Chapter 4

Chapter 4

-Farley-

I knocked on the deep brown door. I was sure Caspian knew I was coming anyway; the walls were pretty thin. "Come in Farley," Caspian called, voice clear as day. I pushed the door open, not needing to use the handle since the door never shut properly.

Caspian's bedroom was the biggest room in the house because it doubled as an office. It was still rather cramped with the large desk by the window and the double bed in the middle of the room. It was rare that we would have serious meetings in his office, family meetings often took place in the living room. This room was the perfect place for serious private discussions when we couldn't be bothered to leave the house, save for the thin walls.

Caspian was sitting on his bed, papers scattered around him. "Good evening, Farley," Caspian said with a smile on his face. Curiosity was clear in his blue-green eyes, but so was stress. His mahogany brown hair was a mess, presumably from where he ran his hand through it, a nervous habit he held. "What can I do for you?"

"Evening," I said with a nod towards Caspian and Clementine, who was sitting in Caspian's office chair. Clementine nodded back to me with a mock-salute. "I wanted to talk to you about another pack who is close by."

"Another pack?" Clementine asked, her blue eyes widening. She leant forward, her loose blonde hair falling over her shoulder. She wasn't wearing a hat, which was strange. "I've not heard of another pack around here."

Caspian coughed and started to shuffle some papers around. He put them into a blue folder which was also on the bed before standing up. His grey sweatpants trailed the ground as he trudged towards the desk, stopping to lean against it with his arms crossed. "How do you know there's another pack nearby?"

I fiddled with a loose thread on my jeans. "I went on a walk, and I bumped into someone, then I overheard him having a conversation with someone else." I didn't like the way Caspian looked at me as I admitted to overhearing someone's conversation. He had tilted his head down and gave me a stern glare. "He was a strange person, I was interested."

"That doesn't mean that you eavesdrop on people's conversations," Clementine scolded. "You need other reasons. Can't judge someone for being strange."

I snorted as Caspian's stern stare turned towards Clementine. She shrunk slightly under his gaze but smiled innocently.

"Eavesdropping is rude, no matter what." Caspian sighed before running a hand down his face. The dark circles under his eyes were extremely prominent in the white light of the room. "Where did you see this person?"

"In the forest," I answered quickly. "I was getting some fresh air and I walked into him on a new trail." Caspian raised his eyebrow at me and gestured for me to continue. "I thought it was odd seeing someone in the middle of the forest at that time-"

"Even though you were there," Clementine interjected, but I didn't pay any mind to her.

"-so, I started to talk to him." I paused and rubbed the back of my neck. "His name is Pax, he's blind, he met up with someone called Cedar." I didn't exactly know what Caspian wanted me to say. I could've gone into a mass amount of detail about the past few hours, from the amount of steps I took out of the forest, to the exact shade of Pax's hair, which I would describe as caramel.

"How do you know he's part of a pack?" Caspian asked with a strained tone. I wonder what's up with him, he is clearly stressed, but he hasn't mentioned anything to us about any issues.

"A few things suggested it. Perhaps it was the fact he was on patrol? Or maybe it was the fact that he was called 'pup'? Though I think what really gave it away was the fact he said that they were part of a pack." I couldn't help my feelings from showing in my words. The confusion and the panic made me feel bad. My voice sounded sarcastic, even to my own ears.

"No need for that tone Farley," Caspian said with a defeated expression. "There's another pack, but they're not close to us. That shouldn't cause us any issues."

Clementine looked up at him, her cheeks turning the lightest shade of pink. "Did you know about another pack being close?" She swayed in the chair once again.

"I knew that there were more werewolves in the area," Caspian said. His brows furrowed and he lifted a hand to his chin. "I know that a few know about us, but those are the ones we talk to frequently. I've heard of one in the forest, I've been warned against aggravating them." He was talking about the packs we talked to during our meetings, particularly the Quartvear pack.

"You didn't tell us?" I asked, harsher then I meant to once again. "What if we accidentally came across them? Angered them enough to cause conflict?"

"Then it would be accidental," Caspian replied simply. "We don't want to stir up trouble. We don't have the strength to go against any pack at the moment." He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

Clementine frowned, reaching a hand up to rub his arm. "We won't cause any conflicts," she told him before turning to me. "Have you called your parents today?"

I cursed under my breath, pulling my phone out of my pocket. "Thank you." I hurried out of the room, my thumbs already finding my parent's number on my phone. I ran down the stairs and out of the backdoor, the tone of the phone ringing in my ear.

"Hello?" my mother's tired voice came through the phone. Her voice alone made me smile.

"Hi Mam, it's Farley." Shuffling came from the other side of the phone. I resisted the urge to chuckle at how common this was.

