The next morning, Zayn waited outside of Liam's
house, hoping he decided to go back to college.
Baela watched from the woods. He could feel her
eyes on him, but he couldn't see her.
Zayn rubbed his hands together. The snow was
already starting to melt, but the air was still bitter. He checked his watch a few times, tapping his fingers on the crumbling front garden wall. Bricks had fallen off in multiple areas. The metal garden fence, no higher than Zayn's waist was rusty and bent.
The front of Liam's house needed new paint, and the path leading to the green front door was uneven.
When the time comes to persuade Liam to live in
the packhouse, Zayn might not have a hard time
convincing Liam.
He rechecked the time. At exactly 8:30 am, the front door opened. Liam tumbled onto the path with his bag in one hand, and his other arm trying to get through his coat sleeve.
He hasn't slept, Zayn thought. Liam's brown eyes were still half-closed and droopy. His brown wavy hair resembled a well-build bird's nest. His cheeks, usually warm and rosy, were pale and probably cold. I've broken him.
Liam hurried down the path, frowning at the ground.
He noticed Zayn when he reached the gate. Liam
jumped almost a foot in the air like the gate had
electrocuted him. He didn't stop to hear what Zayn had to say and ran back to the front door.
"Wait!" Zayn yelled, but the front door shut behind Liam before Zayn could get through the gate.
Zayn grudgingly dragged his feet back to the
woods, hunched over by the weight of his heavy
heart.
"It's okay" Baela said, stepping into view. "You
can try again later."
*****
Liam ran back to his bedroom and shut the door.
He sneaked to his window and peered out at the
garden below, then to the woods beyond.
He saw movement, and watched the back of Zayn and Baela, walking away from the house.
Liam watched Zayn, moving peacefully along the trail Liam had made from years of running.
Zayn then stopped and turned. Liam didn't think he would turn and look directly at him, but he did.
"Shit." Liam ducked and sat on the floor by his bed.
For a split second, their eyes connected. "He's not going to hurt me," Liam whispered. "He's not going to hurt me. He just wanted to talk like he said in his text. Relax Liam. He's not a rogue dog like the one-"
Liam shook his head, not wanting to think about the night his parents died.
Liam waited a few minutes, then peeked outside his window. Zayn and Baela were gone, and Liam was now late for college.
He sank back to the floor, rubbing his chest. Liam
had struggled to get up. Well, he had barely slept,
but under his duvet was warm and safe and held
no responsibility. Liam didn't feel well either. Being out in the cold wasn't helping him get better.
*****
The next morning, Zayn did the same. He waited
outside Liam's house, trying not to pace and draw attention to himself.
Baela was back among the trees, the snow was a
little more melted, and the air was a little denser
and a little less chilly.
Zayn unzipped his black jacket and crossed his
arms, watching snow drip from the branches of a
nearby tree.
At exactly 8:30 am, the front door opened. This
time, Liam didn't tumble down the path. He poked his head from the door, looking at Zayn with anxious brown eyes.
He still hasn't slept, Zayn thought. "Hi," he said,
suddenly a little lost for words.
Liam didn't say anything, but he stepped down onto the path. His yellow puffer jacket was zipped up to his neck. His brown hair curled over the rim of his burgundy bobble hat, and his cheeks were a little pinker than yesterday.
Liam chewed on his bottom lip, and Zayn's eyes
couldn't help but brush over his lips.
"We really need to talk," Zayn said. Liam didn't
move. "I can tell you whatever you need to know."
Liam gripped his bag and skimmed his foot in the
crack of the concrete path. "What you saw was
frightening, but I would never hurt you."
Liam swallowed hard. "I- I have to go to college," he whispered.
"Can we talk after? We can meet in the library
where there are other people." Zayn was desperate.
He would have preferred to meet with Liam alone in the woods, but Liam wouldn't be comfortable with that, especially not when it would be almost dark when Liam finished college.
"I don't now," Liam said, tugging his coat sleeves
over his hands. "M-Maybe."
That was good enough for Zayn. He stepped back
so Liam could leave his front garden.
His mate hurried down the street as fast as he
could without breaking into a jog.
"He really is terrified of me," Zayn said when
Baela once again emerged from her hiding spot.
"Yes, but he won't be when he realises that you're
here to love him, not eat him."
*****
I'm meeting up with a werewolf. I'm meeting up
with a werewolf. Oh god. Liam stared into space for most of his last lesson. He had a worksheet to do and would typically put his heart and soul into
his studies, but Liam had something much more
important to think about.
"Liam, can I read your essay for tomorrow's geology class, please? I'll give it back tomorrow morning," a girl asked when their tutor left the room for a moment.
