Part 6.

The night had evolved and back at the hut under the slowly rising dawn, an old man lie face down in the mud, his ankle bleeding into a small puddle in the footprints of last night. He stirred with a grunt of pain, half of his face completely covered in mud and pressing his hands down to lift himself.

And as he stares into the distance that Kyle and Shaun had ran, he quickly remembers the wolf that had attacked him, quickly moving to inspect his ankle and sees the jagged bite wound that was already black and festering, flies had taken camp and were eating away at the blood still pulsing with red blood.

His face contorts into absolute fear.

"N-no...NOOOOO!"

His anger reaches a different level than before, smashing his fist into the ground with hot tears burning down his cheeks.

He didn't hear anything from the hut, no sounds of wailing from his wife, no tv, no kettle. He props himself up and stands, baring all his weight on his good leg and limping over to the front door, seeing it was ajar he pushed it open with a shove. Discovering broken shards of a vase on the floor and a tiny trail of blood leading to the middle of the room, where his wife was lying still, back to him and a patch of red at the back of her head.

"Pat..." he croaked out to her, but she didn't reply.

"Patty please...dont..." He began to choke up on his tears as he limps to her side, turning her over to reveal that she was indeed dead, her eyes lay open and her chest remained still. He was torn between destroying everything or crumpling into nothing.

"PATRICIA!" cradling her limp head he cries into her shoulder, the only person he loved was dead...the only person that loved him back was dead...

Stroking her hair with his calloused fingers, he notices something that didn't belong to either of them as he lays her down and scrambles over to it. It was a red top, the very same red top that Kyle had stolen from Zayne. And in the event of running away and killing Patricia, must've dropped from his rucksack.

The feeling of grief was slowly leaving him, and replacing it was an incessant cry for revenge, His leg was no longer hurting and had gone completely numb, after standing at full height he brings the top to his nose and takes a long and silent sniff. Taking in the hints of cigarettes and sweat.

"We let them into our home Patricia...and they repay us like THIS!" He bellowed, throwing the shirt to the ground in a flit of rage.

But in the back of his mind, a voice was calling to him, one that comforted him in his thirst to grab his gun out front and hunt them down.

"They dont deserve us...find them...and make them pay...for me Nicky~"

It was the voice of his diseased wife calling to him from the grave...he wasn't completely sure if it was real, or if he was going mad.

"Y-yes...I will..."

Nick, coming back to reality rushes to the cellar door where he had gotten his gun, Kyle was only aware of the gun in the cellar, but being banned from entering he couldn't even know what his grandfather was hiding under there.

Piles upon piles of old books and weapons were hidden in the musty dark cellar, along with multiple shelves full to the brim with different items of oddity. A shrunken head with many pony tails on its shrivelled skull, a jar full of odd looking stones and a crossbow with an intricate spike bolt loaded into it.

"Fucking traitors...They'll pay...they'll both pay"

He grabs a hold of an old book, frantically flipping the pages and not discovering what he wanted, coughing at the unearthed dust he was spreading. Switching from book to book and page to page, he stops on one page that read the following inscription:

The Werewolf.

This Half man-half wolf beast, while rare, can still find others of its species and mate to create pure-blooded pups. Their bites are painful and contagious, and although they can shift at will into a quadrupedal dog that is slightly bigger than the average wolf. It's nature is usually to hide from moonlight, as they lose all control under a full moon, scaling into a bipedal monstrosity known as the Werewolf, Avoid at all costs when turned, just one bite...

and you'll be cursed forever...

And right next to the writing is a drawing of a large bear-like wolf, its eyes a piercing red and a snarl upon its teeth. like a giant black ball of death on the page.

Underneath the writing is a tiny postscript:

Disease in-incurable...dont...ge-

The writing was incoherent and scribbled towards the end, the warning going unnoticed as Nick continues to search up on the intruder from last night. A deadly focus that nothing could have shaken him from...nothing in the world at all...

