I couldn't remember the last time I had a conversation with Judas that wasn't shrouded in awkwardness. It wasn't his fault, though. Our parents were never close, so we weren't as a result. A lot of my friends around the pack thought I hated Judas, but it was nothing like that. He was more like a background character in my life, if anything; someone I knew of, but never truly knew.

That's why it was awkward getting up the next morning and seeing him in Reed's house. Especially after the whole tackling situation yesterday.

I didn't make myself known immediately. I lingered back and watched the way both Reed and Judas' eyes seemed to light up and how they smiled at one another. A twinge of jealousy formed inside of me.

"You want to be friends with Judas?" I could remember Mom asking, followed by an incredulous scoff as if the desire was utterly ridiculous. It was a small comment, but it stuck with me. As a kid, I'd internalized it, thinking maybe there was something inherently wrong with Judas that my parents knew about but I didn't.

But standing there now, watching the genuine warmth between Reed and Judas, I felt conflicted. That sense of jealousy was irrational, I knew it, but I couldn't help the feeling of being on the outside looking in.

Finally, I decided to make my presence known. I cleared my throat and stepped into the kitchen. "Morning," I said, trying to sound casual.

Both Reed and Judas turned to look at me, and for a moment, whereas Reed's eyes seemed to shine brighter with excitement, Judas' dimmed with uncertainty. "Morning," they replied in unison.

Reed gave me a quick nod. "Coffee?"

"Yeah, thanks," I replied, moving to sit at the kitchen table. Judas was already seated, and for a second, our eyes met.

It was strange seeing how the shy kid from my childhood grew into a strong leader. I'd heard stories of Judas over the years, but it was different seeing him in person. The once lanky teen's body was replaced with lean, but muscular build which I was sure had to be the result of years of training with Uncle Jordan.

He also appeared much more confident than he used to be. When we were younger, Judas always seemed to be afraid of shifting since his wolf was "difficult to control" as Aunt Lydia put it. Judging by his actions yesterday, that wasn't a problem anymore, but there still seemed to be a hint of wildness in his eyes.

"How have you been?" Judas asked, watching me with an expression I couldn't quite pinpoint. "Is Oakland treating you well?"

"Oakwood," I corrected. "And I've been fine. The town treats me well."

"I still don't know why out of all the places you could've gone, you went there. You could've gone to a big city or a town with a larger werewolf population—"

"I didn't want to go somewhere like that," I cut Reed off. "I wanted to go somewhere that was quiet and not so crowded. It also helped that Oakwood was close to you."

"I would've thought you'd wanted the opposite," Judas said. "Just from how you were before you left. I remember hearing you were quite popular."

I shrugged. That wasn't far from the truth. I did have a lot of friends before I left my pack, but none like Callie or Eli who I felt like I could trust completely. Being in the pack meant that everything I said or did eventually made its way back to my parents or uncle and aunt. Going to a town that had a huge number of werewolves would basically be the same thing just with a different environment.

"I decided city life wasn't for me," I explained. "What about you? How's things been in the pack."

Judas' grey eyes slid to Reed briefly before landing back on me. "There's never a dull moment, that's for sure. We've been considering expanding soon, but it's just talk right now."

"Expanding?" I repeated, making sure I heard him right.

Reed nodded. "Yeah. With the pack growing, it's been talk for a while now, but with new land opening up, we've been thinking that it might be time to move now and claim it while we have the chance. Do you remember that clearing you and I visited the week before you left?"

"No," I said because I honestly didn't.

Reed shook his head and stood. "Hold on, I have pictures."

He took off before I could say otherwise, leaving Judas and me in an awkward silence. I glanced over at the twenty-one-year-old whose eyes kept shifting to me.

"Did you get my message?" He questioned, reminding me I never replied to it.

"I did," I confirmed. "I just don't understand why you sent it. You and I have nothing to talk about."

"It's not really about us, it's about Reed."

I raised an eyebrow at this. "What about Reed?"

"I'd prefer to speak in private."

