Chapter 8: {7}

They emerged from the tree line, entering one of the gardens which surrounded the main building. That was when Annie and Lucas spotted them. They had been sitting at one of the benches with a few friends and came running over to the two guys who were walking on one of the footpaths now.

Nate nudged Brody with his elbow, ‘Oh no, we might be killed by mini Alphas for not bringing our mentees to the pond with us.’

Brody chuckled, ‘Oh no, we should probably run from the little girl, she seems so dangerous,’ he spoke humorously.

Lucas smiled at them, not saying anything. Annie reached them only a second after, placing her hands on her hips in what would have been slightly intimidating if she had been a few feet taller and her scowl much harsher. ‘You went without us, didn’t you?’

‘Maybe, maybe not.’ Nate shrugged.

‘Well, at least the boyfriends aren’t fighting,’ Lucas shrugged. Nate’s eyes widened, was that what the two of them were calling him and Brody?

‘Mm true,’ Annie shrugged.

Brody and Nate shared a look.

‘Sorry, sorry,’ Lucas laughed, seeing their expressions.

‘Any reason for this chat or can we go now?’ Brody asked and Nate nudged him in the ribs.

‘Yeah, your fathers assistant came over to us before, apparently your father’s looking for you,’ Annie announced.

‘Your fathers here?’ Brody asked and Nate could see the suprise in his eyes.

‘I thought he was coming next week, the council must have changed their plans,’ Nate assumed.

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

‘No, I can handle a meeting with my father. I’ll see you tonight?,’ He asked Brody.

‘Yeah sure.’

Nate turned to the younger two. ‘Bye guys.’

Nate headed off in the direction of the main building, knowing that his father would probably be in one of the offices. He walked through the gardens, the sun slowly setting behind him.

He was close to the building when he saw one of his father’s secretaries, she was standing outside of the doors with a phone pressed to her ear. She didn’t seem to see him, being more preoccupied at yelling at whoever the poor person was on the other side of the phone.

He walked over to her and tapper her on the shoulder.

The woman turned around quickly, widening her eyes once she saw who it was. She immediately hung up on whoever was on the phone and slipped it into her pocket.

‘Nate! Thank-god, your father has everyone looking for you,’ she told him, some accusation in her voice.

Nate shrugged, not really feeling bad since he wasn’t even told his father would be coming to the camp that day, ‘I was with friends, and anyway, I’m here now. Where is he?’

‘I’ll take you.’ she told him in a harsh voice, obviously not pleased with his lack of remorse for being what she considered late.

They entered the building, walking down a series of overly decorated hallways until they reached a black door. She opened it for him, ushering him inside.

The door was shut behind him and Nate looked up to see that his father was indeed sitting at the desk. The office was lavish, a large couch pushed up against the wall, a television on the other. One window was placed at the back of the room, revealing a view of one of the gardens. At the back of the room was the desk, sitting at it was his father.

The man was in his early fifties, the scent of Alpha and power coming off of him in waves. He had a hard set face, a permanent scowl etched onto his features.

‘Nate, where have you been?’ he asked, motioning for his son to sit down.

‘I wasn’t aware that you were coming today, I apologise,’ Nate told his father.

‘It’s fine, don’t let it happen again,’ his father leant back in his chair. ‘How is camp going?’ His father's tone conveyed that he didn't exatly want to hear camp stories, there was a meaning behind the question, just like everything else his father said.

‘It’s going fine, I can’t complain,' Nate told him, figuring it was a safe anwser.

‘And what about the window incident?’

And there it was, the alterior motive. God forbid that his fatehr would actually want to talk about his sons life and wellbeing.

Nate bit at his lip trying to keep his distaste from turning into harsh words, ‘An accident. I won’t let it happen again.’ He told him with practiced sincerity.

His father didn’t look pleased with his answer, ‘You are supposed to be a model student Nate. There are no room for accidents and mistakes. You are going to become the leader of the pack in only a few months, once you find your mate and turn eighteen, that is. Then you will join me on the council for a few years before taking my spot. You have to be perfect, you have a lot of people counting on you.’

Nate looked down at his hands, the responsibilities of the future leering over him.

‘I know, I am sorry.’

