Carter had thought it was a dream when he woke up the next morning, a thick stream of sunlight hitting him right in the face. He turned over in bed, vague thoughts of what a weird dream circling around his head. That was until he remembered that it was, in fact, not a dream. He shot out of bed, breathing heavily with wide eyes. It was real, he thought.
There was no way that he was getting back to sleep, so he performed the arduous tasks of his morning routine, his thoughts jumping from where is my toothbrush to so that's why Alex suddenly gained so much muscle to this is a nice shirt to wear today to so that's why Alex didn't like the guys on their first day and back and forth many times as he got ready.
Finding out that not only are werewolves real (which he thought was pretty damn cool) but that Alex, Archer and even Cole were werewolves was a lot for one guy to process. He couldn't help but feel anger towards Archer, who had lied to him repeatedly, and probably only taken him on that date to somehow blackmail or hurt Alex.
He supposed that maybe he should feel the same anger towards Alex, he had been lying to him way longer, but he just didn't. It was probably that Alex lied to protect him as to why he didn't feel mad at him at all. In fact, he felt sorry for Alex, for stupid Alex for thinking that he would ever hurt those he loved, and for pulling away from him and his family so much. Alex was in such a bad place when he got back from Italy and he had no one to help him, he was all alone with his problems, so Carter didn't really blame him for joining Jakes circle of obnoxious idiots, and Carter was even somehow thankful towards Jake for being there for Alex when there wasn't really anyone else who could help.
"Carter?" Lara was suddenly knocking on the bathroom door. Carter opened the door, a toothbrush in his mouth.
"Yeah?" he mumbled out around the toothbrush.
"You should leave now otherwise you'll be late for school," she told him.
"What? I have ages."
"Not according to this," she told him, pointing to the clock on her phone that indicated that he was in fact close to being late.
Damn all this thinking about Alex, Carter thought to himself, realising that he had indeed lost track of the time.
"Thanks Lara," he told her before throwing his toothbrush in the sink and quickly running past her into his room. He grabbed his bag off the floor, throwing his phone into it without even turning it on and practically running out of the house.
He pulled up to school just before the bell for first period rang, and he briefly wondered what he was going to do about Archer as he pulled his keys from the ignition. As it turns out, he probably should have wondered about that before getting to school, as Archer was sitting on the steps leading up to the main doors, blocking Carters way. There were no other people around and Carter assumed that everyone must have already gone inside in preparation for class to start. Archer looked miserable, sitting on the top stair alone, looking off into the distance.
Carter walked up to him slowly, swinging his backpack over his shoulders as he approached him. Archer looked like he hadn't slept in days, his brown hair was a mess and dark circles rimmed his eyes. A bandage covered his lower left arm, and other smaller bandages were wrapped around his body, some on his hands and others on his neck. Carter assumed that the damage continued beneath his black shirt and light blue jeans.
Archer looked up and saw him. "Carter.." he started but Carter cut him off.
"Alex told me everything," he told him strongly taking a threatening step towards him. "I know why you're here, you bastard."
Archer looked taken aback, his eyes widening. "Carter, please, I didn't mean to almost bite you, I promise, and dating you had nothing to do with Alex, you have to believe me."
Carter shook his head. "I don't have to believe anything."
Archer took a gentle step towards him. "I've made mistakes Carter, believe me I know, but I never meant to hurt you." His expression told Carter that maybe he was telling the truth, but that didn't change the used feeling that resided in Carters stomach.
"Well you did," Carter told him, "I really thought that you liked me." Carter mentally cursed himself for showing such vulnerability.
"I did, I do," Archer corrected, "I'm sorry about last night, and I know that it was the full moon and everything but even if that didn't happen, it doesn't change that nothing would have happened anyway.."
"Yeah, because you are leaving in a week or something, of which you conveniently left out of every conversation we have ever had," he reminded Archer sarcastically.
"No, because you're still in love with Alex," Archer stated simply.
