Alex was fed up with Rafe. He had always been a bit nosy, but right now he was being ridiculous. When Ren had told them that he wasn’t going to officially join the Guild with them, neither of them had really believed that it was because he was scared of the consequences. Sure, it might have been believable if someone else had told them that, but Ren’s eyes lit up whenever they were training or even doing chores for the Guild.

Ren had a connection to the cause deeper than Alex or Rafe could boast, and it was clear that he wanted to be a hunter more than anything. So, when he had asked them to help tell Hawkthorne the news, Rafe had been upset. Ever since, Alex had to deal with Rafe’s ‘investigation’ into their friend. Alex had difficulty accepting Ren’s explanation, but he had every right to keep a few secrets. Any kind of ‘investigation’ into Ren felt like a betrayal of their friend.

Alex sighed as Rafe found her by her locker after first period, exchanging her math textbook for her science book. She knew he wanted to talk about Ren again. He came to her after every training session they had nowadays.

“Hey Sis, can we talk about Ren.”

Alex turned on her heel and walked away. “You know my position on it. I’m not interested in your theories.”

“Please, wait!” Alex felt Rafe’s hand on her shoulder, exerting just enough force to let her know he was using some adrenaline to keep her in place.

Alex tore his hand off her shoulder. “Really, why are you so desperate to prove something. If he wants to tell us something, he will.”

Rafe shook his head. “I’m not talking about that, I wanted to talk to you about Shion…and how he remembers her.”

Alex gave him an icy look. “You think that’s somehow better? You know what happened the last time we pried into his past right?” Alex grabbed him roughly. “He ran out of that room yesterday as soon as she saw him. Do you really think he wants us to pry into that?”

Rafe shook his head sadly. “I know that, I don’t want to hurt him, I just want to know my best friend.”

Alex left without another glance behind her. It might not be entirely fair, Rafe was genuinely trying to help Ren, but the last time they had pried into his past, they had seriously hurt him.

A year after Hawkthorne had adopted Ren, Alex and Rafe had already gotten close to him. It was different back then. There were no Guild responsibilities to manage, no training to do. All they did was hang out and have fun. Everything was working out until Alex had happened to overhear a conversation between Uncle Hawkthorne and her Dad.

It was a cold winter day, and they had all had dinner together. Rafe and Ren were playing upstairs, but Alex had to step out to use the bathroom. When she had heard the conversation turn to Ren, she got curious and listened. She hadn’t heard much, but she did hear that Ren had been living with a group of werewolves.

Eight-year-old Alex had immediately run upstairs and asked Ren all about it. She had expected him to tell her everything. Ren had always been happy to tell Alex anything. This time though, Ren’s face had gone stiff, and he had refused to say anything.

Made all the more curious by their friend’s unwillingness to talk, Alex and Rafe had decided to figure out what was wrong on their own. Rafe snuck into the Guild files—he was small then, so he was able to slip into their Dad’s office and take the file from the desk without being seen.

They had never looked into any of their Dad’s files before that. At the time, Alex had nightmares about the images they found in it, but it was the reports that still haunted her to this day. She had found the report on Ren’s tests and the conclusion that he had been abducted from one of the werewolves’ victims, and she had found the much longer report detailing the investigation into who his real parents might be.

The report had been lengthy. Both Drakesmith and Hawkthorne had clearly taken the case personally and had done everything they could to solve it. There were detailed records of the hit lists they had found in the basement. There had been dozens of names, and each had its own report. Ultimately, the conclusion had been written in Hawkthorne’s own bold writing: all names are werewolves. There was some speculation into why that was, but it seemed that they never really found an answer.

The next day, Alex had gone over to Hawkthorne’s place. She had confessed what they had done and tried to talk to Ren about it. He had not reacted well. When she had started talking about the details, he had started to have what seemed like a panic attack.

After that day, it had taken Ren weeks before he was even willing to talk to them again. Alex still remembered the pain she had seen in Ren’s eyes that day.

Alex knew that she herself could be accused of being somewhat forceful in her interference in her friends’ lives, but there was a line that she would not cross again. Alex was content with accepting Ren’s explanation of Shion at face value. She was even happy to not pry into his true reasons for not joining the Guild. Even if Ren never told them, Alex was willing to have faith that his reasons were good.

…

Rafe despised secrets. Alex may have been content to let their best friend do whatever he wanted, but Rafe was going to find out what was going on. It was clear to him that Ren was keeping something big bottled up.

Rafe simply couldn’t reconcile the passionate Ren who trained harder than anyone with the Ren who wouldn’t join the Guild and who ran from former acquaintances. Something was going on. Something had been going on for a long time—maybe even since before they met. What kind of friend could Rafe claim to be if he couldn’t even help his friend?

The rest of the day went by without incident. Shion walked into second period a little late, but she didn’t seem sick anymore. Rafe noted that Shion seemed a little less nervous around the group for some reason, but otherwise everything was relatively normal. After classes, Rafe decided to have a talk with Shion. Right now, she was his best lead into finding out what was going on with Ren.

Shion still had detention from the previous day, so, she was headed in the opposite direction as the rest of them, but Rafe made an excuse, claiming that he had to ask one of their teachers a question. Alex gave him a dirty look, but Rafe stubbornly ignored it.

When they got out of earshot, Rafe started up the conversation. “So, you knew Ren from when you were really young? How did you manage to recognize him after all these years?”

Shion smiled gently. “I actually wasn’t entirely sure until he reacted like he did.”

That was a lie. As part of their training, Rafe had been taught to look for the signs. Shion was a good liar. Most of the more obvious signs were hidden, but they were still there. A slight pause before her answer as though she had to think about it, a facial expression that showed she was actively suppressing her natural reaction. These were some of the clues that Rafe saw.

Rafe decided to press his advantage. Maybe he could find something out. “Why did you just lie to me?”

Shion’s face briefly held panic before she suppressed it again. “Well, I guess the truth is that he just seemed similar to what I remember.”

That was the truth, but it was frustratingly vague. Rafe would have liked to continue the conversation. He was even more certain that Shion knew what was going on with Ren than he was before, but unfortunately, his excuse had reached its limit. The teacher he had claimed to have a question for was walking down the hallway towards them. Just his luck.

Shion wasn’t going anywhere though. There would be other opportunities, and Rafe would find out what was going on eventually.

Rafe started back to the entrance. He really hoped that there weren’t any more werewolves to deal with today. He had had enough excitement of the supernatural variety for some time.