A Howl In The Night ✔ » l.s

8

"Yeah, sure. Thank you, Commander." Niall said cheerily, leading the way out.

The Fort didn't have individual quarters, but had several people within each room. Since they were pretty much a package—the Winter brothers, as everyone labeled them—they had a large room for the five of them.

Jaron quietly wished Harry a good night before leaving to find his own quarters. Louis would never say it out loud, but he was beyond glad that the giant finally stopped following them (specifically Harry) around like a lost puppy.

Inside, the room was spacious enough.  Two double deckers were lined up on either side of the door, lying parallel to each other. Right across the door a single bunk was pressed up against the wall, having a beautiful view of the night sky.

Niall, Zayn, and Liam wordlessly changed their clothes before diving beneath the covers, snoring within seconds. Louis stayed up to help Harry place his stuff in the small chest found beneath his bunk bed.

"I really get to sleep on this bed, the one by the window?" Harry said in disbelief.

Louis smiled. "Yeah, it's been reserved for you ever since."

"I find it hard to believe that none of you slept here even once." Harry said.

"I mean, it wasn't here yet the last time we were here." Louis said distractedly, trying to fit in all of Harry's clothes in the chest (why Harry thought it was a good idea to bring so much clothes was beyond him. Like—chelsea boots, really?)

"Were you expecting me to come along with you when you returned?" Harry asked curiously, head tilted to the side.

Louis shrugged."More of like, hoped. I mean, you're going to present any time now. I just wanted to make sure that whenever that happened, you'd have a place ready for you right away. So I had someone add in a new bunk before we left a few weeks ago."

When Louis looked up, Harry was looking at him with so much warmth in his eyes, he couldn't help but fidget under the boy's gaze.

"Thank you, Louis. Really. For everything." Harry said softly.

Harry looked beautiful with the moonlight on his skin, making him look even more fantastical and otherworldly than he already was. A part of Louis wondered what a delicate, fragile person like Harry was doing in a place like this—where their job was to kill and risk their life every single day. A part of him wondered if it would've been better if Harry was just an ordinary person, if he was just a Beta so that he didn't have this responsibility on his shoulders.

But then again, Harry was one of the bravest people he'd ever met. Somehow, even though the boy confessed that he didn't want to kill a single beast, it made sense that he was in a place like the Fort, because everything needed some light and softness every once in a while. A gruesome, tired place like this very much needed a gush of fresh air, something beautiful and precious to distract it from its own horrors.

"Goodnight, Harry." Louis whispered.

"Night." Harry beamed at him, leaving a peck on his cheek before diving beneath the blankets and snuggling up against his pillow.

Louis just smiled and ignored how weak his knees had gone before walking over to his bunk bed—the one on top of Niall's—and trying to drown out his thoughts by blasting music on his headphones. Somehow, it worked, but he still dreamt of the same face he always dreamed about: green eyes, curly hair, and a breathtaking smile.

*

Breakfast in the Fort was very different from breakfast in the mansion. Troopers always had their meals outside where long, wooden tables were littered all over the field. But considering their call time of 4am, the sky was still dark and the air was freezing. There was no source of warmth other than the person sitting next to you (which explained why everyone was huddled up together), and the candles barely produced any light, so it was quite impossible to see the person you're talking to. The wooden seats were basically blocks of ice which was quite uncomfortable to sit on. The only positive difference of breakfast in the Fort from breakfast in the mansion was that Benedict Winter wasn't here to freeze everyone's ass off even more with his cold stares and sneers.