Bodies. Bodies were everywhere. They pushed and rolled into one another in waves, moving in flashes of stark-white sea-foamed, strobed light. Limbs were tangled and blurred into one being; an amalgamated flesh grooving to the deafening drum and base remixes span by the hyper, flailing-limbed girl deejaying. I pushed further into the rat-king of clubbers, losing myself to the unity of the people; my autonomy surrendered to the waves.

Rainbow-coloured-lights shone in my eyes as they cut through the thick clouds of misty vapour, fragmenting light across the curves of our body. Freedom could be found in the synchronised, yet chaotic and wild, movements of the crowd. Trickling beads of sweat made their way down the forehead of the guy I was now dancing with and I duly noted how grateful I was that I didn't sweat like that.

His hungry eyes dragged over my body, heading up and up until they lamely settled on my lips. He pushed his body even closer to my own, his arms linking around my neck and his feet arching up in an effort to reach my face. His hot, laboured breath fanned against me as we danced, bringing my mind away from the room full of people. I craned my neck downwards, placing a soft, lingering kiss on his lips before nodding to the smoking room, implying that I'd be right back after a smoke.

There was no point in attempting any kind of verbal communication; he'd never hear me over the music. I felt his heart beat accelerate against my skin and I saw excitement glisten in his eyes as he dumbly nodded, desire emptying his mind of all thought and reason. Little did he know, I don't smoke; I just don't want to dance with him anymore.

I headed in the direction I had gestured to, ignoring his sultry wink as I left, before making a sharp left and disappearing into the crowd of moving bodies back towards the bar. He wasn't really my type and the sweat was starting to feel a bit much for me to handle. There was no short supply of men in here looking for a hookup, so I'm sure he'd be fine. I didn't feel bad at all about it.

Sure enough, I spotted the two people I was searching for taking up our regular booth, engaged in an animated conversation with a couple of strangers. It was far enough away from the dance floor that the music wasn't deafening but they were close enough to the bar that they could rope strangers into sitting down and chatting. Two girls were currently at our table: one leggy brunette and one blonde clad in a silky, white dress that clung to her hips. They were both leaning onto the table, listening tentatively to Mila and hanging on her every word as she spun some story. N.J looked rather disappointed about the lack of attention he seemed to be receiving, sat with his arms crossed and his lip jutted out in a comical fashion.

Could you blame them?

Mila was stunning to a supernatural standard. Her skin was a deep brown and dusted with little golden freckles across her broad nose and high cheekbones. Her curly, waist-length brown hair had bathroom-implemented blonde streaks and tiny braids dotted throughout that matched the ones in my own hair. She enjoyed making us match and bathroom-hairdressing is a keen hobby of hers. Ever since we were young, I have been treated like her own personal Barbie doll to dress up and play makeover with.

As I neared her, her warm eyes snapped away from the pretty blonde she was flirting with and settled on me with a dimpled smile. She slid over in the booth to make room almost instantly, slapping her hand repeatedly on the leather seats enthusiastically to invite me to sit down. N.J's mood seemed to improve now that I was here as backup.

"Save me! Seeing her flirt is making me nauseous; she's practically my sister. Plus, she's hogging all of the attention!" N.J complained, dramatically pretending to gag as if he was physically repulsed.

"You're not even old enough to be here, let alone talk to any girls." Mila tutted, "Nobody wants to babysit the sixteen year old."

N.J slumped in his seat once again at that, glaring at Mila, albeit not maliciously. What she was saying was true; N.J was far too young to be trying it on with these women. He looked a little older than he was, enough that we could sneak him into the eighteen-plus club in the first place, but Mila and I would never let him act older than he is. Despite him only being a few years younger than us, he's always filled the little brother role in our trio of friends, and so he is treated as such.

"Let's not forget that this is a gay club, too." I chuckled, "Good luck competing."

One girl at the table laughed a little too loud at that quip, catching my attention. She seemed to melt when I looked directly at her and I raised a brow lazily at her. My wolf wasn't interested and usually I only went for guys, but I wasn't opposed to the opportunity that seemed to be presenting itself to me.

"You're underage?" The other of the girls looked genuinely shocked, "I couldn't tell!"

N.J's ego was boosted by that, and he puffed out his chest like he had just been asked to be on the cover of GQ magazine. N.J was tall for his age, standing at about the same height as 6-foot-something tall Mila, despite being only sixteen. People were usually thrown off by that when trying to guess his age, but I think the distinct lack of any sign of facial hair is a dead giveaway of his true age. Baby faced and smooth skinned, his look screams fresh and messy in a boyish, cutesy way rather than rugged and mature.

His naturally curly hair was a deep brown and nowadays he always wore it twisted into locks that hung down around his face, almost hitting his shoulders. His facial features were similar to Mila's in some ways, and people often mistook them for being biologically related, but being asian myself, I could see some of the features of Mila's partial asian heritage come through that set her apart from N.J.