"Farley, it's late, I was starting to get worried." I shook my head at my mother's scolding tone, the smile still not leaving my face. "What've you been up to?" There were some muffled voices in the background. "Dear, it's Farley." More background noise caused me to sigh.

"Farley," my father's voice came through the phone. "How are you?"

"I just asked him that," my mother scolded. "Give him a chance to answer." I rolled my eyes at her. If it were just her, she'd ask me all the questions under the sun as quick as light.

"I'm doing well, just got home from a walk." I moved to my usual position leaning against the side of the house. The flowers of the garden had grown in, so I was careful not to disturb them. "How's your day been?"

"Wonderful, I made these adorable earrings, here let me show you." I resisted the urge to sigh again as the shuffling started again.

"Lana, you're not on Skype," my father informed. "He can't see them."

I chuckled and shook my head. The image of my mother frowning as she looked at her phone came into my mind clear as day. Her bright blue eyes would be illuminated by the white of her phone screen. Since it was late, her black hair would be loose around her head, leading to a light blue nightie.

"You can't tell me what Farley can and can't see, Brin." I had to put a hand over my mouth to stop from laughing. "Oh well, I'll send you a picture."

"You do that Mam." I nodded, even though she couldn't see. "How are you two doing?"

"No different to last night," my father exclaimed into the microphone. I winced slightly.

"Yeah, maybe I should start calling less often?" I teased. The thump and groan made me deduce that my mother had hit my father, probably on the arm.

"No, no. This is fine," Mam spoke hurriedly into the phone. "I like to make sure you're alright." Her words warmed my heart but made it drop into my stomach with the guilt I felt.

It was my decision to leave home, even if it wasn't too far away. My mother and father weren't too well-off, but I could afford to live with Caspian's pack due to Caspian's kindness and the money I get from work. My parents were very social and terribly busy people, they wouldn't miss me. I thought that until the first night I stayed at the packhouse. My mother had phoned me in tears. I spent a good two hours talking to them that night and had phoned them every night since.

It was normal for werewolves not to be at home by the age of fifteen, so I waited a few months after my birthday before moving out. It was like picking out a university, you'd be representing the pack for the rest of your life, each of them were different. Caspian's pack were more integrated into human society, the members went to work and school, and made friends. Whilst other packs were more isolated and preferred to depend on themselves. I'd heard of a pack who lived in the middle of the forest before, with around twelve members. I couldn't imagine having such a small community like that. There'd been lots of drama attributed to that pack in the past, something Caspian didn't get involved in.

"Farley, are you still there?" Mam's voice brought me back to reality. I blinked a few times and shifted my position against the wall a little bit.

"I'm still here, sorry about that." The television was now audible in the background, some drama that I'm sure neither parent were interested in.

"It's no problem, dear. It's late, you should go to sleep." She was right, but sleep would be something far from my mind for the next few hours.

"I've got to have dinner first." I chuckled and shook my head. "Any recommendations?"

"No pasta," my dad exclaimed through the phone. "Too much pasta." I huffed and shook my head.

"Pasta's easy," I complained. "I'll probably just have a sausage sandwich or something."

"Don't use the same sausage you did last time, that sausage isn't meant for sandwiches." I didn't know what Mam meant, but I didn't argue with her either way.

"Alright, bacon it is." I chuckled and started to head back inside. The heating wasn't on, something I was grateful for. "Goodnight, love you."

"Love you too, goodnight," My parents replied in unison. I hung up the phone and placed it on the bench.

The kitchen was small, but it was big enough for everyone who lived here. It had light cream wallpaper and was decorated with a multitude of plants. Miniature cats were scattered around, such as guarding the plants and on top of the fridge. Other than that, it looked like a kitchen you would find in an old magazine. The most used appliance was the microwave, but I made some conscious steps to make sure that the oven was used more often. Iris liked to bake, so it had been easier the past few months.

I turned the oven on and turned 180 degrees to the fridge. There was a big pack of bacon in there, needing to be used. I grinned.

"Has anyone had their tea yet?" I asked loudly. Footsteps started to pound as Rowan jumped down the stairs.

"Yes, but I can eat. What're you doing?" I lifted the pack of bacon to show him. His eyes were full of happiness and hunger. He lifted both of his fists to the sky and cheered. "Yes!"

Guess that was a positive sign.

FUN FACT! -I kept writing Caspain instead of Caspian...so if you see that feel free to point that out :D

QUESTION OF THE DAY!!

What's your favourite meal?

I've gotta admit that I really like many things- but i really like bacon and jacket potato...or pasta. One or the other because I'm indecisive!