"Wow! My own girlfriend doesn't trust me!"
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at Roman.
He sat across me, being a little drama queen.
"Well so far you haven't given me a reason to." I shot back.
"I'm your boyfriend!" He yelled.
"That really doesn't count right now!"
He placed his hand on his chest and let out a long gasp.
"Oh my - will you two stop it? It's just a game!" Kat snapped from where she sat beside me.
This time the three of us let out long dramatic gasps.
We were seated at a booth in Chris' mother's bakery playing a card game that Chris had introduced to us. It was called 'the Resistance'. It was basically a strategy based game where you had to identify who the spy was in the game.
And so far, my money was on my dearest boyfriend.
Roman and I had been hooked from the beginning but Kat honestly just thought the game was a waste of time.
We didn't care, we made her play anyway.
"Someone here is trying to jeopardise this mission and I shall make it my life's work to figure out who it is!" Chris spoke in a deep narrator voice. "I will not eat! I will not sleep!"
"Hun, you're supposed to be in bed by 10!" We heard Chris' mum call as she waltz passed our table to deliver a loaf of banana bread to the customers at the next table.
"Mum!" Chris whined, his cheeks tinting pink.
Kat, Roman and I shared a look, each of us fighting off laughter.
"No arguments, homework, dinner then bed." She called over her shoulder as she made her way back to the kitchen.
"Why won't this woman let me be great." Chris muttered, sinking down in his chair.
"Is wittle Chrissy fussy now?" Roman teased him in a baby voice, using one hand to try and pinch his cheek.
Chris swatted his arm away. "Says the eighteen year old hanging out with sixteen year olds. Seriously, dude? Don't you have cooler things to do? Like using your AAP candidacy card to literally get anything you want?"
Roman's eyes fixed on me and his mouth pulled into a smile. "My Lady is right here, where else would I rather be?"
Chris rolled his eyes.
"Gag!" Kat yelled. She picked up her cards. "Could we please finish this lame game so that I can drag Crystal shopping with me?"
I wasn't really paying attention to Kat.
I was too busy smiling like a goofy idiot at what Roman had just said.
What can I say? I was sixteen and in love.
I picked up my cards when Kat impatiently nudged me.
"It's your turn."
As I was scanning my options, a phone vibrated.
It was Roman's.
It was on the table. I didn't see the name because he quickly turned the device face down.
I rose a brow at him in confusion.
"Who was that?"
"Foster parents." He muttered.
I didn't press on because I knew how touchy of a topic Roman's foster parents were.
But I wish I had. I wish I had asked Roman more questions. Maybe then I wouldn't have been so gullible.
It had never been just a game to Roman.
***
"Wake up." I heard a voice snap before feeling something cover my face.
I quickly got up, removing whatever had been on my face.
I looked down at it and realised it was a black blouse, the tag was still on.
I furrowed my brows at it before looking for the person who had tossed it at me.
I saw Bridgette's angry face glaring down at me.
Definitely not what you want to see the minute you wake up.
"Get up, take a shower, we need to get a move on." She spoke before tossing something else at me. At least this time I had the sense to catch it.
It was a black skirt.
It still had the tag on as well.
"Please don't tell me these are more of Tristan's mother's clothes." I told Bridgette.
"No." She responded. "Tristan had May pick them out seeing as to how you have no clothing here. Now, go shower."
I didn't get why I they had gone out of their way to buy me a new outfit but I guess they could afford to do such things.
I looked around the room, I was in Tristan's bed.
I felt kind of guilty.
I fell asleep on his bed yesterday. But then again, with all that had happened I had honestly been too exhausted to feel too remorseful.
He had muttered something about taking the guest room before he had left anyway.
"Where's Tristan?" I asked.
Bridget seemed mad at me. She was always mad at me but she seemed madder than usual.
"He had a meeting, didn't he tell you?"
"No he didn't." I replied in confusion.
Was he supposed to?
"I figured you might have known since you're the one who kept him up with your whining instead of actually letting him get some rest. So congratulations, you're the reason our alpha looks like a walking zombie in front of the whole defense and security wing of the pack."
I blushed. I kept Tristan up?
Why didn't he say anything?
"I'm sorry." I murmured.
Bridget rolled her eyes. "As if that makes it better, God knows he hardly gets any sleep as it is."