That silenced Carter for a few moments. Archer wasn't wrong about that, even after all that he had done to try and get over Alex, Carter couldn't say that he didn't love him. He did, and last night had just proved that again. The kiss that they shared had felt like home, it had felt warm and safe and everything that Carter had missed about Alex and he had Alex so close, yet so far away. He had lost him once and for a second last night, Carter told himself that he might have gotten him back, but that was just wishful thinking, unless he could somehow get Archer and Cole to go back to the pack without Alex.
"I know that you love him Carter. I bet that you aren't even mad at him for all of the lying he has done. I on the other hand have barely lied at all, and you are completely pissed at me. I bet you aren't even a tinge mad at him are you?" Carter bit at his lip, Archer wasn't wrong. Archer continued, "I know that you still love him, and I'm sure that you hate me for being the one who did this to him, but I've never done anything to intentionally hurt you, and I understand if you don't want to speak to me again, but I want us to be friends, since I know that you don't want to be more than that, not while you still want to be with Alex."
Carter couldn't focus on the last half of what Archer said, all of his attention was on the fact that Archer had just told him that he was the one to do something to Alex. "What?"
Archer looked confused. "What?"
"What do you mean that you did this to him? You are the one who bit him?" Carter accused angrily, his mouth turning into a scowl.
"Oh, so he didn't tell you that part," Archer mumbled, raking a hand through his hair. "I didn't bite him, but I lead him to our Alpha, who bit him."
"So you're the reason that Alex and my entire lives have been turned upside down?" Carter hissed out. "You owe it to him, and to me to stop this."
"Stop what?" Archer asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You and Cole need to leave, now and not take Alex with you," Carter demanded, but something in the back of his mind reminded him that a werewolf may not take too well to the demands of a human.
Archer suddenly turned completely serious. "I have orders Carter, I have to bring Alex back with me."
Carter huffed out, "This isn't over," before pushing past him and into the school, he was already late. He was thankful that Archer didn't follow him into the building.
His first two classes of the day were as arduous as they were boring, and he spent the entire time thinking about wolves and plans to keep Alex here. He couldn't think of anything that would stop Alex from having to go with them, and so his mood dropped lower every minute he was stuck in class.
It didn't help that Roxy was nowhere to be seen, and even though they had second period together, she didn't show up. Roxy was not the sort of person to skip school and so he decided that he would call her in his break and if that didn't work he would go seek out Cole, who would probably know where she was. Once he could think straight he would have to figure out a plan to get Roxy to stay away from Cole, he didn't want the same thing as last night happening to his best friend. She didn't have a jealous/protective ex-boyfriend watching in on her dates to come save her if something went wrong.
He breathed a sigh of relief when his teacher finally released them from class. He practically ran into the hallways, pressing himself up against a random locker and leaning against it as he searched his pockets for his phone. When he finally found it he turned it on and waited impatiently as it took a few moments to start up.
"Hey," a husky voice greeted from behind him, and Carter didn't need to turn around to know that it was Alex who stood there. He turned around, leaning against the locker with his other shoulder and smiled hesitantly at Alex. He wasn't sure if today was going to be casual or awkward. Was Alex going to let him back into his life, even for the next few days? Or was he still too scared of hurting him, so he was going to keep him at arm's length like he had been these last few months?
"Hey," he greeted, "I uh, I talked to Archer this morning."
Alex's features hardened for a moment. "How did that go?"
"It went fine, we are ok, and I don't think that we will be going on any more dates."
"Well, I can't say I'm not happy to hear that," Alex told him.
Carter's thoughts then turned to Roxy. "Have you seen Roxy this morning?" he asked Alex.
"No," Alex shook his head, "I was supposed to have first period with her but she didn't show up."
Carter bit at his bottom lip absentmindedly. "Have you seen Cole?"
"No," Alex told him.
Carter's phone had finally turned on, and he saw that he had no messages. He dialled Roxy's number, but the phone must have been turned off as he was sent straight to voicemail.
"Hi! You've reached Roxy, I'm not here at the moment, so leave a message!" His friend's voice came from the phone.
"Roxy, it's Carter, I'm starting to get worried, call me back." He left the message and hung up.
Carter shook his head, he was really starting to get worried. Roxy's phone was never out of charge, she had it attached to her at all times. If she was just home sick then she would have definitely called and told him.
