-Jaden-
I swear to god, if Nick didn't take the hint this time, I'd redo his nose if he even looked in Oliver's direction. Oliver had enough on his plate is it was, so that sorry excuse of a primate was better off keeping his goddamn distance!
I was mad. I was so mad, even hours later, when we were driving back home. Even Tilly and Arch had found some of their brain cells and hadn't messed with me. I knew they wanted to start teasing me for protecting the mate I didn't want, but they managed to keep their thoughts to themselves. I knew it wouldn't take long before they started with that shit again, but for now, they knew I was not in the mood for jokes.
Letting out a deep sigh, I turned to look out of the window just when we passed the gates to our territory. I frowned and turned to look back.
"The gates were open," I said out loud.
"Didn't you see the guards?" Tilly asked. "We're expecting visitors."
"Honestly, you two..." Arch sighed. "The Midnight Grove is coming to stay with us for tomorrow's meeting."
"Oh," I murmured and slouched back onto my seat. "Fuck," I grunted when I realized what it meant.
"What?" Tilly asked.
"I'm supposed to go meet their Alpha with my dad today..." I explained – I had completely forgotten all about it.
"Your dad is still forcing you go with him to the meetings?" Arch guessed.
"Yup..." I sighed angrily.
"Sucks," Tilly said sympathetically. "It sounds so boring."
I didn't give a damn about how boring the meeting would be. All I could think of was the fact that I wouldn't be able to sneak out if I was forced to participate in a meeting, where I had to sit right next to my father and socialize.
How long would he be waiting for me in the cold, dark forest, until he realized I wasn't coming...
"Does either of you know anything about begging?" I asked dryly.
They both laughed at my words.
"Sorry – I've never had to beg for anything," Tilly said apologetically. "But I think it involves tears."
"And you need to repeat the word please like your life depends on it," Arch added.
"And a lot of promises that you'll have to keep," Tilly said.
"Yeah, well, I already made one promise I have to keep," I sighed.
"I'll take that as a yes. I'll see you tomorrow then."
We arrived at my house soon later, and Arch and Tilly both joined me when I exited the car.
"Looks like the center is still open," Tilly spoke, and we all stopped to look towards our little village.
My home was located on a tiny hill, so we could easily see the two dozen small buildings that formed our "shopping street", the center of our territory. The biggest building at the end of it, the House of Elders – a fancy name for a town hall – was brightly lit and I saw people walking towards it.
Usually our shops were open only until noon, but now they all seemed to still be open, even though it was five in the evening already, so I assumed we were getting a lot of visitors, and the shopkeepers wished to get a bit of extra money.
"Midnight Grove, huh?" I muttered. They were a smaller pack that had claimed a territory around fifty miles from ours not too long ago. So far things between us and them had been going well. "I'm guessing Dad wants to keep them on our side in case Black Thorns decide to get nasty."
"I have the feeling Alpha Rayleigh won't let you skip the meeting," Arch said as we continued walking to the front door.
"Yeah..." I sighed.
"But then again..." Tilly spoke, and I already knew, just by the tone in her voice, that I was about to be reminded why she was my best friend. "... isn't it our thing to do exactly the opposite of what we're told?"
I smiled. "No one would be surprised if I just... vanished before the meeting, don't you think?"
"We do have a reputation to maintain," Arch nodded in a serious manner. "I mean, we haven't caused any trouble in a while."
"That is absolutely unacceptable!" I declared. "I, as the future Alpha, will make sure they will be disappointed in us once again."
"Hear, hear!" Tilly cheered quietly, and started giggling. "Make us proud, oh great Alpha."
"I shall do that," I bowed at her.
And then I made a run for it.
*****
I knew I was in big trouble with my parents, but it was worth it. I promised to Oliver I would go to see him, and they had taught me to keep my promises. It was their own fault really. They shouldn't try to teach me manners, because I was definitely going to use them in my favor. I was a horrible child, I knew that.
But I was not going to break my promise to Oliver. After seeing him so sad and miserable at school, I just couldn't bear the thought of giving him another reason to be sad.
I was way too early at the orphanage, but that didn't seem to be a problem. Only ten minutes later, he stepped out of the front door, wearing a big layer of warm clothes on him. I waited patiently as he hurried across the street to get to me.
"Wolfie!" his voice was cheerful when he stopped in front of me, and he gave me a smile before he kneeled down in front of me and gave me a hug. "You came!"
Like I had any other option...
"Do you want to play fetch again?" he asked after standing up. I let out the deepest sigh. I was not a dog... Oh, whatever... "But first, I need to go buy some chocolate. There's a store close by."
