Baela returned to the Packhouse with a heart of lead. She was quiet upon her return, and a group of Omega wolves were discussing Liam, and how he had weakened their Alpha.
Baela paused in the darkness. Every now and then, she stumbled upon and ill-spoken conversation about the Alpha's mate. If they really tried to get to know Liam, like the Omega wolves who joined his running club, they would learn that Liam had been through a lot and was one of the strongest humans Baela had ever met, and the kindest.
Baela cleared her throat and stepped into the light. The Omegas quickly shut their mouths.
"Your Alpha is weak because he is a broken man, not because he has a human for a mate," she said bitterly. "If this continues, I will give Zayn a list of names of everyone who thinks they have the right to speak about Liam this way."
Some of the wolves lowered their heads. Some challenged her.
"Zayn himself is unhappy with a human mate. He talks about humans like they're the mud on the bottom of his shoes. We think the same, or are we not allowed opinions, Beta?"
Baela was still simmering from when she punched Zayn in the face. "I return without your Alpha and a dead Delta. Yet you're only wanting to argue about humanity. Have you forgotten that we are half of Liam's race? Liam is the highest member of this pack without Zayn. If I catch you talking about him again, I'll make sure Zayn kicks you from the pack"
Baela wasn't one to threaten wolves, so when she did use her Beta status, she meant it. The wolves sulked inside the house, and Baela wondered if Niall was taken home, Ireland.
She found his body on the field, surrounded by his belongings and heartfelt notes from the pack. Baela knelt by him. Lightly touching his arm.
"I'm sorry that you wasted your life on an Alpha who doesn't even care," she whispered. "I will miss you a lot, Niall. You were too kind for this pack. Hopefully one day, Zayn will miss you too. You meant a lot to all of us, and nobody will be able to fill your Delta position."
Baela stood when her green eyes swelled with tears. She had held them back after leaving Zayn, knowing that if she cried, she would soon regret the words she had spoken to her Alpha. Maybe I was too cruel to him, but he's cruel to everyone else.
Baela turned towards the Packhouse. Her eyes found the bedroom on the third floor and a small silhouette was staring down at her. Baela had some explaining to do. Liam would not be happy that she left Zayn alone in the woods with a group of rogues out to get him.
Baela hurried to the bedroom and knocked loudly. Liam's voice told her calmly to enter. He looked sad when she did, and exhausted.
"Is Zayn back too?" he asked. His hopeless voice told her that he knew he wasn't.
"No. I left him in the woods."
Liam's mouth gaped in shock. "Why would you do that?"
"He didn't care at all about Niall's death or the other Omegas. All he talked about was killing the rogues."
"So, you just left him by himself?" Liam climbed off the windowsill. Baela was taller than him by half a foot.
"I was too angry to stay. We would have fought!" Baela bent and stretched her fingers. Her knuckles were a little stiff from colliding with Zayn's face.
Liam rubbed his left cheek, knowing what had happened. He felt a strange tingling, the same tingling in the back of his leg where Zayn was also hurt. "How far away was he?"
"About twenty miles.!"
Liam sat back on the windowsill. "You should have silently followed him. His mind is in a very dark place, Baela. I'm worried he'll- I'm just worried he won't come back." Liam looked through the window.
The full moon exposed him like a spotlight on a stage "What worries me more is everyone's reactions like they've seen Zayn do this before. You've been in this pack for almost twelve years, I've not even known Zayn for two years."
"I will admit that you've seen the best of him. But the old Zayn Malik that everyone still expects won't just go away because he's been good recently. We've seen this from him a thousand times before, but he was never Alpha when he ran off to make bad decisions. But now these breakdowns have bigger consequences. He risks losing more than just his own life."
Liam swallowed thickly at the sight of the deceased laying on the field below. "Did Niall die trying to protect him?"
"I think he died trying to protect you."
Liam met her emotional eyes. Her coily dark hair was pulled back from her face but leaves still stuck from her wild bun. Liam was still getting used to her without dreadlocks. When her hair was down, her tight curls bounced around her face, shaping it with her bright purple ends. She had a few scratches on her chin that had dried from her walk back.
"Niall really loved reading the books you recommended, so he could talk to you more about the things you were interested in. He favoured you over Zayn. If he were to ever risk his life like that, it would be because he had to protect you. By keeping Zayn alive, he kept you alive."
Liam felt a lump sliding up his throat. "I'll miss him."
