Chapter 19: {18}

It must have been late afternoon by the time that Brody woke up from his nap. He opened his eyes to see the sun slowly setting outside, the warm light peeking through the shades. He was wrapped up in a mixture of limbs and sheets, feeling warm and safe. He closed his eyes and pressed his face further into the soft pillow, smelling nothing but the irresistible scent of his mate.

‘Why are you inhaling my pillow?’ Nate’s obviously amused voice whispered into his ear, and Brody jumped slightly with a laugh on his lips.

‘No reason,’ Brody said, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He looked over to see that Nate was lying next to him, his arm wrapped around Brody’s middle.

Nate smiled that classic smile of his, all perfect teeth and dimples in his cheeks. ‘It’s nice seeing you in my bed.’

Brody blushed, ‘Shut up.’

Nate only cheekily smiled back.

Brody unwrapped himself from Nate’s arms and carefully sat up on the bed, his head rushing for a moment before his vision steadied. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out his phone to check the time. It was just after three thirty, and he had four missed texts.

‘Oh, and Kayden texted me before asking for your number,’ Nate told him. ‘Since when do you two talk?’

Brody shrugged, ‘We had a chat before I came to your room, I guess we are friends now.’ Brody had to resist the smile tugging at his lips, he had more friends at this camp than he had in his whole life.

‘That’s good!’ Nate smiled, ‘I’m glad that you two are getting along!’

Brody smiled back. He then turned his attention back to his phone, reading the messages.

Hey, I spoke to a few of the other guys, and I think I might have found something. Do you want to meet at the library at five? – Unknown Number

Brody assumed that was Kayden, and quickly replied that he was happy to meet him there after adding his name into the phone. The next messages where, surprisingly, from Annie.

Hey, are you free? Can you come help me with my history homework? –Annie

Pleaaasssseee – Annie

I will literally give you chocolate. – Annie

That was a lie. I don’t have any chocolate. – Annie

Brody laughed, pressing the call button.

Annie answered in an instant, ‘Thank God, I thought that you were dead or something. I texted like an hour ago.’

Nate sat up next to Brody, looking at the phone in his mate’s hand with a curious expression.

Annie, Brody mouthed to Nate, and his mate murmured an Ohh.

‘I’m fine. Do you still need help?’ Brody asked his mentee.

‘Yes! Can you come to the gardens? I’m at one of the picnic tables attempting to do this impossible homework,’ Annie groaned.

‘I’ll be right there.’

‘Thank-you!’ Annie hung up.

‘Where are you going?’ Nate asked, getting up off the bed.

‘Annie needs help with her history homework,’ Brody explained, carefully stepping onto the ground aswell, careful not to jolt his injured arm too much.

‘Why didn’t she ask me?’ Nate asked with a serious expression.

Brody burst out in laughter, but Nate didn’t seem to get the joke, his expression neutral. ‘Oh, you were serious? I, uh-’

Nate’s serious expression dropped and he too burst out in laughter, ‘I’m just messing with you.’

Brody huffed with a smile, making his way over to the door.

‘Do you want me to come with you?’ Nate asked.

Brody was about to say that he didn’t mind when he realised that if Nate came with him, then he might not leave before he was to meet up with Kayden, and he didn’t want Nate to hear what he and Kayden were going to talk about, not unless they had some real proof to back up their vague suspicions.

‘That’s okay, I’ll just see you at dinner,’ Brody replied.

‘Are you sure? I don’t mind hanging out while you guys work?’ Nate asked, but Brody shook his head.

‘Nah, that’s okay,’ he jumped forwards and gave Nate a chaste kiss. ‘See you tonight.’

‘Okay,’ Nate smiled, opening the door for his mate.

Brody felt a wave of guilt hit him hard as the door closed behind him. Since when did he deceive his mate? It felt like a new type of wrong to have anything but one hundred percent honesty between he and his mate, and yet he knew that he wasn’t going to just turn around and tell Nate the truth. He had to figure this all out, then tell Nate.

Brody forced himself to walk towards the elevator, pressing the downward arrow.

He rode the elevator down to the lobby, walking out of the building and into the warm afternoon air. The gardens were quite vacant, a few groups of people huddled under tree’s and others reading in the open air. He knew that there were a few picnic tables near the centre of the garden area, and so he walked forwards, zigzagging in-between the tree’s and groups of Alpha’s to the middle. Sure enough, three of the four tables were vacant, the other one sitting two people.

