Nate wasn’t in the waiting room when Brody left the office, and he wasn’t in the hallway either. The hallway was empty, most of the students must have been in class anyway. Brody wasn’t sure what to do now. He needed to figure out why those two had started that fight, he knew that, but he also knew that he had no idea where to start.

He could push one of them up against a wall and make one of them tell him, but there were problems with that plan, 1, he had no idea what they looked like in their human forms, and 2, he wasn’t a big guy, and the odds of being beaten up himself were pretty colossal. He already had a broken arm, and he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the prospect of the other one breaking too. Or his nose. Or eye socket. Or leg. Yeah, that plan was screwed.

Brody left the building and stepped into the cool breeze of outside. The gardens were mostly vacant, and Brody felt a twinge of disappointment. He wished that Nate would have waited for him, it wasn’t like he could stay mad at his mate for too long. He just wanted to hug Nate and tell him about the horror story his meeting had become. Nate was his safe place, big, warm arms that would hold him as he breathed in Nate’s signature scent and all would be right in the world for just a tinge of a second.

However Nate’s arms, and well, the rest of him, were somewhere unknown, and the feeling of loneliness pooled at the pit of his stomach. That wasn’t the only uncomfortable thing. Brody’s arm was hurting, and so he walked over to the water fountain and took a gulp of water, swallowing down a couple of those pain pills from before. He turned away from the water fountain and realised that someone was standing behind him. He looked up to see that it was Kayden.

‘Hey, can I talk to you?’ Kayden asked.

‘Yeah sure,’ Brody responded. He wasn’t sure what Kayden would want to talk to him about, but he didn’t see the harm in allowing the boy to speak since Kayden had never really don’t anything bad by him.

‘Did you see what happened with the fight today?’ Kayden asked, a question that confused Brody slightly, why was Kayden asking this?

‘Yeah, I saw Bruce and Mitchel starting it.’ Brody confirmed, figuring that jumping to the chase was the best approach.

Kayden let out a breath, ‘Finally. Everyone that I have talked to says that they didn’t see who started it. Apparently Bruce and Mitchel told Mr. Wood that I started it! I saw them moving out of their space but I thought that they were just moving around as they fought, but then I basically blinked and everyone was growling at each other and fighting.’

‘Did they tell him it was you?’ Brody asked, confused as to why they would have done that. Why would they have blamed Kayden? Were they trying to get Kayden in trouble?

Kayden nodded, ‘Yeah. I had to talk Mr. Woods down from calling my family. He eventually gave up on calling them, saying something about it looking bad on the camps reputation anyway.’

‘Do you have a bad history with them or something?’ Brody asked.

Kayden looked frustrated, ‘I literally have never spoken to them! That’s why this is so confusing to me. What would they gain from getting me in trouble?’

Brody could almost sense some sort of underlying conspiracy going on that he didn’t know about. ‘I am going to figure this out. They shouldn’t just get away with this.’

‘Well, now that I have you to back me up, we can go tell Mr. Woods and he can call their parents,’ Kayden suggested, but Brody knew that wouldn’t work.

‘I already tried, but he doesn’t care. We are going to have to sort this out on our own.’

Kayden nodded, ‘Alright, well I’ll talk to some of their friends and see if there is any reason that they don’t like me,’ he suggested, visually quite disappointed in the turn of events. Brody assumed that Kayden would much rather just kick those two out of the camp right away.

Brody nodded, ‘I’ll talk to Nate and Lucy, maybe they might know something, but let’s keep Nate out of this as much as we can, I don’t want him to know that we are doing this.’

Kayden seemed surprised, ‘If I told him that they were framing me, then I’m sure that he would want to help? Wouldn’t he?’

Brody shrugged, ‘I tried telling him what I saw and he didn’t really care. I think he would be better left out of this.’

‘Okay.’ Kayden nodded. ‘Oh, and Brody?’

Brody had turned to leave, but froze in his movements, ‘Yeah?’

‘Thank-you for helping me on this.’

The way that Kayden said it made Brody think that the larger guy didn’t say thank-you very often, and Brody smiled back, ‘No problem.’

Brody made his way back to the accommodation building, stepping into the elevator. He looked at the buttons on the inside of the wall and wondered which floor he really wanted to go to. He could go back to his room, study some more, or he could go to Nate’s room.

