He was lying peacefully after keeping us all awake the whole night.

The day after the full moon went equally eventful with me bursting over my parents and criticizing my elder brother.

The guilt of being disrespectful to the ones who created me didn't let me sleep.

It felt like a sin.

Now, this new day didn't bring any new color. And I couldn't expect any better.

The sunlight had already filled the room and the new Alpha was all awake.

"Thomas?" It came so surprised as if he had never expected his younger brother to ever come to him.

He was wrapped in bandages all over his chest and one forearm. He liked doing it. Getting injured, then bandaged, heal, and getting injured again. As if he wanted to show how invincible he was.

Those blue eyes resembled father. Those short brown hair were all disheveled. The stubble had grown enough for him to keep looking like devastated Alpha that he aspired to be and was already becoming.

His voice sounded hoarse and blank as if he couldn't remember a thing. How unfair it was. And here, I would remember every silly to the big mistake of every person around me.

I felt like I had become a hateful person.

"Tell me the truth, Pete."

The straight voice raised his Alpha alert. He had read my aura already. He knew that I was not here in Steph's villa to ask him about his recovering health.

Pete's face turned blank and his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Do you really want to cross the border?" I asked while clenching my fists and opening them.

He was about to sit up before my question. But now, he laid back properly to just hear my questions and answer them with the exact Alpha attitude.

His eyes turned stern and his lips barely moved. "Yes."

I licked my lips and grimaced. "For whom? Misty or your mate?"

He breathed slowly and his jaws clenched. His light eyeballs moved to observe mine. "For Misty. I don't wish to see my mate. I don't expect her."

His voice was a younger version of how the father sounded in his thoughtfulness.

I gulped while zigzagging my jaws. "Really?" I curled my lip animatedly. "For all, I can imagine is that you just want to choose the option Nathan didn't. Maybe, you'll get the bonus of finding your mate and mating her. Or rather, just die in the hands of those Lycans."

Pete's nostrils flared and he slowly started rolling on the side to set himself up.

After winces and groans, showing me a palm to not help him when I made a move to get up, he managed to sit by himself.

"Do you need water?" I asked while forwarding my hand towards the jug on the side drawer.

"Do you want me to drink water, little brother?" He said exhaustingly while my hands stopped right there. I blinked calmly and took the jug anyway. Filling up the glass, I passed it to him and he took it with a blank expression on his face.

He drank it very slowly, thinking and staring into nothing.

"I don't expect to find my mate." He said, after nearly five minutes passed in silence. I was leaning back on the chair, looking at the ceiling in blankness. His words made me look at him. "The last I had smelled her, it felt like she was in a pain."

Wiping his mouth, he kept the glass away.

He lowered his eyes, lips pressing tight. "The kind of pain that could kill her."

My jaws moved while he shook his head. "I owe Misty. I owe her a lot." His chest heaved as he sucked in a long breathe and looked at me with glossy eyes. "Deep in her heart, she wonders if someday she would be across that border. I want to turn that hope of hers into reality."

I blinked while gritting my teeth. I looked away at the window.

"I sincerely wish to never find my mate, if you are still any doubtful of my reasons." He mumbled quietly.

Looking back at him, Pete gave me a look full of hopelessness and conflict.

"Stephen believes that she could catch heat if we found each other, " he said, holding no tune.

My eyes widened slightly in pity.

The heat would worsen the suffering, I knew. If she was strong enough to survive until now, the heat would nearly kill her.

"You don't have to go, " I said, immediately. "Rest of us are a team. We are going anyway and will be fine in executing everything."

"No one is going there without me, " said Pete while shaking his head. He looked sincere when he added, "I threw her mercilessly. I hurt her. It should be showing my shameful face to her. All her complaints and anger should be on me. I need to be there for her."

I scratched the back of my neck and sighed heavily.

He started at the wall in the front and said, "I know, you want to make things right desperately. But I don't want you to go. The same way, Nirvan will be here and Ivan will accompany me. Because if something happens, you'll already be here to take care of the pack-"

My jaws clenched as it took big energy to say, "Shut it. There are so many who can rule the pack. But if we are entering the territory of Lycans, we shouldn't be any less. You cannot snatch this chance from me. I tried to save Misty before and I want to do it again."