*

Back at Zayne's house, Kyle was bandaged up and lying in Zayne's bed to his request, Cara allowed this as he rests peacefully while Alyssa had waited for Shaun to finish his shower and was just exiting the bathroom, jumping out of his skin when he see's her.

"Jesus, I dont need a body guard I'm 17"

"Funny, my brother said the same thing a few years ago...until an old friend stabbed him in the back..."

Shaun was wary of her, she looked mean and her hair was weird. Besides the fact

"W-what happened?"

Alyssa smiles as she opens the door next to the bathroom as she welcomes him inside with a smile.

"Trust me, they never picked on him again after me"

"You?" he said, clutching his towel tightly against his waist, his skinny stature was nothing compared to hers, she was well built and her arms looked incredibly strong.

"Lets just say 7 knifes in the back hurts more than one"

Shaun gulps as he finally notices the room he was in, taking in all the colourful pinks and magenta strung over the walls, the toys, and even the bed. Shaun was repulsed by the sight.

"This room is a walking seizure waiting to happen"

"Seeing as I dont use this room anymore, i thought a strong 17 year old man like yourself would love the pink...really extenuates that peach fuzz on your face..." she teases with a sly smirk before leaving the room, Shaun, now self conscious about his upper lips as his lips rub over the light hair there.

"Peach fuzz?" he says to himself before looking at the room again, cringing at the pink puppy plushies and hair combs, brushes tangled with black and white hair.

Meanwhile, Kyle was slowly waking up from his nap, the sun was just beginning to rise and the shock of him actually in Zaynes bed was a happy surprise. It stunk of him and Kyle couldn't get enough of it, it was like a comforting warmth was spreading through him every time he took a breath.

And the room was a mess, there were strung clothes all over the floor and a dusty fan that tried its best to cool the room down despite sending it all over the room. The closet door wasn't closed and just inside he could peer in from the bed, noticing his clothes he had left behind when he was first here, tucked away folded and ready but it was slightly ruffled and clearly well used.

knock knock knock.

"Are you decent Kyle?"

"Yeah..." he croaked out, his ear wasn't terrible but it did hurt enough to not sleep on his right side.

She entered the room with a glass of water and a sandwich in her hands, she wore a comforting smile and laid the items down, sitting on the edge of the bed while he guzzled the water earnestly.

"Did you have a good nap?"

"I guess...his bed is comfy..." Kyle says.

"It stinks, admit it"

They both share a small laugh and Kyle's tensions slowly melted away with her rather quickly, he found talking to her was so easy he couldn't stop sharing things.

"How did that ghastly wound come to happen?"

"My...my grandfather did it...when Zayne helped us escape them"

She seemed pleased that her boy was brave enough to save hem both, but also worried her son could've not come home last night if things went wrong.

"Did you know...he was coming to my home?"

"No...no he...he's been keeping a lot from me recently"

"Whys that?"

"I think he's going through the usual changes...you are as well in your own way, you're both the same age after all"

"But...there's something that's bothering me"

Cara sat there listening intently to him, her eyes were so gentle he couldn't help but be honest.

"When I found him...we started talking and he mentioned about telling me something important, and it wasn't the werewolf thing...it was-"

"Kyle, its a lot more than just a werewolf thing...and he was about to drop a massive bombshell you wouldn't have been able to handle...he could've scared the life out of you if he told you"

"But why?"

"Because its complicated, with us belonging to different worlds there isn't much interaction between us and when there is, it usually isn't friendly"

She didn't blink when she explained, hypnotizing him in her serious gaze.

"Do you remember the first time you met?"

"Yeah...it was at the pond, and I didn't see his face immediately-"

"Exactly, and how was he speaking to you?"

Kyle took a moment to remember his exact words:

"Looks to me like you were eyeing up our fish, there's a market not far from here thief, why dont you go steal from there"

"I-I dont want to steal your fish, I just-"

"You just WHAT!"

The oddly painful memories of Zayne speaking too him that way, considering he was so nice to him when he was caught, remembering how he tackled him and then they both looked each other in the eyes...And then it clicks.

"The eyes...he changed when he saw my eyes..."

