SYDNEY

The abrupt sound of the door striking against the wall jolted Sydney from her seated position on her bed where the door wasn't in sight. She got ready to berate Aaron for interrupting her and was already mentally formulating her script for scolding him on behalf of Rachel for trying to damage the house, but then the tension that coiled in Jay's form immediately alerted her that it wasn't her older brother.

Nervousness and embarrassment flooded her body realizing the only person, other than the real enemy of Elliot, that could probably get a rise out of Jay was either Mat or Logan. Of the two Sydney knew which was more than likely to make an unannounced appearance at her house.

Immediately going into action, she shoved her blankets off, trying not to get tangled as she went to jump out and in between the two of them.

"Mat," she began to acclaim when she was struck by the force of his larger form moving into a room. She started to tumble backwards, when immediately Jaycen was at his feet and behind her to support her from truly falling down.

"You guys--" Sydney was cut off once again this time not by rough actions but Jaycen's voice as he stepped around her reassured she was steady in her stance.

"Sydney you need to let us handle this." Jaycen said the strong voice, one that she only heard on the night of her attack, and had never been used towards her. "And you, what the fuck do you think you're doing barging up in here?!"

Every feminist instinct that coursed through her body wanted to go against him for trying to exclude her and yell at them to both stop this nonsense, especially under her family's roof, in her room.

But she also had to recognize that she'd not been a part of this aspect of their lives for very long and while her heart ached both her best friend and, well for whatever she and Jaycen were, she'd never known anything to be paranormal till a few days ago. In her mind it was still hard to register that they weren't just human. Sydney knew deep down that because they weren't completely human, she needed to recognize that there was a part of them that was more instinctually animalistic, something that she couldn't quite understand.

She didn't feel equipped to intervene, but she also refused to have bloodshed in her room on her watch.

Looping around Jaycen, she stood resilient between the two who were growling, "No." Her voice came out pleasantly firm, "You may handle this outside of my room, and away from my family. I can recognize and try to understand you were raised differently, but I won't let you two tear each other apart and threaten my family's safety."

A hand pressed to both of their chests to increase the space between the two, Sydney pushed signalling for them to back away more. Jay grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards him, and backed them both deeper into the room.

"You're right Sydney." Jay admitted gruffly even though his eyes were still fiercely aimed towards Mat.

Mat seemed less willing to agree with what she said, especially if the brother he detested so much was also in accord with what Sydney was arguing. But Sydney has known Mat long enough to identify the contemplation fighting within him playing across his face. His sea grew eyes locked with hers, and while Sydney thought he was going to give in to postponing this mounting feud, instead their shared eye contact brought something to his attention.

Realization dawned across his face and then contorted into something twisted of anger and hurt.

"You kissed her," Mat said in a way that was not so much a question but wounded realization.

This made Jay's form tensely revert back to a defensive position. His shoulders, arms, and neck all seemed ready with the temptation to fight again. Sydney was surprised she even had a moment to make note of this because in a blink of an eye Jay was springing forward and had knocked Mat to the ground.

Mat had been too shocked and hurt by this realization that he was easily taken to the floor, a loud bang resonating throughout the house. A gasp tore through her and her hands flew to cover her mouth to keep from crying out.

"You will stay away from her." Jay warned standing over Mat in a gravelly but in a low punctual whisper that frightened her even more than his loud domineering commands.

Mat seemed at a loss as he turned his attention from Jay to Sydney, but when Jay moved to block Mat's view this seemed to cement his thoughts.

Unable to see him, Sydney was shocked to hear her fiercely strong friend's voice crack with pain. "I never thought I would see the day where you would choose some guy over our friendship. Sure I understood you might not see me back the way I see you, but if anyone had ever asked, I would swear that you were the most loyal and kind human being I had ever met. Last night, I-I opened myself up to you and exposed parts of my life that no one I truly care about knows, and this is what happens?"

The break in his voice dug into Sydney's heart realizing that despite whatever she was starting to feel with Jay had deeply hurt her best friend. A mildly disgust with herself threatened to morph into her physically being sick, truly grasping how thoughtless she had been not truly considering Mat. Especially after so fiercely telling Jay in the beginning that her friendship with Mat would take precedence over whatever they had.

She opened her mouth to make whatever first came to the surface of her mind spill out to beg him for forgiveness and to try and clear up the tension that was threatening to snap their friendship apart.

"I guess I was right though. You are the most kind human being I've ever met if you could somehow see the good in even him."

The snapping and tearing of their relationship was palpable.

It turned out she wouldn't get the chance to beg for forgiveness because without another word Mat forced himself on the floor and tore out of her room leaving a silence in his wake.

Wetness stung at her cheeks and it was only then she realized tears had swept over her cheeks and to her chin. Now not only was the sadness and guilt of hurting her best friend eating at her, but now the quiet in the room was starting to mount into an awkward silence that stood between her and Jay.

