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It was a comfortable silence. The wind was a slight breeze, causing our hair to move around us. It took me a couple of minutes to talk. I was afraid to break the peacefulness that we actually had right now.

I knew it was a stupid question, but I asked anyways. “Are you okay?” I muttered, looking at his face.

As redundant as I sound, I couldn’t get over how handsome Weston was. Even when he was angry or sad, he was still as handsome as ever with his defined jaw, strong cheekbones, and blue eyes framed by dark eyelashes that any girl would envy. His lips were set in a thin line.

“I’ll be okay,” he mumbled.  

“I heard about your dad being locked up,” I said. He nodded.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I stuffed my hands in my pocket, looking at his profile.

He hung his head down, before picking it up to stare at nothing in particular.

“I came home after a meeting with the representatives to grab some stuff Jade wanted. My dad was drunk as usual, slurring out and crying about how much he missed my mom. I decided to ignore it. I didn’t know Jade was downstairs with him. She hasn’t even been home since the last time he hit her. Remember when I told you about that story?” He looked at me when I nodded.

 “She was telling him that my mom was in a better place and according to Jade, he nodded and said that Jade was right. He told her he was hungry, so Jade cooked him food.

“All of a sudden, I heard a huge crash and Jade screaming. I ran out as fast as I could. I saw my sister on the ground with the pan of hot food on her. She looked like a wreck. She was crying. Her hair was all over the place. She had a bruise on her cheek. For a werewolf to have a bruise, they must’ve been hit hard,” Weston’s voice quavered when he talked about how he discovered Jade. I scooted closer, putting a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” I whispered. In all honesty, I was scared for him to go on. It felt like my ears were deceiving me. I wanted to cry for my mate – I felt the emotions he was feeling. I felt sick listening to what Jade had to go through.

“It’s okay,” Weston said. “So anyways, I saw my dad with the pan in his hand. It was raised, like he was about to hit her again. I jumped in front of Jade, pushing my dad back. He stumbled, looking at me angrily. If he wasn’t locked up from his werewolf abilities, he would’ve shifted.

“He started yelling at me for protecting my sister – the girl that was a stupid idiot in his eyes. Imagine what Jade must’ve felt hearing that from her own dad. I asked him why he was doing this to his own daughter. He only laughed and said that Jade made food our mom always made. Well, of course Jade did. She learned how to cook from my mom.

“When I told him he was an asshole, I told him that was the last time he was ever going to see us. I started picking Jade off the floor, comforting her. The next thing I know, he took the kitchen knife and threatened us. I pushed Jade behind me, telling my dad to calm down. He was angry so he slashed my arm pretty deep,” Weston sighed, picking up his shirtsleeve to point out a light scar on his muscled bicep. Now that he pointed it out, I was well aware of it. I gasped lowly, picking up a shaking hand to trace it with my index finger.

Looks like we had a lot in common. Both of our dad’s harmed us.

Fate had a funny way of choosing mates for people.

“Soon after, an Expert and Jarred showed up in the kitchen. Jade later told me she linked Jarred for help. The Expert took down my dad and because they had powers that we don’t, paralyzed him.

“So that’s how my dad ended up being locked up. We visited him today because the Experts called us in for a meeting. Our dad was actually sober! What also was hard to believe was the repetitive apologies coming from him.”

Weston sighed, breathing hard. He still didn’t look at me. Before I could think twice, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. He was shocked, but he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“You and Jade didn’t deserve that,” I said genuinely, still holding on to him. “I’m sorry it happened.”  

“Thanks,” he said when we let go.

“So what’s going to happen to him?”

“He’s going to be locked up for life. Werewolves are into family because they have this mentality that fate has given you a beautiful gift if you had a family. If you physically harm your loved ones with no valid reason, you committed a crime.”

“How do you feel about your dad being locked up?”

“He deserves it, but I also think it’s good for him. He’ll get better.”

“How often do you visit him?”

“Every month, we have a meeting with him. It’s harder for Jade. He did say a lot of nasty things to her.”

“Jade is a fantastic daughter. Your father was wrong,” I defended, sticking my hands into my coat pocket.

“Thanks, Danny,” Weston smiled, looking at me. “You’re the only one I’ve actually talked to about this. You’re the one who seems to actually care about what I feel.”

