The man, whom I had dubbed Blue Eyes, lounged on my couch. His arms were crossed and he stared at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"Who are you?" He repeated, his voice frosty and unwelcoming. It was as if he was the detective and I was the criminal being interrogated.

"What do you mean like that?" I questioned and walked toward the couch, taking a seat across from him.

His eyes narrowed. "Don't fuck with me. Oakwood doesn't get a lot of supernatural beings—especially not many who come here with pure intentions. Arlo may be oblivious and you may have some connection with Reuben, but that doesn't change the fact that you showed up seemingly out of nowhere and now you're everywhere."

A small bit of relief filled me once I realized that he hadn't quite figured out why I was there.

"Out of nowhere? Couldn't that be said about half the people here in Oakwood?" I raised an eyebrow. "Including yourself."

His blue eyes hardened. "You don't know shit about me.

"Exactly," I leaned forward, allowing my arms to rest on my knees. "I don't know anything about you and you know nothing about me, yet you still felt the need to come over here to start problems. From where I'm standing, you're the suspicious one I should be looking out for but I'd rather not do that at all."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"I'm not in the business of making enemies, but I also won't allow myself to be bullied or intimidated into submission. You have your reasons for being here and I have mine. Let's leave it at that and try to get along."

"You want to be friends?" Blue eyes asked disbelievingly.

"That's not what I said," I told him. "What I am saying is that you and I are already neighbors and I highly doubt that this will be the last time we see each other. Wouldn't you prefer to be cordial with each other rather than trying to bite each other's heads off?"

The man went quiet but I could tell by his expression that he was thinking over what I said. I meant it though. If this guy was connected to Reuben in some way then making enemies with him was the exact opposite of what I wanted. Reuben was already doubting if we could truly have a relationship so I didn't need to give him more ammunition to back up that belief.

Still, that didn't mean I trusted him. As far as I was concerned, the man was nothing short of suspicious and neither was the stranger currently in his house. Starting an all-out war wasn't something I wanted, but I'd still keep an eye on him from afar.

"Alright let's be 'cordial'" Blue Eyes said as he stood off the couch. "But if you do anything to hurt Arlo—"

"I won't," I cut him off.

Blue eyes stared at me for a moment before wordlessly leaving. Even though he wasn't here for long, it was clear to me that there was something strange about him. Whether or not that was a good or bad thing, I wasn't sure.

I locked the door and dropped back onto the couch with a sigh. The couch itself was comfortable, but there was another problem.

The house was too quiet.

At first, I tried to ignore it, but after being in the pack for so long, I was used to being surrounded by noise. There was my parents who always came around when I needed them, then there was Nixon who was never short on having some new story to tell me, and lastly, there was Fen. After living with him, I'd grown used to hearing his voice around the house, to wishing him good morning and good night.

I missed my family, I missed my friends, and as much as I shouldn't, I even found myself missing Fen. I missed the Fen who I grew up with.

I grabbed my phone and stared down at my list of contacts. I scrolled down the list until I saw Fen's name and clicked it before hitting the text icon. I scrolled through our messages with a heavy heart. When he was sent away, we made sure to keep in contact whether it was a call or text. Now, the chat was dead. It hadn't been used since he left.

At times, I found myself wanting to reach out to him, but Nixon and my parents always discouraged me from doing so. However, I wanted answers; I wanted to know why he did what he did.

My hand hovered over the text box and before I knew it, I started to type. I typed whatever came to mind. Feelings, questions, memories—all of it. I kept typing until I ran out of things to say.

I didn't hit send, but the temptation was there. Would he respond? Would he get my message at all?

I leaned back and sighed. Where was he now? Last I heard, he was in the Wolf's Den. Everyone told me that there was no way he'd survive in there, but Fen always had been creative when it came to survival. If there was even a sliver of being able to survive then he'd find it.

My mind drifted from Fen and back to Reuben. There were still so many questions I had for him. However, knowing Reuben, the chances I'd get answers to them were slim.

I exited out of Fen and mine's text messages and instead, I hit Nixon's contact. I hit the call button and I waited as it rang. When it finally did, Nixon's voice was clear as day on the other end which made me smile.

"Hey, Eli," He greeted. "What's going on?"

"Nothing much," I responded, deciding not to tell him about Blue Eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Nixon asked which made me blink a few times before smiling to myself. I had barely said a word and he already knew something wasn't right.

"I'm fine, I just wanted to talk to you," I replied.

"Really?" Nixon responded and I could hear the disbelief in his voice.

"Yes."

"Eli, I've known you for years. I know when you're lying or not."

I sighed. "I'm fine, Nix. I'm just feeling a little homesick. It's nothing serious."

There was a brief silence. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. This place is just too quiet compared to the pack, you know? I'm used to the noise, the laughter, to your random visits. Here it's just..."

Everyone stays in their own bubble, with few exceptions. It was good for the mission, but not so much for me personally.

"I'm sorry, E. Do you want me to come down there? Or, I'm sure that we could send another wolf from the pack down to help with the mission so you aren't alone. I could probably convince Nolan to send Atlas."

I shook my head even though he couldn't see me. "No, it's fine. Let's just talk like this. You and me."

I could tell that Nixon didn't agree, but he didn't fight me on it. The two of us sat there and talked about everything we could think of. I wasn't sure how long we talked, but it didn't matter because it was Nixon and that alone was more than enough.