I flick my eyes up to peep a glance at Beckett only to find him already watching me. I immediately redirect my line of vision to the bowl of Lucky Charms before me, only the charms left since I ate all the wheat bits first.

I chew my food quietly as Beckett does his own. The tension in the room far too thick for even a butcher knife to cut through. It was uncomfortable. No it was disturbing. Disturbing to my body, mind and soul. We hadn't made up properly since our talk last night which was not really a talk, more like an emotional plane crash of feelings piloted by your's truly.

I ended up sleeping over unintentionally, waking up tucked safely under Beckett's arms who was cuddling me closely. It surprised me to find myself in that position but it was even more astonishing that Chris got into such a intimate place with Tobias.

Wolves liked to keep their times together private so I had no way of knowing what happened between the two and he refused to answer any questions saying that I was a nosey poop head who should focus on my own relationship before budding into others even though technically it was my relationship too.

The morning was awkward from then. Beckett was the first too talk but I wasn't quite ready yet to just hug and make up. It wouldn't be that simple. I realized that I too was at fault, I knew I was very self conscious of our relationship and my mind allowed doubt to lace my thoughts at the first sight of trouble and in the end I made things into something so big when it was probably so small.

But I couldn't help it.

So we continued the morning in silence, leading us here.

Eating Lucky Charms on opposite ends of a large dinning hall table.

"Well isn't this quaint."

I look up to see Beckett's uncle strolling into the house lazily, since our first encounter I haven't said much but a hi or bye when he was entering and leaving his home.

"Good morning." Beckett drags lazily, both of us a bit tired from the run around our wolves had the night before. Goddess only knows what Olympic race they ran in the forest.

"Doesn't really look like a good morning to me." Jack mumbles as he sips his coffee, his eyes darting between the two of us. "What happened?"

"None of your business." Beckett says to his uncle who just smiles in response.

"Ooo, it's serious." He says with mischief swirling in his olive green eyes. "Beckett, what did you do to your friend?"

"Why do you assume it was me?!" Beckett says immediately in protest.

"Cause you're naturally a fuck up." His uncle says sweetly making me chuckle as Beckett pouts. "It's okay, you're nice so you can get away with it."

"Not this time." He mumbles, his eyes linking with mine as he looks at me with regret.

"Alright, well make sure to head to school today. I got a call that you skipped yesterday." His uncle says seriously before walking away. "Toodles."

The unwelcomed stiff atmosphere renters the room with a vengeance as we stare at one another.

"Emitt, I don't know what else I can do to get you to forgive me." Beckett says softly as he leans over the table slightly.

"It's not a matter of forgiving, I've already done that." I say truthfully making his eyes widen slightly.

"Then what is it?" He questions.

"I don't know." I mumble shamefully. "Things keep falling apart with us and it's scaring me cause I don't want them to. One minute we're fine and the next...we're not."

"Not every relationship is perfect Emitt." He replies gently as he stands walking over to my side.

"I know that. But they shouldn't have as much issues as we do, at least not so early." I say looking into his bright green eyes as he kneels besides me taking my hands in his.

"We're two guys in a relationship, hiding it from everyone we know plus we're werewolves and it's both our first time at this." He says with a chuckle as a smile stretches across my lips. "We should have more problems."

"This is your first relationship?" I question in surprise.

"My first real one." He says cupping my cheek with his warm palm that fit perfectly. "I've never felt this way with anyone before. Only you."

I try to stop the blood from rushing to my ears but my body betrays me as I blush anyway. He smiles at my reaction before pressing a light kiss to my forehead. "I wish we could spend the day together but...."

"School. I know." I mumble in disappointment as he caresses my skin gently.

"You want to go with me?"

"No it's okay, my stuff is back home anyway." I say with a weak smile as we both stand. He walks me to the front door before squeezing my hand tightly, letting go once the front door is opened. "I'll see you in school."

"Yeah." He replies kindly as I make my way down his porch steps and shift, running towards my pack with the morning sunlight chasing me.

----------------

I walk lazily to my car that was somehow parked in front the pack house. I remembered all of Sunday night except apparently for the part where I drove my car to the fucking pack house for no reason. It was a good thing I woke so early today that I didn't have to rush to school.

"I fucking hate you Emitt!"

I lift my head in surprise as I watch Aiden and Julian make their way over to me. Aiden's face downstriken with anger while Julian looked completely unbothered.

"You're taking us today, accept it." Aiden snaps making me frown slightly.

"Okay." I stretch as my eyes wander to Julian while Aiden ran for shotgun like if anybody else wanted it, I give him a slight nod that he surprisingly returns before entering the back seat while I jump into the driver's.

"Oh, you have to go to IHOP first." Aiden says once we're on the road, excitement seething from his tongue like the child he really was.

"Don't got to tell me twice. I've been seriously craving some pancakes." I say pressing my gas harder, my stomach's weird alien like sounds let my know that Lucky Charms just weren't enough.

"Me too! Hey, are you watching the game Friday?" Aiden asks making a smile grace my lips.

