Chapter 43

Chapter 43

-Pax-

Clementine called us around forty-five minutes after they'd left. I think the people in the house were starting to get tired of my constant questions, that's the only reason I know how long it took them. I constantly asked for the time and their opinions on whether or not they could handle it.

"They'll be fine," Iris assured me. "They're strong wolves, and they'll call if they need us."

It did very little to calm my nerves. The day felt ordinary, the sun was out, warming my skin, and we had to do our chores still. Well, I didn't. I did Farley's chores whilst he wasn't there. I even did some of Iris' chores. I had asked if I could do Rowan's, but they wouldn't actually tell me what they were.

Caspian put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me towards a seat. "Your nervousness is making me nervous. Please, just relax," he said. "We can only do so much until the others get back."

It was another half an hour after Clementine called that they actually returned. I waited for any sign of them and bounded towards the door when a car pulled up outside. I waited near the shoebox for the door to open, silently praying that Farley was the first one to come in.

He wasn't, which meant I stood there awkwardly for a few more minutes before diving forward and wrapping my arms around him. "I was so worried," I said, my voice muffled as I buried my head in his neck.

He stumbled back and chuckled. "Hey, missed you too," he said. He placed his hands on my back, pulling me closer. "I'm okay though."

"He won't be after-" Karim was interrupted by someone's hand making contact with his head. "Ow," he said sarcastically.

"I'll go get the first-aid kit," Clementine said.

It was only thanks to that comment that I started to smell blood. The metallic odour made my nose scrunch up. I couldn't see any injuries on Farley, obviously, but he seemed to be losing quite a bit of blood.

"What happened?" I asked with a frown. I led him to the living room and made him sit in the closest free chair, the one next to Iris.

"I think those wolves are very used to stealing kneecaps," Farley responded with a weak chuckle. There must have been some reference there which I didn't understand, as Rowan burst out laughing.

"Did Kelsey get out alright?" Caspian asked as he knelt next to Farley's leg, taking the first-aid kit from Clementine.

"Yeah," she responded. "She was the only one there, but we saw at least four wolves."

"Four?" Caspian asked. "I thought that Kelsey said there were only two people there?"

"They must have gone around the back," Karim commented. "I'd like to take some of their heads off," he muttered afterwards.

"We get it, you like your car," Emi said with a huff. "Stop going on about it."

Karmic continued to grumble but made no other comments on the matter.

"Did she tell you anything else?" Caspian asked.

"She was a bit too frightened," Farley answered. "She didn't talk too much."

I would've thought my chest would be used to the icy cold feeling I got whenever something bad happened, but I felt sorry for Kelsey. It would take a lot to make her go quiet. She was a very talkative person, always looking on the brighter side of things.

I shook my head; my thoughts were making it sound as though she were dead.

"This isn't good," Caspian muttered. "They're not afraid to make a scene. We don't know what they're willing to do."

I nodded absentmindedly. "They must be getting desperate," I said without thinking. "What could have pushed them to do that?"

"They were after me," Farley said. "Unless they were wanting to use me to get to you, I'm not sure why they'd want me."

"You're probably right," Iris responded. "There's too many people here, they don't think they could fight all of us."

Harlow made a humming noise from the side of the room.

"Yeah," Clementine responded. "Though, if they thought that then surely, they're not keeping track of the house."

"You never know," Harlow replied. "They might have followed us back here."

The comment made my shoulders tense. A hand was placed on my shoulder, no doubt Farley's.

There was some sort of silent communication going on which I didn't comprehend, so I just slumped backwards and waited for a summary.

"How about that date I was talking about?" Farley whispered. "Tonight?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and turned in his direction. "Now?"

His hair tickled the side of my face as he shook his head. "I said tonight. You gotta clean your ears," he teased. "It'll be something simple though."

I bit my lip and nodded my head. This wasn't good timing at all, but in a way, it was also perfect.

"The door's fixed, by the way," Caspian announced as the first-aid box clicked shut. "It took Moss about two minutes to screw the new one on."

"I don't think any screwing takes two minutes," Rowan joked. I didn't understand, but it caused him to get a slap on the back of the head. I must have looked confused, as he said to me, "I'll tell you later."

"No, you will not," Clementine denied. "Let the boy be as innocent as he can. Don't ruin him."

"I'm going to get changed," Farley declared and stood up, dragging me up with him. "We'll see you in a few."

I was pulled up the stairs, leaving behind a room of confused mutters.