"Yes...a wolf is usually born on a full moon, with a curse and a blessing...the curse was believed to be the transformation into the wolf form"

"What's the blessing?"

"We are made in the light of a goddess, the very thing we are born under...we are bound to for life, unless we find the one person we belong to...which is completely random and unpredictable...most wolfs live their entire lives without finding theirs"

Kyle was so wrapped up in what she was saying, he barely noticed the sound of the front door opening downstairs.

"And the only trigger that the wolf needs is to gaze into the windows of your soul...feeling it until they realize, the souls are exactly the same and were meant to be one" she whispers.

It all makes sense to him now, the attitude change, the chickens....wait no the chickens were definitely not explained.

"What about Zayne and the chickens...that was a shock i wasn't expecting"

She swiftly blushes quickly and facepalms.

"Oh god... I still can't believe he did that, when a wolf gets closer to the full moon, we have to feed in order to stem the turning, when the wolf ceases full control of the body"

"That sounds scary"

"It is, its like drowning in a sea of nothing...like sinking into your own mind as a mindless beast slaughters the very people you love..." she said in a dark tone, the shadows growing under her eyes as if remembering awful times.

Then, shaking the house a large and demanding voice called from downstairs.

"CARA? WHERE YA AT?"

The shouts reminding him of his grandfather as he flinched nervously.

"Oh dont worry darling, that's just my husband, that means Zaynes home"

Kyle couldn't help brighten at this as he gets happy at the thought of being able to truly thank him for saving his brothers life, never mind his own he thought to himself.

"Ok...does he know?"

"No, but he wont dare argue against me...rule number one of the pack, dont disobey the Alpha when she gives you a command" she expressed with a gentle smile.

"You're Alpha?"

She guffaws at this as she flexes her large biceps.

"Well I'm not baking cookies with these bad boys, I'm crushing enemies and protecting my family, the cookies are a great after battle snack" she advised before leaving him to his own rest, he heard a few greeting from downstairs but heard the stomping of quick footsteps up the stairs in what he could assume to be...

"Kyle!" Zayne pops in the room and sees he was awake, not even hesitating to start asking him a billion concerned and worried questions, it was so sweet to see him worry. But Kyle didn't need it, he reached over the covers at pulls him into a very tight embrace, digging his face into his shoulder and smelling that familiar scent.

"You saved him...and me...I owe you everything" Kyle says halfway through a held sob.

"Dont cry, I would've done it a billion times over for you...and your brother...shit I shouldn't have paused after that right?"

"probably not but...its ok"

He pauses to open his teary eyes and remembers his folded clothes in the closet, giggling to himself.

"What's funny?" he asked with a questioning smile on his face.

"What do my clothes smell like?"

He nearly coughs up from the question and scoffs playfully.

"Wow, that's a forward question"

"Well yours smell like cigarettes and...just sweat really"

He laughs out loud, still not separating from their long hug, holding him tighter than anyone else he's ever hugged.

"You smell like hay, and a fresh book right off the shelf...but its a good book dont worry"

Kyle didn't know what to think, but clearly Zayne liked the way he smelled or he'd have said "pig shit" or "Chicken feathers" with how much Zayne liked them.

Then when Kyle was looking for his bag, Zayne stood up and went to the closet, pulling his rucksack and the clothes Zayne had hidden to him on the bed.

"Here, you should probably have these back" he says, hiding the blush by turning around.

Kyle was happy he didn't lose everything. At least he had a few books at clothes to wear and read.

"Its ok...you can keep the top though" He said, holding out his old top for Zayne to grab, taking it shyly and very out of character for him.

"Can...can we nap together?" he asked, Kyle could practically feel the heart in his chest beating to get out, and with a warm smile and little deliberation.

"Hop on in~"

The second he said that, Zayne jumps on top of the covers spread eagle, careful not to hurt him as Kyle screams in protest, Cara was hearing both of them laughing happily as they settle under the covers, slowly going back into the most blissful sleep he had ever had in his life.

Finally, he was home.