‘Good. Now that’s finished I wanted to speak to you about some of your roles once you become leader of the pack.’

That was where Nate zoned out.

All of these rules and roles and responsibilities. They weren’t what he wanted. He wanted to help people, he wanted to get in with the pack members and teach fighters and be a friend to those who needed it. Paperwork and meetings were not his ideal future.

His thoughts moved to his mate again, and he wished that he had met her already. He wanted that security. When he left the camp he couldn’t take his friends with him, and he would go back to just being him, all alone. Sure, he had his little brother, and heaps of people his age but everyone saw him as an authority figure.

His mate wouldn’t, his mate wouldn’t care one bit.

He felt a pang in his chest, and he just had to hope that he found her soon.

‘That was a good talk,’ his father said suddenly, ‘You should head off to dinner.’

‘Yeah,’ Nate muttered, ‘When are you leaving?’ he asked his father.

‘Tonight, but I will be back just before the end of camp.’

‘Okay. Bye then.’

‘Bye,’ he waved off his son as if not seeing him for the next four weeks meant nothing to him.

Nate headed out, walking past his father’s many assistants who were just standing in the hallway.

He ended up pulling out his phone, texting the only person he wanted to see.

Where are you? – Nate

A few moments his phone buzzed.

My Room (408), you ok?? – Brody

He didn’t reply, just headed into the accommodation building. He took the elevator to the fourth floor and walked down a similar hallway to his own to find room 408.

He knocked on the door, a light thud echoing around him.

The door opened and Brody stood there, still dressed in his gym clothing from before.

‘How was the meeting with your dad?’ Brody asked.

‘Eh,’ Nate shrugged, pushing the dreaded thoughts of future and responsibilitiy further away from his mind, ‘It was alright.’

‘Want to go get dinner?’ Brody asked.

‘Yeah, let’s go.’

The two of them walked to the cafeteria together, and Nate noticed the looks that they were getting from the other Alpha’s. They went to get food, and stood in line behind a couple of guys.

As Nate was waiting he heard the guys in front of them muttering to each other. ‘Woah, is that Nate King standing with that weird kid.’

The other guy laughed quietly, ‘What is with those tattoos right? Like you’re an Alpha not a drug dealer.’

‘Nate King could do so much better than being friends with that loser.’

They obviously didn’t realise that Nate was close enough to hear them.

Nate growled in the back of his throat and both of them froze.

Nate leant forwards, his head between the other two’s, ‘Say something like that again and I will kick both of your asses.’

The two guys turned their wide eyes towards Nate.

One of them spoke, ‘I,uh, we-‘

‘Shut up.’ Nate growled out and the two guys quickly turned away, leaving the food line in fear.

Brody stepped forwards, confusion written in his features, ‘What was that about?’

‘Nothing,’ Nate muttered, stepping up in the line.

‘Nate,’ Brody grabbed his arm, causing Nate’s head to turn towards him. Brody spoke clearly, expecting an answer. ‘What was that about?’

Nate sighed, he wanted to protect his friend, but he knew that he couldn’t lie to Brody. They were friends now, he wanted Brody to trust him, and so in turn he had to be candid as well. ‘They were just saying stuff about us being friends.’

Brody 's hand dropped from Nate's arm as he looked down, obviously upset. ‘I uh, I’m sorry.’

‘Brody,’ Nate patted his hand against Brody's bicep comfortingly, causing him to raise his eyes. ‘Don’t be sorry. We are friends, and I honestly don’t care what a couple of stupid people think.’

Brody suddenly smiled, and Nate turned back towards the food line.

Nate wondered if Brody had ever really had many friends before. He knew that his pack was small and so Brody’s main friend was probably Hunter. He felt the urge to be a real friend to Brody, and he knew that Brody was probably the only person who he could see himself really trusting.

The line moved and the two of them got their food.

Nate looked across the tables and saw that Lucy was eating alone at one of the corner tables. Nate led Brody towards the table.

‘Hey,’ Nate greeted as they sat down.

‘Yeah, Hey Lucy,’ Brody smiled.

Lucy looked up at them both, tucking some stray fiery hair behind her ear, ‘Hey guys!’

Nate looked between them, ‘You know each other?’ He had no idea that they knew each other.