"Yes, like I'd miss Russell get destroyed yet again and lose his shit on the field." I say laughing as he does.

"He always starts yelling at everyone until he's on the verge of tears." Aiden comments laughing loudly as he shades slide down a little revealing his jet black eyes that seemed soulless. Noticing me looking, he pushes them back up as the smile slowly faded from his lips. "So did everything work out with you? Are you good?"

"Aiden!" I scold as I check the rear view mirror to see if Julian picked up on that but sure enough his head was buried in a book.

"Calm down, he doesn't hear shit once he's reading. Right Julian?" Aiden calls resulting in a strained hum from Julian who never once looked up from the text he was reading. "See. He just hums when he hears his name."

"That's not weird." I mumble sarcastically.

"So seriously, are you good?"

"Better. Thanks for entertaining me that night though, I really needed to relieve some stress." I say making him smile widely as I park in the IHOP parking lot.

"Are you kidding? I should be thanking you, because of you I got to kill some rogues." He says devilishly as he jumps out the car followed by Julian who was still reading.

The three of us make our way inside, grabbing a nice back booth that I couldn't help but love. Aiden slides into the ends of one side and I follow sitting next to him without hesitation before I realize that Julian was here too. Feeling like an idiot for taking the space where he belonged I got to stand but he just sits on the opposite side, his eyes slightly narrowed as he closed his book.

Fuck he hates me more.

After ordering, Aiden immediately starts talking about something that I couldn't quite wrap my brain around. I tried to include Julian but he just picked up his book and zoned us out.

Even though he looked disinterested, I'd catch him peaking up at us while we talked every now and then.

No matter how emotionally dead the guy was on the inside, he was still a wolf who was mated, meaning he felt everything so much more now, whether he liked it or not. So when Aiden would shove me playfully or we'd barely touch, his eyes would twitch a little. I tried to create some distance between us noticing how uncomfortable it made Julian, but Aiden was fucking oblivious.

"So what you doing after school?" I question as I unconsciously reach over Aiden's plate to try some of his food before sipping from him cup. Hitting myself internally for being so stupid once I caught Julian's deadly eyes glaring at me. It was natural for us, I've grown up eating his food and wearing his clothes like my own, there was never a mater before so it was hard to just snap out of casual habits.

I managed to dial down my antics somehow and the meal continued along smoothly with Aiden carrying the majority of the conversation. That was of course until Aiden slung his arm around my shoulder while laughing about some joke I couldn't even enjoy since Julian was boating holes into my soul with his eyes, probably imagining five thousand different ways to kill me.

"You okay, you've been really quiet." Aiden says looking at Julian, his voice showing clear concern. Julian nods quickly looking at him with a little annoyance before it dissolves quickly.

"I'm fine." He says before leaning over the table and wiping some syrup from the corner of Aiden's mouth and dipping it into his mouth. He doesn't break eye contact with his mate as he sucks his finger slowly before taking it out. "You had a little." He finishes to a blushing Aiden before he glances to me before smirking.

Damn, remind me to never fuck with Julian Heil.

---------------------------------

"You promise not to leave me alone with the guy?" I ask as Aiden and I walk together to the cafeteria.

For some reason I'd agreed to go to lunch with him and Julian. I was convinced Julian hated my guts but Aiden begged to differ and invited me to lunch with the two to prove it. I knew he was wrong but I accepted wanting to be friends with Julian. He was Aiden's mate and my Alpha now too, I needed us to get along

"Yeah whatever." Aiden mumbles not really interested.

"Can you sit next to me too?" I ask letting my nerves get the best of me as I attach myself to his arm.

"You're starting to piss me of dude, he's just an a guy with an attitude problem, calm down." He replies shaking me off like a rag doll. I make a pouting face that usually worked with Beckett whenever I wanted something from him. "Fine whatever, just stop making that disgusting face."

"Thanks." I say cheerfully as we walk through the cafeteria doors. Aiden immediately finds Julian leading me to the table, only then do I realize that lunch with Julian meant lunch with Beckett and Isabel.

Fuck me!

I kind of zone out the greeting Aiden offers along with Julian's icy stares as I look at Beckett. Never once did we imagine we'd ever be so close with our friends in public but they were mates no so it was bound to happen, yet I was completely unprepared. It was hard enough pretending to be strangers in school but now in front of our closet friends who could read up like a map.

Somehow I end up seared besides Beckett with Aiden on my right, Beckett offers me a kind smile while his eyes show quiet clearly the panic I'm sure mine held.

"So I heard we're doing a joint training session today, I'm so excited!" Isabel squeals as she fists pumps the air. My phone vibrates making me check my phone to see a text from Mickey.

🍑

I glance up from my phone looking at the assigned direction to find him smirking at me seated at a table by himself making me immediately feel guilty for leaving him hanging.

🍑

😭

🍑

"How are you two getting along though? You know, both being Betas with the whole merge?"

I snap my head up to find the others looking at me, well Beckett and I as Aiden ate my chips.

"Great actually, he's pretty cool." Beckett says smoothly as he smiles at me, I quickly return it when really I just wanted to kiss him.

