‘I’m nervous about this morning,’ Brody muttered as he slipped a shirt over his head. Nate noticed the way that the dark fabric made his eyes look even greener in contrast.

Nate was sitting on the bed and he grabbed playfully at Brody’s hands and pulled him on top of him. Brody laughed, looking down at Nate. Nate smiled up at him, feeling warm and comfortable with this much of Brody pressed against him. His arms wrapped around Brody’s back, keeping him close.

‘You will be fine,’ Nate told him sincerely. ‘I will make sure I’m your partner and I will teach you everything you need to know.’

Brody nodded and leant down, pressing his lips to Nate’s.

The two of them had fallen asleep on Nate’s bed the night before, emotionally drained and comfortable just being in each other’s arms. Nate had a shower in his bathroom and he had been waiting on Brody’s bed for the last ten minutes until his mate had emerged from the shower in nothing but boxers.

He was fully dressed now, but Brody’s wet hair was the only evidence of his shower. Warm droplets fell from his hair onto Nate’s forehead, sliding down off his face.

Nate kissed back with fever, moving one of his hands so that it was placed on the back of Brody’s neck. They kissed passionately until Brody pulled back, ‘What if I’m terrible at it?’

Nate rolled his eyes with a small laugh, ‘Brody, stop stressing so much. It’s just wolf combat.’

‘I’ve never fought in my wolf form in my entire life.’ Brody told him, rolling off of his mate and onto the bed with a bounce.

Nate linked his hand with Brody’s, ‘You picked up the combat training faster than anyone thought you would, and I have no doubt it will be the same with this.’   

‘Really?’ Brody asked with those big emerald eyes.

‘Really.’ Nate told him just as his stomach rumbled. ‘I am starving, can we have breakfast now?’

‘Of course.’

‘Wait,’ Nate said. ‘Make sure that you take out your eyebrow piercing, otherwise it will probably get lost in the woods.’

Brody nodded, quickly taking it out and placing it on the bedside table.

They got up off the bed and instantly linked hands, walking over to the door. It was only when they had just opened the door did they realise that they couldn’t walk like that all the way over to the cafeteria. Nate closed the door again and Brody looked at him with a curious expression.

‘You aren’t hungry anymore?’ Brody asked sceptically.

Nate savoured the feeling for just a moment longer before letting go of Brody’s hand. ‘We almost exposed us to the world.’ He told Brody, referencing their linked hands.

‘Oh, I didn’t even realise,’ Brody told him.

‘I wish that we could hold hands in public,’ Nate muttered, not hiding the longing in his tone.

Brody gave his mate a sad smile, ‘Once everything sorted with your father then we can, but until then it’s better if no one knows. This is unprecedented, who knows what would happen if everyone found out.’

‘They may be more understanding than you think.’ Nate told him, always seeing the best in people.

Brody shook his head slightly and Nate’s hopes dropped, ‘I won’t risk it.’  

Nate responded by kissing Brody’s lips chastely. He knew that it wasn’t personal, and he respected Brody’s choice.

Brody smiled up at him when Nate pulled away. Nate turned and opened the door again, this time the left the room with space between them, and Nate felt like the distance between them was miles even though it was only a few feet.

Only a few minutes later they had found their way to the cafeteria. Nate walked over towards the food line, turning when he noticed that Brody hadn’t followed him.

Nate looked back at Brody and saw that he was standing near the doorway, an unreadable expression on his face. Nate followed his eye line, and realised that Brody had been looking at the table in the back, the one which seated Lucy, Kayden, Tye and Jace. The four of them were just eating and talking, nothing to draw Brody’s attention like it had.

‘Brody?’ Nate called out.

Brody’s gaze snapped back to Nate, and he hurried over to join him in the line.

Nate wondered if Brody was still uncomfortable around Tye and Jace. He wouldn’t blame him if he was. Tye and Jace had been unbelievably cruel to Brody, but Nate believed them when they had apologised. Brody had seemed fine the day before when Nate and he had talked, and yet Nate wondered if Brody was only faking it. Maybe Tye and Jace did still scare Brody, maybe he didn’t believe their apology.

Nate turned to Brody as they moved up in the food line, ‘We can sit by ourselves, if you want?’

Brody shook his head and Nate wondered if the refusal was only for his own benefit, not what Brody really wanted.

Nate levelled his voice, making sure that Brody knew that he was being serious. ‘Brody, we don’t have to sit with Tye and Jace. If they still make you uncomfortable, then we don’t have to spend any time with them.’ Nate told his mate honestly. He believed the boy’s apologises, but that didn’t change the fact that Mate’s come first, and if they made Brody uncomfortable, then there was no room for them in his life.

‘Nate, they apologised. I’m fine with sitting with them,’ Brody told his mate, but Nate could almost sense the lie in his words. He didn’t call his mate out on it though, knowing that Brody wouldn’t react well to that.

‘Okay.’

They got their food, and carried their trays over to the table. Everyone was all smiles when they sat down, and Nate breathed out a sigh of relief. There was no awkwardness, that he could feel at least, and when he took a glance at Brody, he didn’t think that he looked uncomfortable.

‘Are you two excited for wolf combat today?’ Lucy asked with a smile.

Nate smiled, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be so good to turn after all this time.’ At home, Nate was able to turn into his wolf at any time, and so this schedule of being able to turn was quite frustrating.

‘What about you Brody?’ Tye asked, and although Nate couldn’t sense any taunting in Tye’s tone, he noticed instantly the way that Brody stiffened up beside him.