‘Yeah in the library where she was pretending to be a librarian,’ Brody said seriously and Nate's head tiled towards Lucy in confusion.

Lucy smiled bashfully, ‘I did more work in my two minutes of pretending to be a librarian than the real ones do in a year. I helped you find a book, now, didn’t I? ’

Body smiled, ‘Yes, yes you did.’

Nate was happy that Brody had made friends with Lucy, but there was this little feeling in the pit of his stomach that popped up just as Brody and Lucy smiled at eachother. It felt strangly like jealousy, but Nate brushed it off as soon as he came, pinning the strange feeling down to hunger.

Nate just laughed, ‘I am very confused.’

Brody and Lucy just laughed.

Nate couldn’t keep his eyes off Brody as he laughed, the way that his eyes crinkled at the edges just perfectly and the little smile on his lips.

‘Why are you sitting here?’ Tye’s voice rang out from behind Brody and Nate sighed, knowing what was coming.

‘Yeah Brody, why are you here?’ Jace asked, coming to stand next to Tye.

‘Come on guys, leave him alone,’ Lucy interjected. ‘Just sit down.’

Nate could tell that Brody looked extremely uncomfortable. He was looking down at his food, poking at it with his fork.

‘Come on Nate, why are you sitting with this guy?’ Tye asked Nate harshly.

Nate growled in the back of his throat, his gaze lifting, ‘Do you really want to get on my bad side?’

‘What? You are going to pick some nobody over your friends?’ Tye challenged him, looking right into Nate’s eyes.

‘You know what, I am going to pick Brody over you,’ Nate stood up, nodding to Brody, ‘Let’s go.’

Brody looked confused as he stood up too and followed Nate to another table. Nate sat down at the empty table, his tray banging loudly against the hard table top. He looked up to motion for Brody to join him, but the other boy was already on his way over, a guilty look on his face.

‘Nate, you didn’t have to do that, they are your friends,’ Brody told him, looking down at his food.

‘They are not my real friends,’ Nate said. ‘But you are.’

Brody smiled that bashful smile once again and Nate nudged him with his elbow, 'I wouldn't be mad if you stood up for yourself when they do that. It's not like I'm going to defend their actions.'

Brody shrugged, 'I'm not much for conflict.'

'With tattoo's and an eyebrow piercing? You don't exactly look like the typical nerd in glasses who hates conflict.'

Brody faked a gasp, kicking Nate lightly under the table, 'Hey! Don't put me in a box. I like tattoo's because they are personal and beautiful and I chose each and every one of them with a meaning behind them, not because I wanted to look like a bad ass. The eyebrow was actually a dare from Hunter, and I happened to like it.'

'I like you,' Nate smiled.

'What?' Brody's eyes widened slightly.

'I've never met anyone quite like you,' Nate told him, picking up an apple from his tray and taking a giant bite out of it.

'Is that a compliment?'

'Very much so,' Nate told him in a muffled voice, still chewing his apple.

The two sat at the table for a couple of hours, and they didn’t care when Tye and Jace sent them menacing looks from across the room or when they could hear people whispering from other tables. Nate shrugged it off straight away, and when he saw Brody looking uncomfortable he would tell a joke, and those green eyes would light up again and everything was right in Nate’s world for that nanosecond.

That wasn’t the only thing that made Nate smile, he also couldn’t help but smile a giant smile when Brody got so animated in what he was saying that his hands seemed to fly around the air as if they had a life of their own. Nate couldn’t stop the grin from forming when Brody would poke his tongue out at him and his eyes would crinkle up whenever Nate jokingly teased him about his excessive use of hand movements.

I hope this is what it’s like when I meet my mate.

The thought popped into Nate’s head suddenly, and he didn’t try to push it away. It was true. This was real friendship what he had found with Brody in these last few days. Maybe he hadn’t found his mate yet, but he had Brody. Brody who made him feel like a good person, Brody who made him want to stand up for him and protect him. Brody who had shown trust in him even though they had only just become friends.

In Brody, he had found a real friend, and suddenly the realisation that they would only be at camp for another four weeks hit him and for the first time since he had gotten there, Nate wished that the camp would never end.

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