Listened to Teardrops yet?
How did you like it?
More and more humans pounded the gate and eventually, pried the bottom of the fence up. "No!"
Baela hissed when she was told by an Omega. "Turn the electric fence on. They're here to hurt us. We can't be merciful now."
Her heart pounded in her throat. Blood would be spilt, and they would be left with the aftermath, despite the humans threatening them first.
Mira, damn you. Baela watch coldly and helplessly from the building steps. Her wound hurt, but she had to get closer to know what was happening.
With one weak step at a time, she followed the pebbled path. The closer she got, the more she heard not just angry noise but angry voices.
"Give us Mira!" and "Filthy dogs took Liam and his parents!" and "Justice, justice, justice!"
Her hands turned to fists. Her wolf was reluctant to surface. Baela was still sore, her body wanted her to heal.
"Do they have weapons?" she asked Bethan who snapped a head in her direction.
"Baela-"
The Beta held up her hand. Bethan pursed her lips.
"Zayn and Liam are alive. They're on their way back now." Baela saw the relief. She too wanted to scream into the clouds with happiness.
"Do they have weapons?" she repeated.
"Yes. Some had knives."
"Well we have wolves." Baela was sick of the violence, and sick of the constant battle for peace.
"All of you change into your wolves. I don't want to give them a chance to get metres into these grounds."
The rest of the pack shifted. Baela felt powerful, but still anxious for help to arrive, whether that was Zayn or other Northern wolves. The Pack was always restless without their Alpha, no matter how reassuring Baela tried to be.
Soon, the only Omega yet to change approached Baela, shouting, "They've cut the wires in the fence!"
Baela's throat was suddenly uncomfortably dry. A bunch of humans shouldn't worry them so much. She had to clear them for Zayn and Liam, and she had to do it within the hour.
"Maybe we should just open the gate and set the wolves on them. If they run, don't bite them, but if they push their way in here to fight, we fight back."
The wolves close enough to Baela nodded their heads. "Is that something you're all prepared to do, fight?"
All the wolves near the gate nodded. Baela didn't want to stand by and let humans destroy their fences and their gate because then they would need fixed, and nobody would sleep until they were.
"Alright." Baela nodded to herself for reassurance.
The humans had no idea what they were getting themselves into. She hoped for their sake that they'd run. "Open the gate."
A wolf tugged down the lever with her mouth. The low buzzing droned deep into Baela's bones.
The shouting on the other side paused for only a moment.
Baela pursed her lips when the crowd of humans, cheered, thinking they had opened the gate by toggling with the wires.
As soon as the gate opened enough for humans to see the wolves, the Pack bared their teeth and raised their hackles. Baela could barely blink.
She didn't want to miss the way the human's faces froze, and how their eyes filled with terror. Her favourite part was when they all shuffled backwards, speechless, dumbfounded, scared.
What? You had a lot to say only a moment ago. Baela did her best not to smirk.
"Leave," she demanded. A sharp pain tore through her stomach, but she clenched her jaw and ignored it. "If you step into our grounds, you die."
The silence that followed was comical. The humans could only stare at the wolves, too terrified to do anything other than move away, so the wolves moved forwards. Even Baela met them at the line of dirt where the gate covered the grass.
"The wolves you saw in the town were not ours. Mira is not here, so leave." Baela crossed her arms tenderly. Her voice pulled some of their attention from the wolves.
"Where's Liam?" someone in the back of the crowd asked.
"Not here either." Baela frowned, more curious than anything. "What did you hope to achieve by being here?"
"You're werewolves!" yelled another person.
"Yeah No shit!" Baela sighed. "And we're tired of your bullshit. Now leave, or they will attack you."
The older Ethdellin Town locals remained helpless at the front, too stubborn to admit defeat, but too stunned to fight. One even pointed to the wolves with a shaky finger, whispering, "The rumours are true."
"Leave," Baela demanded again. With a curt nod from the Beta, the werewolves leapt forwards, snarling and growling, some even barking.
A few of the younger humans scattered, tripping over tree roots and rocks in their attempt to get away. The Town's locals stumbled further back, but they still didn't flee.
"Where is Mira if she's not here?" A woman asked. A knife shook in her old hands.
"I don't know." If Baela told them Mira was dead, they would get rowdy and try to fight to avenge her death.
"She's not here. Now stop destroying our fences and our gate. We live here peacefully."
