Chapter 15

ARLO

My talk with Lily outside was not what I expected.

After the events of last night, I wasn’t sure how today would play out. I was worried about her remembering what happened the night before…about what she said.

However, when she did approach me and ~apologized~, I was shocked.

She shouldn’t be the one to say sorry; that’s my job. I have been nothing but an asshole to her. Even though she doesn’t know it, I’m ruining her life.

Because she’s met me, she will never be able to truly find love.

She will never fully love someone because she will think about me. She will always compare me to them. It’s how the mate bond works.

So, I should be saying sorry to her.

What makes it worse is that I could turn the tables and make things better. I could save her.

But I’m too selfish for that. I love Talia and I don’t want to let that love go.

Being with Lily will change everything; the feelings I feel for Talia will be nothing compared to my feelings for Lily. It will consume me.

And I’m scared of that. I don’t think I can handle it.

So, I’m going to push her away until she hates me because that’s what I do. Push people away. It makes things easier.

After Lily left, Arden informed me that we have been attacked twice now.

As soon as he mentioned ~rogues~, I went into full defensive mode.

Rogues are wolves who have been exiled from their packs. They either did something bad or chose to leave.

Some rogues are harmless; they just don’t want to live in the pack. However, others are dangerous. They are angry about not being in a pack, so they take it out on other rogues.

I’m guessing that a wolf close to this area was recently exiled from their pack. They are angry, clouded by hate for pack wolves, so they are taking it out on us, a close pack.

This creates a huge problem for all of us.

“Who was attacked? Are they badly injured? When did this happen?” I throw question after question at my brother, concerned. As the future beta, it’s my job to handle direct orders from the alpha.

Arden sighs, plopping his bottom on the grass, where Lily was sitting a few minutes ago. “Two pack members were attacked at different times. One was a warrior, so they could defend themselves.

“The other was a year 9 girl. She’s okay though, she screamed a lot, alerting other wolves.”

I furrow my eyebrows together at the news. “Why wasn’t I told about this?”

Arden sends me a guilty look. “You have been so distracted lately. Your mood is all over the place. I didn’t want to burden you with something else.”

His explanation angers me. Sure, I’ve been angry and closed off, but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of handling this.

Lily might be on my mind a lot, but I can still deal with this situation. This is my pack; I want to help.

“What you did was reckless,” I scowl at him. “If Dad gets word that you were keeping this from me, he will be furious and disappointed. You put pack members in danger by not telling me.”

Arden suddenly leaps to his feet aggressively.

“If ~Dad~ knew how you’ve been acting, he would have agreed with me. You would have been no help in preventing the attacks.”

I stand up as well, shutting my sketchbook and holding it by my side.

Arden and I stare into each other’s eyes menacingly. He’s challenging me to fight back. As much as I want to, there’s a force stopping me. ~His alpha power.~ I have to back down, even if I really don’t want to.

Releasing a long breath, I drag my free hand through my hair. Arden’s tense shoulders relax slightly, his wolf acknowledging that I’m backing down.

“Let’s not argue about this. It appears we have some work to do.”

Arden nods his head in agreement and marches back into the school. I follow closely behind him, my mind on the attacks.

Arden and I spend the next few hours trying to piece together the information we have.

The attacks both happened on the outskirts of the woods, on either side of the school. A few pack members patrolling the borders said they smelled a nasty smell several times in the night.

Worry begins to flood through my veins at the news. We have a wolf here who is interested in our pack for some reason.

Both victims told us the wolf is gray and big. It’s quite strong and can fight quite well.

That leads us to believe he had some sort of warrior training before he went rogue. Unfortunately, they couldn’t tell us anything else.

Eventually, Arden and I call it a day. Both of us are tired and hungry.

We both rush to the dining room, grab a tray, and stack it with plenty of food. I make my way over to the table, ignoring Louise’s glares. Arden sits down at first and pecks Talia’s forehead.

Strangely, the jealousy I usually feel when I see them kiss or touch doesn’t flood through me. In fact, I don’t feel…~anything~.

I know why. I hate why.

~Lily.~

My eyes search the table for her. But when I don’t spot or smell her anywhere, I frown. She’s usually here for every meal.

“Where’s Lily?” I ask before my brain can comprehend what I said.

Everyone shrugs their shoulders.

I sigh, wanting to know where she is. It’s a strange feeling, but I want to make sure she is safe.

Lily comes stumbling into the dining room with Kacey. My eyes immediately seek hers, examining her body.

Worry blossoms through my chest when I notice her knees are filthy with mud.

She’s talking to Kacey in a hushed tone, her eyes scanning the room every few seconds for danger.

My wolf and I desperately want to know what is going on right now.

Something feels… off. She seems tense—agitated.

As if sensing my eyes on her, Lily’s eyes float over to me.

Kacey continues to talk to her while she burns holes in me. Eventually, she turns her attention back to Kacey. I begin to wonder why they were talking, why it looked so serious. I didn’t know Kacey and Lily were so close.