Pete blinked calmly while I looked away. "How am I going to answer Alyssa if something happens to you?"

The anger was gone and a new frustrated feeling settled in my chest. I blinked and stared at him. "Would you let anything happen to me?"

He looked away. The corner of his lips curving into a smile while he lowered his eyes and chuckled tiredly.

We sat quietly for the next moments. None of us could speak anything. As if we didn't know what to talk about more even though there was so much to discuss.

I was only thinking of leaving the room when he raised his eyes and released a long breath.

"I don't know if this step would be anything close to doing right."

I blinked and let the words sink inside my mind. I looked back at him and squinted my eyes. "What?"

He smiled tightly as if he was in pain and shifted slightly to change his position. "You asked me the truth, " he said quietly while looking in my eyes. "This is the truth. I don't know if crossing the border is right or not. We would be doing something that our ancestors hesitated to do. They respected the border. They trusted the exchange."

"Oh, " I mumbled sarcastically while observing his conflicted face. "No one asked you to bring her back, brother. You threw her away and for me, Misty's existence in this world field like ending right there. Even though she made homes in our hearts, I knew that she couldn't be brought back. It was you who talked about crossing the border."

He blinked quietly.

"It was a sudden thought. And definitely not a suicidal one. Sometimes, I think about going evil. Just crossing the border and find my mate. Just let her know me and mate her, " he said, more like talking to himself. He stared at his palms and blinked the helplessness away. "But then, a voice in me talks back. It wonders if I would even be able to find my mate. Looking for her could be a waste of time if I had only borrowed time on that land to bring back Misty."

I gulped.

"Then, I realise that those evil thoughts are what I need to avoid to do anything that could be next positive thing in this life after performing so many sins. Thus, all of my purpose to cross that border is Misty."

"What if she has been mated?" I cringed while choking out the words.

His eyebrows twitched.

"What if she can't come back? What if she already has been killed?" I asked while flaring my nostrils.

He gave me a determined look that was as pitiful as his words. "Then, I would leave it on the Goddess. She would give me a sign."

I lowered my eyes in sadness. "What of your mate? What if you smell her?"

Pete stared at me with terrified blank expressions on his face. "I don't know what will happen then, brother."

My lips parted slowly.

"It would have been easy if she was someone ignorant, " he confessed while biting his lips. "If she was hateful and not so curious."

His nose turned red as he clenched his jaws and tried hard to not burst out in tears of anger or worse, restlessness.

"The fact that she tries to reach me, " he choked out while shaking his head in defeat. He gave me the dead eye.

"Kills me."

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Loud breaths escaped me as I carried on doing the plan while my core was burning like crazy.

Greeting my teeth, I kept staring at my red fists and nearly died of restlessness.

"Enough. It's time for the patrols." Came an annoying boyish voice to transfer the burn from my core to my heart.

"Give the duty to someone else. I am taking one more hour." I said while gritting my teeth. All of my face was filled with blood and was throbbing.

The voices in the gym started fading as the boys started leaving for the noon duties.

"No, " Nirvan said bluntly, towering me. His feet were right beside my fists. "Get up. We are leaving for the patrols."

"I don't wanna go with you. After the gym, Connor's uncle needs me to help him in setting the farm." I said when the breaths nearly left me. I dropped myself on the floor just as the four minutes passed.

"Connor's uncle. Right. So, he is going there while you are getting up and doing your duty." Nirvan said, this time with much authority and infuriated all of my blood vessels. "Do not fucking lie. And you don't need another hour of work out according to your endurance. You'd melt."

I rolled on my side and glared up at me. "And who are you to tell me about my body?" I said while clenching my jaws.

His eyeballs moved up in annoyance and he shook his head. "Forget it. You can answer it to the Alpha, later on."

My eyebrows raised and narrowed when he started walking away.

