Chapter 7: {6}

Nate didn’t regret taking the fall. Of course not. Nate knew that his father would be angry, like usual, but he didn’t regret it.

He saw that Brody was hurting. Behind those tattoo’s, behind that mask of independence and strength was someone who was thrust into a life he hadn’t been expecting and Nate could relate. He didn’t know what he wanted from his life, but he knew that boring council meetings weren’t what he dreamt about. No, he dreamt of meeting his mate, of sweet kisses in the rain and watching movies together. He dreamt about meeting his other half and just fitting together, so, so perfectly that he would never feel alone again.

He knew that he would have to put up with his father and the meetings and the responsibility, but he wanted more. He wanted people. He wanted his person.

He was in the garden, sitting on one of those park benches with his legs crossed under him. The wind was light, the cool breeze moving through his hair and making the leaves on the tall tree’s sway back and forth rhythmically.

He was just sitting when he saw a figure moving towards him. He looked over and saw that it was Brody, a hardcover book pressed under his tattooed arm as he walked.

Nate wondered what he was doing, since Brody had been the one to storm off before. There was no anger or ill feelings written on Brody’s face as he approached, yet his expression was mostly unreadable.

‘Hey,’ Nate called out as Brody approached, testing the waters.

Brody sat down next to him, ‘You did a nice thing for me, and I appreciate it.’

Nate smiled triumphantly, knowing that what Brody had said was as close to an apology as he was going to get. ‘Thank-you.’

‘I hope you don’t get in too much trouble with your dad, I don’t want you to suffer because I let those guys get to me,’ Brody told him, his eyes turned down.

Nate shook his head, ‘Don’t be sorry. I can deal with my father just fine.’

‘Are you sure?’ Brody asked.

‘Yeah. Uh, about what I said yesterday..’ Nate started.

‘It’s fine,’ Brody shook his head, ‘It’s alright.’

Nate turned on the bench so that he was facing Brody, ‘No, it’s not alright. What I said was cruel and mean.’

Brody bit at his lip, ‘You didn’t mean it.’

‘No, I didn’t. You deserve to be the leader of your pack just as much as I do, and just because you are a second born Alpha doesn’t mean anything at all. You are here, prepared to work hard and improve your pack and that it more than most of these Alpha’s are doing.’

‘Thank-you,’ Brody muttered, almost as if he was embarrassed to be accepting the blatant compliment. ‘Can we call it even?’

‘Yes. Yes we can.’ Nate smiled, ‘Want to be friends?’

Brody looked surprised, ‘Yeah, I, uh, I would like that.’

Silence filled the space between them, but for the first time it wasn’t awkward, the silence didn’t hold harsh words that were held back, it was just silent. Silence between two friends.

Nate smiled at the word. Friends.

Only an hour ago he would have never thought this to be possible, a friendship between the most unlikely of friends.

They walked together down to the pond that they had been to the previous day, sitting down on the green grass and talking. That hard cover book stayed protected under Brody’s arm the entire time that they walked.

‘How did you find this pond, I haven’t seen one other person here or even heading in this direction,’ Brody asked.

‘Hunter and I found it one day, we used it to throw a party on the full moon.’

Brody’s eyes widened and a smile graced his face, ‘Really?’

‘Yeah, Hunter and I jumped in the lake with our clothes on at like one in the morning and we got so cold that we had to run back to our rooms to change clothes,’ Nate smiled at the memory, ‘Then we got drunk on cheap vodka that someone brought and almost got lost in the forests. Thank-god for the fences.’

Brody laughed, ‘That sounds like Hunter.’

‘You must miss him,’ Nate stated carefully.

Brody nodded sadly, ‘It’s nice to be here, to be where Hunter used to go. I feel close to him.’

Nate reached over and placed his hand on Brody’s arm, squeezing it gently. After a few moments he let go, his hand coming to rest in his lap again.

The mood was down and so Nate stood up, extending his hand to Brody.

Brody took his hand without question, allowing Nate to hoist him off the ground until he was on his feet, the book still under his arm.

