Chapter 35

Apologies if nobody got a notification for chapter 34. Wattpad seems to be having 'a moment'. Please let me know if you get a notification for this chapter, and chapter 36!

- Sian :)

Pip quickly changed from his pastel blue work t-shirt. His shift had been dull, and he had to spend a lot of his time in the storeroom or washing dishes because nobody else entered the café. There was no point of him being there, but Debra knew he needed the money.

Pip was hyper-aware of Krey's eyes on him whenever he walked back to the tables. If Pip were in view, Krey would watch whatever he did. Pip wondered if that was a mate thing.

He had spent the past day thinking about the mate thing. A small part of him felt a little strange when he thought about Krey obsessing over him. A large part of Pip screamed with happiness.

Pip felt special again.

After so many years of feeling like he had to tackle the world alone, Krey had come to share the fight.

Yes, Pip was still struggling with the fact that werewolves were real, and that his knowledge of what existed in the world had expanded. Though, Pip realised how lucky he was to know such a secret.

His life finally had purpose.

Pip wore his yellow coat and his burgundy hat, gloves and scarf. He pulled his bag over his shoulders and walked back to the tables.

Krey's eyes found Pip immediately, and sparks shot down Pip's spine. Krey didn't look so angry anymore. His eyes were back to their usual intensity, looking Pip up and down.

"My aunt and uncle are home, but I can ask if you can come in," Pip said, pursing his lips and rolling back and forth on his feet.

Krey slid from the booth. When he stood, he towered over Pip. Instead of shoving hands into his pockets, Krey slid his hand into Pip's hand.

Pip wore gloves, but he still felt the heat of Krey's skin through the wool.

As they walked from the café and down the street, Pip asked, "Is that why you're so warm all the time, because you're- you know."

Krey nodded. "That was one of the clues I tried dropping. I didn't do a good job."

"I think if I didn't see what I saw in the woods, I might have suspected something eventually." As they arrived outside Pip's home, Pip told Krey to wait outside while he asked whoever he could find first if Krey could come inside.

Pip hurried down the corridor, past the stairs and found his uncle Bert in the kitchen. Pip hoped to see his aunt Joanna because she was a little less bitter towards him.

"Hey," Pip said with a smile. His uncle looked up from the newspaper and gave Pip a distasteful stare, then continued reading. "Um, I-I have a friend outside. Can he come in for a bit? W-We'll just be in my bedroom. We'll be quiet. You won't even know he's there."

His uncle adjusted on the seat. The light above beamed against his bald head. "No."

Pip paused. "B-But uncle, I never have friends round-"

"I said no, Pippor!" Bert snapped.

Pip cringed, knowing Krey would have heard from the front door that was left open. Pip then remembered when Krey said he had supernatural senses, which included his hearing, so he could probably hear everything anyway.

"What's going on!" His aunt came in from the garden after having her evening smoke.

"Pippor here doesn't understand the word no."

"What did he ask?"

"If he could have a friend around."

His aunt Joanna laughed like his uncle had told her the funniest joke. "Pip has a friend. Yeah," she scoffed, "and pigs can fly."

Pip lowered his head when they both laughed again. "My cousins always have friends over," he mumbled.

The laughter stopped abruptly. His uncle Bert stood from the table. The chair scraping against the tiles was a piercing screech. "Because, Pippor Monty, you're here out of sympathy. Do you think we wanted to take you in, the child of Joanna's stupid bitch of a sister?"

His uncle always said Pip's last name like it stung his tongue. Pip had his father's last name. His uncle used that against Pip as an excuse to treat him like a stranger in a house he had lived in for seven years.

As for Pip's mother, his aunt Joanna and her sister had never gotten on. They had a huge argument when Pip was very young, so Pip hadn't seen his aunt or uncle for years until his parents died, and he needed somewhere to live.

The way his uncle spoke about his mother was nothing new. Pip had heard them call her every lousy word under the sun from the moment he moved in.

"Get out of my sight Pippor. And tell your friend to get lost." His uncle Bert sat back down, while his aunt watched Pip blankly.

Pip hurried from the kitchen before he lingered too long to get more verbal abuse. He hoped with all his heart that Krey hadn't heard anything. As he approached the door and looked up to meet Krey's eyes, Pip gasped, astonished. "Your eyes are red, a-and glowing!" He then looked behind him and lowered his voice. "Are they your-your wolf eyes?"

Krey's hands were fists, clenched and shaking. "Are they always like that to you?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh, you heard?" Pip felt embarrassed.

"Pip," Krey breathed his name with a heavy sigh. As much as he wanted to storm through the house and smash his uncle's head against the table, Krey pulled his mate out of the house and shut the front door. Krey held Pip's shoulders, crouching, so their faces were close. Krey's anger made him speak his mind, and he couldn't keep it back. "Come live with me."

"What!" Pip squeaked.

"At the institute," Krey urged. "Please. You'll be safe there, and there's enough space for you. Please Pip, you can't live here with them. I can't go home tonight knowing that you're living in a place that doesn't want you."

