Krey got out of the car, keeping his eyes on the front entrance. He could see his aunt Saphine and his Uncle Brandon greeting people as they entered.
Krey quickly pulled Pip from the car and stood with his mother, Sid and Francis. Krey was nervous and felt his heart twist in his chest. His face was as hard as the brick walls, and as blank as the snow covering the field. Nobody would tell that he wasn't feeling confident, apart from Pip. Krey looked down to him, seeing the way Pip stared at Krey's expression and worrying too.
Already, Krey felt eyes on his mate, and himself. By now, everyone, even his enemies, knew about how Krey's father died and what Krey did to stir such an attack. It should've been me, Krey thought. No, shut the fuck up. Krey put a hand on Pip's back, between his shoulder blades. Krey had to turn all his attention to Pip. I must not get angry. I must not storm off. Pip reeked of fear. Krey under no circumstances, could leave him alone. If he got angry and wanted to storm off, he would take Pip with him.
"Krey," Pip said when it was their turn to enter. Brandon and Saphine stared at Pip, not curiously, and not kindly. Mortified might have been the right word to describe the way their faces changed. "Can you smell my emotions right now?"
Krey could smell his fear hanging over the top of other werewolves, but he didn't want Pip to worry about that, so he leaned down and whispered, "Not really. There's lot of other scents here." Krey then looked to his aunt and uncle watching him from the doorway. Their stares angered him. He wanted to march up to them and slap their frowns away.
Instead, Krey turned Pip's face towards him and kissed his lips, claiming him in front of everyone. The satisfaction from his relatives' tight faces was almost as sweet as Pippor's scent.
"Come on," Krey mumbled to Pip who looked a little calmer. "Let's get this over and done with."
Krey and Pip walked ahead of Makena, Sid, and Francis. Saphine and Brandon masked their judgement with ugly fake smiles.
"Krey, I doubted you'd come tonight," Saphine said, almost matching Krey's height. Her green eyes pierced him with authority. Pip felt them clashing. Krey gripped his shoulder a little tighter. Krey didn't do well around other Alphas and his hostility showed. "Brave of you to show your face."
Saphine pushed past them to get to Makena. She hugged Krey's mum, mumbling about how sorry she was for her loss and how hard the past few months would have been for her.
"It's been hard for Krey too," Makena said, stiffly patting her back.
"Krey," Brandon said. His cold stare made Pip shiver. "You've brought a human."
"I've brought my mate, Pippor Monty."
"A human." Brandon looked Pip up and down with mild disgust, then to Krey. "That's what you deserve." Brandon stepped through them too, making them stand apart.
Krey knew they would blame him for his father's death. He didn't think they'd be so cold face to face. At his father's funeral, they barely spoke two words, but at least Saphine had smiled his way. Now that Krey thought about it, she was most likely smiling at Makena who didn't leave Krey's side that day to publicly show everyone that she didn't blame him.
Now, Saphine looked through Krey as though he was a ghost, most likely wishing he was the one who died that night.
She has every right to be angry. I'm the reason her brother is dead.
Krey stood tall and glued himself to Pip's side. "Let's get a drink," Krey said, staring ahead to avoid Pip's eyes. He didn't want to see sympathy. He didn't deserve it.
Inside, more wolves crowded the room than last year. Krey briefly looked around, clocking eyes with a lot of faces he recognised. Nobody was glad to see him. I shouldn't have come, but at least I have Pip.
Krey pulled his mate around the edge of the room, slightly jealous of the decor and the overall feel of the building. He had visited the Shadow Pack house every year since he was born, sometimes more. The pack and the house were well put together, much better than his Crescent pack.
The walls were exposed brick and coated with big paintings of wolves. the floors were black tile and the windows were three times taller than Krey with dusty grey suede curtains draping all the way to the floor. Black candles mounted to the walls cast flickering shadows among the paintings.
Krey glanced to the painting of his grandfather's wolf. The flickering shadows seemed like the wolf twisted his face with disappointment.
Krey clenched his jaw and spotted an Omega who served drinks.
Krey grabbed two bottles of cider and shoved one into Pip's hand. He tried to find a quiet corner, but so many people were invited to the annual meeting, not even a metre of the room was empty.
Even when Krey wasn't holding onto Pip, he felt him gripping to his arm. "This is ridiculous," Krey grumbled. Why had they invited so many people? Pip was getting more anxious by the minute. Everywhere the boys glanced, people stared and mumbled about them and pointed.
Krey wanted to scream at them all to lower their eyes. Instead, he looked to Pip, and stayed close enough to leave no space between them. "Want a tour of the packhouse?" he asked over the noise of the chatter.
"Yes." Pip answered immediately, desperate to be out of the crowds.
Krey once again put his hand on Pip's back to guide him through the busy room. As he turned, his cousin Victoria stopped in front of him, grinning from ear to ear. She bowed her head and pulled gently at both sides of her black dress patterned with white flowers.
"Krey!" she beamed like she was excited to see him. "I've just heard that you've come with a human mate! You kept that quiet!"