‘Where are we going?’ Brody asked, looking at Nate through curious eyes.

‘A tree,’ Nate stated simply.

‘A tree?’ Brody repeated, the confusion clear in his tone.

‘A tree.’

Nate motioned for Brody to follow him, and Nate led him further away from the pond and deeper into the forest.

Brody quickened his steps until he was right next to Nate, ‘Aren’t we just going to run into the wall?’

Nate shook his head, but didn’t give away any more information.

They only walked for a minute before Nate stopped them both, looking up at the large tree which stood tall in front of them.

Nate had been here a few times before, but never with another person. He looked over at Brody and saw that he was staring up at the tree with those emerald orbs.

The tree had large roots which stuck out from the ground and was full of branches all the way to the top, which peaked up high in the air.

‘It is quite a beautiful tree,’ Brody commented, shifting the book from under one arm to the other.

‘That it is,’ Nate stood next to the tree, lifting his hand to come to rest against the hard wood of the trunk, ‘and we are going to climb it.’

Brody’s eyes widened, ‘Climb that?’ he looked up at the tree, a once appreciative gaze turning into a more fearful one. ‘No way.’

Nate smiled cheekily, ‘Yes way.’

‘No, uh, I’ll just stay down here and read,’ Brody nodded towards his book.

Nate crossed the difference between them, coming to stand face to face with his friend. ‘Brody, it will be fun, I promise you.’

Brody took a deep breath, ‘What if I fall?' he asked seriously.

Nate smirked, 'Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?'

Brody smiled, 'Erin Hanson quote. I'm impressed.'

'Are you coming?' Nate asked, looking up at the tree.

'Fine,' Brody agreed.

Nate smiled triumphantly and gently pried the book from Brody’s hands, placing it gently against the base of the tree.

Nate then hoisted himself up onto the first branch, using his wolf strength to easily lift himself up until his feet were placed firmly on the low hanging branch. He looked down at Brody who did the same.

Nate smiled and faced the tree, using the large muscles in his arms to practically swing from branch to branch. He could hear Brody steadily making his way up the tree behind him.

The higher they got, the more that Nate could see of the scenery around them.

He was just over halfway to the top when he stopped, wrapping his hand around the branch above his head and walking out along it, stopping when the branch dipped slightly under his weight. Not wanting to fall off, he stopped and looked out. From where he was he could see the buildings a fair distance away and if he turned his head he could see the giant wall that was closest to him, the top of it just above his head.

He head the high pitched chirp of birds and looked over to another branch where he saw two baby birds in a nest. They were nestled against the twigs and sticks around them, chirping happily.

‘Brody, come see this!” Nate called out happily.

Nate frowned when Brody didn’t reply in the first few seconds.

‘Brody?’ Nate called out, looking down.

His frown got deeper as he saw Brody. He was a few branches lower than him, his arms wrapped tightly around the trunk of the tree while his eyes were screwed shut.

‘Brody?’ Nate asked, this time softening his voice.

‘Yeah?’ came the muffled reply.

‘Are you alright?’

‘Uh, yeah,’ Brody’s lie was obvious.

Nate swung down carelessly, stopping when he reached the same branch which Brody was standing on. He approached the other guy with caution.

Brody looked unquestionably horrified in this position, his body flush against the trunk, arms wrapped tightly around the hard wood, eyes pressed shut as if he believed that he would be back on safe ground if he blocked out the world around him.

‘Brody, hey,’ Nate pressed a gentle hand to his arm.

Brody twisted his head so that he was looking at Nate, his green eyes finally opening.

Nate smelt it then, it was a mixture of Brody’s scent and fear. Brody wasn’t just a little worried, he was full blown afraid and that caused a pang of worry to shoot through Nate’s body. He didn’t like seeing his friend like this.

‘What’s going on?’ Nate asked. He was hanging on with one hand which held the branch above their heads.

‘Uh, I may have looked out and uh, we are high up,’ Brody spoke rushed and nervously.

