Chapter 2

Milo's POV:

The sun was rising over the treetops as I watched from my second-story window, a small smile overtaking my face as I watched the blending colors transform into their usual robins-egg blue color. I drummed my fingers on my chin as I leaned on the windowsill, procrastinating from my duties. My lips hummed some forgotten melody that my mother used to sing as I closed my eyes briefly. It was a Saturday, time for nearly a full day of harvesting carrots from my garden. A full day of work.

Right about now, the pack would be starting their training session. A few years ago, I might have attended. Malena always liked them, and so did my father. They were always in the midst of it, working their hardest to beat the others. It usually didn't happen, especially for my sister, but she liked to try nonetheless. I never did. Instead, my mother would attempt to teach me how to fight, similar to the way any human mother might attempt to teach their child the alphabet, or how to read or write. Everything she taught me was defensive, probably because that was all she knew. There was no reason for an omega to be on the front lines, after all. Our only duty was to preserve ourselves and any children who needed it. The tactics she had taught my sister had worked out well for me, at least.

But I hadn't gone to the pack training sessions in many years. No one expected me to, after all, and I could think of a thousand better ways to spend my Saturdays. Including harvesting carrots.

I gave the pink sky outside one last wistful glance as I moved away from the window. I wished I could stay and savor it longer, but the truth was, nothing beautiful lasted long. Then I straightened my shirt and made my way down the narrow staircase in the corner of my bedroom. Once downstairs, I made myself a quick piece of toast, only finishing half of the piece before throwing the rest away, stomach churning.

Yawning, I grabbed my basket, gardening gloves, and picked up my pet chicken, Bubbles, before opening the door and walking outside. The air was chilly and I rubbed my arms, regretting not grabbing a jacket. Bubbles began to get antsy in my arms so I set her down, watching with a smile as the reddish-brown chicken ran around, dodging the crops like a professional. When she was at the end of the row, she turned to look at me, cocking her head as if asking 'Did I do good?' It was exceptionally adorable.

Sighing, I slipped on my gloves and reached for the first carrot, pulling it out of the dirt with a satisfied smile. Then I did the next one. Then the next. The work was repetitive and slightly mind-numbing, but it gave me time to just think. Wondering about what could be- what could've been- was useless, of course, but it entertained me when I was alone with the plants and Bubbles.

A few hours later, someone approached me from behind. I almost flinched but stopped myself just in time, turning around to see Adriel approaching me.

"Hi."

"Hello," the familiar brown-haired figure said, crouching down next to me and examining my full basket. "You've been busy."

"I guess."

"Are you ready for Dad to take them to the market this afternoon?"

"Yeah. I can be done harvesting for today." I had gotten through a few of the rows, after all. I could do the rest tomorrow or the next weekend.

"Good. Dad says you should come over for lunch."

"Okay."

Adriel smiled, picking up Bubbles, who had been running around his feet. I tried to pick up the basket but struggled, so he got that too, Bubbles resting contentedly in his other arm. I took Bubbles from him and let her inside before quickly checking that every lightswitch was turned off and returning to Adriel's side.

We walked on the path through the forest together, silently, Adriel holding my basket of carrots over his arm and myself walking next to him. The forest that had once seemed so large and looming was now just comforting. Even the birds seemed to chirp a hello to me when they once had mocked.

It was a good day.

-

Adriel's father was named Daniel. Adriel was his only child, but one could never tell they were related. They shared their dark brown, vaguely curly hair, but Adriel's with the addition of gray tips that he inherited from his other 'birthgiver'. While Daniel had earthly brown eyes, Adriel had sharp gray, almost silver eyes that especially stood out when compared to his pale skin- Daniel had olive skin. Even their height was different; Daniel was six feet and one inch and Adriel was only five feet nine inches- still a ways taller than me, but short for a werewolf. Though, it wasn't too surprising that they looked drastically different when considering Adriel's other parent.

Not that she was much of a parent to him in the first place.

Daniel liked cooking. I liked it too, so sometimes all three of us would spend an afternoon in the kitchen, baking a cake or cookies or a meal, but it wasn't Adriel's favorite thing so we didn't do it often.

So when Adriel and I arrived at the house and Daniel wasn't yet done with lunch, it was only natural that we all started helping out. That made the whole process become a lot quicker and, about five minutes later, we sat down at the table with our plates in front of us.

"Thanks be to the Moon Goddess," Daniel said first, clasping his hands together in front of his plate.

"Thanks be to the Moon Goddess," Adriel and I repeated, my voice still smaller despite the bitter edge to Adriel's tone.

"So how's you boys' day been?" Daniel asked after a few bites.

"I harvested carrots," I responded, looking at my plate with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"I slept."

"I'm aware, Adie," Daniel replied, a tint of dry humor in his tone. Adriel kicked him under the table, causing him to wince. "Ow."

"Don't call me that," Adriel muttered.

"Duly noted."

A few bites of silence later, I pushed my plate away, my stomach churning. Daniel looked at me.

