Sebastian was pulled back to the present by a frightened whimper. He looked back at Luke who was still staring at Edmund with a decent amount of fear now. His breathing was becoming irregular and he was shaking slightly with nerves. Seb mentally cursed again and moved into the boy’s line of sight to distract him from Eddie’s eyes.

“Luke, hey, it’s okay. Breathe buddy, breathe.”

He coached him through the same breathing exercises he and Ed always used. Only touching Luke when he got consent in the form of a nod, which allowed him to hold the poor kid as he calmed down.

“I- I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything,” Seb replied quickly, but Luke shook his head.

“You- you guys are going to- you are going- you are going to be in a lot of trouble because of me,” Luke stuttered.

“Calm down, Lu. What do you mean by trouble?”

“My dad, the Wiker pack alpha, he’s not going to be happy,” Luke answered and Sebastian felt like the air had been knocked from his lungs.

Luke’s dad was a werewolf. The alpha of the pack that they’d specifically been avoiding for nearly a month now. Was Luke a werewolf? He knew Ed was one now, would he tell his dad? Were Troy, Mark and Reggie wolves? That would explain their eyes – although he didn’t know why they were yellow instead of blue. Shit, this was really not good.

“Seb?” Edmund called.

Sebastian looked up and saw his eyes were back to normal now and full of concern. “We shouldn’t stay here. This isn’t a good place to have a confrontation if those guys come back.”

Ed nodded and Seb felt Luke nodding too. He carefully got up with the younger teen still in his arms clinging like a koala. They all clambered into the truck and Edmund started it up.

“Where do we go?”

“My house,” Sebastian decided.

He didn’t know where else they could go in this kind of situation. Ed’s house was kind of out of the way and they couldn’t just rock up at the Emporium like this. Actually, he needed to call Hayden and Persephone, they’d have a better idea of how to handle things.

Seb fished his phone out of his pocket and desperately made a call to Persephone. When she didn’t pick up by the third attempt, he switched to calling Hayden. Four attempts later he tried calling Lydia, only to get the same result of no one picking up. He was feeling a little panicked now, but with how upset Eddie and Luke were, he couldn’t let that get the better of him just yet.

“Luke? Are those three wolves too?” He asked.

Luke nodded. “They- they’ll tell him. He’s going to be angry with you- and me- we're gonners.”

“I know you’re freaking out right now, Luke, but it will be okay.”

“No- no- he'll kill you. Just like- just like-” Luke choked on a sob and Sebastian held him tighter.

“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.”

He glanced over at Edmund who was staring blankly at the road ahead. His knuckles looked almost white with how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel. They really didn’t know what Luke’s dad would do, but if his own son was fearing death, then the situation didn’t exactly seem good.

Luke wasn’t even directly involved with hiding Edmund’s wolfness. Yet he was convinced his father would kill all three of them for it. This added on to what Sebastian previously thought of the boy’s dad as making him out to be a real piece of shit.

Suddenly, someone ran into the road and Ed had to bring the car to a jolting stop to avoid colliding with them. Before Edmund could try going past them or even reversing, more people came and surrounded the car. Sebastian counted eight in total, but there could have been others hiding nearby.

“Get out of the car.” The woman who’d run into the road demanded.

“Uh, nope,” Sebastian replied.

Luke whimpered. “It’s them.”

Seb didn’t understand at first, but then he noticed the yellow glow of the woman’s eyes. These people must be a part of the Wiker pack.

“Just give us the kid, and then you’re free to get out of our territory,” the woman bargained.

“Hell no,” Edmund snapped.

“Why you little-” the woman cut herself off and backed away.

Sebastian looked over and saw Eddie’s eyes were blue again. It seemed to be intimidating the woman and the others surrounding the car too. Luke also seemed to be affected by it if the way he was practically burying himself against Sebastian’s chest counted for anything.

“He isn’t your pack member. Hand him over.” The woman demanded after regaining her confidence. “You don’t want things to get violent.”

Edmund growled, Luke whimpered and Sebastian tensed, but nobody moved to do anything. The Wiker pack was standing their ground but so were the boys. Then a teenage girl stepped to the woman’s side.

“You won’t get anywhere with those pitiful threats, Odilia.”

The woman – Odilia? – glared at the girl who Seb now recognised. It was Luke’s older sister, Megan? He couldn’t remember her name. She was pointedly ignoring the older woman’s disapproval and instead looked into the car at the boys. Particularly Luke. Sebastian thought he saw relief flash in her eyes, but she was quick to cover the emotion up; if it had even been there in the first place.

“You are trespassing on Wiker land and have abducted our omega. We would have your heads under normal circumstances, but it seems that you want to challenge the authority here.”

“Challenge?” Odilia asked, seemingly as confused as the boys.

Megan – or was it Marcie? – rolled her eyes and gestured to Edmund. “Why else would an Alpha invade our territory?”

Sebastian was feeling more confused by the second at this point, but at least it seemed like they weren’t going to be killed. Not yet anyway.

Marcie – Michelle? It defiantly started with an M – turned back to addressing the boys. “Our Alpha accepts your challenge. Come to the dryad’s circle at dusk, or you will be hunted down.”

With those words, M made a motion with her hand and the group dispersed, leaving the boys in the truck as if nothing had just happened. But Sebastian could feel the rapid beat of his adrenaline-fuelled heart and Luke shivering against him. Everything that had just happened may feel like a nightmare, but this time Sebastian couldn’t wake up, because this was reality.

Then, something M said clicked. “Did she say you’re an Alpha?”