"Liam? Hello?"
Liam was too focused on what the wolf looked like when Zayn transformed. It was the same wolf
that Liam saw the other day when Harry and his
idiot friends chased him through the woods. Liam remembered the ears, one black and one brown.
"Liam Payne?" A ball of paper bounced off Liam's
head.
He looked up to the girl leaning over her desk.
"Can I have your geology essay?" she asked, smirking at her friends when Liam blinked in confusing. "You know, the one for tomorrow."
Liam shrank in his seat. "I haven't finished it" he
mumbled.
"Why? What else do you do apart from being a
nerd?"
"Definitely don't throw paper balls at someone"
Liam tried the best he could do get more work done, but with everything that was going on, and feeling ill on top of the stresses of Zayn made it impossible for Liam to focus.
I'm meeting a werewolf. Liam pinched himself for the twentieth time. He still wasn't dreaming.
When the bell rang for the end of college, three
more people asked him to look at his homework
on his way to the exit. Each person was equally
surprised that Liam hadn't yet done it.
"Well, are you on that Facebook group chat, you
know, the one where you smart kids send us your
homework," one guy said as Liam stood at the top of the steps. He scanned the street. Zayn wasn't waiting for him, neither was Baela, though Liam felt like they were watching him from afar.
"Liam?"
"Oh," Liam cleared his throat. "l gotta go," he
mumbled, to meet a werewolf. He held onto the
railing; ice coated the steps.
Liam slipped as soon as he was on the cobbles and very nearly fell onto his back. A few people laughed around him some told him to be careful, He decided to stare extra hard at the ground on his way to the library.
Liam thought about going home, but what was
the point? Zayn was obviously very eager to talk.
Liam would be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued
to hear what he had to say. That thought was
progress compared to a few days ago.
The library, usually a welcoming sight, ignited Liam's anxiety. Would Zayn be waiting inside? Would he let Liam settle and stare at the door every few minutes until he arived? Liam stopped by the base of the steps. He could just go home and ignore Zayn until he left him alone.
Liam sighed. He had kissed Zayn, quite passionately, the night he saw him change in the woods. Liam liked him. The least he could do was let Zayn explain. Liam hoped with all his heart that Zayn wasn't using him, but he couldn't understand why someone like Zayn, a werewolf, would care so much about a puny human.
Come on, he thought. Just get it over and done
with.
Liam climbed the steps. The warmth on his skin was pleasant as he entered reception. The librarians smiled and waved at Liam, and one even asked if he was feeling alright. Liam knew he looked sick because of his lack of sleep.
"It's just a cold," Liam said, though his symptoms
were starting to feel a little worse.
Liam stopped outside the door to the central part
of the library. He wished the wooden door hada
window, so he could see if Zayn and Baela were
sitting at his usual spot on the couches. Liam took a deep breath and hesitated.
Curiosity got the better of him, and he finally
pushed the door open.
Not many people sat in the central part of the
library. Not many people visited the library at all.
Zayn sat where Liam would usually sit, twiddling his thumbs, bouncing his leg, and looking at the floor with his ferocious scowl.
He looks just as tired as me. Zayn glanced up
before Liam had even stepped into the room. His
scowl softened, and his hazel eyes sank with
worry. He's just as anxious as me.
Liam didn't want to hover for too long in case the
two other people in the room noticed, though they all had faces buried into books.
Liam approached the couch slowly, expecting to see Baela in the armchair opposite.
Zayn had come alone.
Liam thought about sitting on the armchair, but
whenever he tried to talk about the institute, Zayn spoke in hushed voices, or not at all. They would have to murmur about what happened the other night, so Liam sat on the couch and put his bag by his feet.
Zayn watched him, barely even blinking. "Hi," Zayn said for the second time that day.
"Hi" Liam whispered, chewing on the inside of his lip until it stung.
The silence was awkward. Liam had no idea what to say. Neither did Zayn.
Liam soon worried that Zayn wouldn't say anything, until he asked, "Do you understand what you saw the other night?"
Liam was sure about one thing. "I saw you change into a wolf."
Zayn looked around carefully and nobody looked
up. Luckily, Liam's voice was always quiet. He leaned a little closer. Zayn's deep voice travelled far. "So, you know what rumour about the institute is true, then?"
Liam slowly nodded his head to say yes. Zayn wore a different jacket today, though it was still black, and had a small wolf's head embroidered onto the left side of his chest. "Werewolves," Liam whispered.
He knew what he saw, and nobody could convince him that what he saw was fake, not again.