I don't know what got to me the most, her scolding me or the fact that she thought she cared more about Tristan than I did.
"I said I was sorry." I huffed.
"Sorry doesn't make it better. You don't get it. If the alpha doesn't sleep, none of us do."
"I - I didn't even spend that much time talking to him, honestly, it was -"
"You didn't have to. You're all he thinks about." Bridget muttered. She obviously wasn't happy about that.
I wasn't sure if I should have been flattered. He had stayed up thinking about me?
I brushed the thought off immediately. I had been thinking about him too.
I even dreamt about him.
It was just the mating bond. I told myself.
"Wait, where is Tristan?" I asked.
"I just told you, he's off at the pack hall addressing the defense ministry looking like he hasn't slept in two years."
I furrowed my brows and looked at the digital clock besides me. "But it's 4.am."
"As I said," Bridget rolled her eyes. "When the alpha can't sleep, we all suffer. Now will you get up already! Or else I'm leaving without you, I have things to do too, you know."
"Okay, okay." I muttered as I scrambled out of bed.
I made my way to Tristan's bathroom. I took in the strong scent of his aftershave.
The mating bond didn't necessarily equate love. If anything, I believe it equated obsession.
Everything about this person suddenly seemed intoxicating. Not that you didn't see the person's flaws, you still did.
Tristan could have a smoking addiction and I would hate that because I'm personally not a fan.
But there were the little things... like the pink in his lips, the rich brown of his hair which reminded me of the colour of his wolf's fur, the dimples in his cheeks when he gave those rare smiles.
I took a quick shower, the threat that Bridget had given me still ringing in my ears.
I guess someone had set up extra towels for me like yesterday, probably one of the maids.
And someone had thought to get me shower gel. I had used Tristan's yesterday.
I cringed, so I had smelt of him and his mother.
I quickly got dressed in the clothes Bridget had brought. Perfect size, huh, May must have a talent.
Bridget wasn't in the room when I re-emerged. As I stood there, I had time to realize just how odd this felt.
Being in the alpha's manor, in Tristan's room, using his bathroom so freely, sleeping in his bed...
I didn't even feel that weird about it because come to think of it, Tristan had been a part of me for almost four years.
I might have rejected him but the bond still existed.
We might have avoided each other like the plague but we still had been very conscious of each other's existence.
Just knowing that someone is always around, someone who's supposed to be that special to you creates a relationship no matter how strange or non intimate.
I made my way out of the room. A couple of maids who had been standing in the hallway talking hastily bowed before scurrying away.
I frowned, what was that about?
Retracing my steps as best as I could, I started heading back to where I knew the kitchen was but something caught my eyes.
It was a wall full of framed photographs.
I had never met Tristan's parents but I recognized them immediately in a wedding photo then their faces re-emerged in another photograph of them standing outside the manor holding a little boy's hand
Tristan.
He was frowning in the picture.
Tristan looked like a perfect mix between his parents. He had his mother's eyes and same shade of hair colour but his father's facial features.
Another frame held three boys, Tristan, a little older, sitting on a couch in between two identical toddlers.
The twins.
One was trying to put his foot in this mouth and the other was beaming at the camera with his hands raised as if he were on a rollercoaster. Tristan just sat there with his chin in the palm of his hands looking bored.
Fast forward to a photograph of Tristan as a teenager - prom? His arms were wrapped around the waist of a beautiful blonde.
I had to look closer to properly identify her. But that was unmistakably Bridget.
I was used to seeing nothing but hard glares on her face and she was usually wearing her uniform with her hair tied back in a tight French braid down her back.
But here she had her hair falling in curls around her made up face in a strappy silver mini dress. She had this smug look on her face as she held on to Tristan's arms in that classic prom pose with her back to him.
Tristan's mouth had been open as if he were saying something.
Another one showed him, Peter and Bridget seated on grass somewhere. Peter was the only one beaming at the camera. Bridget and Tristan appeared to be glaring at each other.
There were more family portraits featuring Nana Francesca - younger and older. The twins at different stages in their lives and Anita.
To top it all, there was a large gold framed photo of a young Nana Francesca and a man I'm assuming was Tristan's grandfather with a girl who looked about twelve in between them.
I could tell that was Tristan's mother.