"Then who were those wolves in the town?" the woman asked, and a few voices chimed in to support her question.
Baela just wanted to sit down and wait for Zayn to come home, so she could finally sleep and let her wound heal.
"Please leave," she said again. "We don't have time for-"
"Who were those wolves in the town?" the woman asked again, finding her courage and stepping a little closer.
"Not our wolves!" Baela repeated through gritted teeth. The pack growled louder, the humans got angrier, and the grey sky started crying cold sprinkling tears, the type of rain that didn't fall hard, but soaked everything it touched.
Baela was running out of options. She wanted the wolves to edge further out of the grounds and chase the humans off, but she couldn't risk losing more. She didn't want to deal with the aftermath.
Werewolves only wanted to live in peace. Baela had to stay true to that.
Before she could make a choice, a huge black Land Rover roared into view, spinning around the side of the fence. It hurled towards them at full speed and crashed through trees to their left, bursting onto the scene with a roaring engine and a smoking bonnet. Baela stumbled into the gate from shock. Some of the humans had nearly been run over. Someone was hanging out of the car sunroof with a shotgun. The gun was fired into the air three times. The loud bang sent humans running in all directions or crouching on the floor covering their ears and heads. The werewolves jumped back to Baela, confused and panicked.
The man standing through the sunroof didn't lower his weapon. He was old and looked a lot like a farmer.
"Go back to town!" he yelled, brown eyes scanning the terrified humans. "Leave the institute alone. They have no time for your petty cries."
An elderly woman climbed from the driver's seat and Baela recognised her as the head librarian, Shina.
"What the hell are ya doing Daniel!" asked an old man on his knees. "Put that gun down!"
"We're quite clearly here to deliver eggs," Daniel grumbled, tipping his cap towards the man. "What are you doing here?"
"They took Mira."
"Is that so? Well I saw those other wolves take Mira, the dirty skinny ones. They went south, not here." Daniel's words meant something when a shotgun sat lazily in his arms.
The humans all looked at each other, but most still gawked at the wolves.
"Leave now," Baela growled. If she had to say it again, Bethan was ready to chomp on some ankles.
When Daniel carelessly waved his gun, the humans begrudgingly dispersed. Baela could worry about their news articles and rumours later. She held the gate as Daniel climbed from his car and hobbled through dead leaves and onto the wolf-made path.
"Liam," he said, standing by Shina's side. "Where is he?"
"He's safe. He's on his way back with Zayn."
Daniel asked what had happened. Something changed in his eyes when he found out that Mira was behind all the carnage. "I would never have guessed her, never."
"No, which made her even more dangerous." Baela held her side again. She couldn't stand around all day. Her strengths were wearing thin.
"Someone phone Zayn and tell him it's safe to come home." She then turned to the two humas who had helped get rid of the crazy Ethdellin Town locals. "Want some tea?"
They looked at each other, then to the yellow-bricked Packhouse in the distance.
"Tea with the wolves," Daniel said, taking off his green tartan cap. "What an honour."
The wolves waited until Daniel and Shina were sitting comfortably in the games room before leaving them with Baela. Bethan returned in her human form and hovered by the door. Naturally, she stared suspiciously at the humans the entire time.
Baela thanked Daniel for keeping Xavier's letters and journal's a secret until Zayn needed them, in exchange, Daniel told her about how Xavier visited. him often.
"He was a nice man. I see Zayn following in his footsteps one day. That boy has great potential." Baela agreed. Her wound hurt a lot less now that she was sitting down with a cup of tea. She nodded and smiled. "He's doing so well."
"And now he can thrive without Mira." Daniel shook his head, allowing his old wise eyes to trail the room. "It's nice in here. I don't know what I expected a Packhouse to look like on the inside."
"We're more alike than you're led to believe."
"Oh I know," Daniel smiled. "Zayn's father taught me that."
Baela liked Daniel's calm company, and Shina's gentle smile. She understood why Xavier had taken a liking to the farmer, and why Liam had taken a liking to the librarian.
"Zayn's back!" Someone suddenly yelled from down the corridor.
Bethan yanked the door open to groups of Omega's sprinting past.
By the time Baela reached the front door, four cars were driving down the long-pebbled path. They parked up in a row in front of them, and Zayn was first to get out. He looked exhausted, physically and mentally. Baela could only imagine what he had been through.