"Keep staring at me like that and I'll presume that you have a crush on me." N.J teased, winking at me.

"You're like a little brother to me." I scoffed, swatting his head.

"Hot." He could barely spit out his joke before my hand made contact with the side of his skull, making him erupt in giggles.

"You guys seem close." The blonde giggled, looking at me for a second too long once again.

"Unfortunately." Came my quick reply.

"Hey, you love me like a firstborn child." N.J protested, "He's just showing off in front of the pretty girl."

I groaned internally at that, wishing N.J would shut up and stop ruining my chances. He was always like this when Mila and I agreed to bring him to the club. He was loudmouthed, brash and had terrible timing socially. He always seemed to know how to ruin a moment and was the worst wingman for both Mila and I. A night out is never fun without him, though.

Mila had tapped out of the conversation, now focusing exclusively on making out with the leggy brunette, who was now the leggy brunette in Mila's lap. Mila was like that; if she wanted something, she tended to get it, no questions asked. She was charismatic and smooth enough that things just seemed to fall into her lap naturally (pardon the pun). It probably had something to do with her being the future Alpha. She held an assertive confidence that people, even humans, were enticed by.

N.J was tapping along happily to the beat of the music, using his fingers as drumsticks on the edge of the table, occasionally stopping to sip his coke and chat to the blonde girl he had now befriended. He seemed to be explaining the drum beat to the song that was currently playing and how he would recreate it on his set, or something along those lines. The girl seemed vaguely interested, but a little confused about how her night at the club had devolved into a sixteen year old boy explaining drum beats to her.

I laughed internally, finding the situation bizarre, yet comforting. N.J, Mila and I had made a habit of coming here ever since Mila had first turned eighteen. Originally, it was just a rite of passage thing; to go clubbing on your eighteenth birthday. Despite N.J and I both not being of age at the time, we obviously went with her, because who else would she go with? When we realised that nobody knew us here, or rather nobody knew about our status, it became our go-to place.

You see, if we went to our local pub, everyone would be silently sat with their head down, waiting for the future Alpha to leave so that they could act normally again. Here, nobody knew. We weren't surrounded by subservient pack wolves, and the few wolves that did live in the city were from other packs and ignored us for the most part. It was a sort of safe haven to let loose without worrying about everyone's opinions on us, or feeling different and isolated from every person in the room. Here, we could act like teenagers without the consequences of being judged for it afterwards.

I suppose that was the main reason the three of us were such close friends. Growing up, we were always the ones who were avoided like the plague in schools and left to our own devices to play. Not to mention, our parents were always in pack meetings together, forcing us to spend every waking moment in each others company. Of course, Mila and N.J had lived together for the majority of their lives, so they were inseparable anyway, but the three of us were still as thick as thieves.

"You know we have brunch at your place in not that many hours." I realised, glancing at my phone for the time.

"You feeling like heading home?" Mila tuned back into our conversation.

My wolf was bored with the situation. I noticed the disappointment etched into both of the girls' faces, but knew that Mila wouldn't take it any further than a make out anyway. She never did.

"Sorry ladies, grandpa says it's bedtime." N.J slapped my back, standing up on the seats of the booth so that he could climb over me to get out.

"You could have just waited for me to stand up; I've got footprints on my trousers now." I grumbled, following suit.

"You're the size of a climbing frame, so I may as well treat you as one." N.J retorted, launching himself at my back.

I was taken off guard, almost stumbling to the floor as I caught ahold of him. He latched onto my back for a piggy back, but the bouncer wasn't too happy with the oh-so dangerous act. I waved the beast of a man down, since we were leaving anyway, and let Mila say goodbye to her fling of the night. The blonde was smiling at our antics, and I sent her a wink goodbye. I wasn't really in the mood for it anyway, especially not when Icarus, my wolf, was already restless.

I carried N.J out of the dimly lit club and into the cool night air, noting that the sky wasn't as dark as when we had first entered. It wouldn't be too long before the sun would rise completely. I flagged down a taxi and Mila joined us in climbing into the back while relaying the address of where we wanted to be dropped off to.

"Isn't that just all woods there?" The cabbie frowned, glancing at us through his central mirror.

"Sort of."

The three of us had responded in unison, making a sly smile slip onto my lips. The cabbie seemed wary of the three teenagers getting a taxi to the woods in the next city over at 4am, but said nothing more of it. We were used to a few funny looks when we got our routine taxi home after a night out. It would probably be wise to just drive us in the future...

"Mila, you've got lipstick smeared everywhere." N.J teased her, "Sort yourself out."

"Jealous? Just admit you've got no bitches, N.J." Mila retorted, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"I'm choosing to wait for my mate." N.J declared smugly.

