*****

*Corey*

"Why are you all staring at me?" I frowned not looking at Trent, Sean and Kaden as I spoke to them. I did not have to look at them to know their eyes were on me because I could feel it, their gazes were practically burning into me.

"We're not..." Kaden mumbled.

"Yes, you are." I sent a quick glare his way.

"Well, it's just that this is... new," Sean said.

"What is new?" I asked a little annoyed but still didn't look up from the TV screen as I played Grant Theft Auto.

"You. Here. At night. Not drunk... It's a little weird." Kaden said. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't drink that much."

"You've become an alcoholic within the past week, Corey," Hayley said as she laid down on the carpet beside me.

"No, I haven't. I was just letting loose... But I'm not going to anymore because I can't take any more hangovers." I shuddered remembering how nauseous I had felt in the past few days. The worst part was not even having the memory of how I became so drunk while suffering through the next day.

"That's it? Or is it because it's making you spend more time with a certain someone?" Izabella winked at me. I gave her a side glance in confusion as everyone chuckled at her words before I smirked.

"Are you marked yet? When am I becoming a Godfather?" I asked, her smile dropped, her cheeks turning crimson along with Sean's as everyone laughed.

"Shut up," she said.

I opened my mouth to respond but stopped when a voice caught my ear. It was Jayden, outside with Finn. I frowned. I didn't like that guy. Human or not.

"It's cool," I heard Jayden's insistent voice.

"Are you sure you're alright? It looks pretty bad, Jay. I really think you should go to hospital –" I got up narrowing my eyes. Was he hurt? What happened?

"Corey –" Izabella followed me to the door before I swung it open.

"Hello." I greeted not smiling at Finn, Jayden's back was facing me, Finn's front with an old white Toyota behind him.

"Hey..." Finn smiled, I wanted to punch him just for that and I didn't understand why. He was being friendly, he had not done anything to provoke me. Except that. His hand was on Jayden's arm. For some reason that angered me. "Uhm... I'll see you, Jay. Seriously, get that checked out." Finn smiled at Jayden who nodded before Finn got into the car and drove off.

"'You should go to hospital'. Why?" I asked quoting Finn from earlier.

"No reason, he's just over-reacting." Jayden shrugged before he tried to get into the house by speed-running by me. I caught him easily though, my hand grabbing his shoulder as the other grabbed his jaw and turned his face to mine.

I heard Izabella gasp from beside me once we saw the damage, I didn't even react. I just stared at his swollen, purplish eye before my eyes fell to the cut on his lip.

"Guys? Everything alright or did you all get killed?!" Trent joked as he walked in but he stopped when his eyes fell on Jayden. "What the hell happened to your face?" He whispered.

"Nothing," Jayden tried to push my hand away from his face but I grabbed his wrist.

"Who?" I asked. I didn't know why, but I wanted to hurt whoever did this. He didn't heal fast! Why would anyone hurt him anyway? Wasn't he nice to everyone? He was, it didn't make any sense to me that anyone would want to hurt him.

"No one." He mumbled.

I opened my mouth but shut it. He might have been an Omega but he was still much stronger than a human. So this had to be a werewolf and since he was not just telling us what happened, it had to mean no one hurt him in a robbery or anything, he was not even making excuses like that. He did not seem too shaken by the injuries or what happened. Was it not surprising? Could that mean that he knew who the person was that had beat him up?

"Jayden," I spoke slowly, carefully.

"No one." He repeated.

'Is it one of them? The people you mentioned this morning?' I linked him. He didn't look at me, but the way he tensed gave me his answer. 'You know they'll only come back, Jayden.' I pushed.

'Why do you care?!' He snapped glaring up at me.

"Could you two stop linking?" Hayley asked. I decided to ignore her.

'Who was it?' I asked calmly, trying to get him to understand that I wasn't asking because I wanted to hurt him. I didn't really have any idea why I wanted to know so badly, but I knew it wasn't because I wanted to use it against him. I wasn't going to do that. I wanted to hurt them. 'Tell me, Jayden.'

'My father.' Before I could even react he shoved my hands from him and left the room. I turned to look at where he had just left through. What?

