Liam thought back to when he was eleven years old. He thought back to the time his parents died.
His parents went on a camping trip with Harry's parents. For once, they didn't bring Harry and Liam, who at the time, were good friends because their parents were good friends.
The night Liam's parents died, and Harry's father died, they were both sleeping at Harry's grandparents' house.
Liam had woken up before Harry on a Sunday morning, who slept with his feet in Liam's face. Liam remembered hearing sobs outside the kitchen. Liam was an awkward child and lingered at the door for long enough to hear the words he would never forget.
"Wolves." Harry's granddad said in a grieving rage. "They ate them whole. I'll bet allI have. Wolves killed them!" Harry's granddad slammed his fists on the table while his wife buried her face in tissues. "You can't tell me that a wild dog ate everything, even the bones?" The old man fell into his chair with a heart crushing whimper. "How will we tell that soft boy Liam that his parents were eaten by damn wolves!"
Liam cringed at the memory, and the memories that happened after that. Liam didn't cry a single tear when he was officially told about his parents. He was so shocked, he sat in silence for days, not able to say a single word or eat or drink. Harry had cried and clung to his motherbwhen she finally came home, injured, and not mentally
present, but alive.
Liam had nobody to hug. People thought he was weird that he didn't cry, but he thought he had to be strong, and he knew crying wouldn't bring back his parents.
When he moved into his aunt and uncles house, and returned to school, Harry turned on him. He blamed Liam's parents for his father's death because Liam's parents werenthe ones to invite Harry's parents and pushed for one last camping trip before the end of summer.
Everyone seemed to forget that Liam lost his parents too because Harry was so loud about his father and how Liam's parents were to blame. At the time, Liam couldn't understand that Harry was a grieving boy and desperatelynneeding someone to blame. Still, if Liam had understood grief better, it wouldn't make any of it hurt a
any less.
The day Harry turned on him was the day Liam cried, and he felt.
It better for letting his emotions out. From that day on, he cried himself to sleep most nights until people started to ignore Liam, and he could move on withoutbhearing rumours of wolves, hearing who was to blame, and being talked about at school.
By then, Harry had mixed himself with different people, bullies, and turned into a bully himself. Liam not only grieved for his parents, but for the friend he lost.
The moon ventured behind the clouds, darkening the woods around Liam and Harry. Liam never thought they would be sat together after all these years of torment, running from the beasts that tore them apart in the first place.
"We should keep going-" Liam's legs had stiffened, but he would run for as long as it took to be safe. He rubbed his hands together as Harry stood too. "I- think we ran five miles, maybe four."
"We should run a few more at least." Harry looked to the tracks they already made and decided that they should stop running in such a straight line. The snow was covering their tracks, but not quick enough for them to be truly lost.
They ran for 30 more minutes. Liam was warm and still able to go on, but Harry hadn't spent years of running like Liam and had to stop to catch his breath.
"You run... too fast," Harry panted, holding his side.
"You have to be fast to not get caught" Liam mumbled, eyeing his bully.
Harry's face tightened, but he didn't snap back like he usually would. They walked for a while in silence, listen to the snow crunching under their feet because it was the only sound around them thankfully.
Liam might have had a nervous breakdown if he heard rustling in the bushes.
"S-So um, werewolves," Liam said, and Harry crossed his arms over his chest. Liam wished he still had his blazer. Snowflakes were making his clothes damp. Cold seeped through his layers.
"When did you meet Louis?" If he didn't talk about something, the darkness and the silence would slowly drive him insane.
"About a month ago. I was travelling with some friends back home and the car broke down right outside then shadow Packhouse. I thought it was some grand hotel, so we all banged on the gates for help. Louis came out to help us. Well... he knew about me already because of that weird dream thing they have, otherwise they would've
ignored us." Harry peered down at Liam. "They really hate humans."
Liam rubbed his arms and asked, "When did Louis tell you about the whole, um werewolf thing?"
"About a week after we met. He invited me back to the Packhouse. I thought he was just looking for some fun or whatever, but when I went, they locked everything whatever, but when I went, they lovked everything behind me, the gate, the doors, then shoved me into a room with a black wolf. I um, I fainted three times. The wolf just sat there every time I woke up. When I finally calmed down enough, the wolf changed into Louis. He explained everything to me, you know, about wolves and mates and their world. It took me about a week to kind of accept it. I was allowed home once to pack my things and tell me grandparents about Louis being my boyfriend, I couldn't tell them anything else."