"What did he mean by he opened himself up to you last night?" Jay was still not facing her but instead facing the open doorway. Originally when he opened his mouth to speak Sydney was grateful for not having to, but that question instantly made her sick to her stomach.

Mentally laughing at her own misery, she realised she'd always claimed to be an excellent wordsmith, and yet in this moment she couldn't even fathom what grouping of words to stream together to fix both her relationship with Mat and Jay or even just either of the two.

Swallowing heavily she thought back to when her father was alive and all the times he was brutally honest with her and her siblings about the whereabouts of their mother whenever she would disappear from their lives for times on end and how she was grateful she wasn't one of the ignorance is bliss kind of children who remain naive to their parents flaws.

Sydney knew that would be her best method of dealing with this situation. Mean, she had told Jay from the beginning that in order to make it they would need to be honest with each other.

I just didn't think I would be put in the position where I wasn't being upfront and honest.

"Last night," she started, "after you dropped me off at home, some of your pack were I guess keeping an eye out on our property just for any suspicious activity. Mat said he had volunteered and he was in my room when I got home last night. That's when he told me..." she went to resolve herself to finish the sentence, but Jay scoffed and finally turned to face her.

She searched his face for any indication if he was raging mad or sad or annoyed. His face was emotionless.

"Yes, we already clarified and discussed that. But obviously something more happened otherwise this wouldn't have blown up into whatever this is." Jay said, his arms crossing.

Sydney couldn't decide if he was being defensive or just comforting himself for what he already knew was coming.

Breaking eye contact she said, "He told me how he truly feels about me and he-we kissed."

Mentally Sydney noted if she just been straightforward and honest with both Mat and Jay it wouldn't have culminated into this. If she just pulled up her big girl pants and had told Mat the heartbreaking fact that she hadn't seen him in that same light then she could've easily gone to Jay and told him what happened. Instead she was in a bind of wanting to protect Mat's feelings while simultaneously wanting to hide it from Jay so as not to prove his concerns right.

A small part of her fought that it shouldn't have mattered to Jaycen since they had agreed to be friends. But she drew the line for herself at the fact she should have been upfront with Jay before kissing him though, because Sydney knew deep down they weren't just friends even if it wasn't exactly by their choice.

And now not only has she tainted her long standing friendship with Mat, but she was foiling this new found relationship with Jay.

"You were so sure of yourself when you said there was nothing to worry about with him." Jaycen spoke as if he though he was speaking out loud to himself and not her.

"I honestly didn't know until last night and that's part of the reason I wasn't able to come and face either of you at school today. Mat said he wasn't going to act on his feelings until later on because he thought there was time." Once the words started coming out they just kept flowing from her, "He said because I wasn't a werewolf and because he couldn't have a mate that he thought he had all the time in the world to pursue it, so that's why I never knew that he had his feelings towards me. But then when you told him I was your mate, he decided to act to tell me everything that was on the table. And like you said, you don't believe that our future should just be determined by some single entity saying that we are meant to be together, and we already talked about the unfair hands Mat and you were dealt, and that everyone should be able to choose who they love and who they wanna be with and-"

"Sydney stop." Jay pleaded in a weak voice that left no trace of the commanding one from before. He shook his head, his hand sweeping to cover his eyes as though he wanted to block out all of the things around him as though the world was being too much for him right then.

"I look like an idiot. I can't sit here and tell you who you can and can't be with, but I can't stand here and act like I'm not hurt either. You said as long as we were honest we would get through this. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that you should know exactly what was on his mind, but I find it really difficult to believe that you thought everything between you two is just platonic and that you haven't seen the way he looks at you. Mean dammit, look at the picture on your phone for your screensaver for God's sake he's staring right at you and you've never even noticed?"

This is rhetorical but Sydney hadn't seen the way he was looking at her till now. Now, when she was standing with another boy, wishing more than ever that Mat and her hadn't shared a kiss.

Somehow she still couldn't help but feel a little angry. Whether it was aimed at Mat or Jay or herself she wasn't terribly sure.

She rebuttled, "Jay, I apologize for not telling you about him being over last night and us sharing a kiss, but you and I've only known each other for not even a whole week. While I know that there's something between you and I, we can both agree that whatever is there is only because Nature deemed it." The phrase came off her tongue bitterly. "'Cause in any other world you and I wouldn't have crossed paths and we wouldn't have talked and we wouldn't have kissed...And then I don't think any of the three of us would be in this mess."

He looked like he was caught between wanting to laugh and cry. "Okay then Sydney, I'll just leave you alone then, like you keep saying, it's not like you asked for any of this."

He was at the door when he tossed the words over his shoulder, "Just remember I didn't either."

And then he was gone and Sydney was all alone.