‘I guess,’ Brody shrugged, quite uninterestedly. Nate knew that it was just an act, that Brody was more nervous that he could say. He had thought that he had calmed down Brody’s nerves before, but apparently not.

Lucy tilted her head slightly, but Nate jumped in before she could say anything. ‘He’s just a little nervous, but it will all be fine,’ Nate told Lucy, but the words were more directed at his mate.

Nate nudged Brody’s thigh with his own affectionately under the table. ‘First lesson will be the worst, but he will do great.’

Brody gave Nate a small smile. Nate smiled back, careful not to let his eyes linger at his mate, and turned his gaze down to his breakfast, which he realised he better eat quickly, as their class was sure to start soon.

‘Be careful out there, not all play fair in wolf combat when the instructors aren’t looking,’ Kayden commented. Brody wasn’t sure what to think of Kayden, the boy had mostly been indifferent towards him. Brody knew that Nate would play fair, so he didn’t worry too much about Kayden’s words.

‘God, I hope I’m paired with one of you two,’ Lucy commented mischievously as she glanced at Tye and Jace.

‘And why is that?’ Jace asked. ‘So that we can kick your butt?’

Lucy smirked, ‘More like so I can show everyone that a girl can kick your ass.’

Tye laughed at that, ‘You can try sweetheart.’

Lucy nudged Tye in the ribs, before turning her attention to Brody. ‘What time is your class? Please tell me you were assigned to 1pm with us!’

‘We are at nine,’ Brody told her in-between bites.

‘Oh,’ Lucy sighed.

‘I’m with you guys,’ Kayden commented, looking mostly at Nate. Brody wondered whether Kayden did like him or not, the guy seemed to be quite hard to read.

‘Awesome!’ Nate smiled, but Brody didn’t feel quite the same way, not happy that there was one more person he knew that would watch him fail at wolf combat.  ‘We should go,’ Nate told Brody. ‘We don’t want to be late.’

Brody nodded and stood up with his tray in his hands. Nate followed his lead, saying goodbye to everyone before walking towards the nearest bin. He had just dropped his tray on the top of the bin when he noticed that Brody wasn’t behind him.

Nate glanced back at the table, where he saw that Lucy and Brody were standing a few feet away from the table, Lucy whispering something into Brody’s ear. Nate tilted his head, watching in somewhat confusion as Brody seemed to force a smile at her and continue to walk towards the bin. Brody practically threw his tray on top the bin, but instead of walking towards Nate, he just walked around him, heading for the door.

Nate hurried off after his mate, following him outside onto one of the cement pathways. It was pretty busy outside, people coming and going from breakfast, some on their way to their first class of the day, others just sitting in groups along the edges of the gardens.

Nate wasn’t focusing on any of this though. ‘Brody?’ Nate questioned, but his mate didn’t even spare him a glance, keeping up his pace down the pathway.

Nate practically ran to cross the short distance between them both, stopping when he got in front of his mate. ‘What’s wrong?’ Nate asked, blocking his direct path.

‘How many people did you tell?’ Brody asked, and the look plastered on his face looked like a mix of annoyance and betrayal.

Nate realised then what Lucy had inadvertently done. ‘What did Lucy say?’

‘She is happy that I came around, and she’s proud of me,’ Brody told Nate, his tone saying that he didn’t exactly appreciate Lucy’s kind words. ‘Who else did you tell?’

‘No one, Brody, I swear.’

Brody looked around at the people around him before speaking in a hushed tone, ‘Nate, we have to tell your dad before anything. He is the only option that we have. It’s not safe for us to be telling people.’

‘I know that,’ Nate told him sincerely. ‘She isn’t telling anyone, and neither will I.’

Brody looked down for a second, before bringing those bright green eyes up to meet Nate’s. ‘If Hunter was here, I would have told him the second that I knew.’

‘You don’t hate me then?’ Nate asked, ninety-nine percent joking.

‘Of course not,’ Brody laughed. ‘Come on, time to teach me how to fight like a Alpha wolf.’

Nate wished that he could kiss Brody in that moment. He knew how much Brody would suffer if his pack title was taken away from him because of a panic, and yet Brody had forgiven him in less than a minute.

‘Are you coming?’ Brody asked impatiently, causing Nate to realise that he wasn’t following after his mate.

‘Yep,’ Nate smiled, jogging for a moment to make up the distance between he and his mate. They walked side by side though the glass doors which lead to the gym. Just as they passed the threshold, Nate hoped that he was right when he had told Brody that they would be able to be partners in wolf training. These things could get dirty, he knew that first hand. There were limited ways to get frustration out in a place like this, and muscly teenaged boys weren’t exactly known for their restraint. He could only hope that Brody’s lesson would be as simple as he had told his mate it would be.

They walked in just as the others were walking in, and they stood near the wall which their instructor was standing next to. Kayden waltzed in then, walking over to the back of the group. Kayden smiled at Nate, and his friend smiled back.

Nate noticed that the instructor was the same one which he and Brody had for combat class. The man stood tall and confident, his gaze flickering amongst the people in his class.

‘Go stretch over there,’ the instructor demanded of the group, pointing to the spare space in the centre of the gym floor. Nate and Brody were moments away from moving towards the free space when the instructor came over to them. Nate and Brody paused in their movements.

‘Keep moving Nate,’ the instructor demanded, and Nate hesitantly followed his instruction. Nate sent Brody a confused glance, his mate mirroring his wary look.