His statement surprised me. I wanted to ask him why he doesn’t talk to Hayley about this or why Hayley doesn’t care, but then I remembered that she doesn’t know about our supernatural being. So instead, I smile back at him and lay my head against his shoulder.

I don’t know what caused my actions, especially since I wasn’t on speaking terms with him just an hour ago. It just felt like the right thing to do and I wanted to comfort him. In fact, I was tired of fighting with him and bickering. Why couldn’t we just be civil?

“Weston, can we be civil? Can we be friends? I’m so tired of fighting.” I sighed, waving my white flag. Being friends was better than nothing

Weston’s blue eyes widened, before a full-blown smile stretched across his face. “I’m tired of fighting too, Danny. Friends,” He said, sticking out his hand to shake.

“Friends,” I smiled, feeling a huge weight lift off my shoulders.

There was one thing I’ve always wanted to talk to about Weston for a long time now. I’ve been itching to ask him even before I came to Huntstown. It was a question that haunted the both of us, I’m sure.

“What about Warren?” I asked cautiously. I saw him stiffen beside me. “Have you visited him?”

 When I moved to live with the Wrode family, I had nightmares every night. I was suffering post traumatic stress from the events that happened that night. I remember screaming in the middle of the night, my relatives barging in with wide eyes.

The wolfs bane would be fresh in my nose. The sight of my mother and Stacey flashed beneath my closed lids, their blood and bruises visible on their dirty skin. My father wanted to kill me, the cold blade pressing into my skin. My dad about to plunge a knife into my mother’s heart. My dad dying. Warren wanted to kill my mate.

It was a lot to handle, being in a situation like that for the first time.

I genuinely wanted to know how Warren was. Last thing I heard about him was that he was in a facility, getting better. Apparently, he wasn’t in his state of mind when he attacked us.

“He’s going to be in the facility for another year before they release him,” Weston said, scratching the back of his neck.

“Do you know why he went crazy?”

“He was injected with a type of herbal from an ancient book when he was depressed. This lets you turn off your human feelings, but it is also very dangerous. It causes your animalistic side to dominate and your negative emotions to enhance.”

“Why were his parents killed?” I asked him, looking at him with a torn expression. “Healers don’t just kill werewolves without valid reasons.”

“That’s why I didn’t want to kill Healers, Danny. They didn’t do anything wrong. Warren’s parents harmed many people to get a cure for Warren’s dad. He was suffering from a huge sickness that was going to kill him soon. Due to the many fatalities, they were subject to die.”

I just nodded and I felt bad for Warren. He was depressed and he was acting on a drug. He wasn’t in his right state of mind and his parents were fighting for each other. Of course he would think it was the right thing to do to try and heal each other. He loved his parents and he had to lose them. He became depressed.

“Have you visited him?” I asked Weston, laying my head on his shoulder again.

After a couple of seconds, Weston sighed and said, “No. I’m scared.” There was a pang in my chest because of how broken he sounded. “He’s my best friend and I hate seeing him so weak. He tried to kill me and I know it wasn’t on purpose. I knew he was angry because I didn’t do anything about his parent’s death. I should have done something. At least tell him what his parent’s did. He doesn’t know about his parent’s killing humans. What kid wants to hear that their amazing and super hero parents killed about fifty people?”

I stiffened when I heard this information. So Warren didn’t know the truth? That made more sense.  

“I always wanted to visit him, but I just can’t bring myself to see him,” Weston said.

I studied him and I knew that if my best friend was sick, I’d be scared to visit too. So I smiled and nudged his arm with my elbow. “Come on, we’re going to visit him tomorrow. You need to see him. I know it’s a huge weight on his shoulders to know that he did this to his best friend. You need to find closure.”

“Danny, no – “

“We’re going, Weston.”

“But – “

“No buts. I will drag you if I have to.”

“I don’t – “

“It’s not a good idea, but it’s for the best.”

“What about you? You’re not fine with this, are you?”

“Yes, I’m okay with it,” I lied.

“Please, Danny. I don’t – “

“You have to go sometime. Might as well go now.”

After contemplating, Weston sighed. “Fine.”

Although I was scared to see Warren myself, I had to find my closure with him as well.