Chapter 36 Chapter 36
~ Brendan POV cont. ~
Hadeon’s friends were weird. They weren’t like any of his friends that I had met within Nighttide; they were quieter and didn’t seem to want to speak to me at all. I didn’t mind it as I was too excited and thinking about my visit to the town hall and library of the pack to learn their history, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect them to make a little conversation with me.
One of the three friends was driving the car, the other was in the passenger seat, and I was wedged in between the third friend and Hadeon in the back.
“Are we almost there?” the one next to me asked impatiently.
“Another 10 minutes or so,” the driver said monotonously.
The man huffed, “This is taking forever, we have too much to do in very little time. Can’t you go any faster?”
The driver hissed, “Ask me again and I swear to–”
“Oi! My little brother is in here, remember?” Hadeon said warily. His eyes shifted to me, and he smiled softly for a moment before his face dropped as he looked towards the surrounding men again.
The man in the passenger seat murmured inquisitively, “Are you sure the kid can get us into the pack without getting us in trouble?”
“Of course he can! He’s one of the best,” my brother nudged my arm, “aren’t ya? Go on, tell them.”
Lifting my head, I met the gaze of the man in the passenger seat. His eyes felt cold, and not the same comforting cold I felt with my shadows; this cold was twisted and depraved.
“Well?”
I frowned, glaring at him. “I can get you in without a trace easily.”
The two men at the front exchanged a look, the driver nodded, and the passenger looked back at me and smiled. “Then we all know what we’re doing.”
The rest of the journey, none of the men spoke another word; the silence began to annoy me. I turned to my brother and sighed, “Can I know what pack we’re going to now?”
Hadeon’s eyes glanced around the car before meeting my eyes. “We’re going to visit the Moonstone pack.”
✧ ✧ ✧
Anxiety hit me as I browsed through the books of the public library in the Moonstone pack. I felt like I didn’t belong, maybe because deep down I knew what I had done was wrong. Even if it was to sneak into the pack so my brother and his friends could hang out.
Though as I searched for more books, the more I thought about it, the more it didn’t make sense that my brother would have friends in other packs. We at Nighttide don’t tend to visit other packs unless it’s within our duties to do so, and being wolfless meant that Hadeon had no power of his own to protect himself. Our father wanted him to be strong and independent, but there was no way he would allow him to leave Nighttide alone.
So, how did he have friends outside the pack?
Nothing made sense the more I thought about it. I needed answers from him. I stepped back, lost in my own mind, ready to retreat from the library and find him. My senses were beginning to heighten, slowly but surely, but that meant I could easily tap into enough power to sniff him out and hopefully without getting caught.
I turned to head to the exit, only to bump into another person.
“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going. I’m in a rush.”
The girl rubbed her head and giggled, “Clearly, I couldn’t help but notice how many books you had read in the past hour alone, impressive.” Her head tilted up, the girl’s eyes met mine, and in that instant, I felt like I had butterflies in my stomach.
I got lost in those hazel eyes; they were mostly brown but with a swirl of green when the light hit just right. Her hair was ridiculously long. I questioned whether, if she sat down, she would likely sit on her hair. But it was her eyes that caught my attention the most. I felt like I could look into those eyes all day, and I truly wanted to, but then I realised I had to avoid being noticed, otherwise people would ask questions.
Hesitating, I tittered lightly, “Yeah, I don’t get out much.”
“Strict family?”
“Actually, yeah.”
“Me too, I managed to convince my guard to wait for me outside so I could search for my book in peace.”
My brows rose. “You have a guard? But you’re just a kid.”
She crossed her arms and huffed, “I’ll be 13 in a couple of weeks, actually, and you’re a kid too! Can’t be much older than me.”
“You’re not wrong about that,” I gave her a mildly cheeky grin and then walked towards the exit.
“Wait, I didn’t even get your name,” she called out to me cautiously, likely not wanting to be too loud that the librarian would emerge to tell her off.
Turning back to face her, I enjoyed the last time I would likely ever get to look into those eyes and said, “If we meet again, I’ll tell you.”
As I exited the library, the sun had begun its descent. I caught Hadeon’s scent right away. I followed it down a quiet path. The closer I got to his scent, the louder I began to hear whispers.
“Hadeon?” I spoke out softly, my throat suddenly feeling dry.
“Shh!” someone hissed, forcing the whispers to come to a rapid halt.
I edged towards the sounds faster, but before I could find the group of people, Hadeon emerged from the bushes.
“Brendan? What are you doing here?” He held my shoulders and scanned our surroundings. It appeared he checked behind me even more, as if to make sure I wasn’t followed. “Why aren’t you at the–”
“I was getting this horrible feeling in my gut, like something bad was about to happen,” I interrupted, moving his hands away.
Hadeon frowned, “Nothing bad is going to happen, just go and keep yourself busy for a few more hours.”
Shaking my head, I snapped, “It’s been way longer than you told me already. Why couldn’t your friends meet you outside the pack instead of making me sneak us all in here? And how have I never heard of these friends before? And why were the ones in the car behaving so off?”
My brother blinked, wide-eyed and just stared at me, utterly surprised.
“I started feeling guilty that we snuck in here, and it got me thinking about how it didn’t make sense for you to have friends within this pack, you’ve never left Nighttide before–”
“Brendan, slow down.”
“–and even if you did want to explore a new pack, Dad is a Beta wolf; he could easily have spoken to the Alpha and gotten us in without all the sneaking.” I groaned, “I couldn’t even enjoy the conversation with that really pretty girl…”
Hadeon shoved my shoulder and exclaimed, “What?! I told you to keep a low profile, don’t talk to anyone under any circumstances.”
I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, but don’t you think it would’ve been weirder if I completely ignored her? I kept the conversation short, so relax.”
Pushing me away from where his friends were hanging out, Hadeon snarled, “Don’t give me this shit, you said you’d do this for me, why are you backing out now?”
“Because you’re acting weird! What’s going on?”
“Just shut the fuck up and don’t do anything stupid, you’ll mess this whole thing up.”
My heart sank to my stomach. “What do you mean by that?”
Hadeon’s eyes flickered wide again.
“What do you mean by that, Hadeon?”
“Nothing, relax.” He sighed, “Look, I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t know how you’d react. We’re just pulling a harmless little prank on someone, just a little scare.”
I stayed silent for a beat. “A… prank?”
A nod. “Just a prank, I promise you, that’s it.”
“But why?”
My brother looked behind himself to make sure his friends weren’t eavesdropping, turned back to me and whispered, “There was a wolf in this pack who was incredibly disrespectful towards Nighttide, calling us freaks and loners because we stay tight within our borders. I just want to teach him a little lesson.”
Chewing my lip, I felt uneasy. “What’s the prank?”
“The less you know, the better.”
“Hadeon, that doesn’t make me feel any more confident about this.”
“Look,” he took hold of my shoulders and squeezed tightly, “have I ever steered you wrong?”
“No”
“And haven’t I always taken care of you?”
I swallowed, “Yeah…?”
He placed his arm around my shoulders and held me close. “Then you can trust me now, right?”
I thought about it for a short moment and nodded. “Of course I trust you, you’re my brother.”
“Great,” he smiled, “then all you need to do is stay here, and I’ll come back for you once it’s all over. Alright?”
“…Okay.”