Chapter 43

You guys are so supportive, thank you!

- Sian

"Is he dead?" Pip asked after a while of sitting with Krey in silence, watching a film from the TV mounted on the wall opposite Krey's bed. Neither of the boys paid the film much attention.

"Jordan?"

Pip nodded.

"Yes. He would have killed you if my mother didn't see him going into my room." Krey grimaced at how different his evening could have been.

Pip swallowed hard. "Did he have a soulmate?"

"I don't think so. I don't think he had any family." Krey was laid on the bed, far down enough that his head was level with Pip. He turned to look at him, and his eyes skimmed over Pip's bruised and freckly nose. "I'm glad he's dead, and I'm glad I was the one to kill him."

Pip wore one of Krey's jumpers, so he had to roll up the sleeves to use his hands. He pressed the ends of his fingers together. "Would you have kept Jordan here, but not as your beta or would you have made him leave? You know, I-If he didn't attack."

"I don't know," Krey mumbled, frowning. "This is why I give nobody second chances. In my world, it's not worth the risk."

Pip looked to the window. They had to cover it with a waterproof sheet and stick it to the wall while a new window was made. Krey's bedroom window was large and shaped like an arch. It had a few squares of stained red glass at the top, but Krey wasn't bothered about that, he just wanted a window, so his mate wasn't freezing during the night.

As for Krey's bathroom door, Makena put it back on with new hinges.

The sun had already set, and Pip could see the snow hitting the plastic cover over the window.

"It's a good thing you can't really see out of the window," Krey mumbled, looking back to the TV. He couldn't remember the last time he had turned it on. "The pack are training in wolf forms tonight."

Pip snapped his head back to the window, sitting up. "Wolf forms?"

"It's okay. There are guards by the only entrance to this corridor."

Pip wasn't sure how to feel about wolves training in the field below. After Jordan almost drowning him, Pip's emotions were all over the place. He hadn't yet cried about Jordan trying to end his life, Pip wasn't sure if he was holding the tears in or not. He was sure Krey could tell his head was all over the place because Krey avoided talking about what happened.

Pip noted that Krey's hands turned to fists whenever his eyes grazed the bathroom door.

"If there's anyone in the woods, won't they see the wolves?" Pip asked.

"We cover the fences and shine lights into the woods, making it easier to spot humans nearby, and harder for them to see in because the lights are so bright."

Pip looked back to the window. "C-Can I- have a look?"

Krey's eyes fixed on Pip, watching his expression. "Will you faint?"

"Maybe," Pip whispered with a nervous chuckle, deepening his dimples.

Krey sat up, purposefully leaning close when he did, and their noses brushed for only a second. The contact was enough for his heart to thump. "Alright. I think it'll be good for you to get used to seeing the wolves before you see mine."

Pip climbed out of bed with pink cheeks. Even through socks, he felt the ice-cold wood of Krey's dark grey floor. Pip pulled his bobble hat further over his ears.

Krey got out of bed and approached the window. He muttered something about dragging Jordan to the roof instead. He was going to pull the sheet off but paused and looked towards his bedroom door. "Let's look from my mum's room."

Pip could tell that Krey's relationship with his mother was patchy, but they were grieving. Krey had lost his father a few months ago. His mother had lost her soulmate, her best friend, the love of her life. Pip knew that grief changed people, and warped people from the heartache.

Makena had kissed her son's head after Jordan's attack. Pip understood that the love was there, but much like Krey, she struggled sometimes to show it.

Krey took Pip's hand and walked with him down the corridor. The light above buzzed and cast a dull yellow shine down the corridor, making shadows on the ugly wallpaper. He hoped Pip didn't judge the institute too hard.

Krey stopped outside his mother's door, white and bright. He knocked and felt Pip stand closer to him.

Makena opened quickly with a frown. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

Pip shivered from the cold air.

"Pip wants to see the wolves. Can we look from your window?" Krey asked in his deep monotone voice.

Makena's frown softened as she looked from Krey to Pip. "Yeah, come in." She stood back as they entered. "Sorry, it's cold in here."

Pip smiled, glancing around the room. Unlike Krey, not everything in Makena's bedroom was black. She had silky purple bed sheets and white walls. A few books spread across her bed, along with a pair of reading glasses.