N.J's wolf was incredibly persistent about him waiting for his mate, in the traditional sense. It wasn't really common to wait, but it depends on the individuals wolf and what they're okay with. Icarus isn't traditional in that sense, thankfully, as we aren't interested in meeting our mate anytime soon. He's not fond of humans, or other pack members, so it makes sense that he doesn't care if I wait or not. Quite frankly, he'd be happy if I was waiting for the rest of our life.

"It's not a choice if you've got no other option." I jibed, unable to help myself from poking fun at N.J.

"Actually, this girl in my maths class asked if I wanted some gum, which I'm pretty sure was just a front to talk to me." N.J boasted.

"Sounds to me like you had bad breath." Mila snorted, shaking her head at his antics.

Turning my attention away from the two who were now bickering, I pressed my forehead up against the cold taxi window, watching the trees blur past as we now sped through country lanes on our way out of the city and into our little rural town. Being up early enough to see the sky start to lighten and cars begin to appear on the roads was always a special feeling. It felt like witnessing the beginning of the earth.

The soft smile began to fade from my mouth as we neared the edge of the woods, however. The patrolling security hidden in the tree line spotted our cab as it pulled up across from the little playground with the three of us inside. I could see them ducking their heads in submission even from here. Icarus enjoyed the respect that came with being with the Alpha and Beta, but it made me bitter. I paid the taxi driver and helped Mila step out of the black cab in her heels, crossing the field behind the park towards the woods that we would soon descend into.

"Morning, Alpha. Do you need us to call for a vehicle?" One of the guards spoke, his face still turned towards the floor.

"We'll walk." Mila replied, "Thanks, though."

I held Mila's hand, once again, to support her as we trailed down the dirt path that led to the pack land hidden deep in the dense woods. She was teetering in her heels, but was no rookie to traipsing these trails in unsuitable footwear. While we focused on her balance, N.J was getting distracted every five minutes by the daylight beginning to trickle through the tree canopy above us, stopping to take photos.

The whole of the woods smelt overwhelmingly like wolves, our pack scent and wet leaves, which was nothing out of the ordinary. Wolves from our pack had a distinct scent, and after spending time at the club where the only trace of that scent was from ourselves, it was strange to smell it so heavily again. The smell itself was a mixture of wild lilies and pine. Being around it made Icarus relax; it was like his safety blanket, despite disliking the vast majority of the pack. I suppose it has a lot to do with freedom and security; there's no risk within the pack walls.

"You'd think that after living here for your entire life, you'd be sick of the trees by now." Mila tutted, watching him squat to get better angles.

"He's got a photography project due." I hummed.

It wasn't too long before we were at the perimeter wall, waving to the security camera to be let in. With a loud buzzer sound, the door was released and we continued on our journey to N.J and Mila's house. We had to walk through several suburbs before we came to the base of the slope that led up to the front door, but the walk was a calm and refreshing way to wind down after a hectic night of dancing and socialising. The morning air was sobering even to my unaltered mind.

"How many times do I have to tell you three to stop sneaking out to the next town over."

The voice came from the dark, scaring poor N.J half to death as he let out a little scream of terror. I guiltily ducked my head and Mila smiled sheepishly at the unimpressed face of Cameron. Wrapped in a fluffy dressing gown, it was clear that he had clearly been home for a while. The two of them had ensured me that he would be joining Xavier and Gracie at the pack meeting all night and wouldn't notice that we were gone once again.

"Is Dad home yet?" Mila glanced around, searching for any sign that Xavier was home.

"Your father's at the meeting still." Cameron replied, "Which is lucky for you, or you'd have to sit through another lecture on why you should always be taking security with you wherever you go. Not to mention his spiel about leadership and reputation."

"Uncle Cam, we just want to play make believe as normal teens from time to time." N.J tried pulling at Cam's heartstrings, pouting in the dark.

"Noah Junior, don't even get me started on all the reasons why you shouldn't be out clubbing." Cameron laughed, "You're not even eighteen! Just get to bed before they get back and try not to yawn too much during brunch."

I thought back to what I had read in the diaries, staring at Cameron for a second too long. He had apparently been a bit of a live wire back in his day: drinking with friends every opportunity he had, doing drugs, having sex, sneaking out overnight to smoke, and just generally getting himself into trouble. It was hard to imagine as he shuffled back to bed in his cosy slippers and fluffy dressing gown after lecturing his own child for doing far less.

He was certainly the more lenient one when it came to laying down the law, but even still, could he even be the same person?

"Earth to Alexandros?" N.J shook me, literally, out of my thoughts.

"You were zoning out a bit there, Xan. Let's get you to bed, gramps." Mila giggled, dragging me to her room up the stairs.

I followed quietly, still thinking about those damn diaries.