Liam blinked a few times, eyes wide as he held her in his arms. He knew she wasn't going to enjoy what he had to say, but he had not expected this. He clearly had underestimated how embarrassing cleaning her incident was going to be for her.
"Narcia..?" He asked softly, gently shaking her, not even an eyelid budging. Liam sighed as he gently put her back on the bed comfortably, hating that he now had to stay even longer. He placed his elbow on his knee, leaning his chin in his hand as he watched her sleep. He was so annoyed to have to watch over her, yet a part of him didn't seem to mind as much. Why did it have to be him?
"Professor, you are twisted..." He mumbled to himself as he pulled up his phone, bitting the inside of his lip as he looked at the time. It was almost 4 p.m., and he knew he would have to head to work. His boss was already pretty backed up from him missing work due to his injuries. And bills never paid themselves either.
A knock on the door brought Liam out of his thoughts, lifting himself straight to face the exit. The door opened minutes later, and a girl with glasses walked in the room, abruptly stopping as she noticed the boy sitting on the bed. Her expression said it all. She wasn't happy to be here, that, or she wasn't happy to see him.
"What are you doing by my al-... By my lady." The girl says as she pushes her glasses up, confirming by her tone that his presence was, in fact, her issue.
"I was told to stay by her side, professor's order." Liam said as he crossed his arms. He did not like the tone she was giving him. They had never met before, so she could be more courteous.
"I see. Well, you are dismissed. I will stay by her side until she wakes." She says as she waves her hand in a dismissal manner, causing Liam's eye to twitch. How dare she speak to him this way? It was almost as if she saw him as some sort of lower class.
"My pleasure." Liam said in dryly, taking his crutches before exiting the room in frustration. It's like no matter what he did, people who surrounded Narcia always seemed to be so rude to him. He sighed and shook his head. He had already agreed to try and forgive her. It's not like she had control over people around her.
Liam sighed again, closing the door behind himself. There was no point in paying mind to those people.
-
Tammy rolled her eyes as the door closed. She hated that her alpha was mated to a puny human, but she cared a lot about her future leader of the pack, so she often encouraged her rather than trying to space the two. The girl sat down where the human had been previously, frowning as she sniffed the air.
"Damn, humans reak..." She whispered before gently putting a hand on Narcia's forehead. She hated seeing her so unhealthy. She needed her alpha to recover quickly. She sniffed again, confused as to why the smell of her Alpha's blood was mixed with the scent of the human.
"Tam..." Narcia mumbled weakly as a small smile appeared on the girl's face. Tammy scoffed and gently cupped Narcia's cheek. A soft chuckle left her lips before she gave Narcia a stern look.
"You should have warned me of your blooming, alpha. I would have given you the necessities." She said as Narcia's eyes fluttered open, tears on the brim.
"He saw it... He saw me in my own bloody mess, Tam." She whimpered out, the color leaving the face of her companion immediately.
"Oh dear... How dare he come into the women's room!?" Tammy exclaimed in anger, standing up before Narcia quickly caught her friend's wrist with a shake of her head.
"He helped me... He has no fault, Tam. I passed out cold and missed attendance. He worried and found me. That's all." Narcia said as Tammy sad down and sighed, crossing her arms as she pushed a strand behind her ear.
"How did he react upon your awakening?" Tammy asked, her stern look glaring holes through her Alpha's head.
"He seems to have taken it okay, at least I think so. He did stick around after all." She said with a shy tone, twirling a strand of her blond hair around her index finger.
"It was by order of the Professor. I kicked him out now." She said, causing Narcia's eyes to widen before looking at the door in worry.
"Tam! Why would you do that!?" She said, trying to stand up, Tammy quickly blocking her and pushing her back to lay down.
"He has to go to work. You know he can't stick around you forever. Plus, you two aren't even dating." Tammy said with a huff, knowing full well that her alpha had no way of arguing that one back. Narcia could only huff back and curl herself under the blanket, making Tammy roll her eyes.
"Look, you have to be patient. It's not even going to be easy to just integrate him into the pack anyway. Let alone telling him about it all..." Tammy said as Narcia sighed. She knew her friend was right about her mate. She wished it wasn't so complicated to be with the one she loves.
