There's a rift in our friend group.

Obviously, Destiny and Sophie went to sit with Abby during lunch. Wherever they were. Jax sided with Abby- I know it's he who loves her. He who wouldn't get her love in return. Because, well, Abby confessed her undying love to me. Which I think I let her down politely, and told her we'd always be best friends. And there's mates. We have mates out there for us.

Yeah, she didn't take it too well given the fact that she slapped me and called me an "uber jerk who knows nothing".

I feel bad that Theo and Maddox have to choose between which friends they wanted to side with, but honestly I'm thankful I'm not alone.

"You know why I punched Jax the other day?" Theo asked biting his burger, sitting across from me, next to Maddox.

"Why?"

"Because Jax accused you of not being enough of an Alpha to deserve someone's love. In front of Abby, knowing her feelings for you."

I paused eating for a second, Maddox eyeing me, his liquid gray eyes reflecting his anger.

"That's why you had to drag me out of the cafeteria that other day," Theo continued, shrugging. "I don't care who it is, but no one will ever say anything bad about you in front of me."

Maddox signed.

"So I don't know why Jax thought it was okay- don't really care- but it wasn't and he knows I'll kick his-"

"West."

We all turned to see Blaine hesitantly there, trying to smile, but it coming off as a grimace. I chuckle at how alike sometimes the two cousins were. He was sporting a black eye, I've noted and wanted to talk to him about it without anyone listening so he'd feel more comfortable talking about it.

"Hey what's up," I greeted.

"Could I talk to you for a second?"

I glanced at my questioning friends, but nodded. "Of course." I got up, following him out the cafeteria.

"Who did that?" I asked, pointing at his eye. He looked shocked for a second, almost like he forgot it was there. "It looks kind of fresh. Not today...yesterday?" I knew what they looked like. I've caused them and I've been through them.

"No one," Blaine shook his head.

"Are you-"

"No one in this school."

He paused, looking up at me. I stared hard at him.

"Someone from your pack?" I asked carefully. Treading lightly.

Blaine didn't answer me. "Could we drop this?"

I wanted to push because whoever it was in his pack, was in Edith's pack too. What if he hurt Edith as well? The one in their pack could be hurting both of them. I didn't want to drop it. I wanted to go to their pack and demand who it was.

"I don't like it, Blaine," I told him truthfully. "The thought that someone in your pack is harming someone I care about."

And I couldn't ask Edith. She wouldn't give me anything ever.

"Thanks for your concern, but I can handle it."

"Never said you couldn't," I said. "Just..." With that black eye at his pack, and the known bullying, I wonder how he's doing. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" I realized I followed him inside the freshman locker area.

He looked directly at a locker in which someone spray painted:

I closed my eyes, and took in a deep breath counting till ten.

"You don't know who did this?" my voice was low.

"Don't- you can't- don't tell Edith."

I sighed. I was going to respect his wishes. "You should tell her."

"I know with you, if I loom that over your head you won't say anything."

"Tell her or I will. You know who's doing this, don't you?" Blaine looked down. What was with it and these cousins being so secretive? "So let me get this straight."

There must have been something in my tone because Blaine's head snapped up, and I was being stern with him. "You won't tell me who gave you the black eye. You won't tell me who did it. You won't give me anything. My motto isn't to always fight- I know everyone thinks I do- but I don't. Only when someone is deserving, then I do. I mean, come on, Alphas always fight. It's in our blood. I just use it on crap wolves unlike the Alphas who just use it mostly on everyone." I took a deep breath. "But this is one of those times, Blaine, that it's fair to fight."

"I don't want a problem."

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?" his voice sounded small, all he needed was a hug. So I did. He took it by surprise, but patted me lightly.

My mouth went to a straight line, and I was completely serious. "But if you ever want to fight? Make sure I'm the first one you call for help."

After getting one of the janitor's to help rub the paint off, and without Edith knowing, the weekend was so close, Theo jumped me a huge one.

"Please can you come over home with me. You know how much my parents love you. How much Nora wants to see you too."

"Using your adorable little sister on me is foul play."

"You know how awkward it is when I'm there." Theo shook his head, looking at his feet. I sighed.