Her hair was straight and ran down her shoulders, she stood straight with excellent posture, her eyes fixed on the camera as if she was daring the photographer to take it.
I suddenly heard something drop. I turned and saw Micheal, an empty bowl was on the ground before him, surrounded by scattered papers.
"Hey - um, I - hey." He stammered, scratching the back of his head nervously.
I smiled and waved awkwardly.
Micheal bent over to pick up the things he had dropped. "I er... didn't know you spent the night but um... of course you spent the night - you're with Tristan now after all. Not that you two did anything! I - it's not my business anyway. I wouldn't be able to hear anything - not that I was trying to hear anything - I am not a perv, I just - okay, I'll shut up now."
And just when I thought this couldn't get any more awkward.
"Um... what you got there?" I asked, gesturing to the papers he now held again. I noticed the little red AAP handbook.
"Er... nothing, just studying - you know - school stuff." He not so subtly folded the papers.
But I was sure I had caught a glimpse of a heading entitled 'The First Human Werewolf Treaty'. Exactly the same topic May had introduced yesterday.
Why was he studying AAP material?
"You're quite the early riser." I commented.
He shrugged and suddenly grew serious. "I couldn't really sleep."
His eyes wandered to the photos.
"The last time a rogue snuck into our territory... it - it didn't end well." He muttered, his eyes fixed on the photos.
I didn't really want to ask what he meant. I could tell it was a really sensitive matter.
Did it have something to do with his parents?
"Is that you?" I asked, changing the topic quickly and pointing at a random picture.
It showed the twins, each holding markers in their hands and beaming as they stood in front of an irritated looking Tristan who had lines drawn all over his face.
"Oh yeah." Micheal smiled. "I remember that day. Mum said she'd give five bucks to whoever could draw a smile on Tristan's face."
He grinned to himself. "I won."
I had so many questions. What was Tristan like as a kid? What was their mother like? How was it having an alpha for a mother? Did they think of her often? Did they miss her?
"T was going through a moody phase at the time." Micheal chuckled as he continued. I don't think he was even telling me this for my information but because he wanted to remember. "Mum used to tease him and say it was just the hormones and puberty. T used to claim he was a happier child before we came along. Lies, of course. We're pretty much the highlight of his life."
I smiled at Micheal.
This was by far the most normal conversation we had ever had.
He turned to look at me and found me smiling.
"Er... um... I like you braids. They look good on you, although I thought you preferred the twists."
My eyes widened. "What?"
"Oh. No. Um please don't find it weird. I've just seen you with two strand braids more than I've seen you with the standard three strand braids - not that I watch you. I just um... look at you occasionally. But not in a creepy way."
I didn't know whether to be freaked out by Micheal's crush or whether I should have been flattered that he noticed my braiding patterns.
Either way, this must have been more painfully awkward for him than it was for me.
"Oh Crystal dear, here you are."
Thank God for Anita.
She walked towards us, carrying a dish rag in her hands.
"I'm supposed to get you and Bridget something to eat before you run off. I swear, all you kids have terrible appetites, except the twins."
She turned her eyes to Micheal, specifically the bowl in his hands.
She rolled her eyes.
"Did you go rummaging for left overs, young man?"
"Um... no... yes." He admitted.
Anita sighed.
"Micheal, what will I do with you?"
"Love and adore me?" He spoke giving her a hopeful smile.
She sighed again.
"Why on earth are you awake at this hour, anyway?"
Before Micheal could even say anything, Anita continued.
"Oh dear - you couldn't sleep, could you? Go to your room dear, I'll be right over with a cup of milk and a tummy rub." She turned to face me. "He always gets a fussy tummy when he's frightened."
"I'm not frightened, Nita." Micheal mumbled uncomfortably. "I'll be going now." With that he begun to walk away.
Anita looked after him with a frown.
"Oh dear." She muttered to herself. "Joshua is usually the one who gets the nightmares." I don't think she even realized she was talking to me.
"Were the twins there when their parents died?" I found myself asking.
Anita got a far away look as she stared at the photo albums. "Their mother? No. But their father was murdered right in this house."
A chill ran down my spine. "That's horrible-"
"They didn't see anything. Tristan made sure of it. If anyone is still traumatized about it, it's him. God bless that boy for everything his done to protect his pack and his family."