I sat at the head of the bed whilst Farley was in the bathroom, probably getting changed like he said he was. That was also where I stayed until teatime. Farley had told me what the others were discussing through their phones earlier. We tried to brainstorm some ways of talking quietly that I could understand, but we didn't get very far.

The conversations continued into teatime talk, along with how everyone's injuries were doing and when the rest of the pack would be returning. Apparently, we got some promising emails whilst I was huddled in our room.

After tea, I wasn't allowed in our room until Farley announced it was ready. It made me anxious and giddy. I didn't know what I was expecting, but since it was Farley, it couldn't be anything bad.

I ended up learning how to start knitting, cutesy of a very bored Iris. She'd been told that she wasn't allowed to work whilst her leg wasn't the best, a good excuse for Caspian to force her to stop working for a moment, and she was suffering for it. She constantly worked, no matter what was going on, so it wasn't surprising when she leaped at the chance to distract me.

Heavy footsteps bounded down the stairs and into the living room. "It's finished," Farley said. He rested on the arm of the chair I was in, his jeans barely rubbed against the back of my forearm. "Wow, that's impressive."

My cheeks became warm, and my lip twitched. "Thank you." I ran my hand against the wool which I had somehow knotted together. "It's all thanks to Iris, really."

"You did a great job Iris," Farley complimented. "Since Pax won't take the compliment."

"That's very rude," Iris joked. "But thank you. He's a very good student."

I waved my hand dismissively. It was a peaceful activity, and you could make something out of it. I quite liked the idea of continuing and was actually interested in learning about it.

"Anyway, how do I stop?" I asked and held out the knitting needles.

"I'll do it," The objects were taken out of my hands and immediately replaced with a hand. Farley tugged me to a stand and headed out the room.

"Goodnight, guys," Iris called after us, giggling slightly.

"Goodnight?" I replied, unsure as to why she was saying that at this time.

"Goodnight and sleep well," Farley replied. He stopped in front of the door to our room. "God thing that Rowan gave me permission to do this. It'll be worth it." I didn't know if he was talking to me or himself, but the door opened, and the smell of sugar and fabric softener hit me like a punch to the face.

"What have you done?" I asked. I still stood in the doorway, trying to make sense of the few shapes that managed to catch the light. All that was in front of me seemed to be a mound in the middle of the room.

"It's a fort," Farley said. His voice was laced with excitement, and he rocked on his heels. "The reason Rowan agreed to this was so that I don't take it down when we're done."

"A fort?" I questioned. I'd heard the word used a few times in training and planning. It was something you used to protect yourself or hide within. "I don't understand."

"You will," Farley promised. He tugged my hand and led me further into the room. "It's a very soft fort. A lot of children and teenagers like to do this. You're gonna have to duck."

I tried to touch the mound, but my hand was gently moved to the side. I still held Farley's hand in my other, I closed my eyes again, there wouldn't be any use in keeping them open. Farley 's hand lowered, confusing me for a moment before I realised that he was probably going inside the mound.

I lowered to my knees and followed, it was easier than walking whilst being bent over. My hand was pulled abruptly, casing me to fall onto my stomach and face-first into something soft.

I lifted my face and huffed in annoyance. I used my free hand to feel that I had fallen face-first into a pillow, a very soft pillow. I continued to feel the different soft materials. There were a lot of blankets and pillows, creating a nest. I went uninterrupted until my hand reached something made of plastic.

"Nope," Farley said. "Not now, wait a few more minutes."

I'm sure I must have looked the ideal example of confused, as he chuckled.

"We're going to relax. You know? That thing that people do for self-care and happiness?" he nudged my shoulder. "Rumour has it, you've been very stressed lately."

"Just a rumour?" I asked with a small grin.

"It's a date too, but I hoped that you'd forget about it. I don't know why I brought it up," he stumbled over his words a little bit. "Could've done something better, but this was all I could do on such short notice with murderous wolves wanting to tear us to shreds."

"And you say I'm the stressed one?"

I was pulled closer to Farley, so that we lay side-by-side on the floor. "Yes."

I shook my head, but I didn't argue with him. "Well then, show me the wonders of a fort."

"Okay, so," he said in a completely different tone to the one he had previously used. "Forts are very cosy nest-like places where we just relax and chill. There's some fairy lights hanging from the beds, so there's not a lot of light. My laptop is over here, so we can watch movies. I brought snacks, which I had to take from you just now."

I chuckled. "Even when not knowing, I migrate towards the food."

"Yup." He shuffled beside me, and something covered my legs, one of the soft blankets. It was recognisable as my favourite blanket, the one we kept on the spinning chair. It smelled of Farley's cologne and mint, whilst still remaining extremely fluffy. "They aren't usually the best in summer, but today hasn't been as warm as other days."