"Okay fine. Only because I get to see my second parents and little sister."

Theo grinned at me.

Since Theo told me this on such a short notice, I told him he had to help me pack up. My black Adidas duffel bag was hiding in the corner of my small closet, and even though we were going to spend two nights there, I had to pack a lot. In case. Anything can happen.

"You pack like a she-wolf," Theo grunted at the size of my duffel bag compared to his small book bag.

"You have all your clothes in your room at home."

I started the engine.

When we arrive to Theo's, about a four hour drive, I parked my car next to the fountain in the driveway.

Grabbing my bag from the trunk Theo looks over at me making a face. "Here we go," he muttered.

"It's not going to be bad," I assured him as we got to the front steps and Theo unlocked the door.

Theo's parents were rich. Like rich rich. Intimidatingly so. Dad is well off and can cater to everyone's needs, but Uncle Grayson is really living the lavish life.

"Theo!" we hear a high pitched voice. Theo's younger sister, Nora, is probably the cutest thing on this planet. She has one of her front teeth missing. She jumps on her brother hugging him and squealing in the way that pups do.

She jumps on me too, "West you are here!"

Aunt Julia comes from behind Nora and squishes her son to death, something she has in common with Mom. When she looks over at me her face lights up and she hugs me too.

Currently, I'm in a custody battle between who is my godparents between Uncle Bo and Aunt Julia. I told them I considered both of them to be my godparents, but they wouldn't have that. They needed me to choose the favorite. Uncle Bo joked that one of them gets one twin and the other gets the other twin.

"Hey Aunt Julia," I greeted her. "How's it going?"

"Everything is going well," Aunt Julia smiled, but it was tight.

"What's wrong, Mom?"

The doorbell rang.

Aunt Julia sighed, "Alpha....Kade is here."

"Er...." Theo shook his head when Uncle Grayson, descending down the large stairs wearing an all black attire spots us.

He doesn't give out hugs. Ever. Only to aunt Julia or Nora does he actually hug them, or sometimes will see, but Uncle Grayson is crazy. That's where Theo gets his crazy from. Wild and unpredictable. The best words I'd describe someone like Uncle Grayson.

Instead of the hug, he pats us in the back and asks us how we are. Uncle Grayson is the definition of tough love. Theo's awkwardness and stiffness around his parents makes me want to be as normal as possible. He's been tense with his parent recently, and I just want to help Theo out, but it's hard because both his parents will know what's going up. One time they even asked me what was going on with Theo.

"Why is Alpha Kade here?" I whispered even though werewolves' hearing is enhanced.

"Wouldn't I like to know." Uncle Grayson told Aunt Julia to take Nora to bed and he'd come later. Aunt Julia stood there for a second.

"Grayson."

"I won't do anything to him," but Uncle Grayson's tone and his devilish smile said otherwise.

Finally, Aunt Julia left with Nora who was crying because she had to leave, and Uncle Grayson opened the door for Kade.

"What a most unpleasant surprise," Uncle Grayson greeted, his voice filled with dislike.

"I know you don't like me much," Alpha Kade began. Smarter than he looked. "But I need to know."

Uncle Grayson stood there and Alpha Kade looked at Theo and I. "They will stay," Uncle Grayson said to him, but he didn't budge the door any more open or to let Kade in.

"Aren't you going to invite me in, Grayson?" Kade asked.

"No," Uncle Grayson replied. "Because then you'd think it was okay for you to be here in the first place."

Kade's glacial green eyes fixated on Uncle Grayson. There's no way Kade would be stupid enough to start a fight, right? Theo exhaled slightly.

"You harbored my mate in your home before."

"I did." Uncle Grayson shrugged.

"Now she's missing!"

Uncle Grayson glanced at where Theo and I are. "What does that have to do with me?"

"You would know where Tiffany is."

"I don't," Uncle Grayson said. "Is that all because good night-"

"I think she got kidnapped by rogues."

Uncle Grayson hesitated for a second, obviously not wanting to deal with it. But deep down inside, he was a good one. "Rogues?" Uncle Grayson sighed, stepping aside to let Kade inside.