"Yeah, we have some great ideas and it's much easier with someone else honestly." I add making them all nod as Isabel and Aiden start whispering. "This is weird." I say with a chuckle.

"Tell me about it." Beckett replies before my eyes drift back to Mickey only to find him no longer alone but with a guy probably three times his weight who looked like he was harassing him. I go to stand but stop myself once I see Mickey telling the boy off with snapping fingers and all making me smile proudly.

"You worry about him." Beckett whispers as we watching the small guy that was even shorter than me.

"How can't I? He's an omega." I say sadly, his fragile figure wasn't helped by his ranking though Mickey always managed to defy the odds.

"An omega was is also a warrior in the pack. He can handle himself." He reminds me, I didn't see Mickey during training since we grew up in different packs and I always worried over my little friend.

"What is your problem?" Aiden snaps suddenly making my eyes drift back to the others. Half my chips gone, the culprit being of course Aiden.

"You are! You and your stupid little friend!" Juliana shouts making my eyes widen as I immediately try to hide behind Beckett. I zone out for one minute and I come back to being called stupid from a guy who looked just about ready to kill not only me but Aiden too.

This can not end well.

"I don't know who force fed you beef but it wasn't me! I'm not going to sit here and take this bullshit any longer, you're acting like a little shit!" Aiden shouts back with double the rage, the lid shaking on his riding temper as he grabbed his bag, standing to his feet. "If you're going to act this way, don't tell me to come next time!"

He walks away angrily before leaving the cafeteria in a fit of rage, I look to Julian who looked like his heart was split in too with guilt flooding his eyes. Within seconds, he's on his feet, leaving his things behind as he runs out the room chasing his mate with an apology surely.

"Wow." Beckett says to the table of three.

"I wasn't here for most of that." I admit making Isabel laugh heartily as she leaned over to eat my chips.

"Just a lover's quarrel." She muses looking between us as she nibbled on the salty treat. "You'd know all about those wouldn't you?"

Abort! Abort! Abort! She knows! - Chris screams in my head in a state of panic that quickly floods my body.

I say desperately as Isabel just watches me while I break out in a cold sweat.

That's cause you're gay! - He says with slight amusement lacing his words. We're all going to die!

"I'm kidding! Jesus, you looked ready to jump out a plane." Isabel says laughing letting me release a breath I didn't know I was holding. "But are the rumors true?"

"What rumors?" I ask recovering from my state of panic induced by Christopher.

"The ones about you no longer being on the market." She says twirling her hair with a grin. "It's breaking girls' hearts everywhere."

"What?" I say laughing a bit. I never got why girls liked me, I had a bit of muscle but I wasn't a macho footballer God. I was short and suffered from baby face more than I liked, honestly I wouldn't look twice at me if I was a girl but they did.

"Come on, spill." Isabel says leaning over the table. "Who got your panties in a twist, whoops I meant whose panties have you got in a twist."

Even though the expression was used wrongly I had a feeling that she meant it the first way round. I always got the strangest vibe from this girl that she knew more that she was letting on, she just kept quiet about it.

The bell signaling the end of lunch blares loudly making us groan as we reluctantly rise from our seats and make our way to Biology. Splitting up with Isabel on the way since she had a free period. Once inside the class, I smile a little in amusement once I see Julian and Aiden already seated together. The pair looking back to their usual state of mates who resented each other a bit even though they were truly doing better than expected.

Since our teacher decided to skip school today, Beckett and I leave like most people did when their teachers didn't show up.

"I want to show you something." Beckett says once we're out of earshot. I raise a questioning eyebrow as he leads us out of the school back doors and across the large football field all the way to the big tree that had been here for longer than me. He extends his talons before he starts climbing it like a monkey, I watch him slightly confused before he looks down at me with a frown.

"Come on!" He shouts making my frown deepen.

"Beckett you should know by now that I'm allergic to exercise." I shout back making him laugh as he grips the tree trunk with ease.

"I'm serious. Get up here." He says before he continues to scale the massive piece of nature.

I sigh before I too start climbing the tree, I liked nature as much as the next wolf but I wasn't much for getting physical when I didn't need to.

"This better be good." I say with a huff once I perch myself up on the branch opposite to Beckett at the upper section of the ginormous tree. It took us a while but we made it and nobody could tell we were up here since we were shaded by large branches drawing with leaves.

"This is it." He says calmly as I look around at the space that was covered in orange leaves with barely any glimpses off the outside space, we were in an orange dome.

"This?" I question doing a quick sweep over again. "I climbed up here to see the color orange in its natural form?"

"Exactly." He says with a wide smile while my face just drops. "Look around Emitt. There's some leaves with tints of red and yellow scattered about if you look for them, those squirrels that are hiding nuts that they'll never find again and the wind is cold but somehow warming to the body."

"I take it you're into nature?" I question looking at my boyfriend who looked more than passionate about something that was just a lot of orange to me.

"A bit." He admits with a nervous chuckle. "Squirrels are my favorite."

"Why?"