In the previous chapter-
Jaiden had escaped the celler and had injured Liam but Solana and Zayn came in just in time and were able to pull Jaiden off Liam tho Liam has been injured, it wasn't anything major. Jaiden then fell off the window. (I apologise, I can't be TOTALLY blunt about it)
"Is he dead?" Liam asked after a while of sitting with Zayn in silence, watching a film from the TV mounted on the wall opposite Zayn's bed. Neither of the boys paid the film much attention.
"Jaiden?"
Liam nodded.
"Yes. He would have killed you if my mother didn't see him going into my room." Zayn grimaced at how different his evening could have been.
Liam swallowed hard. "Did he have a soulmate?"
"I don't think so. I don't think he had any family." Zayn was laid on the bed, far down enough that his head was level with Liam. He turned to look at him, and his eyes skimmed over Liam's bruised and nose. "I'm glad he's dead, and I'm glad I was the one to kill him."
Liam wore one of Zayn's jumpers, so he had to roll up the sleeves to use his hands. He pressed the ends of his fingers together. "Would you have kept Jaiden here, but not as your beta or would you have made him leave? You know, I- If he didn't attack."
"I don't know," Zayn mumbled, frowning. "This is why I give nobody second chances. In my world, it's not worth the risk."
Liam looked to the window. They had to cover it with a waterproof sheet and stick it to the wall while a new window was made. Zayn's bedroom window was large and shaped like an arch. It had a few squares of stained red glass at the top, but Zayn wasn't bothered about that, he just wanted a window, so his mate wasn't freezing during the night.
As for Zayn's bathroom door, Solana put it back on with new hinges.
The sun had already set, and Liam could see the snow hitting the plastic cover over the window.
"It's a good thing you can't really see out of the window" Zayn mumbled, looking back to the TV. He couldn't remember the last time he had turned it on. "The pack are training in wolf forms tonight."
Liam snapped his head back to the window, sitting up. "Wolf forms?"
"It's okay. There are guards by the only entrance to this corridor"
Liam wasn't sure how to feel about wolves training in the field below. After Jaiden almost drowning him, Liam's emotions were all over the place. He hadn't yet cried about Jaidentrying to end his life, Liamwasn't sure if he was holding the tears in or not. He was sure Zayn could tell his head was all over the place because Zayn avoided talking about what happened.
Liam noted that Zayn's hands turned to fists whenever his eyes grazed the bathroom door.
"If there's anyone in the woods, won't they see the wolves?" Liam asked.
"We cover the fences and shine lights into the woods, making it easier to spot humans nearby, and harder for them to see in because the lights are so bright"
Liam looked back to the window. "C-Can I have a look?"
Zayn's eyes fixed on Liam, watching his expression. "Will you faint?"
"Maybe," Liam whispered with a nervous chuckle, deepening his dimples.
Zayn sat up, purposefully leaning close when he did, and their noses brushed for only a second. The contact was enough for his heart to thump.
"Alright. I think it'll be good for you to get used to seeing the wolves before you see mine."
Liam climbed out of bed with pink cheeks. Even through socks, he felt the ice-cold wood of Zayn's dark grey floor. Liam pulled his bobble hat further over his ears.
Zayn got out of bed and approached the window. He muttered something about dragging Jaiden to the roof instead. He was going to pull the sheet off but paused and looked towards his bedroom door.
"Let's look from my mum's room."
Liam could tell that Zayn's relationship with his mother was patchy, but they were grieving. Zayn had lost his father a few months ago. His mother had lost her soulmate, her best friend, the love of her life. Liam knew that grief changed people, and warped people from the heartache.
Solana had kissed her son's head after Jaiden's attack. Liam understood that the love was there, but much like Zayn, she struggled sometimes to show it.
Zayn took Liam's hand and walked with him down the corridor. The light above buzzed and cast a dull yellow shine down the corridor, making shadows on the ugly wallpaper. He hoped Liam didn't judge the institute too hard.
Zayn stopped outside his mother's door, white and bright. He knocked and felt Liam stand closer to him.
Solana opened quickly with a frown. "Is everything okay?" she asked.
Liam shivered from the cold air.
"Liam wants to see the wolves. Can we look from your window?" Zayn asked in his deep monotone voice.
Solana's frown softened as she looked from Zayn to Liam. "Yeah, come in." She stood back as they entered. "Sorry, it's cold in here."
Liam smiled, glancing around the room. Unlike Zayn, not everything in Solana's bedroom was black.