I haven’t seen them together since the library incident, where Kacey nearly spilled the beans to Lily. I was furious when I found out.

I was lucky someone told me what was happening; a werewolf in the library overheard everything and quickly mind-linked me.

After discovering what Kacey was doing, I sprinted over to the library using my werewolf speed and pulled Lily away. The rest is history.

Kacey got told off by Arden for doing that. She’s mad at us for not telling her the truth. Her eyes were looking at me when she was saying that.

Kacey says a final thing to Lily and then saunters off. Lily grabs some food and approaches our table, deep in thought.

“Hey, Lily, we were wondering where you got to,” Talia greets, smiling at her friend.

Lily and Talia have been getting a lot closer recently. Whenever I’m with Arden and Talia alone, they are sometimes talking about how happy Talia is that she met Lily.

Even Arden likes talking to Lily.

Lily gives her a tight-lipped smile and greets her back simply. Talia thinks nothing of it as usual, but I do.

Not wanting to throw Lily off, I peek at her a few times through my lashes as she eats and interacts with us.

Lily has officially weaseled her way into our friendship group. Arden, Cabe, and Talia all accept her and like her.

Even I enjoy her company despite the fact we never really talk to each other.

“Next week we have half term and I was wondering what you were going to do during the holiday, Lily?” Talia says, sounding curious.

None of us knows much about Lily’s family. We know she used to live in London, but that’s it. She never talks about her family. Hell, getting her to open up about her twin sister was tough.

She stiffens in her chair, an action all of us spot. Cabe and Arden frown while Talia’s eyes flash with concern, her luna side coming into play.

Lily avoids eye contact with us all when she speaks, “I’m going to go to my family’s house.”

There is something about her answer that has me curious. She doesn’t mention her parents’ house.

Talia notices it too because she glances at me in worry.

~“I think Lily is hiding something about her family,” Talia mind-links me, her soft voice sounding worried.

I nod my head, probably looking like an idiot since this conversation isn’t aloud.

~“I think so too,”~ I whisper back, through the mind-link sadly.

My guilt rises again. I’m probably adding to whatever pain she’s in.

We open the link to everyone else, wanting to know their thoughts.

~“I think Lily has been hurt in some way. Maybe not physically but definitely mentally,”~ Talia tells the rest of us.

Her assumption receives several grunts of agreement through the mind-link.

~“Have you noticed the sadness in her eyes?” ~This comes from Cabe, who is usually very quiet. He is an observer, not a talker.

So, while we are all discovering this for the first time, he’s not. I noticed ~something~ sparkling in her eyes, but I didn’t know it was anguish—pain. Now, I’m never not going to see that when I’m gazing into her eyes.

~“We should meet up with her over the holiday. Maybe go to her place—or London, at least. You know, to get an idea,”~ Talia adds, sounding desperate to do it.

~“Definitely,”~ we all say.

“Lily, do you think we can meet up with you in the holidays? It would be nice to see you in a setting that isn’t school,” Talia asks her, her tone friendly and kind.

Talia seems very protective of Lily; she values her friendship with her a lot.

Lily visibly gulps and darts her eyes around the table at each of us.

“Uh…,” Lily stammers, her eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights.

She bites her lip, thinking it over in her head. When she sees the desperation in Talia’s eyes, she relents.

“Sure, I’ll text you when I’m free,” Lily mumbles.

Uncertainty fills her, not knowing what to make of the situation. I can immediately tell she is thinking of a way out of this.

The rest of the time goes by smoothly. I mostly listen to everyone talking while glancing at Lily every once in a while.

Worry blossoms in me at the sight of her so lost. She looks like she wants to unload everything on someone, but at the same time, it’s as if she wants to ignore or forget everything.

Her sapphire eyes shift away from the dining table and land on me. My heart skips a beat and my wolf goes crazy. It takes a while for me to force my wolf down, to push him away.

I fear he might try and take control of my body and begin leading Lily on. I don’t want him to give her false hope.

By the time I get my wolf at bay, Lily is already drinking the last bit of her drink.

She swiftly makes an exit, mumbling an ‘I’m tired’ as an explanation. I watch her go, not knowing how to feel about the situation.

A part of me wants nothing to do with her while another part of me wants to get into all of her business.

“So, do you now want to tell me why the hell we are being attacked by rogues?” Talia suddenly blurts out, throwing us all a scowl. Arden visibly gulps and sends me a nervous glance.

I can only imagine the one thing running through his head right now is ~oh shit.~

LILY

After promising Kacey I would not speak a word of what happened today, she let me go to tea. I didn’t say much at all during tea, too wrapped up in my own mind. When Talia asked if she could come down to where I lived, I panicked.

I didn’t want my friends to discover what happened to my parents. But I could hardly say no—unless I wanted her to become curious, so I sucked in all my doubts and agreed.

And now, as I rush back to my room, I can’t help but curse myself, wishing I had come up with some lame excuse.