Omega's swarmed him all at once, telling him how thankful they were that he returned home safely. At first, Zayn put up with it and flashed a few half-smiles, but he wasn't fond of them patting his shoulders and trying to hug him. He perked up when they asked about Liam. Zayn stepped aside, so Liam could get out. Of course, Liam looked just as worn down, but put on a brave face, accepting their hugs and working his way around everyone.
Zayn didn't move. He glanced anxiously inside the car.
Baela noticed the same expressions on the Omega's who had been to the South with Zayn. Everyone's attention nervously pointed to the car and the dark silhouettes of those sitting in the back.
"What is it?" she asked loudly. Everyone stopped their fussing, glancing from Baela to Zayn.
Their Alpha was quiet for a moment. Liam gave him a gentle nod of encouragement.
"Mira had other prisoners in the cave," Zayn said, then turned to help another man from the car, a weak and skinny man.
At first, Baela thought Zayn had picked up a helpless Rogue, until the man stood up straight, and his familiar brown eyes locked with hers.
Zayn felt nervous. He didn't know why as he wasn't the one returning from the dead. Maybe Liam's intense stare churned his stomach, or the way Baela grabbed an Omega before her knees hit the marble steps, or the open-mouthed stares from the rest of the pack.
As Zayn gripped his father, Xavier gripped him back, still too weak to stand on his own. He looked around with soft brown eyes, but he was lost for words.
Zayn swallowed thickly. The silence stretched for too long.
"Give us time to explain," he mumbled, not able to think of something more comforting or helpful.
Instead of standing in the cold, crying in front of the Pack as he told them the story of what happened in the South, Zayn slowly entered the building with his father.
Liam told the others not to follow. Zayn was thankful, but he wished Liam followed too. He felt Baela's eyes burning into him as they disappeared down the corridor.
Later. I'll explain later. Zayn was so tired, he almost took a wrong turn on the way to the stairs.
"You've redecorated" Xavier observed. What used to be patterned walls and muddy carpets were now white walls covered in black and white art, dark wooden floors, and tall green plant with huge leaves.
"Yes."
"I like it. Was that for Liam?"
"No. The Packhouse looked shit."
Xavier scoffed. "You didn't like the patterned wallpaper?"
Zayn slowed down on the stairs. His father struggled with one step at a time and they took a break after one flight. Zayn sat him on the bottom step.
"I can just carry you," he offered.
"No, no, I'll get to the top with my own legs." Zayn crossed his arms and leaned against the handrail. He could smell the wolves close and turned in time to see a few heads pop through the gap in the door. Zayn sighed and stormed down the stairs, leaving his father to watch on helplessly.
The Omega's jumped back into the corridor, but Zayn wasn't angry.
"I will explain soon. Mum deserves the first explanation. Call Sea Claw Packhouse and tell them to bring her home right now."
"Yes... Alpha." They tried to peek back into the stairwell until the door closed after him. Zayn's legs burned on the stairs. He was exhausted.
"I it's odd," Xavier mumbled, "hearing them call you Alpha."
"It's still odd for them too." Zayn then helped him up the second flight of stairs and offered to carry him again when Xavier needed another rest.
"No. I will do it in my own time."
Zayn sat next to him, being as patient as he could. Every time their eye connected, his chest flipped.
"Why is Solana at Sea Claw Packhouse and not here?" Xavier asked, stretching his thin legs in front of him.
Zayn chewed the inside of his lip, wishing Liam was with them. He would know how to say it gently. Zayn was too honest and too blunt.
"She uh.." Zayn couldn't sugar-coat something so serious. "She tried to drown herself."
Xavier's head snapped in his direction. Zayn could only stare at the wooden floor.
"She told me she was going to stay at Shadow Packhouse for a weekend, but she lied and went to the beach. Penelope's wolves got to her just in time. I got there when they were still..." Zayn shifted uncomfortably. "We agreed that she should stay with Penelope because everything here reminded her of you. Even me."
Zayn eventually dared to look. Xavier's eyes were closed, and his hands were linked tightly, shaking.
"When she gets here, you bring her straight to me," Xavier said lowly, opening his wet sad eyes.
"I will." The hairs on the back of Zayn's neck stood on end. His father was also good at speaking with just a look. With eyes as dark and as intense as theirs, they could command orders with a simple glare.
"It's hard to tell how Solana deals with things. She's so good at pretending she's okay. Sometimes, I only knew she was struggling because we're mates. I don't doubt that she did try to stay strong for your sake."