Carter turned on his heels, but Alex's voice called out after him, "Where are you going?"
"To find Archer," he called over his shoulder and in a few seconds Alex was walking next to him.
"You tagging along?" Carter asked as they walked towards the cafeteria, where he assumed Archer would be.
"Yep," Alex said simply.
As it turns out, they didn't need to go all the way to the cafeteria because as they were walking through the hallways they saw Archer walking towards them.
"Have you seen Cole?" Archer asked as he approached them, slight worry in his features.
"That's what we were going to ask you," Alex told him, "we can't find Roxy either."
Carter breathed a sigh of relief that Alex hadn't jumped at Archer, fists at the ready, the second that he saw him. A part of him was terrified that those two would never be able to be in the same room again, and even though he was somewhat pissed at Archer, he didn't want Alex and Archer to start some rivalry over him.
"Don't you two live together or something? Did you see him this morning?" Carter asked Archer who shook his head.
"I saw him last night before I left the apartment, but he didn't come home last night."
"Did he say he was going out?" Alex asked.
"Roxy told me she was going on a date with him or something," Carter interjected.
"So they might be at her house?" Archer shrugged.
Carter couldn't really believe that, not with Roxy's parent's strict rules. "Can we go over and make sure?"
Alex and Archer nodded at the same time.
"What? We are making it a field trip or something?" Archer mumbled. "Why don't you stay here little one? Carter and I can just go."
Alex growled in the back of his throat.
"Alex," Carter scolded, lightly slapping his arm. "We can all go? Okay?"
Alex nodded, but his teeth were clenched. Well, it seemed to Carter that those two were never going to be best buds, but as long as they didn't kill each other and no one was lying to anyone, well, then he could live with that.
"I'm driving," Alex told them, walking down the hallway.
Carter made to follow him, but Archer grabbed his wrist softly. "Are we alright?" Archer asked, and Carter was going to just shake him off, but when he saw the genuine emotion on Archers face, he realised that it was probably better for everyone if he just forgave Archer.
"Yeah, we are good."
They followed Alex out to the parking lot, thankful that they didn't run into any teachers on their way there. Alex drove a few miles over the speed limit the entire way there and in less than ten minutes they were parked on the street outside of Roxy's parents' house.
"Would anyone else be home?" Archer asked as the three of them got out of the car.
Carter shook his head. "Her parents work and her sister would be at school, so if they are here, will be here alone."
The three of them walked up the driveway, stopping at the large wooden door which blocked their path. Alex knocked and they all waited patiently for all of three seconds before panic set in.
"Where on earth are they?" Archer muttered in his thick accent to no one in particular.
"That idiot better not have hurt Roxy," Alex growled out.
"Calm down guys." Carter tried to be the voice of reason, but that was hard because he was just as worried about Roxy as the rest of them were. "I have a key, we can go inside, maybe we can figure out where they went."
Carter drew his keys out from his back pocket. The keying held three keys, one for his car, one for his house and one to the front door of his best friend's home. He singled out the silver key and slid it easily into the door, turning it and opening the door without issue.
"Alex, can you check her room?" Carter asked, and Alex nodded, heading towards the staircase.
Archer closed the door behind himself and turned to Carter. "What are we going to look for exactly?"
"I'm not too sure myself," Carter said, but he went straight into it, looking around the living room for any sign of her phone, or something that could help.
Suddenly Archer's voice floated into the room from the kitchen. "I found something."
Carter practically ran into the kitchen, and stopped right beside Archer who was standing facing the large, white fridge which sat against the wall, surrounded by marble counters.
Carter followed his gaze to see that a small note was on the fridge, held up by a small, blue magnet on each corner.
Sleeping at Carter's tonight, love you! Xx Roxy xX
"She lied to her parents?" Archer conjectured.
"Damn it." Carter shook his head angrily. "I forgot that I was her go to excuse for going out. We won't be able to find her now."
Where is she? Carter thought with a sigh. His problems with Alex were pushed to the side for the moment as his thoughts revolved around his friend.
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