Lilith had been accurate when she said that I should expect to see Alec very soon. In fact, after a shower later that evening, I saw the young boy standing almost nervously near the entrance of the living room. Clearly Hannes had been the one to let him in, since Willow and Jeremiah were not present.

Hannes stood beside him, and appeared to be attempting to engage in a conversation with the boy, but I noticed Alec’s skittish behavior and his darting eyes. That anxiousness only seemed to ease when he saw me approaching, and I gave him a small smile, which he returned, before launching forward and wrapping his arms around my waist.

I patted his back before taking several steps backwards and examining him. Despite the smile on his lips, I could see a tinge of sorrow in his eyes. His cheeks were flushed, as if he’d ran to the house and I glanced at Hannes who stood silently behind me, observing us and I smirked briefly. So much for having the entire house to ourselves for the day.

I looked back at Alec. “Did your father not come with you?” I asked, crouching so that I was the same height as him, and at the same eye-level. He leaned closer to me as he explained,

“No. My father’s preparing dinner with Lilith back home.” Alec said.

Hannes walked by us, and I noticed the way Alec’s gaze followed the lycan, and then saw that Alec’s fingers began scratching at his wrist, but it did not seem as if there was something irritating his skin. Rather, the action seemed to be a slightly nervous habit.

“He scares me.” He muttered. I blinked, looking between Alec and then where Hannes had gone into; the kitchen.

“What do you mean?”

Alec shrugged a shoulder, the scratching at his wrist ceasing when I placed a hand against his fingers. The skin there was beginning to turn red. “He’s so tall.” Alec mumbled. “And big.”

I nodded, but sent him a reassuring smile. “He’s fine.” I straightened, and Alec caught ahold of my hand, interlacing my fingers with his own small ones as I walked with him to the living room.

“Lilith said you were really sick.” Alec spoke to me again once we rested on a soft, large, fluffy carpet near the fireplace. He placed a hand against my forehead and I fought smiling at the cute, concerned expression on his face. “Are you feeling better?”

“I am fine.” I told him, firmly. Alec watched me for a second longer and nodded, satisfied.

“So what have you been up to?” I asked, leaning backwards to rest on my elbows and gaze at the boy, who shuffled on his hands and knees closer to the fireplace and rested on his back beside me.

“My dad was making me study some of his books. He was a teacher and has a whole bunch of textbooks.” Alec’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t like ’em.”

I laughed softly. “My mother would often make me read many books, and they included a variety of topics. Most of them had been the books she’d used in school, textbooks.”

Alec rolled on his stomach to face me. “Which one was your favorite?” He asked. “Did you have to study Mathematics?”

I snorted and my mind flashed to the past as I remembered a big, green bag my mother would often carry with her. Inside of it were mostly the textbooks which I spoke of, and I’d initially struggled with learning the content, as the words were at times complicated and held meanings that I struggled to understand. However, as time passed, and with the assistance of my mother, I came to understand them, as well as any other information in the books.

Whenever my parents and myself got shelter or moved houses after being forced to leave the previous ones, my mother would often pounce on me and encourage me to read the books. I eagerly did so, as they would take my mind, for the most part, off of what was happening around me. My father and mother had taught me to read and write.

“Indeed, I had to study Mathematics, but not entirely in-depth as my mother would have preferred me to,” I told Alec. “And my favorite book was one to do with biology.”

Alec stuck out his lower lip in concentration. “I don’t think I have studied that yet.”

The floor creaked behind us and Alec turned his head around so fast that I worried he may have experienced whiplash. I rested a hand against his back, concerned as he stared up at the Alpha.

My eyes traveled to a large plate in Hannes’ hands, and I watched as Hannes gestured with a tilt of his head that Alec go and look at it. Hannes couldn’t speak, as his mouth was full since he was clearly eating, and Alec stood slowly, glancing back at me and then at Hannes.

He looked at what was on the plate, which turned out to be a slice of pizza, one of the few that Hannes had managed not to eat. Alec pressed a hand against his chest and peered up at Hannes. “For me?”

Hannes nodded once, jaw working almost aggressively as he continued to eat, and just as I thought Alec was going to decline, the boy snatched a slice off the plate, eyes widening in glee. He looked back up at Hannes. “I love pepperoni pizza.” Alec cradled the food in his hand. “Thank you.”

Hannes nodded again, finally swallowing. His eyes went to my face. “I’ll be in the kitchen.” He said. I watched as he left and then turned my attention to Alec, who returned by my side and began eating the pizza. His eyes skipped around the room, and a spark seemed to flare in them when he saw the television.

“You have a television!” Alec grinned widely. “My father and I don’t have one in our house.”