Xavier ran a hand down his face and reached for Zayn. "I would have crumbled without her too."
Zayn somewhat understood because he had Liam, and Liam had once been snatched from him. "I don't know how she'll react."
"She can punch me into oblivion for all I care, just as long as she's here."
Zayn carefully climbed the last flight of stairs. Xavier looked left, then right. He pointed at Zayn's door down the hall where Liam had painted his name in rainbow colours, and Zayn had painted his in a messy grey.
"Look at you being all cute with your mate."
"Shut up." Zayn guided him to his mother's door and stormed inside, blushing.
Xavier didn't protest and was thankful to sit in the comfortable green armchair by the window. He looked around the room, shocked. "It hasn't changed a bit."
"Your clothes are still in the cupboards."
Xavier shook his had sadly. "She couldn't let go, could she?"
Zayn sat tenderly on the end of the bed, not wanting to disrupt the covers. "No, but maybe she could somehow sense that you weren't gone."
Liam stood among the wolves, the silent wolves, they stared at him, expecting an explanation.
Liam didn't feel like he had the right to tell them before Solana.
"Um... is there a spare room Sylvia and Spenser can have?" he asked.
The pack knew his parents had died. Liam wasn't in the mood to explain why he was calling them his mother and father.
Nobody could speak. Baela had frozen against the door. She stared wide eyed at the car. One hand was on the door frame, one was on her wound.
"Baela," Liam said quietly, standing in front of her. "You need to lie down."
Her green eyes flicked to him, then to the Omega's standing together, then to his parents.
"What is going on?" she whispered.
Before Liam could ask her to come with him to explain in private, everyone turned towards the gate. The wind carried distant banging. Omega's sniffed at the air and some groaned with annoyance.
"The humans are back."
Even Liam deflated. "What did they want last time?"
"You, Mira, answers. They saw our wolves, I'm surprised they're back."
"Right, it's a good thing I didn't leave this in the car." Daniel said, appearing at the doorway with a long shotgun in his arms. "Liam my boy, it's good to see you."
Liam raised his brows when Shina appeared next to him. Liam limped to them, hugging Shina and feeling Daniel patting his back.
"What are you both doing here?" he asked, trying to smile.
"Shooing away the Town's Locals." Daniel looked around at all the pale faces, lingering suspiciously on Liam's parents. He didn't quite recognise them.
They had been dead for nine years.
"Where's Zayn? Did we miss something?"
Liam really just wanted to lie down in a quiet room with his parents. He faced them, but they were looking at the gate.
"Did they ask about what happened to us?" Sylvia mumbled. Her long blond hair blew behind her.
"They blamed Ethdellin Pack."
Sylvia exchanged glances with Spenser. He nodded and squeezed her thin side.
"Take us to the gate. We will put a stop to this."
Baela moved away from the door. She cleared her throat. Her hands were shaking.
"They had knives and intentions of hurting us. It's not a good idea." Baela then narrowed her eyes. "Sorry, who are you both?"
Liam motioned for her to follow him. His parents were already making the Omega's help them down the path.
Baela followed him silently, waiting until they were a good distance away from everyone before stopping him.
"What is going on?" she asked.
Liam sighed and pursed his lips. He never thought he would be saying what he was about to say to Baela. "They're my parents."
Baela gasped, then held her injured side. "Liam-"
"I know this is crazy, trust me, I know." He ran a hand through his hair. "Let met just.. do what they want to do at the gate and then we'll go somewhere quiet. I'll tell you everything from the beginning, I promise."
Baela could see his exhaustion. She was so shocked; she felt a little numb. Baela still pulled herself together and respected Liam's wishes.
"Stand back" She motioned for Omega's to shift to wolf form.
Liam's parents watched on with mild fascination. Liam assumed they had seen many werewolves shift over the past nine years. He wanted to hear all their stories, so there wasn't a great gaping hole in each other's lives.
Omega's formed a line in front of the humans as the gate buzzed open. They growled immediately, silencing the humans on the other side.
Liam recognised all of those standing at the front of the crowd. He had served them all when he worked in Ethdellin Café. They grumbled about many things, and often had nothing positive to say.
Their eyes glued to the wolves, but one by one, they fell on Liam.
"They took you!" The oldest woman protested, holding her knife in the air. Liam was suddenly aware of how little wolves surrounded them. If Zayn saw him, he would drag Liam away in a heartbeat. He turned towards the house, and to his surprise, the Omegas were with them, lingering in their wolf forms. Daniel and Shina were on their way, but they were old, and the path was long.