After Aunt Julia fed us, and we took showers and chilled for a second, both Theo and I realized how tired we actually were, so we fell asleep before knowing what was going on with Kade's drama. All I know was that they talked for a while.

Theo had a nice futon that turned into a bed where I slept, and I found myself sleeping pretty early, around midnight as Theo and I talked.

Morning came too soon because when I woke up, something didn't feel right.

"Theo?" I asked, staring up at the wall, not wanting to check my phone.

"Yeah?" his voice came out sleepy, but I knew he was a light sleeper.

"What...time is it?" I asked slowly but not in the hundred times I've spent the night at Theo's have we not woken up at 5 AM and did training.

I hear Theo fall off the bed- the other side, thankfully. "It's 7:09!" he exclaimed, looking wide eyed at me and I sprung up too, putting on my shirt while Theo rummaged through his pile of clothes that were everywhere.

"We're late!" he shouted.

"Late late!"

We both rushed out of his room, going downstairs and flying through the back porch to get to the training grounds.

For a moment, I secretly wished that Uncle Grayson would not have anything planned. That, well, you know, we'd have one day to sleep in.

In true fashion, wolves were already there. Sparring, running and doing weights.

"Well well," Uncle Grayon's drawl caused Theo and I to exchange glances and swallow hard.

We turned around and his physique impressive, as he crossed his arms having his dark eyes trained on us, his lip curling into a smirk.

"Good morning," I managed to say cheerfully because, hey, manners and my parents raised me right.

"You know what you two lack?" he asked. This was the Alpha Grayson, the one who ran a tight reign over his pack.

Sleep?

"You lack discipline." Oh boy. Here we are. "I thought that maybe you would wake up earlier, but instead you decide to sleep in. So I let you, of course, to see what might happen. And I was right, you guys would sleep in."

Only in Uncle Grayson's world is 7 AM sleeping in.

We were quiet for a second before Uncle Grayson shook his head. "What are you pups waiting for? You're on patrol all day."

Theo and I groaned, and all the other wolves in his pack, nosy, heard it and laughed.

"This sucks."

Theo shook his head. "Dad knows you can't shift and therefore I can't shift so we actually have to walk around his pack by foot where it will take us the entire day."

"Did you bring food?" I asked hopefully.

"As hardcore as Dad is, he cooked us some lo mein."

"That is love right there."

Theo took a deep breath and looked away. "I don't know how to tell them, West."

"They love you," I assured him, knowing full well my Aunt Julia and Uncle Grayson did. "They'll love you no matter what."

"Why can't I just say it?" Theo laughed at the absurdity of it. "I can't tell my own parents and it feels like I just- like I'm living a lie whenever I come home and I'm around them."

"You know your parents love Uncle Bo and Sargon."

"But I feel like it'll be different with their own son. Hi Mom and Dad I just wanted to tell you I'm bisexual. Yep. That's the entire point. Hate me? Cool I'll live with West for the rest of my life."

"Maybe that's a start."

Theo gave me a look.

"Look, I can say this really- your parents are literally my second parents- you being scared of what will happen won't do you any good. You're you, Theo. You're crazy, crazy Theo. My other brother. My best friend. The one who I'd trust with my life. The one who always has my back. Breaker of chains, king of the andals-"

"Okay now you can just shut up," Theo pushed me and we pushed each other around for a minute before Theo decided to lay on the grass.

I joined him.

"What if he comes here and tells us to keep training?"

"I can mask our scents," I told him. Mom and Uncle Sargon taught me to use some nifty tricks when doing magic.

"Nah."

"This messes up Homecoming," Theo chuckled. "The whole thing with Abby."

"I'm not going to go," I said, having a feeling that Edith wasn't going. Penelope had to get a run down about how my group broke up. Like a broken boy band. The One Direction of the werewolf community.

Theo sat up. "What?"

"Just go with Abby and them. They already reserved everything. Let's not have three people not go. I'm really not interested in going."

Theo's stare made me roll my eyes. "You'll have fun. More fun that I will."

"You shouldn't do this just because of Abb-"

"I'm not," I repeated. "Really, I'm not. You guys should go and have a normal Homecoming."

"Normal," Theo snorted. "I'd love to have normal."

"You do, you crazy wolf."