-
She knew she shouldn't be here, yet she always came to this place when she had any issue. Her wolf growled in disaproval, knowing it wasn't a good idea. She gently knocked on the wooden door that clearly needed some sort of care by how dirty and crumbly it was. She waited a bit, gently rubbing her shoulders as her breath let out a cloud into the cold air. The door made an unlocking noise before a small head peeked out, the green emeralds turning cold on the spot.
"What are you doing here?" Liam coldly asked. You could easily hear the bitterness in his tone. Narcia gulped and hugged herself a bit tighter.
"My grandma just passed away..." She says as tears start to fill her eyes. Liam's entire composure changed at her words. His shoulders fell a bit while his browns furrowed into concern instead of frustration.
"Come in." He sighs out in defeat, gently opening the door enough for her to fit through before he shuts it and locks the knob as well as the bolt. She makes her way to the crumbling table by the kitchen, sitting on the rusty metal chair. Liam simply stood there, leaning on the arch that led to his kitchen. She could tell by his posture that if he ever grew taller and muscular, he would make girls melt.
"Why do you always come here when something happens?" Liam says, now back to his cold tone and posture. His eyes now burning holes of ice through her with his glare.
"I don't know..." She says before the 14 year old boy grunts. He lifted himself off the arch, walked towards the cupboard, grabbed two cups, and brought them down on the table she sat by.
"You want tea?" He asked dryly as she chuckled, leaning into her hand as she put her elbow on the table.
"Will it have tap water in it?" She said as he frowned and rolled his eyes.
"Yes, princess. There will be poor people's water in it." He said sarcastically, making her giggle and smile.
"Yeah, I'd like a cup." She said as she looked out the window, looking at the moon that started to rise in the distance. Liam smiled a bit and slowly made his way to the counter, where he prepared them both sugar and milk tea. He gave the tastiest one to her and sat on the other chair.
"Come on now." He said softly as he took a sip of his cup, making Narcia frown in confusion as she picked up her own.
"What..?"
"You came here for my comfort, did you not?"
She remained silent.
"Well then, spill out what needs to come off your chest." He said as his eyes looked at her with a softness that always made her melt.
"Thank you, Liam."
-
Liam sighed as he put down the last order on the table, groaning as he gripped his leg. A click of his tongue echoed as he looked at it. How was it still so painful after 2 weeks?
"Hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?" His boss said as he wiped his dirty hands on a towel, receiving a nod from Liam.
"Didn't know a broken leg could be so unpleasant."
"I didn't know you thought it would be nice." His boss sarcastically replied, getting an eye roll from Liam.
"Mr Jenkins, sometimes I feel you hired me solely to torment me." Liam said as his boss put his towel down and crossed his arms.
"Call me Derek, I feel way too old when you call me politely by my last name. And I hired you because you have talent, kid." He said before Liam sighed and looked at the clock, chuckling as he saw the time.
"Something funny with my clock?"
"No, mister Jen-"
"Derek."
"No, Derek. Your clock is fine... I was simply laughing at a memory. I used to dread this hour." He said as Derek frowned, moving closer to Liam.
"And why is that?" His boss asked as Liam sighed and took off his apron, hooking it on the hangers by the cash register.
"The person I both loathed and loved the most often came to me for comfort around this hour..." Liam said with nostalgia in his tone.
"Well, that's cute and all, but they sure weren't nice if you out of all people loathed them." Derek said as Liam full on laughed, something Derek had never seen Liam do before.
"They weren't... They were cruel to me." Liam said as his boss frowned a bit, putting a hand on Liam's shoulder.
"Were?" He asked as Liam nodded, looking out through the door's window, and sighing as he turned to face his boss.
"They're trying to make up for what they did... So far, I've managed to start forgiving them." Liam said as Derek smiled.
"I'm glad she's trying to make up for the harm she did then." Derek said as he picked up his coat, gave a hard few pats on Liam's back, and left the forge. Leaving Liam in shock.
"I never mentioned that it was a girl..."