*****

*Jayden*

I let out a shaky breath as I lifted my trembling hands to my face slowly. It was dark. I could barely remember what happened. All I knew was that my body ached badly and I couldn't feel most of anything.

As my fingers touched my cheek they were met with a thick, wet stickiness. I withdrew my hand and grimaced at the dark red liquid that covered my fingers. My eyes dropped to my shirt. The blue fabric was covered in blood too. But I wasn't that bleeding, I was not cut... Was I? Was I too hurt to feel it?

I tried to stand up but froze as my eyes fell onto a silhouette not far from me.

Oh no... No.

-----

*Corey*

"It's almost ten, you said he'd cool off and come back, Kaden!" I said running my hands through my hair. I had done it so much in the past 6 hours that my mess of usually curly hair was now almost straight and it looked like it was gelled back, I was probably going to begin losing hair soon. Had probably pulled out a lot of it already.

"I know! It usually doesn't take him this long." Kaden sighed.

"Let's just go find him then," Sean said.

"How?" Kyle and Finn were sleeping over because Kyle was very attached to Hayley and she didn't want to leave so early so she was forcing us to stay a few extra days, 'we have the entire summer,' she had said while on the verge of tears which instantly made us all cave and agree to stay.

"Pull," I muttered glaring at my phone, which was on the table across the room. I had tried to call him several times but he hadn't picked up. Everyone had tried to call him.

"Pull? Pull what?" Finn asked.

"It's nothi -" Izabella began but she was cut off by my phone and I practically dove at it.

Relief washed over me as his name flashed across the screen before I answered it.

"Where the hell are you?!" I yelled, "Do you know how fucking worried everyone is? How could you do this? Are you that –" I stopped when I allowed myself to hear him. His breathing was rapid and completely uneasy.

"C-Corey, I-I-I –" he stuttered.

"Jay, what's going on? Calm down." My voice softened.

"I-I tried to-to call K-Kade – His phone must be off –" Jayden stuttered before I heard what sounded like a choked sob, "I-I-I didn't mean – I didn't think – he... I – a-and –" A strained, panicked sob filled my ears, "H-help. I-I don't know what to do –" His voice was barely audible.

"Jayd –" I tried to speak.

"T-There's blood e-everywhere – h-he won't m-move – I didn't mean to – Corey – I didn't –" Another sob that made my own chest begin to feel clogged up.

"Hey, hey, calm down. Breathe," I said calmly.

"Where are you, Jay?" Kaden called.

"I-I don't know –" Jayden stuttered. "I don't know." He whispered helplessly.

"We're coming, just calm down and stay put, alright?" I said. He didn't answer. "Jayden?" I called. Still nothing.

I shook my head trying to clear it and focus on the pull so it would get stronger and I would find him easier while I walked out of the house ignoring Finn's calling out to me. I did not hang up the phone and kept it to my ear as I began to run hearing footsteps behind me. It didn't take long to get to the ally with my speed and when I finally stumbled to a stop at the entrance of an alleyway, I realised the people that had followed me were Sean, Kaden and Trent. I stepped into the darkness cautiously while letting my eyes adjust.

"What's he doing here?" Kaden mumbled as he followed me.

"Probably decided to smoke," I muttered heading further but I stopped when I noticed a blood-covered body on the ground. I immediately knew it wasn't Jayden's. It was too big, but knowing that didn't ease my anxiety or dread and I began to freak out. "Jay?! Jayden!" I called stepping over the body.

"Chris?" I glanced back at Trent and he looked at me, "It's his father." I stared at the body but quickly figured that I would deal with it later and turned to run my eyes along the ground until they landed on the body I was looking for. I felt my breath hitch as my heart stopped. Please...

"Jay?" I sped over to him and grabbed his face. I gave a breath of relief at the sound of his soft, steady breathing while my eyes began to sting. "You fucking idiot," I muttered pulling him into a tight hug. He didn't hug back being completely out cold. I grabbed the phone from his hand and shoved it into my pocket along with my own. I noticed a half-smoked bud on the ground and reached into Jayden's pockets until I found the rectangular box and tossed it at Kaden. "Burn it."

"He's dead." I looked up hearing Sean speak. He was standing beside Jayden's father's body. "He killed him." The disbelief in Sean's voice barely matched my own. Killed? But Jayden was an Omega.

"No, no. He can't be dead." Kaden said kneeling over the body to feel the man's neck, "Oh my God... no..." He whispered.

"What? Kade, this is a good thing. He can't terrorise Jayden if he's dead." Trent said.

"Yes he can!" Kaden hissed.

"How –? He cannot, Kaden." Sean said.

"No! Jayden's never going to get over this!" Kaden said. I looked at the kid confused.

"Isn't it what Jayden wanted?" I asked.

"Yes... maybe, but Jayden's not a murderer! He'll never be able to live with himself knowing he killed his father – his mother's mate!" Kaden said.

"Well... Then... We'll tell him I did it." I shrugged. Kaden gave me a flat look. "I'm serious. Sometimes people can't remember things this traumatic, if he wakes up and he can't remember, we'll tell him I did it. If he wakes up and he does remember, we'll tell him the bastard was alive when we got here and I killed him because, since Jay was unconscious, I thought he had killed him." I said.

"Sounds legit," Trent said and we looked over at Kaden.

"Is that okay?" I asked. He nodded slowly while glancing back down at the man and then to me again.