Krey and Victoria were the same age, he had grown up with her annoying enthusiasm. For some reason- in her eyes- Krey could never do anything wrong. He wouldn't show it, but he was thankful for her warmth towards him in a room where everyone else hated him.
Pip looked up to Victoria who towered over him, like everyone else in the room. Her eyes, bright and sparkling like green crystals in the moonlight, were pleased to see him. "Hello, I'm Krey's cousin. My mother is Saphine and my father is Brandon, you probably met them when you entered." She looked back to Krey, and her eyes shaped with worry. "Were they nice to you?"
"Why are you being nice to me?" Krey asked, scowling as usual.
"Because we're family. Your parents would be stood here now, grieving you if those humans who broke in knew what they were doing, thank the moon they didn't kill you both. Either way you look at it, someone would have been absent tonight. Just be thankful you're still here for your cute mate. Sorry, what was your name?" Victoria asked, smoothing her curly blonde hair over one ear.
"I'm P-Pippor, um, Pippor Monty. It's nice to meet you." Pip shook her hand. Her skin was hot.
"I'm Victoria. I'm so pleased there's another human here."
Pip looked up to Krey, who already watched him with his dark brown eyes.
"Victoria has a human mate," Krey said. He forgot, but now that she mentioned it, Krey could smell him mingling with Pip's scent. If there weren't so many werewolves cramped into one room, Krey would have been able to smell it better. If Pip wasn't right next to him, oozing fear and sometimes his sweet scent, Krey might have been able to smell his mother and other individuals.
"I only met him last month. Would you like to meet him?" Victoria asked, wanting to pull on Pip's hand. Krey glared harder than ever before, so Victoria backed off. "He was by the bar when I last saw him." Victoria looked around. "Hold on, let me find him. I'll be back in a minute."
She left the boys alone again, and Krey spotted an empty table with two chairs in the back corner. He pulled Pip in front of him and weaved through the people. Krey stared nastily at everyone who challenged his gaze. Even a few Alpha's looked away when he summoned a storm with his eyes.
Pip sat, and Krey pulled a chair around to sit next to him. They faced towards the wall, so they could pretend that nobody was staring at all. Krey still felt their eyes burning into his back. He felt uncomfortably exposed.
"Your aunt and uncle are not um, very nice," Pip said. Krey was close enough that he didn't really have to raise his voice.
"They hold grudges for life," Krey said. "And because you're mated to me, they'll hate you too."
Pip understood why they would blame Krey for what happened, even if Krey didn't mean to kill the mate of an Alpha. He still threatened her life on the roof. Krey was clearly sorry for what he had done, and revenge straightened the karma. Still, Pip kept thinking back to when Krey told him about what happened.
Krey said that Jordan snuck up to the roof and yelled at them. After knowing how awful Jordan was, Pip was sure Jordan scared Krey on purpose to make him let go of the mate, who fell to her death.
Krey wasn't entirely to blame, but he was getting the brunt of everyone's anger. Nobody sympathised with Krey. He had lost his father; he was grieving worse than anyone.
Pip sensed someone next to him. Francis stood silently by the wall and flashed him a warm smile. Though the way she stood, rigid and tense, unsettled Pip. Francis was on edge.
Pip dared to glance behind him. A few guests had wandered to other parts of the pack house, so the main room wasn't so crammed full of bodies.
"It's more like a party than a meeting," Pip said, fiddling with the sticker on his cider bottle. He wasn't a drinker. On his eighteenth birthday, Pip bought himself the same brand of cider- his first ever alcoholic drink- and taken it to the top of crescent hill. He hated the taste but drank it anyway.
All Pip remembered about that night was the infinite pit of loneliness.
Since then, Pip hadn't touched another drop of alcohol.
Pip's birthday was two months away, and he was certain it would be the best one since his eleventh birthday.
"The Alpha's will end up talking when the excitement dies down." Krey didn't touch his drink either. "I wish we stayed at home. We could be watching a film or something by now."
"That would've been great," Pip mumbled. He didn't mean to say it out loud. He felt Krey staring and looked up. Krey's eyes were softer when they connected.
"Shall we go home? There's no point in staying. Nobody wants me here."
Pip nodded. The minute he entered the room, he felt like he couldn't breathe properly with all the werewolves watching him. Most of the stares were curious at first, then slowly, one by one turned sour.
Krey and Pip climbed off the chairs and left their cider. They started moving back through the room, but Victoria sprinted to Krey, pulling someone else along. "I found him," Victoria grinned. Her smile was dazzling.
Both Krey and Pip turned with sombre expressions, sick of the crowds and the noise already, desperate for the silence of a car ride back to their institute.
Before Pip could look, Krey's grip on his hand tighten until it hurt.
"Pippor," a voice said, a voice that would make Pip freeze in hallways, a voice that would make Pip run as fast as he could through the forest, a voice that Pip spent seven years trying to avoid.
Pip looked up, and his heart was suddenly as heavy as the metal lights hanging above their heads. He stared at Victoria's mate, not needing him to introduce himself.
Pip already knew Mark. He had known him all his life.