"You want to share my spaghetti?"
"Why do you even ask such questions?", he smirks sliding the clear lunch box across the table settling it directly in front of him, "you insult me badly crow," he pouts with his hand on his heart.
The lunch hall was big, the walls painted a dull white and the floor tiled grey with picnic tables set evenly across the floor. And at each table, a different group classified itself according to the pack hierarchy. The pack believed that everyone had a place, a place chosen for them by fate and there was no denying fate.
You had The Head children, who sat in the middle of the hall, a bigger table was given to them to show that this table is important as if the aura illuminating from it wasn't enough. This table belonged to the Alpha, Beta and Gamma children. Zachary and his younger brother Neill were laughing along to a joke Benjamin, the Gamma child had told while the brooding Beta son sat at the table and listened.
The table five feet away from them to their left was the hunter's table, they were seen as a closer rank to a Gamma but they knew they were below the title, while to the right of the 'The Head' table were the Salutary, the healers to the pack, and just after them, were the Sentinel, they were like the patrol, the first line between enemy and pack.
These were the elites of the packs before ordinary pack members, omegas and runts of the pack. The Cruel-pelt Claws believed in order, order that knew its place, without it there was nothing. They were a well-known pack, known to keep to themselves hidden away in the Zairian Mountains. Their white coats only emphasizing how much they belonged in the winter in the cold away from people who pried into their pack.
"Do you think he feels something when he does that?", her head raises at his question following his line of eyesight before landing on the future alpha who tucked his head into his girlfriend's neck nuzzling in her warmth.
"Yes, I mean his wolf must hate him, denying the mate bond is frowned upon", she insinuated, remembering what she learned in 5th grade.
Shaking his head, he looks at them again, "did he even care that his Beta basically used me as a punching bag?"
"You brought that on yourself last time I checked," her eyes dwindling on the brooding boy at the table. Her eyes settling on the small bruise under his eyes that seemed to be healing fast.
"But I think he does, because I definitely know you can't punch that hard," she muses as she nods towards Luca.
Nicco turns, his eyes analysing the beta's face only to earn a growl, but that didn't stop his heart from swelling knowing his mate had done that for him. His wolf finally letting out a whimper, letting Nicco know he was alright.
And suddenly his heart clenches knowing he was still rejected. He turned away looking at the spaghetti in front of him, "yeah, but that isn't enough".
The bell rings around them and she watches how her best friend picks up his small frame walking past his mates' table without looking at him before disappearing through the doors. Her eyes flicker to the alpha's son and her hands clench into fist seeing the longing he has in his eyes as they're fixated on the door Nicco just walked out a few seconds ago.
Packing her bag she follows after Nicco now filled with some sense of determination. The rest of the day she couldn't focus on her school work, her mind running with images of Nicco's broken eyes and how he almost teared up in front of her and she knew he went to the bathroom to let some tears fall before heading to class.
She felt guilt way on her heart for not consoling her friend. The final bell rang and she ran out through the school doors looking for the blond alpha. Her eyes zeroing on the couple leaning against the car just a few lots from her. Her eyes squint at his hands on her hips but her vision is soon blinded by a black T-shirt and the smell of myrrh and lime. Her jaw clenches knowing whose scent it was.
"Are you coming?", her eyes quirk and her head tilts a little in confusion with her eyes still on the black T-shirt, "to the bonfire," he filled in noticing her confusion.
"What part of we're not friends don't you get, let's not make plans like we are," her eyes narrowing at the beta's and at the corner of her eyes she sees the black car drive down the road causing her to groan.
Walking away from him not caring if he still stood there looking at her back as she stomped towards her friend who sat under the tree having noticed the entire play.
"What was that about?", he asked while she locked arms with his.
"the bonfire", she sneered.
And that was an indication for him to drop the topic and he knew not to poke her already knowing her reaction to the idea of the annual pack bonfire.
They walked in comfortable silence before the small house of Mr Edgar came into view and she remembered how he didn't greet her in the morning. She detached from Nicco's arm before walking up the stairs with an eerie feeling circling around her.
Mr Edgar's smell was faint, not as heavy as it was when he passed by earlier, telling her he never came back home. The silence in the house only echoed her thoughts and her eyes darted to the upstairs window waiting for the small orange light to turn on but after a few minutes, nothing and she couldn't help the thoughts that ran in her mind.
"Where do you think he went?", his question drew her out of her own drowning thoughts and finally logic settled in.
"maybe to visit his daughter in another pack, I guess he forgot to tell me," she explains to him while walking down Mr Edgar's front steps.
"He is getting old," Nicco reassures her noticing the worry written on her face, an emotion that was quite rare to be seen on her.
Her house was silent and she wasn't surprised, knowing her mother was working at the pack hospital she was always left alone to succumb to the silence, at first, she was scared but she soon realized how she preferred it over her mother's lectures. Locking the door behind them, they head up to her room before cuddling under the blankets focusing on the series Bones.
After midnight, Nicco gets up to grab some snacks from the kitchen leaving her to dwell on the idea of the bonfire. Part of her wanted to go and see why the beta wanted her to come but a part of her knew better than to fall into the clutches of curiosity.
Nicco walks through the door with a small box and a sly grin before sitting beside her while her eyes were filled with scrutiny. He placed the box in her hands and watched her reaction as she opened it, his lips now pale from how much nibbling he did from his nervousness.
Her eyes lay on the silver chain bracelet and her hands wrap around the cold metal and her heart leaps at the small little crow in the middle of the chain. There was a note in the box, and her eyes grew wide at the words on it.
Happy Birthday Crow
- Nicco
She pulled him into a hug, not surprised that he remembered while she forgot her own birthday and she didn't even care but she was grateful for the friendship she had with him. They pull away from each other and he smiles, his eyes having a glint of mischief, "now black coat or white coat?".