A tight feeling in my chest woke me up from a dreamless sleep. It was still dark outside, Matt was lying on his side, his back pressed against my chest, sound asleep. I rubbed my chest, looking around the room for the cause of this weird feeling. My wolf was pacing in my head nervously, telling me something just wasn’t right.

I didn’t think it was an intruder… One could hardly break into a house with three werewolves without being heard. And the weird feeling creeping up my chest didn’t feel like a threat, it felt like… restlessness, frustration. I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the house. Four heartbeats, Matt’s soft breathing, Scott’s snoring… and quiet measured breaths, creaking of the floorboards from downstairs. Why the hell was Yuri up at this hour?

Careful not to wake Matt up, I got out of the bed, pulled on some shorts, and headed downstairs soundlessly. To my surprise, I found Yuri fully awake doing push-ups in the dark of the living room. His almost fully naked skin gleamed with sweat so he was probably going at it for some time now. Guess I found the cause of my unease.

“We run for almost four hours every day. What are you doing?” I said, startling him a bit. He jumped to his feet, his eyes wide in the darkness as he took in my form in the shadows of the stairs.

“Did I wake you? Sorry, I thought I was being quiet enough…” he said without an explanation and went back to more push-ups.

“No, you’re quiet enough, I was just…” feeling your anxiety and frustration through our bond. He looked up at me with a raised eyebrow as the pause stretched. “Never mind.” We didn’t talk about that. We conveniently pretended nothing was wrong. One issue at a time, Reid.

With a sigh, I grabbed myself a cup of water, draining it while I watched Yuri workout. Of course, he would be restless, right? We still needed to find the witch, and the vampires were ignoring us, and the Silver heart pack still wanted more territory from the Ghealach pack… Everything was a mess. It was logical he would be frustrated, right?

I rubbed at my chest some more, my wolf growling softly in my head. Damn it, did Father feel the emotions of every single wolf in the Ghealach pack? How did he not go crazy from that? I set the cup aside and without a word went down next to him, matching his pace with my own push-ups. He stopped for a second just looking at me, then continued. Push-ups, crunches, squats… we went through a whole workout, the only time we spoke was to give each other pointers or decide on the next thing. Slowly but surely, the tight feeling in my chest disappeared.

The sun was slowly rising by the time we stopped, just lying on the cold floor side by side, breathing heavily, covered in sweat. “You and Alistair had a talk, at the hotpot,” he said into the quiet of the room.

“Is that what’s been bothering you?” I asked carefully.

“I… Do you… Will you…?” He frowned at the ceiling, his muscles tensing then relaxing again as he thought about something hard. I waited patiently and rubbed my arm. It felt stiff… It was the one that got hit by the magical arrow of that horrible witch. Sometimes it just started aching randomly.

“I want to know what you were talking about,” he said in the end. “You looked worried after you came back. I waited if maybe you would share it with me, but… you didn’t. I want to know what bothers you, what you’re always thinking about… I want to know so I can help. I’m your best friend, yeah? If nothing else…” The last words were spoken softly and kind of sadly. If nothing else… What else did he wish to be to me? Oh. Reid you idiot. An alpha always shared everything with his beta, his right hand, his second in command.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, cringing as pain shot into my arm. “Your shoulder’s hurting,” he said because he was obviously much more observant than me. “Come here, I can help.”

I was ready to say I was fine and get back on topic but he grabbed my healthy arm and dragged me to the couch. I gave up and sat down with my back to him and let him work my shoulder. Because obviously while I’ve been enjoying my stay in Silver Springs he became a chiropractor or whatever. It felt quite good, I had to admit that.

No Reid! No getting distracted, we were on a serious topic! “Father and I were talking about the vampires,” I said. “He asked me to talk to Daniel…” He froze and I flinched as his fingers dug a bit too deep into my shoulder.

“Sorry,” he said and rubbed my shoulder soothingly. He was quiet for a while, then: “So? Will you? You still owe him your blood.”

Yeah, a deal Yuri very much disapproved of. When I agreed to it it didn’t seem like a big deal. I guess I was getting cold feet now. “Well if there is any chance he can get us a meeting with Baltazar, then I don’t have a choice.”

“You won’t meet him alone right?”

“Can you sit still while he sucks my blood?” I asked. “You can’t attack him.” He just grumbled angrily. I could feel his scowl on my back. “I don’t want to meet him any more than you do, but Baltazar is being a pussy, all hauled up in his castle,” I growled.

“I won’t attack him,” he said through a clenched jaw. “But I can’t promise I won’t growl and promise him endless suffering.”

I snorted out a laugh. Yeah, he hated Daniel. “Right. I’ll call him today.” He didn’t complain, just kept working my shoulder accompanied by the cry of crows outside. I groaned as his fingers found a sweet spot and my whole shoulder melted.

“What are you doing?” Matt’s sleepy voice suddenly sounded by the stairs. Yuri’s hands immediately disappeared. “It’s like seven am…” Matt yawned and went into the kitchen.

“We were working out a bit and my shoulder started acting up. Thanks for the message Yuri, it helped.” I smiled at him, but he was looking at the ground with a weird expression on his face.

“Working out? Don’t you have your first day of work today?” Matt frowned at us over his cup of water.

Yuri made a surprised face then smacked me over the head. “Hey!” I yelped, confused.

“Why the hell were you here with me? You should’ve gotten a good rest before your work.” He glared at me. Sheesh, he worried way too much about me. To be honest though, I enjoyed all the attention. I ruffled his hair with a smile, hoping he knew how much I appreciated him.

Since I got up so early I had a lot of time for a shower and leisurely breakfast before I had to drive to work.