"Yeah! Because that's what you can do. Complain! What are you even preaching? Integrity? Loyalty?" I scoffed and laughed out loud sarcastically. "What a joke!"

Nirvan was leaving the gym. But in my words, he turned around and flared his nostrils. Not looking at me, he put the notebook and pen in his hand away at a little table.

Rolling up the sleeves of his t-shirt that was of Ivan, he started walking towards me.

A chuckle escaped me in irritation. "Come on, " I muttered while looking back at him. "You don't get triggered by the truth. Do you? Only the guilty ones do."

"I am taking no shit from you anymore, Thomas," Nirvan said while looking at me in the eye. Standing a step away, he gave me the look of warning. "I have been working days and nights to fulfill my duties along with maintaining my virtues as your best friend-"

My arms crossed across my chest. His eyes moved over my arms that were not as huge as his. He had been getting bulkier day by day while I was still leaner one. Now when I was trying to eat more and do the gym more to raise my weight, this bitch was feeling insecure already.

"Friend, " I corrected.

His jaws clenched and he looked back up in the eye. "Friend." He repeated while gulping hard. His nostrils and he continued, "I won't explain myself or convince you anymore. If you-"

"Oh wait. Why even 'friend'? We are not friends anymore." I smiled tauntingly. "You can just address me as the pack member."

Nirvan's eyes turned hard and his nose lifted slightly in extreme anger. "Thomas, enough."

"Yeah, " I mocked. "It wasn't mercilessly enough the way you threw her."

He didn't move. "Stop."

"You stop being a blind follower," I said, raising my voice.

Nirvan sneered, "You're becoming a douche day by day!"

I laughed tauntingly and mocked, "Can't outdo you. Can I-"

The hard punch came right on my face.

A growl escaped my mouth and I pushed him hard on the chest, making him stagger back.

Nirvan stabled himself and looked down at the creases in his t-shirt. He looked up at me and sneered more.

Growls ripped through my chest when he ran towards me to attack.

I readied my claws and canines were already protruding.

He reached me and hit my head, making both of us stagger back. I clawed at his arm, making him let out a growl.

"I don't want to hurt you, " he said, making me roll my eyes and growl hard in frustration.

"Don't make me awe," I shouted angrily.

He grabbed the collar of my t-shirt and dragged me across the floor. Punching me in the stomach, he sat on it while trying to get a hold of both of my hands.

With one hand, I caught his throat while he had held my other one. With the right hand, he punched me again on the cheek.

This one hurt like a bitch, I nearly ripped his hair in irritation.

But being an honorable fighter, my hand went for the ear. He was very sensitive at that place. Pulling it hard and twisting, I made him scream in pain.

"I am going to kill you for daring to throw my sister in that pit of danger!" I said through gritted teeth.

His face reddened while hand clawed at my shoulder. "Your sister was asking for it!"

"What did you say!" I glared at him hard and growled angrily.

He too growled equally and punched me again.

Before I could nearly rip his ear off, the sound of loud claps entered the gym hall.

Nirvan stiffened and stopped while I was still hurting him.

We both looked at the intruder and caught Axel giving us a boring look.

"What an interesting match, little pigs." He commented while sitting on the weight lifting bench that was right on our left, ten steps away.

I stopped moving while Nirvan gave me a hurtful death glare. Both of us were still waiting hard in anger.

"Fuck you, " I mumbled while he just got up and gave me a disgusted look.

I sneered and rolled on the floor, trying to sit up. Breathing hard, I wiped the blood off my lips and nose.

Before I could even look around, Nirvan had left the gym hall. The footsteps faded so fast.

I wiped the blood slowly and winced hard as the clawing at my shoulder was painful for the time being.

"In the past, I would have loved to see that happen. But today, it is nowhere entertaining to see two best friends hating on each other like that."

My eyes raised up to look at the muscular man sitting on the bench with his wrists resting against his one knee and one foot.

The maroon cut sleeve vest was helping those muscles to budge out and flex.

"It is never entertaining to see you, " I retorted nonchalantly while touching my split cheek and checking the bleeding.

Axel smiled knowingly. "Especially when I smell of your sister."