He knew that he had books to read and combat moves to learn. He knew that he had a pile of books lying next to his bed that had almost become a piece of furniture itself, it had become so profound, and yet the idea of sitting quietly in his room felt bad, not just boring bad, but tearing at his heart bad, a kind of quiet pain that would gnaw on the edge of his mind like the tide slowly coming in over the sand, until it was all that he could think about. His fight with Nate was the reason for the feeling, and the anger he had felt towards his mate only twenty minutes before seemed to have faded away, replaced by guilt. Nate’s attitude had hurt him, his own mate had acted like it was no big deal, but then Brody remembered the look on Nate’s face when that door opened, like his entire world had been destroyed and rebuilt again, like he could breathe for the first time in months, and Brody wanted nothing more to be in Nate’s arms. 

His finger pressed the button to Nate’s floor then, without hesitation. Just as the doors started closing, a hand shot out between the silver doors, causing them to retract back into the walls. Lucy stepped into the elevator with a smile which quickly turned into a frown.

‘Brody!’ she exclaimed. ‘What happened to your arm?’

Brody shrugged, ‘Wolf combat war wound, I guess.’ It was sort of a lie, but he really didn’t feel like explaining the whole situation in an elevator.

‘Oh, well, I hope it heals quickly!’ Lucy’s cheer left her in an instant. ‘I’m going to kill that mate of yours for not protecting you!’ she suddenly threatened.

Brody rolled his eyes, ‘It wasn’t his fault. Really.’ Really.

Lucy shook her head as she clicked the button to close the door, and the doors slowly slid closed as she spoke, ‘Protecting you is the only thing that he has to do. One job.’ She stepped up to him, gently caressing his arm with her hand, ‘I don’t like seeing you hurt,’ she almost whispered, as the idea of him hurt herself so much that the words resisted leaving her lips.

Brody smiled at how loved he felt by Lucy. Nate may have been Lucy’s friend first, but Brody felt a bond with this girl. He adored how fiercely she loved.

‘I’ll be fine,’ he assured her before changing the subject. ‘Do you know some Alplah’s our age named Bruce and Mitchel?’ he asked.

Lucy tilted her head, ‘Uh, I’ve met Bruce a couple of times, he’s a friend of Tye’s. I don’t know a Mitchel though.’

‘Oh,’ Brody muttered. So, this Bruce guy was a friend of Tye’s. Well, anything involving Tye was automatically bad news, he made a mental note to tell Kayden of this newfound information when he next saw him.

‘Why are you asking?’ Lucy enquired.

‘No reason,’ Brody shrugged. ‘Where are you going?’ he asked, changing the subject yet again.

‘I’m grabbing Jace and Tye from Jace’s room. We have our wolf combat in ten minutes and I knew that they would be late, so I figured that I would get them.’

‘Good idea,’ Brody commented as the elevator doors opened, even though the mere mention of those two guys made his stomach churn. He felt their hatred towards him with every look they sent him, with every remark they made, with the way that their eyes seemed to follow him in a way that looked way to much like a lion stalking its prey for his liking. He shook it off, they were Nate’s friends, they were Lucy’s friends. He could deal with it, even if only for those two.

As he stepped out of the elevator without looking up, almost bumping into someone. Brody pulled himself out of his mind and looked up at the person who he had almost toppled over in his absentmindedness.

‘I’m sorry,’ Brody apologised, his eyes meeting the other persons. Brody had never seen this boy before. He was taller than Brody by a mile, thick shoulders and shortly cropped hair, yet he had a baby face, fine lines and plump skin. He was smiling at Brody apologetically.

‘No, it was my fault,’ the boy shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t text while I walk,’ he joked, nodding towards the phone held in his hand.

Lucy walked past them, stepping around the boy who was now walking into the elevator.

‘Are you coming Brody?’ Lucy asked, motioning for him to leave the threshold of the elevator.

Brody followed her lead and walked past the boy.

‘Wait,’ the guy said, just as the elevator doors were closing behind him. ‘You’re Brody?’ he asked in something that resembed disbelief.

‘Yeah?’ Brody said in confusion, half of his body turned towards the hallway and his face turned back at the stranger. Brody was going to say something, but the silver doors closed before he could ask the boy why he was so surprised that Brody was, in fact, Brody.

‘That was weird,’ Lucy commented, shrugging. ‘Anyway, see you later!’

‘Bye,’ Brody said half-heartedly.

This is a weird day, he thought to himself.  

Lucy walked down towards the end of the hallway, her fiery red ponytail swaying behind her with every step along the carpeted floors. Brody crossed the short distance between himself and Nate’s door, knocking against the wood.

The door was swung open after only a few seconds. Nate smiled apologetically at his mate, ushering for Brody to enter into the room.

