Secret Chapter 1

*****

*Corey*

I frowned, slowly running my eyes along the objects surrounding me.

No matter where I went, there were recent traces of his scent, but I never found him and it was driving me insane.

Whenever I was at Inferno, Jayden was 'busy'. Yeah, right. What could he have been doing? His homework in every room in the packhouse but his own? He made Kaden, Layla and Bentley tell everyone they had no idea where he was, and they were all terrible liars. Birds of a feather, I guess.

"Have you seen Jayden?" I asked Kaden after following our friend's voices into the gaming room.

"Yeah, he left about a second ago... Hey, is it because you were coming? Is that why he keeps leaving?" He narrowed his eyes at me. "What did you do this time?" His fists clenched and I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"Please, Kade."

He knew damn well who would win a fight between us. His strength did not make up for his lack of technique.

I smirked when he pouted as his fists relaxed before I added, "Nothing! I swear! He's been avoiding me since he left the hospital."

"Mmm... It seems the roles have been reversed."

I watched Hayley with a glare as she knocked a ball across the pool table, sinking it in one of the side pockets and almost cracked a smile seeing her do a terrible victory dance that Kyle just chuckled at. If only I were not so distracted by a certain somebody who could feel me coming and obviously left whenever he did. If I knew where he was beforehand, maybe I could surprise him.

"Yeah, this is funny. You were avoiding him, and now he's avoiding you. Maybe if we take another trip, the two of you will finally be on the same page." Sean laughed, but his laughter halted when he saw my icy glare. "Uh... Maybe you're just always looking for him at the wrong time?" he suggested.

"No, Jay's avoiding him," Finn said.

My glare turned to the human, and I watched as he scooted a little behind his older brother for protection. He had mostly overcome his fear of werewolves after three weeks at Inferno and I wished he had not. His mouth had no shutter, like every thought he had just flew right out without any deliberation.

"Oh. He is, huh? It's your fault then?" I stepped forward and smirked as he grabbed Sean's arm.

"Corey, back off before your mate gets mad at you." Sean looked at the hand on his arm and Finn quickly pulled away giving a sheepish smile.

My shoulders sank.

"Better that than him not being here!" I whined, causing everyone to look at me surprised. I quickly cleared my throat trying to compose myself. "I mean... Finn probably has something to do with it. So..."

My friends continued to give me questioning, astonished stares but my attention returned to Finn. He probably did have something to do with why Jayden was always missing, though. I heard Bentley chuckle.

"He's in his room again."

"Really?" I had checked his room earlier, it was empty. He had moved to a new room.

I left the gaming room before Bentley could answer, using my speed to get upstairs because I knew that if Jayden realised I was on my way, he would try to hide again. My guess was proven right, because as soon as I opened his room's door, he stepped back from it, looking guilty.

"Found you." I frowned, lifting my hand towards his chest to push him further away from the door so I could step inside, but he jumped back before my palm could reach him.

I raised my brows but stepped inside and began to shut the door, glancing at him for a moment. He gave a nod to confirm my unasked question, and I shut it before leaning against the wall behind the door so he could leave if he wanted to.

At least he didn't tell me not to close it.

Jayden's lips breaking into a small smile made me feel slightly better and I sighed.

"What did I do?" I asked, fighting the urge to add 'this time?'

"What-what are you talking about? Hey, is it time for lunch yet?" Jayden looked at his wrist despite never having worn a watch in the time I knew him.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"Whaaaat? Avoiding you –? Pfft. I-I wasn't... I wasn't avoiding you..."

I gave him a flat stare after the worst attempt at lying in history.

He sighed and shrugged. I furrowed my brows as he looked down bashfully, his hand lifting to rub his arm. Realising what was happening, I let out a chuckle.

"Seriously?" I asked. "You're shy?"

He didn't reply and it made me laugh more.

"We go through all of that together and when I'm not an asshole anymore – kind of – you become shy?"

He shook his head and frowned looking at the door beside me as if contemplating an exit. I did not want the avoidance to continue. It sucked going from seeing him all day while he was in hospital to not seeing him at all.

"Jayden, I can't read your mind." Linking only let me hear what he wanted me to hear.

Jayden looked at me, giving a small nod before his eyes shifted away again. I smiled seeing that he was clearly still too shy to maintain eye contact for long.

"Uh... Well, I've seen 'nice' Corey, and he creeps me out... It's kind of frustrating, too... He acts like my babysitter..." he said, before his eyes widened, glancing at me, "I-I mean –"

"No, you've seen 'your sperm donor and Mike are still alive' Corey; you haven't seen me. That's my fault... but I haven't really seen much of you either. Well, not recently. So, how about we do this all over again?" I asked. He looked at me confused and I smiled. "Jayden, would you like to go out with me? Just as friends."

He stared at me, his brows furrowed uncertainly for a few seconds before my smile grew when he grinned and I tried not to chuckle as he tried to fake confidence, straightening up and pushing his shoulders back.