"I'm here by choice," Liam said stubbornly. "I live here."
"No, your aunt and uncle said they saw you getting dragged away-"
"They lied to you. I left quickly because I couldn't stand to live with them anymore, and I got a better offer." Liam scowled. His brows struggled to keep there for long.
"I- It's none of your business anyway."
The locals then looked to the man and woman standing next to Liam.
"You're torturing them, look at how skinny they are! Are you hurting Mira too? I bet she's here, we should storm in and-"
"No!" Liam yelled. He was hungry, tired, grumpy, and sick of people interfering with his life. "We have just come from the South where Mira took me and was going to kill me. These are my parents who we have just rescued from a cave they were kept in for two years! If you really cared so much, you would have found out that Mira was the real bad person in all of this! She kidnapped my parents and killed Harry's dad. Those wolves in the town belonged to her. She did all of this, she's to blame!" Liam had stepped forwards as he yelled.
"Now I don't know what you think you can achieve by yelling at the gate, but I'm not willing to listen. Go home and tell everyone the truth. My parents are alive, and this was all Mira's doing. If you get yourself involved again, I don't have control over what the wolves will do to you."
Baela stood proudly next to Liam, nodding along to his words, extra enthusiastically at the last sentence.
"They're not alive!" a woman shouted from the back. Liam's blood ran cold when the crowd parted and his aunt strolled into sight, as smug as ever. His uncle hobbled behind, older and more slouched than he had been two years ago.
"That's not them, they're dead, we know they're dead!"
Baela rested a protective hand on Liam's shoulder and said, "Why don't you come closer and see for yourselves."
The Omega's growled.
"Why are you so sure they were killed?" Liam asked.
Seeing them had weakened his confidence. He wanted to scurry away before they yelled at him.
"Because we were told they had been killed," his uncle yelled, throwing his hands up in a manner that made Liam want to flinch. Seeing them was bringing fears to the surface, fears he hadn't felt since he lived with them.
His parents had noticed him shrinking behind Baela. They remained with him, standing as tall as they could manage.
"Did Mira tell you that?" Sylvia asked, glaring at her sister.
Aunt Jenny peered closer, narrowing her eyes. "It can't be them."
"Why not?" Julie asked. "Did Mira make it look like she killed us, just so she could blame Ethdellin Pack, her greatest enemy?"
"Well," Uncle Bert scoffed, "I don't know what you're talking about." He scratched the back of his head until a lie struck him.
"You've been prisoner's here this whole time, haven't you?" Bert smiled wickedly. His bald head gleamed in the daylight as he looked around. "They really did take his parents, and now they've taken Liam! We saw it happen!"
Liam wanted to scream. "NO YOU FUCKING DIDN'T!" he yelled instead. "You were there when I packed my bags. You followed me though the house, yelling about how you couldn't pay rent because you took every penny from me. When you wanted more money, you made me work extra shift, you made me leave college early to babysit your children, you booked holidays with my money and went without me. You were horrible to live with, and now that you actually have to work to keep your house, you're feeling sorry for yourselves." Liam was done being nice.
"Bethan," he ordered. The big grey wolf was at his side in seconds, waiting for his commands. Liam glared his uncle coldly in the eyes.
"Get them."
Bethan leapt forwards and barked loudly. The humans dispersed in minutes. Bert and Jenny were first to run, screaming the loudest. Liam knew Bethan wouldn't hurt them unless absolutely necessary. Liam spun on his heels, ready to run somewhere private and cry in peace, but he paused in his tracks.
Zayn stood among the wolves in his human form, watching him.
Liam stared back and his eyes watered. Zayn opened his arms, and Liam ran to him instead. Zayn's arm wrapped strongly around his back. His other hand rested on the back of his head as Liam pressed his face onto Zayn's chest, not wanting others to see his tears.
"Shut the gate," Zayn ordered. His deep voice vibrated through Liam. "A few Omegas will stand on the outside and wait for the other wolves to come back. If the humans come back first, bite off their feet."
Zayn turned around, pulling Liam around too. He walked away from the action with his arm still around his mate.
"Get a room ready for Liam's parents. They'll be staying indefinitely," Zayn ordered. "And watch out for mum, she'll be arriving in an hour. Get me as soon as you see her at the gate, no later. I will greet her first."