"Why—"

Judas raised a hand as if to tell me to stop talking just as Reed reemerged with photos of the clearing he mentioned. He began to talk about it, but my attention was no longer on him. I focused on the grey-eyed alpha sitting across from me instead.

Just what did he have to tell me?

...

Judas left after two more long hours of talking about nonsense, much to my relief. Or so I thought it was until a knock on the door came twenty minutes later. I pulled it open, halfway expecting it to be Judas coming back to say he forgot something, but it wasn't.

"Cronan!" Eli's bright voice called out before he dropped the bag he'd been holding and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Hey, Eli." I returned the hug.

Willa stepped into the house moments later and glanced around for a minute before spotting Reed. Her face seemed to light up and not a second later, she took off for him.

"Hi, Reed!" She exclaimed, her voice much clearer than the last time I saw her.

"Hey, Willa," Reed greeted just as the young girl wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. "I missed you."

I watched the two of them for a minute. I knew Reed had been keeping in contact with Willa and Eli after finding out they were siblings, but I hadn't realized how close they'd become in such a short amount of time. It made me happy in a way. Though he never said it to Mom and Dad, I knew Reed always wanted more siblings growing up. We had each other which was nice of course, but with the different schedules we had, it wasn't always easy to spend time together. Seeing him get what he wanted even if it was years overdue made me a little happier.

"Do you remember Cronan, Willa? He was there when Reed and I first met you."

Willa's dark eyes focused on me and she smiled shyly. "Hi, Cronan."

"Hi, Willa. I'm glad I get to see you again. You look like you're doing well."

Willa didn't respond, not that she had the chance to. Seconds later, an irritatingly familiar scent entered my nose.

"Thanks for helping with the bags, Eli," I heard Reuben's sarcastic voice say.

"I did help."

"Grabbing one measly bag is not helping."

A sheepish smile broke out on Eli's face as he moved toward his mate and took a few items from his hands. "Sorry, I was excited."

"I could tell," Reuben told him.

"It's good to see you again, Reuben!" Reed exclaimed.

Reuben smiled at that—something I didn't know he was capable of doing for anyone besides his family, Eli, Willa, and on the rare occasion Arlo. "You too, Reed." His eyes shifted my way. "Cronan."

"Reuben."

"Will you two ever get along?" Eli huffed. "Am I really going to have to spend my whole life with you two hating each other?"

"I don't hate him. I just...moderately dislike him," Reuben shrugged.

Eli shot him a look. "Well, learn to tolerate him."

"I do tolerate him. For you."

The two mates shared a look and a smile formed on Eli's face as they seemed to forget the rest of us were there.

Is that what I was like with Fen?

Fen. Mentioning the dark-featured man made a swarm of emotions appear. I hadn't talked to him since we left and it wasn't like I could call him. Did Fen even have a phone? Probably not, which meant I wouldn't hear from him until I returned. Knowing that bothered me more than it initially did now that I was away from him.

"Cro, are you okay?"

I blinked and focused back on Eli and the others who were looking at me questioningly.

"I'm fine," I assured, but a new problem had taken root inside of me: Eli.

I wasn't sure how Eli was going to take me living with Fen. Well, I had an idea of how he would, but it wasn't one I liked much. The last thing I wanted was Fen's presence to make Eli feel uncomfortable, but that felt unavoidable to done extent. It didn't help that I'd slept with the man twice.

That wasn't a conversation I was looking forward to ever having.

Reed and I helped Eli, Reuben, and Willa put their bags away before another knock on the door echoed through the house and I shot Reed a look as I moved to open it.

"Just how many people did you invite over—"

The words died on my lips when I pulled open the door and saw both Mom and Dad staring back at me. There was a brief silence before Dad's lips parted, revealing he was about to speak. I didn't want to hear it though. So, I did the first thing that came to mind: I closed the door in their face.

I turned around whilst a million-and-one questions raced through my mind, but they all came to a sudden halt when I saw the expression on my brother's face.

He knew they were coming.