"Was your granddad suspicious?" Liam asked. "I don't think so. He moved in with my grandma a week after knowing her. He knows what love can do to a person."
If Zayn wasn't a werewolf, Liam would have waited at least a year before even thinking about living together. Liam hated rushing into things in case they ended up being the wrong decision. With Zayn and the institute, he didn'tbhave a choice.
"And your mum," Liam said carefully. "Does she-"
"Don't even go there." Harry's demeanour changed in an instant. "Do you really think I'm stupid enough to tell my mother, the person who survived a wolf attack, that I'm mated to a werewolf and living in a house full of them?"
"I-I wasn't, um, I was only going to ask if she knew about Louis." Liam stood further away from him as they walked.
"She's too fucked up to know that I'm even gone."
The atmosphere tensed. Liam started to feel cold, and scared again of the woods around him, and the person he was with. "I'm sorry that"
"You should be fucking sorry. You parents are the reason my mum's a mess." Harry stormed ahead.
He turned back into the person Liam had known for seven years, his bully.
They walked another mile in silence. Liam thought about asking him more questions about Louis and whether they had connected the bond, Harry seemed to like talking about him. Liam couldn't bring himself to speak. Harry would only yell at him, and Liam couldn't deal with that on top of everything else.
Eventually, they fell side by side, walking glumly and slowly as the snow deepened. Liam's feet were numb. His hands were numb. His face felt stiff when he frowned.
He looked up to the trees. If they had to hide and wait to be rescued, maybe climbing a tree and sitting out of the snow would be the best option.
The thought of being in the woods all night churned Liam's stomach. He was already so cold, he couldn't stop his teeth from chattering, or his body from shivering until his muscles hurt.
"We should run again" Liam said when a gust of wind made his eyes water.
Harry ignored him, and Liam thought about how far he would get if he was on his own. Then he thought about how frightened Harry would be if Liam just left him.
Harry had made Liam's life hell for the past seven years, yet Liam couldn't bring himself to be unkind.
Don't stoop to his level, Mira had once told Liam when he thought about putting mayonnaise in Harry's coffee when he was being infuriatingly difficult at the café. (A/N: I would suggest soap water)
Don't be cruel, he reminded himself. That's not who you are. Liam stuck with Harry, feeling more and more tired by the minute, and freezing by the time they heard something other than their own footsteps.
"What was that?" Harry looked all around them, staring with wide emerald eyes.
Liam stopped walking too and listened. He didn't have to strain his ears to hear what sounded like distant galloping. His heart burst to flames.
"Wolves?" he whispered.
"Oh no, no, no, no." Harry gripped his face and jumped about frantically. "This is not how I die."
Harry's panic made Liam panic. He looked at the trees again as the sound of crunching snow grew louder. "C-Can wolves climb trees?" he asked.
That questioned seemed to push Harry into a state ofnextreme horror. He darted left and right, trying to climb any tree he could see in the darkness.
Liam silently freaked out too, looking around and
squinting his eyes to see further, but he had looked too hard. Harry yelped at Liam's sharp gasp.
"What?" Harry hissed.
Liam pointed a trembling finger south, and they both looked down a slope at two pairs of glowing eyes looking back, one pair red and one pair silver.
"Wolves," they whispered in unison. Liam was prepared to run for his life, but Harry grabbed his arms and pushed him with all his force. Liam fell down the slope, rolling in the snow, bumping his body off the solid ground underneath.
Liam curled into a coughing ball as the sound of Harry's running footsteps faded in the opposite direction. Liam covered his head, scared to even open his eyes, convinced that two snarling wolves would be standing over him.
Liam heard no noise, and soon felt something warm on the back of his neck.
At first, Liam thought the warmth was the breath of the wolf before it sank teeth into his skin, but only wetness came after the warmth, which moved to his hands covering his face.
The wolf was licking Liam, and Liam suddenly wondered if the wolf was black and brown. He had seen red eyes in the distance. Zayn's wolf had red eyes.
Slowly, Liam peeked through a gap in his fingers, and the moon shone through a gap in the clouds at the same time, lighting the woods enough for Liam to see the wolf's large face staring down at him, a wolf with one black ear and one brown ear.