Pip looked around Krey's desperate face. Krey begged him with his deep soulful eyes.

"We can go up to your room and pack the essentials and-"

"Krey," Pip interrupted. "S-Slow down." Pip looked around. The streets were empty. "Come on."

Pip walked down the side of the house and around the garden fence. Krey followed him into the woods. They walked quickly and followed a trail until they reached a fallen tree trunk.

"Right," Pip said, scratching the back of his head before pulling his hat further over his ears. "S-Something tells me that you're not thinking rationally."

Krey sat on the tree trunk, flexing his injured fingers. "Pip, you're my mate. I want the absolute best for you. I wasn't planning to ask you to live at the institute tonight, but I had planned to ask you soon. I just-" Krey got back up and started pacing. "You can't live like this, with people like that. I wanted to storm into your house so badly."

Pip's eyes followed him back and forth. "Krey, what happened to your hand?"

Krey turned away from him. He was angry but glad his temper hadn't got the better of him. He could have stormed into Pip's house and threw punches, but he didn't want Pip to see him like that. "Why are you still living with your aunt and uncle?"

Pip sighed. "I can't afford to move out."

"Then come live with me at the institute." Krey perceived Pip's silence as a bad thing. Krey turned to look at him. Pip stared up at thy sky and the stars as if they could tell him how to answer. "You won't need to pay for anything."

"Krey," Pip said quietly. "This is way too sudden."

Krey held his tongue and tried to put himself in Pip's shoes. Krey struggled to see why he would reject such a request. Werewolves moved fast. Humans always needed time to think about everything. Pip didn't have all the time in the world. He barely had any time at all.

Krey returned to the tree trunk and sat down next to his mate. He looked back to his bruised knuckles. Pip had to know everything; then, his answer could be made fairly. "I'll tell you what happened today, and what it means to be my mate." Krey watched his blue eyes, silver in the night. "And before you ask, yes, my red eyes are my wolf eyes."

Pip smiled and crossed his legs, ready to listen.

"This might be confusing, but if you have questions as I'm explaining, you can interrupt me to ask, okay?"

Pip nodded, and Krey inhaled slowly.

"So, I guess I should start with you. Nobody in the institute knows about you yet, not even my mother. Well, apart from Francis because she followed me when I was following you." Krey paused when Pip raised his eyebrows. "I just wanted to know who you were after I dreamt about you. Anyway, Francis was the only one to know about you, which was the safest option."

"Safest- option?" Pip asked with a small frown.

"For us both. Pip, I have a lot of enemies. Wolves are very territorial but crave dominance, especially Alpha wolves like me. We're always fighting for other Packhouses and land to expand our packs. I have a lot of enemies who would come for you if they found out that I had a mate who was still living in the town, and not the institute. You see-" Krey took a breath. He wasn't ready for the judgement, but he knew he had to tell Pip about his way of ruling. "I'm best known for... for hunting the mates of other Alpha wolves."

Pip's frown deepened. Krey wasn't used to seeing him that way. "Why?" was all Pip could ask.

"Because mates are a weakness. I told you I would die for you, and that's the same for every other werewolf who has a mate. I don't kill the mates or anything, I just take them and make empty threats until I get what I want." Krey had to hold his head high. He couldn't be ashamed of what he had done, especially what he had done to the Alpha of the southern wolves. Krey couldn't change the past and how it shaped him to be a monster. "I planned to keep doing that until my father- until I became Alpha a few months ago. I thought I would have years to find a mate, but then I dreamt of you. Everything was so chaotic. I didn't want to be Alpha. I don't even know if I still do. The pack doesn't feel like mine, I have no idea what I'm doing, and then you come along, and I abandon everything to meet up with you when I should've been at the institute." Krey pressed his fingers hard against the bruises on his knuckles. "Then today, my beta wolf found out that you were my mate. My beta wolf is Jordan, the guy who-"

"Broke my fingers," Pip whispered. "I remember him." How could Pip forget such an evil smile? He shivered at the mention of him and pulled his scarf tighter around his neck.

"Jordan found out that you were my mate and said Francis had told him, even though she promised to keep you a secret. I don't like Jordan, and I don't know who was lying to me. So, these bruises are from hitting Jordan. I yelled at Francis too. Then I came to the café to wait for you."

"A-And that's why you said you had the worst day?"

Krey nodded. "But now that Jordan knows about you, I don't know if he'll tell everyone. If he does, then you're in so much danger. News travels fast in the werewolf world. If my enemies found out about you, they would take you from your home in hours. If the southern wolves got a hold of you..." Krey didn't want to think about what they would do to Pip.

"...And in the institute, I'd be safe?"

"Yes."

"Why did you punch Jordan for knowing about me?"

"He threatened you."

"A-And he still lives at the institute?"

"Not anymore. I don't even want Jordan to be my Beta. If you come with me to the institute, he will be gone, I promise."