My movements stopped and the words sank in my mind. The full had just passed and this moron-

Getting up, I started walking towards him hurriedly. "You touched my sister?" I growled angrily.

Axel rolled his eyes and sighed. "Not in the way you think, Tommy. Here, she sent it for you."

My anger slowed down while my eyes followed his hand getting into the pocket. A black and white photo was forwarded towards me.

I took it anxiously and immediately guessed the baby in the man's arms was Misty. He was smiling at the camera, with eyes so green and features so different from ours. He had thin and light brown eyebrows. The smile was too innocent for our world and the background seemed like the house Misty's home in the city could be.

"Misty's father, Andrew Brown."

I glanced back at Axel in confusion. "Why would she send this?"

He gave me the signature Axel's bullying smirk. "You are her twin. You must get the vibe."

My eyes squinted while he shrugged his shoulder. "She just told me to give it to you."

"What did she mean by-"

"I don't know. I just had to deliver the photo and a hug too." He said while making a move to get up and walk towards me.

My lip curled up. "Stay back."

It cracked him up and he sighed laughingly. "You do need the weight, though." He said while pointing a finger, moving it up and down. "To create intimidation. You don't want to look a raven teddy, ready to get a pat on the head, whole your life. Especially now when you feel Nirvan is insecure of you."

My eyes lowered in thought while he added, "But you know what would be more interesting? To focus on your strength enhancement rather than worry about not having enough weight. You are stronger when you are unpredictable."

My eyebrows furrowed while he got up and started walking around me. "Looking at my physique, one already considers me as a good wrestler or fighter. It readies the wolf to expect a good competition. His mind turns alert. It's intimidating most of the times, but without a style. When someone looks at you and doesn't claim you as their threat, that is your advantage to startle them. The competitor might as well stable himself to still overpower you. But at least, you have risen your own confidence."

"And is it coming from experience? Or someone elder in this pack taught you that?" I asked while remembering that his parents had never really been the patrollers or fighters. They had always contributed as farmers and workers.

Axel smirked to himself and raised the hem of his vest, showing me the four deep scratches on his left side of the torso.

"From experience, " he said that while turning around slightly and lowering his neck of the vest. My eyebrows raised at the deep scratch that seemed like a claw mark. But not really coz it didn't look being done fast enough. "As a new shifter, I wanted to mate your sister and her reply was this."

My eyes widened and smile widened in shock. "Natalie did that? But wait. Claws?"

Axel shook his head with a chuckle. "Does she even need claws with all those already elongated nails she grows all the time? She scared the shit out of me by threatening to scratch out my eye."

My eyes narrowed immediately, taking a stance of nearly grabbing his collar. "You forced her?" I asked calmly, holding a growl, warning lacing my voice.

He raised his eyebrows, giving me a sincere look. "I wouldn't touch her without her consent. And now when she has made it clear, nothing happens until we do the rituals next year, she shifts and later, whenever she agrees."

I cringed. While after saying those words, he started walking away.

Looking at his retreating back, I yelled out. "How is my sister? She misses me. Doesn't she?"

Axel stopped and turned to look at me in amusement. His grey eyes reminded me of Misty again. The hue was a little greenish but a little spark of memory was enough.

"All that she misses is the meat we have here. The old woman is a pure vegetarian. Though, life is good. She likes being there, " he said, his face turning serious by every word. Slowly, the jaws clenched and his eyes glared at the wall behind me. "But something tells me that my mate has caught the neighbor's eye, " he growled lowly.

My eyebrows raised and seeing his anger, it was my turn to get amused. "What? That Ra-Ra-Ryan? She likes him?"

He gave me a dead look instantly. "I dare her, " he muttered and started breathing hard in anger. "Though, it would only be signing his death by going after her."

"Don't worry, he already had a crush on Misty. She had told me. It's not like he knows that Misty has a mate. So, he still likes her. He has tons of girls around in high school anyway, " I said while walking away. "When we were running away, Keira wanted to go to the city too for handling her heat and you know, lure Ryan. Not that any of it would have taken place in my presence. But there's no denying. He's charming. I have seen him and Misty has told enough."

