The two teenagers clambered down the staircase of Beth’s house, the enticing smell of the pancakes drawing them closer to the kitchen. Lauren laughed as she got to the door of the kitchen first and Aidan pulled her back by the collar of her shirt.
“Good morning! Where are the pancakes?” He announced as he got to the kitchen, Lauren walking in behind him.
Lia was sitting at the kitchen table, her feet propped up on the tabletop. She was reclining lazily on the chair, its front legs up in the air. She silently waved an empty platter in Aidan’s face. “It’s all gone.” The girl said, smacking her lips.
The smile on Aidan’s face faded into a scowl as he came to the table and sat as far away from Lia as physically possible. “I knew you’d do this. I never liked you anyway.” He muttered under his breath, but Lia’s quick wolf ears had picked it.
“I never liked you either.” She replied, loud enough for him to hear.
Lauren could feel the tension, as tightly woven as an intricate mat, between her two friends. She knew that Lia hadn’t completely forgiven Aidan for what he did to her almost a month ago. She was probably the only one in their group still holding it over his head too. Lia was the only person that Aidan had physically attacked in the group, and Lauren knew that her female wolf friend was still smarting from that.
The other occupants of the table were Beth, who was swallowing the last of the pancakes, and Katherine, with a cup of steaming coffee in her hands.
Lauren looked around the table, noticing that the men were missing. “Where’s Mike and Axel?” She asked.
“Oh, they stepped out some minutes ago.” Beth said. “They sbould be back soon.”
“Well, some people seem to be in very good moods today.” Katherine commented as they both reached the table. “What’s the cause, people?”
“It’s a beautiful day, ma’am.” Aidan replied, the old charm and knowing smirk back. “Several weeks to the next full moon. It’s peak season for all wolves. We won’t be Turning involuntarily in a while. And-”
“Are you sure that’s the real reason behind your happiness?” Lia cut him off. Her eyes weren’t on him, even though her words were directed at him. She was looking at Lauren as she spoke, as though Aidan was not worthy of her gaze. “Because I vividly recall you sleeping in the living room with the other men. How come you went to bed in the living room and woke up upstairs?”
Lauren took her seat beside her mother and took a piece of toast on the table. “Lia, drop it.” She said and bit into the warm toast.
Lia shrugged and looked away. “Just saying, Lauren.”
“True though.” Beth cut into the conversation. “Didn’t you find the sleeping bag comfortable?”
Aidam looked at Lauren as though begging for help and a fleeting desperate look passed on his face. “I wasn’t able to sleep much. I mean, I slept in the sleeping bag, but then-”
“-He slept in my room.” Lauren finished before Aidan could tell any lie. She saw his face darken as she said that, but her eyes were on Beth and Katherine determinedly. “We noticed something last night.”
“While you were busy shagging the traitor?” Lia muttered under her breath. Lauren turned to her friend with a stern look, then turned back to Beth and Katherine.
“We noticed something last night.” She started again. “Anytime either of us is feeling the effect of this,” she raised her hand and waved the bracelet “It helps to stay in close proximity to each other. Aidan was feeling especially weakened by the chip on his neck last night, but when he slept by me, he felt much better this morning.”
Beth and Katherine looked at Aidan for confirmation, but all he could mutter was a nonchalant “Yeah.” His eyes were still on Lia.
“But we saw what happened yesterday too.” Katherine noted. “How you almost attacked this same Aidan when the both of you were in the same room because of… that.” She gestured to the bracelet.
“I think the bracelet is able to pick up really big emotions.” Lauren answered. She wasn’t sure where the answers were coming from: she just seemed to know them. “Yesterday when I attacked Aidan, I was really wracked with worry for Eric. Worry and guilt. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had somehow caused everything. I guess that really did trigger the bracelet and Aidan’s chip, somehow. And I couldn’t control the emotions much.”
“So!” Lia said “A bracelet that’s able to feel emotions and a boy who can’t sleep in his own bed because he’s scared of a chip in his neck.”
“I’m not a little boy.” Aidan retorted, waving toast in her direction. “I’m seventeen.”
Lauren turned to her friend suddenly, anger flaring in her chest. “Lia, what’s wrong with you today?”
“What’s wrong with me is how you’re still able to accept this boy with open arms, seeing what he has done to all of us in the past.” Lia snapped suddenly. She stood up and her chair fell to the ground with a clatter. “He was in cahoots with the enemy for God knows how long before he even met Lauren. He organised her whole kidnap and somehow managed to kill his own father, our alpha! So many wolves in our pack died because of him, and all of us are going to turn a blind eye to that?”
The whole kitchen went silent after that. Lia was breathing heavily now, her eyes on anywhere but Aidan’s face. She was gripping her shoulder tightly with one hand: Lauren knew that was where she had been shot by one of her father’s guards weeks ago.
Aidan stood up slowly from his own chair. There was a defeated air around him: his eyes were darting every which way, as though he didn’t have much courage to look anyone in the eye. Lauren watched as the muscles in his jaw clenched.
“I don’t think anything I say at this point would mean anything to you, Lia.” He said finally, still not meeting her eyes. “No amount of apologies would suddenly make everything right. I made a terrible mistake joining Dr Makovsky’s cause. I was lost, and I needed some purpose to my life. I so hated my father and the hand I had been dealt by him. I was stupid and blinded and seeking for something I could never get back. I can never be a full human again. I realised that a bit too late. No matter how much I wish it, things would never go back to being the same. Not with the people I think I can finally trust being so hostile.” He finished.
“Aidan-” Lauren started but he cut her off with a wave of his hand. His eyes were dry, though Lauren knew he was weeping inside. “I’ll go and find Mike and Axel.” He muttered, then moved towards the kitchen door and walked outside, leaving the occupants of the room in a stunned silence.