Branson Williams
A shoe flies, hitting the wall beside the front door as I open it. "You did what?" Dad's voice is loud. I glance over my shoulder at my siblings and mate. Then I step inside.
"He has to learn to defend himself, Zeke. We talked about this. You agreed" Pops sighs, as dad storms into the hallway, his eyes blazing with anger.
"We talked about him going to training today. About him doing what he could. About him staying for half of it. Not the full three hours!" Dad bends down, taking off his other shoe and throwing it directly at Pops.
"Lay and Bran do it, constantly. You don't act like this when they do" Pops sighs, leaning against the wall. They know where we are, but they dont look at us.
"Xan isn't them Peyton. You know that. He knows that." Dad has tears now, and Pop's body stiffens.
Xan is scooting past us, and instantly at dads side cupping his face.
"I'm fine. It was tough, but I did it. I threw up, and I'm half dead. But I did it. I did something normal" Xan has tears going down his face now. "I did it" he whispers again, and dad nods before glancing over his body.
"You're bleeding"
"I'm clumsy" he whispers, and dad nods.
"Let's make sure you don't have any bad cuts, '' dad adds, pulling Xan along with him. Pops looks at us, his eyes roaming over us all.
Then he turns on his heel, following his mate. Likely to make up for making him cry. Poor dad.
I make my way upstairs, and take a quick shower before getting dressed in loose sweats and a hoodie. Our house is normally cooler, so I try to stay warm. About an hour later, I'm in my room on my phone when Xan knocks.
He steps inside, coming in and sitting on my bed. He glances at me, and I set my phone down while sitting up. "What's up?" I ask, flicking my eyes over him.
"Noah's still here" he scoots back in my bed, leaning against the wall.
"Yeah" I know, my wolf is pissed. He's blocking me off right now, and I swear Noah's scent's so strong it's like he's in my room.
"Want to watch something?" he asks, and I shrug. Grabbing the remote for my tv, I toss it to Alexander, he smiles small and flips through our streaming apps until he settles on one. He finds something scary, and we spend the majority of the day doing that. Watching scary movies.
—
Something is shaking me. I'm so fucking cozy though. My eyes flutter open, and my mate comes into view. Slowly, I sat up. Xan is next to me, curled up with his mouth open as he sleeps.
"Your dad said you guys gotta eat at the pack house tonight. Layla and I are about to walk over" Noah's voice is clipped, but it's soft.
"Lemme wake him" I murmured, shoving at Xan's shoulder. He whines, turning on his back. "Xan" I rasp, shoving him again. His eyes flip open, and he looks confused.
"What?" he whispers, his eyes landing on Noah for a second before coming back to me.
"We fell asleep, come on. Lay and Noah are walking to the pack house for dinner." Slowly, I got out of bed. I'm still in my sweats, so I'm ready to go. I slip on my shoes as Xan slowly climbs out of bed. He's smaller than most, and he wears baggy clothes for the most part. He has a sweater on, with sweats. He rubs his temples, and then murmurs.
"Gotta get my meds, see you down stairs" and then he's leaving the room. Turning towards the door, Noah steps in front of me.
"We should go for a run after dinner," he says.
"Just- Us?" I ask, my brows furrowing.
"Yeah" he nods, clearing his throat "It'll be good for our wolves to see each other, and if we want this whole thing to work-"
"I never said i wanted this to work" my brows raise, and i flick my eyes between his green ones.
"We can't reject the bond, it's not an option. And I know you don't want to either" he says slowly, and he runs his fingers through his hair. "Listen pups-"
"Don't call me that" my voice comes out raspy, but my tone is sharp.
"Anyways- We're going for a run later. Okay?" he says seriously, and I slowly nod. It's not the worst case, but it's definitely not how I wanted to spend my time. "See you downstairs, pups" he winks, actually winks and then he's gone.
My lips part, and a huff slips from my lips as I make my way downstairs. Alexander and Layla are down there talking, and Noah is leaning against the wall. Xan slips his shoes on, and then we follow our sister and my mate out of the house.
We live fairly close to the pack house, so walking there isn't bad. We make the short walk and are in the cafeteria in no time. I make my way through the line, getting some food that sounds good, and stopping at the end of the line at the wall of coolers- full of drinks. I grab one, and make my way through the room.
"Yo" Dylan says, and I turn towards my friend.
"Hey, gonna come sit with us?" I ask, as we start making our way to my siblings.
"Hopefully he doesn't kill me, '' Dyl murmurs, and we get to the table, sitting next to each other. Noah and Layla are across from us, and Xan is on my other side.
"Training kicked my ass today" Dylan sighs.
"It was good, definately needed it. Everyone needs to work harder though, some people" i cut my eyes to Dylan "Slack off a lot"
"Not a lot," he huffs, and I smirk.
"Definately a lot" i stab my fork into one of his grapes, popping it into my mouth.
"Your dad's hella scary though." Dylan says, drinking from my gatorade. We tend to share food and drinks a lot. I don't know when it started, but it's been this way for a long, long time.
I took a sip right after him, and that's when I noticed the deathly stare on me. Of course he's pissed about it. My eyes connect with Noah's, and he raises a brow at me. Ignoring him, I go back to my conversation.
"He can be scary, but it's hard to see him that way when my human dad brings him to his knees' 'I laugh, and Layla giggles, chiming in.
"It's true, dad's a little feisty and pops bends so easily with him" she sighs "I wonder what it's like to have that, yano?" she glances at Noah briefly.
"You'll know soon Lay" Xan's soft voice comes from next to me, and she smiles nodding.
"Course i will" she pushes the topic back on track. "Pop's not scary- he just wants us all to protect ourselves" she shrugs, taking a bite of her taco.
"Still scary," Dylan murmurs, eating his own food. I start to eat mine, but I can still feel Noah's eyes on me. In Fact i feel them the entire time I'm eating. I try to ignore it, and just eat my food.
After 5 more minutes, my eyes snap to him and I raise a brow. 'What?'
'Why do you guys share so much?' Noah's voice asks across our link.
'Dunno, we always have. I'm not interested in him like that though. Calm down'
'Because of me?'
'I never was, and i would never do anything to jeopardize our bond'
'How can I be so sure?'
'Trust me' he doesn't respond to my answer, but he stops staring, and by the end of dinner he's added input into our conversations.
Goddess this relationship has a long way to go.
—-
Dinner went too quick, and now we're walking in the forest behind the pack house in an awkward silence. We haven't shifted yet, and I don't even know if I want to. Our wolves are going to have no mercy, and leave us in an even awkward situation.
I'm not looking forward to it, and I don't think he is either. So that leaves us in our uncomfortable silence.
We're walking like a foot apart. We're halfway to the clearing now. We still don't break the silence, not until we reach the clearing. Then Noah clears his throat.
"Ready to shift?" he asks. Not really.
"Yeah" tugging my shirt off, Noah does the same. We're stripping and then bone is cracking as we're shifting. It doesn't take long for Noah's wolf to take control.
I'm being tackled onto the floor. His wolf is growling, nipping at my neck. Necks are sensitive areas for wolves, especially sense that's where we get marked in our human forms. His wolf is likely mad that we're not marked yet.
My wolf surges forward, licking and nuzzling into Noah's light fur. Another growl comes from his chest, then a sharp bite into my neck. It pierces my skin, but not deep enough to scar, or count as a mark.
But his point is clear. He wants to mark. And if we don't soon, he will do it in our wolf form.
A/N
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