Axel grabbed the head of the leather chair that was close to him, in deep thought. I turned back to walk away.

The crack of knuckles echoed in the room.

A smile curved my lips while I clenched my fists in sudden determination and repeated the keywords in my mind.

Startle in style

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"Thomas, where have you been all this time?" Came the sweet yet aggressive voice from behind me.

I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes as Alyssa walked around the seat. She sat on the flat rock beside me and glanced towards the endless forests I was staring at from the past hour from this ground.

"I have been looking for you everywhere. It's dinner time, " she said desperately while giving me a worried look.

I glanced away from her. "I don't want to eat."

"What?" She said as if it was the biggest deal in the world. "You can't breathe without thinking of food all the time. Just days ago, you said that you want to gain weight. Here, you aren't even entering the house and gulp a glass of water!"

I closed my eyes. "I don't feel like it, Alyssa. You go home and eat. I have a lot on mind to think about."

She gave me a blank look from my peripheral vision. "How exciting, " she taunted while gritting her teeth. "Of all the bad things, your attitude has been the worst disappointment. I thought you could handle tough moments. But here you are, losing your shit-"

"Shut the fuck up!" I spoke out in frustration.

"What!" She screeched angrily. "How dare you!"

"Just leave! I don't want to eat and that's it!"

Her eyes widened at my tone rising. "You are being stubborn as hell! You are not the only one suffering here! Everyone is. But none of us are skipping food. Are we! You outta get up and correct your behavior! Because I am not taking your shit anymore! I am the elder one here! I know more!"

"Well then, don't!" I spat angrily. "I always knew that this age will become an issue! Are you freaking kidding me?! You are my mate! Not my mother! Stop standing on my head all the time!"

The voice raised to a level, her cute angry face suddenly flinched and looked as hurt as it could.

A gasp escaped her and immediately, her eyes dropped in shock. She was taken aback by my harshness.

"Oh, fuck." I mumbled before taking her hand. But she had already pulled herself back away from me, getting up instantly. Her nostrils flared while eyes turned angrily glossy. "Alyssa, come on. You know I didn't mean that!"

"Of course, you did." She said calmly, giving me a death glare holding glossiness. "Because that's what I have been doing all this time."

My lips parted as she bent down to collect a fist full of ripped grass and mud. Splashing it on my chest angrily, she walked away from the ground, growling in hurt.

I flinched and stared at the sky as the mud spread all over my shirt, neck and face. Some went inside my mouth which I spat afterward.

All my mood worsened.

I bit my tongue and realised how this was the first time I made Alyssa cry. And I felt like a self-obsessed douche.

For a moment, I just turned confused as to if run back to home or continue sitting here.

"That was eventful, " came a deep familiar voice that had churned my stomach.

I looked from the corner of my eyes as father walked around the rock and sat beside me, making me look straight at the front in confusion.

Well, in the history of my life, this never happened.

I couldn't remember the last time, him and I sat alone in the ground like this.

And like Axel had used the word today. K was startled.

His sudden presence had made me numb for seconds.

"Years ago, my father had warned me how my pups would tell me that I don't love them enough." He began while my throat tightened. He was speaking slowly and thoughtfully. "Here I am, admitting to have disappointed you in the way a father should never."

My eyes turned stone as I glanced at his bearded face. Worn out yet still holding his aura, he started at the belt of trees in the front.

"If only I could go back in time and do it differently, " he said quietly.

My eyebrows raised slightly in thought. "Would you do it differently with Misty?" I asked while gulping hard.

The name itself made him freeze and blink calmly. "I won't."

The answer didn't disappoint me. Because that's what I had expected from him.

That's what he was. No power could change his logics if he knew for sure that he was right.

The sad thing was that I couldn't see those right logics of his.

"You know the answer. Don't you? You know everything, " he said while I sucked in a breath.

He was referring to my assumption of how he had brought Misty to only send her to the Lycans. Well, it was something that came instantly in hatred. I had no logic behind that statement. I just wanted to weaken and hurt him with words yesterday.