She had silky purple bed sheets and white walls. A few books spread across her bed, along with a pair of reading glasses.
Zayn felt like his mother watched his every move as he guided Liam to the window, holding his arms in case Liam fainted.
Liam was hesitant to look outside at first, but with his nose almost touching the glass, he had nowhere else to look apart from the wolf infested field below.
He gasped when he saw fast movement in the darkness. Zayn was right about the lights pointing into the woods. The fences, once with gaps that helped Liam climb them, were now smooth sheets of metal, concealing the grounds from the public.
Liam felt his eyes grow wide, and his mouth hang open. The field was dark, but he could see the sheer size of the many wolves and hear the snarls and the growls and thuds when two wolves practised fighting.
Liam's legs wobbled and he leaned his back into Zayn, who wrapped strong arms around his waist to keep him up. Even through his jumper, Liam felt Zayn's warmth.
"Are you okay?" Zayn asked, leaning over him to see his face.
Liam couldn't take his eyes off one wolf that was pure white, with glowing red eyes. The wolf bared its teeth and drool dripped onto the grass. Another wolf, a brown wolf, bolted up behind the white one and sank teeth into its tail. The wolf howled and turned, bopping the brown wolf on the head with a huge paw. They jumped on each other and rolled around in the grass.
If Liam were watching from the ground floor window and by himself, he would have been scared. Liam fel Zayn holding him, and he knew that he was safe in his arms.
Zayn had killed a man for trying to kill his mate. Liam was starting to understand the lengths Zayn would go to in order to protect Liam.
"A-All of these are... are werewolves?" Liam asked in a whisper.
"Yes."
Liam had a hard time believing that they transformed from humans and could transform back. He remembered the night in the woods when Zayn had dropped his phone. The way Zayn's arms bent and his back snapped. The sound was something Liam would never forget.
"How does that fit inside a human?" he whispered.
Liam hadn't blinked since he approach the window. He thought he would faint or cry, but since what happened earlier that day with Jaiden, Liam only felt a little numb.
"Both are not physical at the same time. We can either be one or the other. Right now, my wolf is just a feeling"
Liam then turned and stared at Zayn's chest like he expected a wolf's head to be there.
"It's hard to really believe u-until-" Liam glanced back to the window and to the field full of ginormous wolves. "Until you see them."
The longer Liam looked, the more mesmerised he became, though he didn't want to get closer. He remembered when the wolf chased off Harry and his idiot friends, then stopped to give him a lick on the cheek. Liam now knew that was Zayn, but the fear he felt was something he didn't want to feel again today.
Liam turned to face Zayn again. "It's uh- wow."
"You had enough?" Zayn asked, and Liam nodded.
Zayn looked to his mother, standing by the bed. She rubbed her shoulder with a mouth twisted with discomfort. "You should see the doctor, mum."
Liam looked around Zayn in time to see her face turn blank, and Liam knew why Zayn was so good at hiding his expressions too.
"I'll be fine" Solana's brown eyes looked to Liam. "How's your nose?"
"Sore, b-but not broken."
Solana then sighed, and said, "I hope you know that Jaidenknew he had lost his Beta position. There's nothing worse than losing a high status when you're born with the position, and no other
pack would have taken him in if they knew Zayn kicked him out for threatening a mate. Jaiden went after you as revenge. No other wolf in this institute would dare harm you, because nobody else is as power hungry as Jaiden was. I hope his actions haven't made you afraid to be here."
Liam thought back to when his face was shoved into cold water. Just looking at Zayn's bathroom
door made him feel uneasy. "N-Nobody else is like that?"
"Not even Zayn, the grumpiest one in the institute."
Liam smiled, and Zayn soaked up the beautiful sight.
"H-He's not that grumpy. He just- he just frowns a lot for no reason."
Solana chuckled. She looked a lot less terrifying when her eyes weren't so hard, and her mouth wasn't so stern.
"Like me." She crossed her arms.
"I'm sorry I was rude this morning, Liam. I was a little hurt that I didn't know about you sooner. As the Alpha's mate, I used to know everything before anyone."
Zayn clenched his jaw and looked away. "Sorry for that," he mumbled. "I handled it wrong."
"What's done is done," Solana said, shrugging and linking her fingers. "I'm just glad your mate is
here in time for the annual meeting"
Zayn's head snapped in her direction, clearly forgetting about the event. "Which is tomorrow. Do you have any nice clothes with you, Liam?"