I watched as he, still holding the pizza in one hand, stood and walked to the remote, returning only to sit beside me once more when the television came on. He seemed to understand how to work the remote far more than I did, and he eventually settled on a show, one which seemed to include a laugh track every ten minutes or so when someone dropped a ‘witty’ or funny comment.

Alec ended up spending the entire evening with me in the living room, and I saw that he eventually began to fall asleep by the time the night had arrived. I gently shook him awake, and he stared at me with sleepy eyes before something seemed to click in his mind, and he quickly sprung to his feet.

“Dad must be worried.” Alec mumbled, rubbing at his eyes whilst walking hurriedly to the door that would eventually lead outside. I placed a hand on his shoulder before he could kneel to pull on his boots, and he looked at me in question as I asked,

“Has everything been okay?”

Alec blinked, looking confused but then realization crossed his features. His smile was forced and I felt my heart clench almost painfully in my chest.

“I’m okay.” Alec scratched at his wrist. “My father took me to some guy named Alan this morning, and we talked a lot about what I saw in town. I may have to go to him again tomorrow.”

“Alan?” I gently pressed. Alec nodded.

“Yeah. My dad said he’s a therapit.”

“A therapist.” I corrected, surprised. “I wasn’t sure if there were any in the pack.”

Alec nodded, and crouched down to slip on his boots. Hannes left the kitchen and said he’d walk Alec to the front door and have someone make sure he got home.

However, Alec paused before he left, and I watched him, confused, as he patted along his pockets and then withdrew a small, white card. He handed it over to me. “Alan gave this to me. I asked him for it.”

I flipped the small, hard card over and looked at the printed words. It included the name of the therapist, Alan Mitchell, and his number.

“Maybe you could visit him too. What I saw scared me and I’m sure you probably think about it and it troubles you too. Well, that and other things.”

My eyes jerked to Alec’s after he spoke, shocked, but he gave me a small smile as Hannes handed Alec his coat. He gave one last wave to me as Hannes opened the door. Alec called to me, “Goodnight Olivia.”

***************

The next morning, I listened halfheartedly as Athena babbled on about a recipe she wanted to try. It was something regarding food for lunch, and she was directing most of her attention to both Jeremiah and Willow. Jeremiah looked utterly exasperated but Willow chose to place a polite smile on her lips.

My eyes flickered to the necklace around Athena’s neck, and I couldn’t help but notice that it was decorated with what looked to be fangs. I looked twice to ensure that they were truly fangs, but I didn’t bother to ask who they belonged to. I feared I may be slightly horrified if she revealed that to me.

So I dragged my attention away from her necklace and to the card in my hand, the one which Alec had given me yesterday. It had been incredibly sweet of him to do so, and I was thankful that he did. I now knew I had the option to visit the therapist if I chose to.

There were many troubling memories I have of my past, and they do affect me. I couldn’t deny the strong stress I felt whenever I recalled these memories. My fingers gripped the card tighter when Willow suddenly asked me, sharply,

“What is that?” She was over by my side in seconds, and I gave her a short glare of warning. She read it hastily and then winced.

“Oh.” She muttered. Jeremiah and Athena were both looking our way now, but nonetheless I slipped the card into the pocket of my pants and stood from the chair I had been sitting on.

“So you were thinking of making a casserole?” I asked Athena. She didn’t immediately speak however, but watched me for a while, not too long to make it awkward, and eventually nodded.

“Yes. I saw a recipe for a creamy chicken and rice casserole online and wanted to make some for everyone.” Athena’s eyes traveled over each of us in the room. “Hannes can have some when he returns this afternoon.”

Hannes had left shortly after his mother had arrived, to go to Elijah’s office. I nodded my head, wrapping my hand around a mug steaming with tea, tea which Athena had made for me. My eyes darted to Athena’s necklace and this time she perked up once she saw I was looking at it, smirked, but said nothing regarding it.

“It’s lovely to see you walking around, Olivia.” Athena instead commented, watching as I circled the kitchen table, all the while drinking the tea. “Perhaps you will have the strength to join the hunting next week after all.”

I mhmed, eyeing her and that necklace again before finishing off the tea and washing the mug. “You and Lilith seem very eager to have me come.”

Athena’s smile was wide. “Of course! All of the hunters and myself are. You will enjoy it immensely. Not everything will be gory, I promise you.”

I paused. “Gory?”

Athena just continued smiling. I heard Jeremiah clear his throat, and I glanced at him. He sent the woman a passive look, and then turned to me.

“Your training will need to resume soon as well. Perhaps early next week we could start off slowly.”

Willow sent me an almost chastising look when I began to grimace playfully, and I bumped my shoulder with her own, hoping it would bring a smile on her face, but then I frowned when a shot of pain went through mine after the act. It was then I saw her a smirk, and I rolled my eyes before looking at Athena.

“Will we get started on the casserole now then?”