My eyes lowered in shame.

"If I knew that this would really happen, I would have killed her along with her father."

I blinked in awkwardness. My throat shook when he added, "She used to appear in your mother's dreams since the ceremony. This past week, it has stopped. It makes me feel worried. . ."

I released a slow breath.

". . . for the Lycans. She will eat up their minds, " he mumbled in a straight tone, making me smile in disbelief. "With her theories and comebacks."

"Sass." I said the word.

He nodded, smiling slowly. "Keyword."

"I sometimes think, " I said while glancing at him. "If Pete had asked for it from her rather throwing her away, she would have happily crossed the border."

"To impress Pete?"

I shook my head. "To impress you."

He stiffened.

"We will cross the border, tomorrow."

I blinked while looking at him for information.

"Stephen suggested so and our Alpha considered it, " he explained while wiping his mouth. "Though, to begin everything, Eva needs a hand."

"I'll go." I said immediately.

He glanced at me and nodded. "But she didn't choose your name."

My eyebrows furrowed while he coughed deeply. "She will give us the sign and then, we will proceed."

I gulped as the enthusiasm started filling up in my veins. "Are we prepared, father?"

He nodded while looking at me. "More than we could ever be."

"Axel mustn't go. You know that he is the only source of happiness and positivity in Natalie's life at the moment-" my rant stopped just as I saw him nodding his head.

"He is staying."

"Is Nirvan staying?" I asked curiously.

Father looked away quietly. "Do you want him to?"

I nodded slowly. "Not that Pete considers my opinions. But a Beta should stay back to take care of the pack behind his back, like you have always taught us."

Father glanced at me. "Nirvan asks to let you stay. Whom must I listen to?"

"To your son, father!" I said immediately.

He gave me a blank look. "And I nearly thought, you had discarded me yesterday."

My eyes lowered as I twitched my lips. "I was being foolish, " I whispered quietly. "While you were only doing what was right. You have seen more life than me. You would always know better than me."

"You were right, " he said, looking away. "I never told you that you could be an Alpha too."

"You did. Indirectly, you did. You prepared me for it. I just couldn't see properly. Because Pete is a natural heir. If I were you, I would have been positive just like you were, " I said awkwardly while looking towards the trees.

"I was being a moron, yesterday. No one thinks that his first born would not be eligible to become heir. So, his next son could become eligible. And you never taught me any less. I was being a jerk to you and mother."

"You have always been perfect, " he said, making me stop. "Which is why, your mother and I were always free of worrying about you. But we overdid it."

I shook my head while giving him a guilty look. "Of all, it's Misty who has loved you the most. I don't think I should even be complaining about your love when you have given all your time us four pups of yours."

His jaws clenched in emotion as he forwarded his arm and squeezed my shoulder.

"Whatever it has been with her, but you took care of us. And there's no denying it, " I said in guilt. "I don't hate you, father. I have looked up to you."

He smiled to himself, lowering his eyes and shook his head. "I look up to being as righteous as you, " he said, making me smile through glossy eyes. "Goddess knows what the demons in hell would do of my hand with which I whipped a piece of my heart called Thomas."

I blinked and breathed slowly.

"It was brave of you to take them away that night. I like who conspires for good reasons, " he mumbled while shaking his head. "You remind me of Joran, my elder brother. It's been a long time I thought of him. Once, I had drenched him in mud just like this."

I smiled casually while observing my shirt and arms.

"If I were you, I would follow my mate right now." He said, chuckling at me. "Because until now, she would be a mix of fuming and calming down. Wherever you would push the topic is where it would go. You better choose to cheer her up."

I bit my lip and chuckled lightly. "Because mates are worth it." I didn't want to be petty to him again. But I had to do this for the sake of it. "You have preached it, passionately."

His smile turned confused at my sudden words.

I got up while picking out the photo from my pocket.

His curious and innocent gaze fell over my hand. I put it on the space beside where I was sitting, away from the mud and walked around the rock to get into the street.

I had a beautiful mate to apologise to.

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"What do you think?"

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