"Done already?" he asked, his voice a bit sad when I nodded. I knew Daniel felt responsible for my lack of appetite. He knew about most of my past, just like Adriel did, and I suppose he felt at least partially responsible, as my legal guardian, for all my 'defects'. I nodded, though. There was no use saying I would eat more when we all knew I never would. Daniel sighed. "Okay. I'll bring those carrots to the market after I finish eating and you boys can watch a movie or play games or work on homework or something. Don't bother anyone."

"Like we would," Adriel scoffed as Daniel took another bite and stood up, carrying his plate over to the sink where he washed the pasta sauce off of it before setting it in the sink's second basin to dry. He took the basket of carrots I'd washed while he had been finishing up the pasta and waved to us as he took his keys from the coat rack and left the house.

I looked at Adriel. "What do you want to do?"

"Want to watch a movie?"

"What movie?"

"I don't know."

That was good enough for me, so I nodded. "Okay."

Adriel cleared his plate alongside myself and we moved to the living room. The room was cozy, filled with dark woods and rich colors. It was beautiful in the sort of way that made you feel safe, made you feel welcome. I sat on the sofa I usually occupied and Adriel settled beside me, grabbing a blanket from the basket slid under a side table and laying it over us. He grabbed the remote and turned on the ten-year-old television. It wasn't cracked or anything, just a bit slow, and so Adriel navigated his way to the streaming service and chose a movie at random.

As the movie started, the sappy, cliche heterosexual romance making me tighten my arms' grip on each other as the afternoon went on outside our little shelter. It was... comforting. Alone with my best friend and the comfort of solitude.

It was... nice.

It honestly was. I didn't have a lot of time to appreciate nice things, and even when I did, I usually didn't seize the opportunity. But this... this was nice. It was nice to just hug myself underneath a cozy blanket and cry over some stupid romance that wasn't that well-written with the comfort that I was completely safe within the house.

But then again, we had thought we were safe when...

I shook myself off, tightening my jaw. What had happened on that night almost five years ago would never happen again. Not only Daniel and Adriel, but the whole pack would make sure of it.

It had been a devastating night for the pack.

Adriel seemed to notice that I was a bit on edge and rubbed my arm beneath the blanket. I gave him a small smile in return, but his eyes were glued to the screen as the epilogue of the movie played, set five years later. The two main characters in the story were getting married. Despite the shallow nature of the story, I couldn't contain the bubbling feeling of happiness in my stomach. The lines that were said were cliche but they were still sweet and my heart was just so happy.

If Adriel noticed, he didn't say anything.

"Okay," he said once the credits began to roll. "What now?"

I bit my lip, looking up at him. "Would it be okay if we started work on the twenty-page essay for History?"

Adriel groaned, running a hand down his face. "I forgot about that."

I smiled. "My bag and paper is at my house, though."

"That's okay. I need to stretch my legs anyway."

Nodding, I stood. Adriel grabbed a ring of keys from the bowl on the table before opening the door for me and flicking the lights off as we stepped outside.

The forest was quiet as it had been earlier. I had been a bit anxious about running into anyone late coming back from the training session, yet it seemed as though that wouldn't be a problem.

We reached the small, cracked stone path my father had made an eternity ago and immediately, I stalled.

Adriel caught my gaze. "What?"

I swallowed, my sight frozen on a figure in the distance, standing over the carrot garden.

Adriel muttered something under his breath, looking annoyed. "Hello?" he called out, causing the ginger-haired figure to turn around in surprise.

Sage looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Oh, um, sorry. I was just looking."

"I could tell."

"I'll..." Sage trailed off. "I'll just be going now. You have a nice garden, Milo."

I nodded, uncomfortable with the situation despite Sage's unthreatening demeanor. He took one last glance around, nodded again, and walked awkwardly past us into the forest, heading towards town.

"He was probably just finishing up after the training session," Adriel commented as we watched Sage's retreating back. "Nothing to worry about."

"I know," I mumbled. "I was just caught off guard."

"Okay. You know where your paper and notes are?"

"Yep."

"Go ahead and grab Bubbles too; we shouldn't leave her alone all day. We've got some of her food at our house."

"Okay," I nodded, taking my ring of keys out of my pocket and quickly entering the house. Immediately, Bubbles was running around my feet and nipping at my ankles, making the job of finding her much easier. I opened the door again, allowing her to dash out and annoy Adriel instead, before unzipping my backpack's pocket and taking out the binder I had reserved for History. Typical for Mrs. Barnes, it was already half full of papers despite it being only the first month of school.

"Got it?" Adriel asked as I left the house, locking the door behind me, now holding Bubbles.

"Yep."

"Great, let's head back."

"M'kay."

So as we ventured back through the forest, my hands full with the binder and the air now full of Bubbles' energetic squacks, I felt peaceful. A nice feeling, to feel completely safe. It wasn't something I felt often, to be safe, but there, walking by Adriel's side with my History homework on my hands, I knew that I was.

It was nice.

--

whoop

-bloom :D