"Corey! What did you do?!" Izabella glared at me.

"Nothing." I walked towards the hallway but Kaden shoved me back.

"No! Stay here! You've obviously done enough." He glared at me before he left.

I stared at the floor. Had I heard wrong? His father? How...? Why? I ran my hands through my hair and balled my fist in my hair, something I did impulsively when I couldn't figure out something that confused me, as tried to understand what had happened.

"Corey, what did you say to him?" Hayley asked.

"Nothing, I promise. I just asked him who it was." I shook my head before I walked out of the front door. My anger, confusion and the images of Jayden's face were crowding my mind. I needed to clear it somehow. Maybe a run through the woods after I shifted would clear it. Or some beer...

-----

*Jayden*

"Jay, what did you say?" Kaden asked as he shut our room's door after having walked in.

"What did I say?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, Corey wouldn't lie to Hayley. So what did you say to him that made you have to escape from him?" Kaden asked.

I shrugged. "I just told him who... Yeah. And I didn't want any more questions, so I left." I mumbled.

"You told him who beat you up? You know who beat you up?" He asked, shocked.

Well... Should I tell him? I didn't want him to worry or freak out about it. It happened a long time ago... and today. But it didn't matter.

"Yeah." I shrugged.

"Who?" He had the same expression of anger on his face as Corey did when he realised I knew who beat me up.

"No one." I didn't want trouble. No more. I would just talk to Joe when we got home and he would handle it like he had last time.

"So you'll tell Corey, the guy who hates you so much he'll probably start a hate club, but you won't tell me? And we've been brothers since our parents were born." I chuckled at that.

"No, I just don't want trouble or worrying and that's exactly what telling you will get," I said. He tilted his head and gave me a look that clearly said: Are you stupid?

"And telling Corey won't get you trouble? You know he left, right?" I opened my mouth to respond but stopped.

"I didn't think he would care," I said. Why did he leave? He didn't know what my father looked like. Maybe he was just planning to take a walk and ran into Finn and me when he opened the door. He probably wanted to go out drinking again.

Kaden snorted. "Who was it, Jayden?" He asked. Was there a point in not telling him? He wasn't going to shut up about it until I told him.

"My... uh... My dad." I muttered.

We were silent and I could bet he was wondering if he had heard wrong.

"But... He died..." Kaden said.

"No, Joe just told everyone he did. The truth is that Joe banned him from the pack. I mean, after he found out about it and I convinced him not to kill my father."

"Found out about what?" He asked.

"Well..." I had never told anyone about what my father was actually like when I was growing up.

"You're telling me this isn't the first time this happened?" He asked.

"It was a long time ago, it doesn't matter," I said quickly.

"It doesn't matter?! So all those times you never showed up to class... And Joe being so protective of you... You were being abused? And you never told us?! Not me? Not Bentley? Not Layla?" He asked.

"You didn't have to know. We were young and I was fine. I am – I am fine." I said softly.

He snorted. "Right, how long?" He asked. "How long, Jayden?" He repeated louder when I didn't answer.

"Since I was little," I muttered. "Why does it even matter? He's gone. Joe took care of it." I added.

"It matters. We could have protected you, Jayden!" He said.

"You were kids too and I don't need all of you constantly trying to protect me! I can take care of myself! Back off, alright? I might be an Omega, but I'm not a helpless child – not anymore. I don't need you to babysit me or be there every time someone beats me up." I said.

"Someone?" He asked in disbelief, "He's your father. And I'm not saying you're a helpless child, Jayden. We would have helped you because that's what friends are supposed to do. And since I'm going to be Alpha I need to protect my pack," He said.

"Well, don't. Protect the rest of the pack, alright? I'm fine." I said.

"Yeah, your busted face conveys that statement perfectly." He said walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I narrowed my eyes.

"You think I'm just going to let you let him get away with this? I'm going to look for him." He said.

"Kaden, no, I can deal with –" He was already gone.

I groaned in frustration while running my hands over my face. Why the hell couldn't he just let it go? It was my problem. Not his or anyone else's for that matter. I could handle it myself. I had always handled it myself until Joe got rid of him.

*****