liam's face was streaked with tears and there was a look of panic in his eyes that was all too familiar to me.

Without hesitation, I pulled him into the house and closed the door behind him. My arms wrapped around him as if that was all they were ever meant to do, and after a minute he returned the gesture. His grip was so tight I almost couldn't breathe, but I didn't really care.

"I think I'm losing my mind, Emily." He said after a long minute of silence.

I swallowed hard and pulled away from him. "Is this about the things that attacked you last week?"

He nodded.

"Losing your mind and being scared of something are two very different things, Liam. Having nightmares about them doesn't mean you're going crazy."

He shook his head and gently grabbed my arm pulling me over to the couch.

"It's not just nightmares, Emily. I told you I keep seeing them when I'm awake too."

I frowned and clasped my hands in my lap. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Do you think it has anything to do with your, um . . . unique physique?"

When he didn't seem to understand what I was asking I sighed and elaborated bluntly. "Does it have anything to do with you being a werewolf?" I couldn't help but whisper the last word.

His eyes widened in recognition and then his brows furrowed as he seemed to consider my question. 

"I hadn't thought about that. I've been too freaked out to think about much of anything recently. Do you really think that might be all it is?" He looked at me hopefully.

I sighed and shook my head. "I don't know, Liam. I'm hardly an expert. I think maybe you should talk to Scott."

"Why? He can't help me."

"He's your alpha Liam, if anyone has the answers it's probably him."

Liam cast his eyes to the ground before he spoke again. "I don't know if I can, I just don't know what to do."

I smiled sadly and pulled his hands into mine. "Look at me Liam. Scott cares about you, he saved your life, twice actually. I saw him with you in that locker room last month, he wants to help you. You have to let him."

"You really think so?"

"I do."

There was a moment of slightly awkward silence after that, and I felt the need to keep talking to fill it. "But if you can't do that, you can always go over to Masons, he's worried about you."

"What if I just want to stay here with you?"

I raised my eyebrows a bit, but didn't question him. "I think I could work with that too."