Annie had her legs crossed under her as she leant over a thick text book, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulder and pooling on the picnic table top that she was leant over. On the other side of the table sat Lucas, the boy was running his hand through his hair in a way that clearly spelt out frustration.

‘Hey Guys,’ Brody greeted his two mentee’s as he approached the table.

‘Thank the lord you are here!’ Lucas raised his hands to the sky in a gesture that Brody assumed meant some sort of praise. Lucas’s face changed when he saw Brody’s arm. ‘What happened to your arm?’

Brody sat down next to Lucas, ready for the line of questioning that he was sure that he was going to endure.

Annie’s head whipped up from the book she had been studying, ‘What happened?’

Brody shrugged casually, ‘Oh it was nothing.’

Lucas shook his head, ‘That’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one.’

Annie nodded at her friend, ‘I’m with you on that one. It takes a lot to hurt an Alpha.’

Brody shrugged, ‘It was just an wolf training session injury. I’m out of that class anyway and probably into your class, so its fine.’

The two didn’t look like they were going to let it go that quickly.

‘Who did it?’ Lucas asked. ‘Did Nate snap their neck?’

Brody knew that he should be annoyed, or slightly worried at the fact that Lucas would go right to neck snapping, but he was more annoyed at the fact that Lucas obviously didn’t think for a second that he had been the one to do the aforementioned neck snapping. ‘Why wouldn’t I have been the one to snap their neck?’

Annie gave him a sympathetic expression, ‘Well, I think that you are more of type to hit them over the head with knowledge, if you know what I mean?’

Lucas nodded, ‘You’re more psychological warfare, and Nate is more muscles. Anyway, did Nate snap their neck?’

Brody rolled his eyes, ‘No, because that’s not how you solve problems. Especially as an Alpha. And don’t worry about it, I’m dealing with it.’

Annie shrugged, ‘Well I hope that someone pays for that.’

‘We should talk to Nate,’ Lucas suggested to Annie.

‘Agreed. Make sure that he knows about this travesty. I bet that it was Jackie’s mentor, that guy looks like the hulks brother,’ she suggested.

‘I know right, his arm muscles are like larger than all mine put together.’

‘Well, that’s not hard,’ Annie joked with a smirk.

Brody cut in, ‘Guys, you are severely digressing. Also don’t talk to Nate, I told you guys that I’m dealing with it. Okay?’

‘Okay.’ The two muttered quietly.

‘Good,’ Brody told them. ‘Now, what’s been going on? Do you still need my help?’

Annie rolled her eyes, ‘Yes! Lucas is literally the worst teacher in the history of history.’

‘How would you know? You’re failing history,’ Lucas retorted with a cheeky smile.

‘Shut up, I’m trying.’

‘By trying do you mean texting on your phone every thirty seconds with random bits of actual study?’

Brody laughed at the two, their playful banter reminding himself of he and hunter as children.

Lucas looked at Brody, ‘This one over here won’t listen to a thing that I say,’ Lucas gestured towards the blonde.

Annie practically growled at her friend, ‘You aren’t explaining it right! You’re just confusing me!’

Brody looked over at Lucas, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll help her out with the homework.’

Lucas looked like he had just been handed a million dollars. ‘I love you Brody. No joke,’ Lucas smiled, getting up from the table. ‘Good luck,’ he murmured, walking away.

‘Should we work on your homework now?’ Brody asked.

‘Yes please,’ Annie smiled.

They spent some time going over Annie’s homework. Brody understood Lucas’s frustrations, the girl seemed to check her phone every two minutes, and at one point he had to forcibly remove the phone from her hand.

Annie was finally understanding the homework when his phone rang. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out the silver object and pressing it to his ear.

‘Hello?’

‘Hello Sweetheart.' Nate’s perfectly husky voice flowed through the phone.

‘Not in love with the nickname, but okay. Hi,’ Brody smiled with a slight blush on his face. Okay, hearing his mate call him sweetheart was actually pretty adorable, but still. He was a man, and he would rather a manly nickname or something. Actually sweetheart was pretty cute. Maybe he would let it slide next time.

‘So, why did Lucas just text me saying that if I was going after the hulk he was up to be my backup?’

Brody laughed, ‘Don’t worry about it. That’s just Lucas and Annie being stupid.’

Annie kicked Brody’s shin under the table, and Brody scowled at the blonde. She just stuck her tongue out cheekily as a response.

‘Ah okay,’ Nate laughed. ‘I have no idea what to do with those two.’