Theo smiled. "You know, I am crazy. Won't fight you on that. But I'm more scared of you."

"Me?" I raised an eyebrow. My best friend was the one to be feared. As much as Theo didn't see it, I saw a lot of resemblance between him and Uncle Grayson.

"Let's just say I never want to see you truly angry." Theo took a breath. "You never get angry and I don't want to see the day."

We had to leave Theo's place after breakfast on Sunday because I had to drop off Theo at the dorms and meet my grandpa who told me he'd meet me because I wanted to see him and wanted to ask him a question about the vampire that was in cahoots with Edith and I.

Grandpa Damien would do anything for his grandchildren. That much I knew when he stayed at the pack with Mom to help as much as he could when Wyatt and I were born. He would always tell me the story about him running from halfway across the world to see us getting delivered. He though the had at least two weeks left, but that didn't happen and messed up everyone's plans.

There was something about pups, ones that he considered blood, that had him stay for a month with us, and constantly visited us. We'd visit him too all the time. My fondest memories were growing up with grandpa Damien because he would spoil us rotten.

This was much to the vexation of the other vampires. Having werewolves in their property. But they learned to live with it with Dad as he was growing up, but the strong dislike still exists.

I insisted we go to a coffee shop halfway between the dorms and his home, knowing he loved coffee and I needed it to be studying late tonight. It would be too much of a travel if he came all the way to me or I came all the way to him.

After our greetings, and catching up with my very boring life, I asked him if he knew anything about the resident vampire I didn't trust.

"Nicholas Greene?" he asked. "Never heard of him"

"Well," I drawled. "He was just, I guess, what do you say, in the neighborhood?"

Gramps gave me a long look with his gray eyes. "You know when you're serious you are exactly like your father."

I stuck my tongue out in fake disgust, making Gramps laugh.

"But overall your are exactly like you're Uncle, Zeke. And a sprinkle of your mother in both you and Wyatt."

"Wyatt..." I trailed off. Gramps was the only one I could tell.

"This might be the time where Wyatt is trying to find himself without you. Trying to be out of your shadow. You already know who you are. Wyatt has only you to look up to. He needs to find himself without you."

"Do you think he hates me?" I didn't know what happened that Wyatt just stopped talking to me. Theo was my best friend and we're together for majority of the time, but with Wyatt since we had telepathy - something that freaked Mom out all the time. I could feel when Wyatt was hurting and vice versa. So it hurt when I couldn't know the reason why right now my twin brother was hurting.

"No," Gramps shook his head. "I don't think anyone could hate you."

"You'd be surprised," I snorted, thinking of my own mate.

"Well maybe if you don't punch your classmates-"

I groaned. "Dad told you!?"

"I was going to speak with you eventually about it. Might have made a trip to your school, but everything has been so busy lately, I haven't had time to see my favorite two people in the world."

"Me and Wyatt?"

"Your dad and mother." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Okay, okay, yes, my only grandchildren."

As we both had to leave, Gramps pulled out a hundred dollar bill.

"Gramps." My parents would kill me. Anytime Gramps came, and tried giving us money, my mom would swat it away from me.

"Take it."

"Bu-"

"West Stryder do not fight with me." His tone was stern- pretty sure he used it on his fellow vampires, so I took it begrudgingly. "Maybe you can take a pretty she-wolf out on a date, eh?"

I think of Edith, and I started to smile, but tried not to. If anyone would know anything that is up with me, Gramps picks it up in five milliseconds.

"What are you smiling about?" Gramps asked, "you have someone in your life? Your mate?"

I hesitate. "It's complicated, Gramps."

"I've lived for two hundred years. Try me."

"See, everyone doesn't like me. As much as you'd like to think so. As much as you guys think-" something got stuck in my throat.

Gramps sighed, shaking his head. "No one is perfect, West. It's just because sometimes we love someone so much to us they are perfect in any way. Flaws included. I think your Dad and Uncle Zeke is perfect and I know for sure my grandchildren are. You all are perfect. To me. So never change or be disheartened."

Since he's so sincere, I only nod, taking a sip of my lukewarm coffee. Mates were meant for each other. I had to make Edith see that.