"Yeah. He'll believe it." Kaden said.

"Good. I'll get him back home while you get rid of that." I motioned to the dead body while sliding my arm around Jayden's back as the other moved to hook around his knees so I could lift him off the ground.

"I'll help." Kaden said, "Have fun with your disposal." He added earning glares from Trent and Sean.

"Whatever, get out of here," Sean mumbled turning back to the body.

-----

I bit the inside of my cheek studying at Jayden. He was fast asleep under the covers and had barely made a sound apart from a few soft whimpers right after I had tucked him in once we arrived back at the house. He looked good, he looked unharmed, but I could not know if he was truly okay until he woke up.

"Corey, he's fine. Come and eat some breakfast." Izabella's voice came from the door.

"I know. I just want him to know what happened as soon as he wakes." I said.

"You mean you want him to know the lie you're about to throw at him?" She asked.

I turned to stare at her, "Izabella."

She smiled. "He'll ask you when he wakes up, Corey. Jay's not the type to freak out and go killing everyone in his path when he wakes up without answers. Come and eat something." We laughed softly at her words.

"Fine," I got up. Finn had given us some clothing for Jayden to borrow since his clothing had been completely blood-stained and ripped up. Of course, Kyle and Finn had freaked out but we gave them the simple excuse of 'he got robbed'. 'How did he call you then?' They had asked. He called on someone else's phone and I assumed it was him.

I followed Izabella out of the room after glancing back at Jayden one more time and then we headed downstairs to the kitchen.

"Look who decided to join us." Sean waved a piece of toast at me and I chuckled.

"It's not really my place... And you don't look very gay... But is he your boyfriend?" Kyle spoke as I poured some cereal into the bowl Izabella had just given me. Don't look very gay?

I looked up to make sure he was speaking to me, and everyone seemed to be staring at me waiting for my answer, except Finn. He was staring at his food.

"Uh... You could say that." I shrugged keeping my eyes fixed on Finn. He frowned as I said it and I was willing to bet that I wasn't wrong in thinking that he liked Jayden. "Yes, we are," I added just so Finn would get the message.

"Could we say that, though?" Hayley asked. I shot a glare at her and she smirked at me, "I mean, you're not really official or anything. If you ask me, you two practically hate each other most of the time." She went on.

"You wouldn't understand, Hayley." I forced a smile at her before I smirked, "But, you know, I could help you understand. So, Kyle, have you ever –" I turned to Kyle, we all knew he was her mate, it was pretty easy to tell.

"Jay!" Hayley's shout cut me off.

My head snapped to the door as a weak chuckle filled the room.

"Um... Why-why didn't you wake me up?" Jayden mumbled running his eyes over everyone in the room.

"We thought you were dead." The look of serious sadness on Finn's face made us all laugh.

"Well... I'm alive... I feel like crap so I'm very much alive... unless ghosts feel like crap too... Uh... What... I mean... Did I fall asleep at the mall or something?" Jayden squinted as he scratched the back of his head looking slightly flustered.

"No." I got up as I grabbed my cereal, "I'll explain." I smiled shoving him out of the kitchen.

"What the hell, Corey? I wanted to get breakfast." He mumbled as I kept pushing him until we entered my room.

"Can you remember anything?" I asked.

"Yes, I remember being at the mall and I remember my dad texti – uh... I..." He drifted. So I was right. The asshole was the person on the phone that had had him so distracted yesterday.

"I killed your father, Jayden," I said quickly. I watched as his eyes ran up to mine slowly, confused.

"What?" He asked, "Wait, I'm hungry –" I frowned as he snatched the cereal from my hands and sat on my bed, "Yeah, what?" He asked as he ate a spoon.

I frowned watching as he ate. I'll kill him for that later.

"We were eating and you were being paranoid because your father kept texting you – yeah, I know, I looked at your phone – then we got into an argument, you left, Kade and I followed, another argument and then you left again. Kade said to let you cool off, but when you didn't come back we went looking for you. We found you with your father, I might have overreacted upon seeing him and... yeah. Also, we burnt your cancer in a box." As I said that he reached into his pocket and only then seemed to realise he wasn't wearing his clothes.

"Uh... Did-did I get changed sometime in that?" Why wasn't he asking about his father?

"No, your clothes were blood-stained so Finn gave us that and we changed your clothes," I said.

His eyes widened. "You changed my clothes?" He asked. I nodded. "W-while I was asleep?" Another nod from me. He looked at his arms before looking beneath his shirt and then let his shoulders sink in relief. "Oh... Right." He mumbled as a smile crossed his face. I narrowed my eyes remembering what he had said about the scars and bruises all over his body. Was that what he was alarmed by or was it something else? I brushed by it as a thought popped into my mind that made a smirk grow on my face.

"Skinny suits you," I said. He didn't look at me.

"Checking someone out in their sleep while you change their clothes... That's just creepy, Corey." He said after a while and we laughed.

"So... You're not... I mean... About your father –" I was saying.

"Yeah, he... he's dead?" Jayden looked at me. I nodded slowly. "Oh... That's fine." He shrugged. What? "It doesn't seem real yet so I'll probably react later... yeah, watch out for that..." He mumbled and I smiled although feeling somewhat nervous. He bought it.

"Just don't kill me. I had a great reason to do it." I said.

"I know." He smiled before looking down and frowning. I chuckled seeing the bowl empty on his lap.

"Come on, let's get breakfast," I said.

*****