Once I reach my room, I swing the door open and collapse onto my bed.

Thoughts of what happened today swarm my mind, refusing to give me some peace. The burning curiosity increases as I think more and more about what happened in the woods today.

Kacey is hiding something, and she says I’ll find out soon. I want to know so badly what’s happening that it feels like it’s physically and mentally killing me.

A soft knock at the door disrupts my thoughts.

Sighing, I shout, “Come in.”

Of course, Arlo steps into my room. For some reason, he feels he must know everything about me. It makes me happy and sad at the same time. I feel as if I never know how to feel anymore.

“I wanted to check up on you.” Arlo doesn’t bother greeting me, instead gives me an explanation. “You seemed distressed at tea and I was worried.”

My stomach does flip-flops at his words.

My heart wants to yell in glee, over the moon with the news. My breathing feels all wrong and jagged. My thoughts race through my mind. In fact, my whole body reacts to his words.

Just the fact he is worried about me sends me into a weird state.

However, I do not show any of this to him. I keep my face neutral, not giving anything away.

Blinking, I press my lips together. “Okay, thank you for your concern.”

Even I don’t recognize my voice now. I sound like an automatic robot programmed to respond in a polite way.

Arlo opens his mouth as if to speak but then closes it again. He keeps doing it, resembling a fish.

I nearly giggle at the sight.

“So.” He swallows, darting his eyes around the room. “Do you…want to…maybe hang out?”

His question nearly has me gasping.

Staring at him with wide eyes, I begin to wonder why he suddenly wants to hang out with me. Arlo has almost never wanted to spend time with me alone. And now, he wants to spend time with me ~again.~

In the space of hours.

What on earth is going on?

The weirdest part is that he is staring at me with so much hope. He genuinely wants to spend time with me.

“Oh—uh…,” I stutter, my mind and mouth not communicating at all.

I want to tell him ~yes~ but I can’t.

Despite him not wanting what I want, I’d still like to spend time with Arlo. I want to get to know him.

It’s practically setting yourself up for heartbreak, something I vowed to avoid, yet now that I know Arlo more and have seen the nicer side of him, I can’t help but want to risk it.

Before, Arlo never showed me his softer side, the side he showed Talia, Cabe, and Arden. Now, however, he is. He opened up to me. He let me in. I have a foot in the door.

And I’m not going to close the door just yet.

“I get it,” Arlo suddenly snaps and takes an angry step back. “You don’t wan—”

It’s then that I realize I didn’t give him an answer. He’s assuming I don’t want to.

“I do, Arlo.”

This time he blinks. Then, a Cheshire smile forms on his face. My heart explodes at the beautiful, enchanting sight.

“Brilliant. I brought a film you might enjoy,” he tells me, holding up the DVD. I read the title and smile. Butterflies flutter around in my stomach and my heart grows.

He brought the 1970s version of ~Wuthering Heights.~

It feels as if a bond, which had already formed, is beginning to grow.

The seed has already been planted. It has been watered. It has been loved. And now it’s starting to grow into something beautiful. One day, the flower is going to be the prettiest flower in the garden.

“Lily? Are you listening to me?”

Once again, Arlo knocks me out of my thoughts. Shaking off the weird metaphor I somehow made up, I send him a reassuring smile.

“Sorry, I just spaced out,” I explain, flashing him an apologetic smile.

Arlo chuckles at my explanation. “You tend to do that a lot.”

His eyes dance with light humor.

Getting out of my bed, I head over to the TV that’s in our room on Trinity’s side of the room.

After plugging it in, I turn the DVD player on and ask Arlo for the DVD. He hands it to me, accidentally brushing his fingers against mine. The tingles, the rush, ~everything~ I feel from it overwhelms me.

Desire courses through my veins. I can’t help but wish I could feel his fingers against mine again.

Arlo quickly snatches his hand away, as if I had a disease, and heads over to my bed.

Shoving the DVD into the DVD player, I take the remote that’s on the table and head over to my bed as well. We both sit on the far end of the bed against the wall. Our legs dangle over the bed.

We are close—so close. I can smell his delicious cologne.

As the titles begin to roll on the screen, I force my mind to focus on the film. It’s hard, though, since Arlo is sitting right next to me. I can’t forget it.

Electricity dances between us, lighting me up.

My body automatically relaxes when his hand lands on the bed ~very~ close to my leg. The small amount of contact makes my body relax so that I don’t feel uneasy anymore.

From then onward, I sit comfortably. Every once in a while, I feel Arlo’s eyes on me. They don’t look at me for very long. It’s as if he is checking to make sure I am still sitting next to him—that this is real.

Admittedly, I end up doing the same as well.

I revel in this normal moment. Right now, we are just a boy and a girl who are spending time with each other. Nothing hostile is between us; we are simply having fun with each other.

I wish we could stay like this forever.

This feels perfect.

It’s a shame all good things come to an end.