I nodded to show I was still listening.

"The main pillows are behind us. So, we can fall back. He let go of my hand and tugged on my shoulder, pulling me backwards and into a very furry cushion. "They're too big for any furniture we have, so they only really got used for this purpose."

"They're very fluffy," I commented. "It's like fur."

"It's not," Farley assured. "I think having fur on anything in the house would be somewhat threatening."

It took me a moment to realise what he was talking about, but when I did, I sputtered out a laugh. "Very threatening," I agreed. "I wouldn't want to cross any wolf with fur furniture."

Farley's hand was still on my shoulder, it was warm and comforting. I didn't want to move away from him, I had no reason to. I didn't expect myself to lean into him.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked whilst starting to click away at his laptop. I was distracted by the clicking noises, as he usually used two hands to work his laptop. "Pax? Don't go falling asleep on me already."

I shook my head. "I'm not. I'm just thinking." It wasn't entirely the truth. I was thinking, just not about what to watch. "Something funny?"

"Hmm, I fear I might need to take on a task which I had delegated to Clementine." His tone made me turn my head towards him with slight concern. "I may need to suffer through it...introducing you to the genre of rom coms."

I furrowed my eyebrows, though I did remember them talking about it. 'Romantic comedy' was something that sounded interesting, but I had been assured that it was embarrassing and 'cringey'.

"But you'd suffer for me?" I asked with a pout. The words barely left my mouth when I started to think back about all the times, he had actually suffered for me.

"It may be one of the toughest sacrifices that I ever make," he continued. "If I don't make it, know that I did it for you."

I bowed my head. "It will be a noble sacrifice."

A few more taps and energetic music began to emit from his laptop. Farley shifted closer to me, pulling me closer and moving the laptop so that it was on the leg which was closest to him.

"Wanna try one of these whilst the title's on?" he asked. I didn't know what the titles were or what 'these' were, but it mustn't be a bad thing.

I nodded and something met my lips. It was sweet and slightly warm.

"You have to bite it," Farley said with what could only be described as a giggle. "Trust me."

I opened my mouth wider and took a bite. The flavour was subtle and sweet, the sugar coated the outside and mixed wells with whatever was inside. The difference in the texture of the pastry and the filling was extremely pleasant.

"What is that?" I asked. My head unconsciously moved forward for another bite.

"It's a custard pastry," Farley replied. His voice was slightly muffled, as though he were eating as well. "Do you like it?"

"Mhm." The treat met my lips again, this time I took a bigger bite. By now, voices started to come from Farley's laptop, so my attention was split.

"I'll have to remember to get more then."

That was how the next two hours went. He'd give me something from the plastic box of treats and we'd discuss what it was. My favourites were the custard pastry and the cinnamon roll. The movie was interesting, but I didn't understand a lot of the references, something that Farley found amusing.

"Why did they have the same strand of spaghetti though?" I asked for the fourth time. "Even if it was on the same plate, what are the chances of them getting the same strand?"

"I'd say one in however many strands were on the plate," Farley replied, whilst trying to maintain his laughter. "The point is, they follow the spaghetti and end up kissing."

"But would that even be good?" I asked. "You'd be all tomato-y and spaghetti-y. I don't think that's very romantic."

"Oh, you don't?" Farley asked with mock surprise. "I'll have to remember that. What do you find romantic?"

I was at a loss for words. I tried to wrack my brain for some kind of answer, but I didn't get any. "Uh, I don't know." I looked down. We were still cuddling, it made me feel secure and safe, plus Farley wasn't pulling away either. "What's your opinion on it though? What do you find romantic?"

Farley hummed and laced his head on mine. "I think alone time is romantic, not like...doing anything in particular, but spending time together. I think that knowing the other person is romantic, so doing the little things that make them happy. Though, I do agree that kissing with food in your mouth isn't the most romantic way to go."

I smiled triumphantly. "So why is it used a lot?2

"It's used because it's iconic." He groaned; he'd said the same line three times already. "It's a classic, it's going to be a trope forever."

"We should come up with better tropes," I said. "Make our own movies."

"That would be extremely difficult," Farley informed. "But I suppose we could brainstorm some."

Hello lovelies!

I hope that you're all doing well!

The question of the chapter is; what would be your ideal datE?

This is a very good question if I do say so myself. I would personally enjoy spending time in one of our houses and playing games or watching movies. But not for a first date! If it were a first date I think I would enjoy going for lunch and maybe a wander around the town, maybe even a movie :D