"We all will." Baela hovered awkwardly as they both tried not to cry. "I'm sure Zayn will be on his way back. People were always out to get him before the Southern Alpha. He knows the woods more than he knows himself. He'll probably be back before dawn."
********
When dawn came, Zayn had still not returned home. Liam had stayed up all night, waiting by the window, hoping that Solana would knock on the door to tell him Zayn was back or hoping Zayn would storm into the room.
Now, at five in the morning, Liam was still anxiously rubbing his chest.
Zayn's state had worsened, and Liam was worried that he would do something stupid. Zayn was selfish often, but was he selfish enough to risk Liam's life too?
There were many sides to Zayn that Liam thought he knew. He only got a snippet of who he was before Liam came into his life. That dark, power-hungry, Alpha ego side to him was neglected for a year and eight months.
Zayn had the occasional meltdown and had talked with a therapist, but he always stopped when he felt mildly better. That had been a mistake.
Zayn was ignoring the root cause, and now it was too late.
Liam tiptoed from the room and down to the canteen. He had breakfast by himself, and he had never felt so lonely.
On his way back to the bedroom, two omega wolves who Liam knew rather well stood near the entrance to the stairwell. They faced away from him and hadn't smelt him coming.
"No, Alpha's not back yet."
"He's probably embarrassed because Liam will be at his throat"
"Rightfully so, I'd smack anyone who tore me down like how Zayn tore down Liam."
"Yeah." They both sighed. "I wish Liam yelled back at him. I would have loved to see that!"
"Me too. I hope he gives Zayn a good beating when he returns. Zayn can't keep doing this to us. It's not fair. I'm so close to finding another pack, but I won't because of Liam. If he doesn't have Zayn, he has us. Well, most of us."
They looked at each other, and the one who was the second-best runner in the pack said, "The Southern Alpha's silence is getting to Zayn now. I think the Bedlam Alpha is doing this on purpose, like how they tried to turn everyone against Zayn before. Taunting him with rogues was probably the first trick of many."
"Maybe we should lock Zayn in the cellar until we kill the Bedlam Alpha." They both chuckled sadly and moved down the corridor. Liam waited until they were gone, feeling a little lighter. He still had some enemies, but he had friends too.
********
Zayn laid on the woodland floor for hours. The sun was a hint of orange in a dark sky when his lids started closing without his control. Zayn hoped nature around him would consume him. He hoped the plants would twist around his limbs and drag him into the earth.
The guilt within him was so horrendous, Zayn trembled from the inner agony. Every time he thought of Niall, he felt sick to his stomach, knowing Niall's death was his fault, knowing he had messed up, and knowing that this time, he had gone too far.
I can't go home. Not even Liam would want me now, Zayn thought, moments before exhaustion consumed him.
He must have slept for maybe an hour, which was long enough for a human to creep up on him. Zayn jumped from his sleep when a foot prodded his side. An older man looked down on him with a scowl. His wrinkled eyes narrowed.
Zayn stared up at him, confused by who he was looking at, and where he was, and why he was a little damp. He was still lying on the woodland floor and the old face was slowly getting more and more familiar until it clicked. Zayn had seen the man once before when he and Liam walked to Ethdellin Hill in the middle of a snow blizzard. Zayn had scared the farmer's dog, Meadow, and the farmer, Daniel, was highly suspicious of him and told Liam to be careful.
"Mister Malik," Danial said with a tip of his cap covering his receding white hair. "I suppose it's lucky my dog found you and not one of the wolves, eh?"
Zayn sat up, brushing leaves from his black tshirt. It must have rained a little. The woods had that musty smell of rotting leaves. He scowled at the man, then at the sheepdog who watched with attentive blue eyes.
"Wolves?" he muttered.
"Yes, werewolves, your kind!"
Zayn rubbed his eyes. Humans shouldn't know about his kind, but that didn't click with him right away. He looked around, amazed by how he had made it through the night.
"You should come with me," Daniel said, pointing the long stick he found on his early morning walk.
"My farm is less than a mile from here."
"No." Zayn got up and stretched his aching shoulders. His right leg thumped from deep burning cuts to his calf. "I should go home or something."
He didn't want to. How could he simply turn up after everything that happened?
Baela was right, he was a disappointment. How could he bounce back from this? Did he even want to fix it? Zayn was great at pushing everyone away, and he had been very successful this time.
"You will come with me, actually" Daniel said. "I know a thing or two about your world, Malik, and I know a thing or two about that Southern Alpha."