"Friends? That'll be hard. My wolf seems to think we're mated." He ran his eyes to the roof thoughtfully.

"Oh really?! What a coincidence, mine thinks the same thing." I said, faking shock before grinning. "I guess we owe it to our wolves to go out then?"

Jayden tilted his head, narrowing his eyes uncertainly as they ran over me.

"I'm not sure. You don't look like my type."

"Yeah. Finn's my opposite." I frowned.

He really was, in terms of looks and everything.

"Finn? What? I don't – Finn?! Why would –?" Jayden's persona fell and I watched him be his awkward self as he stumbled over words, trying to lie about not being attracted to Finn the first time they met.

I laughed reaching out to take his hand and intertwine our fingers. The touch was calming, the warm feeling of his skin against mine sending a ripple of relief through my body. It was crazy how much I missed just simple contact with him. He chuckled softly while looking down at our hands and stepping closer towards me.

"Movies?" I asked.

"It's Saturday." He shook his head. Ah, too many people at the mall.

"Oh yeah, I forgot I'm mated to a socially anxious mole."

"Must be nice. I can never forget that I'm mated to an asshole," he muttered, and I laughed.

"Are you medicated again?" When he had been recovering, he was on lots of pain medication. It was funny because he was much less timid and more brash than usual.

"No, this is Jayden," he said looking at me. "When-when I'm not afraid..." he added softly.

It made me smile as I lifted a hand to his shoulder to gently pull him closer to me. I ran my hand further onto his neck to guide him even closer to me once his foot had stepped between mine.

"I like Jayden," I said, leaning forward to kiss him.

I paused just before our lips met, giving him a moment to pull away. I was surprised to have him lean into me, our lips meeting in a gentle kiss. We had not kissed much recently. As Jaden's body recovered in the hospital and he was put on less medication, he seemed increasingly uncomfortable being too close to anyone. He was clearly still hesitant, so I matched the carefulness of his kiss and pulled back after a few seconds to check on his reaction.

When we broke apart, I smiled at his thoughtful face as his gaze slowly lifted from my lips to meet my eyes.

"Can I kiss you more?"

Even when we arrived back from the peaks, things were so new and strange we never even hugged, barely held hands. I knew it was not just Mike. It was me. He still did not feel like he could trust me, but that was okay. He would eventually, we had all the time in the world. I began to regret leaning in for the kiss in the first place when his face didn't change, and he didn't reply.

"You don't have to –"

"Do it again," he cut me off, softly.

I smiled feeling relief wash over me and I drew him into another kiss. His response was less timid this time and neither of us seemed to want to break apart as his hands moved to my shirt at my waist to draw me away from the wall, even closer to him so when we finally did end the kiss, we were both breathless.

I began to chuckle as my eyes opened but froze seeing tears running from his eyes.

"J-Jayden –"

"I-I'm okay," he gave a strained chuckle, lifting his hands to wipe his tears, but they seemed to multiply.

"I'm so sorry –" I didn't know why he was crying, but figured it had something to do with what happened and I was not sure how to respond to that. I felt guilty. He felt overwhelmed. "Jay –"

"I'm okay. I-I really liked that," he mumbled, pecking my lips again, softly.

I stared at him, concerned as he sniffled. The tears had stopped. He was smiling but his face was not quite happy.

"Jay," I began, but he shook his head.

"I'm not upset. It's just... It's so different."

I tensed realising what he meant and then immediately stepped forward to draw him into a tight hug. It resulted in the tears starting again, muffled into my chest. I clenched my teeth feeling my eyes sting as my rage sparked again.

I wished I could go back, just to rip that piece of shit apart again. Prevent my wolf from taking over, so I was conscious, and I could remember it.

After a few minutes of hugging, Jayden's crying subsided and he wiggled his way out of my arms. He looked tired, his face puffed. I reached to cup his face and wipe what was left of the tears from his cheeks. He gave me a crooked, hopeful smile.

"Um – where do you want to go?"

I shook my head. "We don't have to go today. You can rest; you should sleep –"

"No, I want to go outside."

I studied him and then nodded. If he felt like a day out would make him feel better, I was willing to do whatever he wanted.

"Where to?"

Jayden's smile grew into a grin as he realised I was going to agree to go wherever he wanted.

"Let's go to a jazz museum."

"I should have known," I chuckled.

"Then a café?" The hopeful look on his face made me roll my eyes.

"We can go wherever you want as long as you stop running from me."

He chuckled, sliding his hand back into mine and I let him pull me from his room. I stared at our hands as he led the way. I could still feel his overwhelming emotions, a mixture of happiness, relief, dread and fear.

He had not mentioned Mike since the first day I saw him in the hospital after the incident, and seemed to prefer to act like it had not happened and continue as usual, given how he was just being himself after that day. He had not brought it up to me again in the hospital and avoided it when I tried to. No one had mentioned him being anything but fine while he had been avoiding me.

Just as in the past, he probably did not want to think about it. But he would need help to recover. Maybe I could bring up talking to someone about what had happened to him when he felt more at ease.

*****