‘Me either, they are little monsters,’ Brody laughed, his laughter increasing when Annie shot him another dirty look.

‘Alright, well, I’ll let you get back to helping Annie. I’ll see you tonight.’

Brody opened his mouth to reply, but his eyes caught something between the tree’s. It was the boy from before, the one who he had ran into in the elevator. The guy was standing with another guy, a much larger guy with muscles the size of airplanes and a stature to match, when he looked a little closer he noticed that the guy looked older than him. The elevator guy seemed to be watching him while the other one spoke.

‘Brody?’ Nate’s voice shook him out of his head.

‘Yeah, see you later,’ Brody hung up the phone, turning his attention to Annie. ‘Hey Annie?’

‘Yeah?’ Annie looked up from her book.

‘Behind you, between the tree’s are two guys, do you know them?’

Annie looked over her shoulder, then looked back at Brody. ‘Well, the tall, bulky one, that’s hulk Jr. That guy we were talking about before, but I don’t know the friend. Why?’

Brody shrugged, ‘No reason.’ He looked back over to them, and the elevator guy was pointing at him. Brody’s eyes widened, but once the guy saw Brody had looked up he pulled his hand down, the two of them disappearing behind the tree’s. What’s going on here? Brody’s mind was riddled with questions, and he sure as hell hoped that he found the answers soon. ‘How old is Hulk Jr exactly?’ he asked, hoping that she would think that was the reason he wanted to know who he was. He didn’t want her to worry.

‘He’s nineteen I think. He had an older sister who died, so he was a few years older when he started first year,’ she seemed to realise something. ‘Why didn’t you start from first year like he did?’ she asked in curiosity.

Brody shrugged, he had hoped that no one would question that fact. ‘I guess they thought I was too smart,’ he laughed, feigning innocence. He wasn't in the mood to talk about the real reason he had been pushed foward to the final year.

Brody’s phone vibrated and he looked down at it, thankful for the distraction.

I’m in the library – Kayden

‘I have to go,’ Brody told Annie. ‘I told someone I would meet them, and I’m late.’

‘Okay, sorry to keep you! Thank-you so much for your help!’

Brody smiled down at Annie, feeling almost like a big brother to her. ‘Anytime. Seriously, just call me and I’ll help you out.’

‘Thanks professor,’ she smiled up at him cheekily, using his nickname.

Truth be told, he didn’t hate that nickname.

‘Bye blondie,’ he teased, but she only flicked a strand of her blonde hair over her shoulder and shoved her face back into the book she was reading.

He left her at the table and walked off towards the library, wondering what Kayden had found out. He himself hadn’t found anything. Well, other than the fact that Bruce was apparently friends with Tye, and that wasn’t exactly much of a lead. They needed more info about these two guys, and hopefully Kayden would have something.

The library was mostly empty when Brody walked into the room, his eye’s searching the tables for his newfound friend. He saw him sitting at one of the back tables in the corner, his eyes trained on his phone even though around him was placed shelves upon shelves of entertainment, he still preferred to keep his eyes on the little screen which was sitting in his hands.

Brody rushed over to him, sitting down opposite him in haste, ‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ Brody apologised sincerely.

‘It’s alright,’ Kayden told him. ‘I found something.’

Right to the point, this one was. Brody liked that about Kayden, there was no beating around the bush with a guy like him.

‘What did you find?’ Brody questioned, taking the same forward approach that Kayden was using.

Kayden sat forwards in his chair, ‘Well, according to one of my friends, Bruce and Mitchel are quite poor. They both come from medium sized packs, but they aren’t from wealthy families by any means.’

Brody tilted his head to the side slightly, ‘What does that have to do with this?’

‘Well, According to my friend they had both been telling people that they had organised for a limo to pick them up after camp was over and they were going to go on some holiday with their mates before they went back to their respective camps, which makes me think, where did this money come from?’

Realisation hit Brody’s face, ‘You think that they were paid to start the fight and blame you?’

Kayden shrugged, ‘There’s no reason for them to start the fight, even if they were paid, it’s not like I have any enemies who would actually pay that kind of money to get me possibly kicked out of camp.’

Brody sighed, ‘There has to be a way that the money connects to the fight.’

Kayden shrugged, ‘It must connect, I just don’t know how exactly.’

Brody sighed again, his head resting in his uninjured hand for a few moments as he tried to figure this all out. The money had to connect, he just didn’t know how.