‘Yeah,’ Nate smiled softly, ‘We are high up, but you will be fine.’

Brody bit at his lip, slowly retracting his arms from around the tree until only one hand rested against the trunk and the other reached up to grab the thick branch which rested just above their heads.

Brody looked down at his feet and below. Nate knew it was a bad move as soon as he saw it, and he was right. Brody’s grip on the branch became deathly tight and his eyes screwed up again as his breathing became heavy and uneven.

Nate rested his free hand against Brody’s bicep, ‘Hey, look at me.’

Dark lashes separated to revel those emerald orbs which stared at Nate.

‘I won’t let you fall, okay?’ Nate told him and the promise was clear in his voice.

Brody’s scent shifted. Nate shouldn’t have even been able to smell so well up there, the slight breeze should have taken Brody’s scent and lost it amongst the wind, but somehow Nate smelt the change in Brody’s body, the way that his words had affected him, and Nate knew that Brody had absolute trust in him from that point.

Brody nodded, and Nate took that as a good sign, continuing their ascent up the tree. Brody followed close and Nate kept an eye on him, always making sure that he was alright. Nate felt somewhat unworthy of the trust that Brody had in him, and so he kept grabbing Brody’s hand and watching his movements carefully, not because he thought Brody would fall, but because he knew that he had been given trust, and he didn’t take that lightly, not from Brody, a person who had self-proclaimed that he didn’t ever need anybody.

They made it to one of the branches on the top third of the tree, and Nate stopped, moving around the tree until they found a thick enough branch that he considered safe.

‘Want to stop here?’

‘Yeah,’ Brody replied, sitting down on the branch.

Nate sat next to him, his legs dangling down.

‘You did really well,’ Nate told him.

‘Really?’

‘Really,’ Nate confirmed.

Brody turned his eyes to Nate’s and Nate could feel the total trust in his gaze, ‘Thank-you for not letting me fall.’

‘Anytime,’ Nate replied, too stunned by the trust in him that Brody had shown.

They sat in silence for a few moments, both of them taking in the view around them. They were just above the walls which surrounded the camp, and they could see all around them. They could see the mountains and the small cabins scattered around the premises of the camp.

Nate wondered out loud; ‘I wish that we could just transform now, I could show you the entire forest that’s in the fences.’

‘What up in the tree? We would most likely fall to our deaths,’ Brody proclaimed.

‘Not in the tree obviously,’ Nate stuck his tongue out at his friend. ‘But when we are down on the ground.’

Brody smiled, ‘That would be nice, but I understand why they don’t want us to transform unless we are with leaders. Alpha fights wouldn’t be very pretty when there’s claws involved.’

Nate nodded, ‘Well, one day we should walk all around these woods, well what of it we can reach,’ he motioned to the walls which prevented them from getting too far.

‘That would be nice,’ Brody replied, swingling his legs in the air slightly.

They spent the next few hours talking, the sun falling in the sky slightly as each moment went on and yet the two didn’t even notice, they were too engrossed in each other. Brody was like no one that Nate had ever met in his life. Brody wasn’t bound by politics, he just followed his moral compass. Brody wanted to care for his pack, he saw it in the way that his eyes lit up when he spoke of his family and in the way that he took everything so seriously. He loved his pack and that was the driving force behind everything that he did.

Nate was so different and he knew it. He cared for his pack, sure, but there were more important things to him. He wanted a life outside of being a future council member. He wanted to make his own choices like Brody could.

They climbed down the tree much faster than it had taken them to get up there, yet by the time they were walking through the forests the sun had turned into an orange glow which sat on the tops of the hills of the mountains around them, sending a warm glow down onto their skin as they walked.

Brody looked over at Nate, and all that Nate could think of was how beautiful those green eyes looked in the sunset.

The thought was innocent, simple, true.

Yet Nate pushed at it, nudging it to the back of his mind. He averted his eyes, looking down at his shoes as he walked and hoped that Brody didn’t see the slight blush that caressed his cheeks.

Why am I feeling like this? Nate wondered.