Sure, why not? He started walking, and I followed him. We were quite close to the street, so I was careful not to stay out in the open for too long. As long as people didn't get a good look at me, they would think I was just a large dog.
"I've been thinking," Oliver suddenly spoke. "Maybe this world is crazy, instead of me."
I looked up at him, and he gave me a smile.
"There's this guy at school, and... I don't know why, and I could be completely wrong, but... Okay, there's this other guy, who isn't too friendly to me, and this other guy, the first guy, kind of... It just seems like he's watching over me. For whatever reason that may be. So... I think the world is crazy," he spoke.
Isn't too friendly to him... Not exactly the words I would use, but okay. And another thing, why would it be crazy if some random person decided he'd had enough of some goddamn douchebag?
"I just don't understand why he's bothering with me..." he trailed off, and his expression was turning sadder again.
I stopped and let out a short bark. He stopped too and turned to look at me.
"Sorry," he said and tried to smile, but the sadness in his eyes didn't go away. "I know I'm not any fun to hang out with..."
Nope! I was not letting him think like that, so I jumped against him, licked his cheek before I stole his hat and ran away. He started laughing and I heard him running after me. I made a couple of dashes around him, shaking his hat and growling playfully whenever he tried to get it from me. I made sure we were still going the same direction, so he could go to the store, and after a while, when he was gasping for air between the bursts of laughter, I let him have his hat back.
"Thanks," he chuckled, and put the hat back on. "Silly wolf..."
Soon later, we arrived at the store. I waited patiently while he went in to get his chocolate, and once he returned to me, we went for a walk.
And I ended up fetching a goddamn stick again.
*****
On the next day at school I tried to avoid Oliver the best I could, while still keeping an eye on him. I was worried that Nick would go after Oliver again just to get back at me, but halfway through the day, I started to believe he hadn't even had the balls to come to school that day.
Oliver himself seemed to be in a better mood, and I was... happy about it. I didn't admit it to the knuckleheads, but I guess I didn't need to. They were smirking at me in a way which told me they already knew about it. I just ignored them since, if I confronted them about it, they would start messing with me again. And they had a lot to use against me. Especially the fact that I had deliberately gotten myself grounded last night for sneaking out, just because of Oliver.
I sure made everyone disappointed in me once again, but I didn't care, because I knew I did the right thing.
During lunch break, we followed everyone else into the lunch hall, and occupied a whole table by the windows. No one ever had the guts to come sit with us, so it wasn't an accomplishment. I knew Oliver was somewhere in the hall, but since he seemed calm, I didn't try to look for him. I just... focused in his presence.
"He's so out of it..."
I snapped my head up and saw them both smirking at me. Arch was sitting on my left, next to the wall, Tilly sitting in front of him. I let out a quiet growl, but it didn't help.
"What were you thinking about?" Tilly asked with an innocent look on her face. Faking it, obviously.
"Piss off..." I muttered.
She chuckled lightly, and turned her attention to Arch, but her eyes slid past him, and her smile vanished.
"Uhmm..." she managed to mutter with wide eyes, looking at someone who was walking behind me.
I didn't need to look at who he was. I didn't even need the information my nose suddenly gave me. I knew the sound of his heart more than well enough to know Oliver was right behind me.
I was stupefied in my seat. I was absolutely unable to move a muscle. Oliver, on the other hand, walked around the table and stopped right in front of me. He looked at us timidly, before lowering his gaze like he was afraid of us. We, on the other hand, exchanged hasty, wide-eyed looks when he didn't see it. We were ready to flee the scene in a heartbeat.
He put his hand into the front pocket of his backpack, and pulled out... chocolate. Three chocolate bars to be exact. He carefully placed them on the table, in the middle of us three and looked shortly at us.
He... bought the chocolate... for us?
"Thank you," he said so quietly that only us werewolves could hear it.
I stared at him without moving an inch. I was still frozen solid in my seat. I didn't even have much brain activity going on at that moment – I was too shocked.
Then, slowly, Tilly moved her hand across the table, took a careful hold of one of the chocolate bars, and slowly pulled it to her. Arch, the bravest of us all took the second one, giving Oliver a short nod and a small smile when he looked at him.
Then all three of them turned to stare at me. The fact that Arch was relaxed helped me to relax, and I sighed, lowering my gaze to the last chocolate bar. I knew I had to hurry, or Tilly would steal it, so I landed my hand on it, and pulled it closer to me.
I peered at Oliver without facing him completely. He gave me a tiny smile, before he turned around and walked away.
I stared after him as long as I could see him.
"Chocolateeee..." Tilly sang in happiness, jumping up and down on her seat and hugging the bar like it was a precious gift.
I looked down at my own chocolate. And I couldn't stop the small smile from forming on my lips.