Nate wrapped Brody in a careful hug the moment that the door closed, and Brody buried his face into Nate’s shirt. Nate smelt like he always did, that perfect mixture of musk and flowers which just made Brody want to bury his face into his mate’s chest for hours on end.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Nate apologised, pulling back. ‘You must hate me. I was so stupid, I should have just supported and believed you, and I didn’t and-‘

Brody smashed his lips against his mate’s, taking his uninjured hand and wrapping it around his mate’s waist to pull him close. Nate melted against him. Brody smiled into the kiss, finally feeling that warm and content feeling that seemed to overcome his body every time that they were this close.  

Brody was the one to pull away this time.

Nate looked back at him with a tortured expression, ‘I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you. I never intended to sound like I didn’t care about you, that I wouldn’t stand up for you.’

Brody shook his head, remembering back to when Nate took the fall for him with the window incident, back before they had even known what they were to each other, and Brody knew that in his heart he knew without a doubt that Nate would do anything to defend him.  ‘You would pummel over cities if something happened to me, and I know that.’

Nate leant forwards and placed a soft kiss on his mate’s forehead, ‘I would do anything for you.’ The kiss seemed to linger on Brody’s skin, a warm feeling that made Brody’s heart feel extra warm for a moment. There was something intimate about the way that Nate had kissed him, something sweet and pure, and it made Brody feel like the most special person in the world.

Brody wrapped his free arm around Nate’s waist, ‘I know.’ He soothed his mate. When Nate seemed to have pulled himself together, Brody asked; ‘How was your meeting?’

‘Alright,’ Nate replied. ‘Mr. Woods didn’t even ask me anything, he basically just said that it was an unfortunate event and that I shouldn’t mention it to my father. He wouldn’t even let me talk, and then he basically pushed me out of his office. How did yours go? Did you tell him what you saw?’

Brody had two options. He could tell Nate the truth, explain how Mr. Woods was more concerned with his reputation than anything else, but he imagined the stress that would put on his mate. Nate would get upset, demand to speak to Mr. Woods, and maybe even involve his father, which would make Nate stress even more, or Brody he could lie.

Brody chose the latter, ‘I just said I didn’t see what happened.’ It was sort of the truth, at least, did that count for something?

‘Why?’ Nate asked with a confused expression.

Brody shrugged, ‘It was probably just a mistake, no use making a deal about it.’

Nate looked unconvinced, ‘You were so sure before, do you want to go back and tell Mr. Woods what happened? I am on your side, if you want to pursue this, I’m with you.’

‘It’s done now.’ Brody told him. ‘Anyway, I don’t want to talk about that anymore.’

Brody let his head fall against Nate’s chest, closing his eyes. The pain pills were apparently the kind which made you drowsy, as Brody felt a tiredness wash over his body, the urge to wrap up in a warm blanket and have a nap overcoming him. Well, a warm blanket or the arms of his mate, and I think we all know which one he would prefer.

‘You look tired,’ Nate commented accurately.

‘I’m wide awake,’ Brody lied, muttering the words sleepily against his chest. Brody’s eyes shot open and a slightly unmanly scream left his mouth as he was suddenly lifted up by strong arms off of the ground. ‘What are you doing?’ Brody laughed out.

‘Shh.. It’s nap time,’ Nate smiled, gently lowering his mate onto his bed.

Brody felt the sheets come up to meet him and soon he was snugly pressed against the bed. Nate gently climbed over him so that he could lie down on the bed next to him. Nate opened his arms up, Brody rolling gently into them so that they were pressed together.

‘You can sleep now,’ Nate murmured into Brody’s hair.  

Brody moved his legs and arms so that he was touching as much of his mate as he could, slight annoyance overcoming him as he rested his head against Nate’s chest. The fabric of Nate’s shirt was like an evil barrier, keeping Brody at a millimetres distance from what he wanted.

Brody moved his face around Nate’s chest sleepily, and Nate seemed to get the hint, pulling away from Brody to take off his shirt then coming to lay back down.

‘Better?’ Nate asked with a hint of a smirk on his lips.

‘Much better,’ Brody murmured into the warm skin of Nate’s chest. He could feel every dip and rise of Nate’s toned chest. He could feel the way that the skin moved with every inhale and exhale as the sound of his mate’s heart beat lulling him to unconsciousness.

Brody felt sleep wash over him, and his body felt like it was already in a dream before he was even in one, the warm, safe feeling settling over his body like a snug blanket, and the unmistakeable feeling of home swirling around his chest. He wondered in that last second of consciousness whether actually going home would feel half as good as it felt to be with Nate. For Brody, home was no longer a house, it was a person. 

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