Krey felt like his mother watched his every move as he guided Pip to the window, holding his arms in case Pip fainted.

Pip was hesitant to look outside at first, but with his nose almost touching the glass, he had nowhere else to look apart from the wolf infested field below.

He gasped when he saw fast movement in the darkness. Krey was right about the lights pointing into the woods. The fences, once with gaps that helped Pip climb them, were now smooth sheets of metal, concealing the grounds from the public.

Pip felt his eyes grow wide, and his mouth hang open. The field was dark, but he could see the sheer size of the many wolves and hear the snarls and the growls and thuds when two wolves practised fighting.

Pip's legs wobbled and he leaned his back into Krey, who wrapped strong arms around his waist to keep him up. Even through his jumper, Pip felt Krey's warmth.

"Are you okay?" Krey asked, leaning over him to see his face.

Pip couldn't take his eyes off one wolf that was pure white, with glowing red eyes. The wolf bared its teeth and drool dripped onto the grass. Another wolf, a brown wolf, bolted up behind the white one and sank teeth into its tail. The wolf howled and turned, bopping the brown wolf on the head with a huge paw. They jumped on each other and rolled around in the grass.

If Pip were watching from the ground floor window, and by himself, he would have been scared. Pip felt Krey holding him, and he knew that he was safe in his arms.

Krey had killed a man for trying to kill his mate. Pip was starting to understand the lengths Krey would go to in order to protect Pip.

"A-All of these are... are werewolves?" Pip asked in a whisper.

"Yes."

Pip had a hard time believing that they transformed from humans and could transform back. He remembered the night in the woods when Krey had dropped his phone. The way Krey's arms bent and his back snapped. The sound was something Pip would never forget.

"How does that fit inside a human?" he whispered. Pip hadn't blinked since he approach the window. He thought he would faint or cry, but since what happened earlier that day with Jordan, Pip only felt a little numb.

"Both are not physical at the same time. We can either be one or the other. Right now, my wolf is just a feeling."

Pip then turned and stared at Krey's chest like he expected a wolf's head to be there. "It's hard to really believe u-until-" Pip glanced back to the window and to the field full of ginormous wolves. "Until you see them."

The longer Pip looked, the more mesmerised he became, though he didn't want to get closer. He remembered when the wolf chased off Mark and his idiot friends, then stopped to give him a lick on the cheek. Pip now knew that was Krey, but the fear he felt was something he didn't want to feel again today.

Pip turned to face Krey again. "It's uh- wow."

"You had enough?" Krey asked, and Pip nodded. Krey looked to his mother, standing by the bed. She rubbed her shoulder with a mouth twisted with discomfort. "You should see the doctor, mum."

Pip looked around Krey in time to see her face turn blank, and Pip knew why Krey was so good at hiding his expressions too.

"I'll be fine." Makena's brown eyes looked to Pip. "How's your nose?"

"Sore, b-but not broken."

Makena then sighed, and said, "I hope you know that Jordan knew he had lost his Beta position. There's nothing worse than losing a high status when you're born with the position, and no other pack would have taken him in if they knew Krey kicked him out for threatening a mate. Jordan went after you as revenge. No other wolf in this institute would dare harm you, because nobody else is as power hungry as Jordan was. I hope his actions haven't made you afraid to be here."

Pip thought back to when his face was shoved into ice cold water. Just looking at Krey's bathroom door made him feel uneasy. "N-Nobody else is like that?"

"Not even Krey, the grumpiest one in the institute."

Pip smiled, and Krey soaked up the beautiful sight. "H-He's not that grumpy. He just- he just frowns a lot for no reason."

Makena chuckled. She looked a lot less terrifying when her eyes weren't so hard, and her mouth wasn't so stern. "Like me." She crossed her arms. "I'm sorry I was rude this morning, Pip. I was a little hurt that I didn't know about you sooner. As the Alpha's mate, I used to know everything before anyone."

Krey clenched his jaw and looked away. "Sorry for that," he mumbled. "I handled it wrong."

"What's done is done," Makena said, shrugging and linking her fingers. "I'm just glad your mate is here in time for the annual meeting." Krey's head snapped in her direction, clearly forgetting about the event. "Which is tomorrow. Do you have any nice clothes with you, Pip?"