A black car came to a slow stop in front of the school gates, as the window rolled down. “Hey baby brother, are you ok?” Ceyden smiled at Atticus and Riya, before getting out of the car hurriedly when he noticed the expression on her face.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Touching her cheek gently, she forced a smile before gesturing to Atticus. “His leg’s broken. We need to tell you some stuff.” Ceyden’s expression turned grave with worry as he picked up his brother and carried him into the car.

When he wasn’t looking, Riya gently touched her cheek where Ceyden’s hand had been, blushing shyly. Once Ceyden had turned around again, her cold and worried expression was back.

As his older brother drove them home, Atticus gripped Riya’s hand as he fought for the courage to tell Ceyden what had happened. The man only waited patiently for Atticus to speak.

Atticus was fairly old in the school year, and was about to turn 17 in just over a week. Ceyden had turned 20 over the summer, and so being close in age, despite having very different interests, Atticus found his brother very easy to get on with, and highly respected the man.

Swallowing thickly, Atticus tried to explain. “Um. So. As you can probably tell. I was beaten up.” Ceyden said nothing, but neither Riya nor Atticus missed his fist clenching harder around the steering wheel.

Riya nodded at her best friend encouragingly when they shared a look, advising him to continue. “This, um, isn’t the. Uh. The first time?” This time, Ceyden spoke up. “Who did it?” His voice was low and his tone dark, sending shivers down Atticus’s spine.

It sent a different kind of shivers down Riya’s spine, but Atticus had no way to discern that.

Atticus kept his jaw firmly clamped shut, wanting to say the name, but unable to. Riya squeezed his hand, turning to Ceyden. “Daniel. He’s been doing this, and worse, for years.” Ceyden pulled the car to an abrupt stop at a set of traffic lights, gripping the wheel so hard his knuckles were white.

Pressing himself further into the corner of the car, Atticus closed his eyes. “Atti, we’re gonna have to tell dad about this.” He opened his mouth to argue, but Riya beat him to it. “I agree with you but I promised Atti that in order to tell you, we wouldn’t tell the alpha.”

Ceyden shot Riya a look of understanding, but he clearly wasn’t comfortable with the idea of not telling their father. “…Alright. I’m going to have to ask you more questions about this once we get back though, ok?” Atticus nodded, squeezing his eyes so tightly shut they began to feel weird.

Riya massaged his hand reassuringly, leaning her head lightly against his shoulder. Once they finally reached their part of town, which you could only live in if you were part of the pack, Ceyden helped carry Atticus out of the car and towards the pack doctor.

The government had allowed the pack to stay in the town, in their own section, so long as they kept to themselves, never injured a human, and didn’t tell anyone about the existence of werewolves. It was fairly common practice for werewolf packs anywhere in the world now.

Once the doctor had finished setting Atticus’s leg, he left the three of them to talk alone. Atticus dutifully answered each of Ceyden’s questions about how long it had been going on for, and what exactly Daniel did, and who else did it. Although Ceyden agreed not to tell the alpha, there was no way he was going to let Daniel get away without so much as even a warning.

As soon as the bus arrived back, Ceyden confronted Daniel. “What the fuck are you doing,” Daniel snarled at the older boy as he was forced back against a wall. “I’m literally a fucking werewolf, Daniel, did you think I wouldn’t be able to smell you on my brother?! I know what you did, and I swear if you so much as go near him again I will personally rip your throat out.”

Daniel looked certifiably terrified, and Ceyden mentally patted himself on the back as he stalked away. Maybe Riya will praise me for doing a good job, he thought absent-mindedly.

Knocking on his brother’s bedroom door, he saw that Atticus was fast asleep, using all his energy to focus on healing. Riya stood up from the bed, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her. “Whatever you did, it had better not come back to bite Atti in the butt.”

Ceyden shook his head adamantly, leading Riya down the stairs for a mug of tea. “No! I wouldn’t have done anything if I thought it would make things worse for Atti. I said something about being able to smell him on Atticus, and said I’d rip his throat out if he went near him again.”

Looking up at Riya expectantly, if he’d been in his wolf form, his tail would have been wagging excitedly. Rolling her eyes, Riya leaned forward to offer him a pat on the head. “Well done. You did a good job.”

He grinned broadly, before taking her hand from his head, and holding it. “Riya…” She smiled sadly in response, taking her hand from his grasp. “I’m sorry Cey, but I promised. I can’t go back on that.”

Ceyden’s smile deflated, but he understood.

Werewolves began to find their mates once they reached 16 years old. One of them would dream the name of their mate, whilst the other dreamt of their mate’s features. Having grown up together, as soon as Ceyden dreamt the name ‘Riya’ he’d known exactly who it was. However, being older than her, he’d had to wait three years before she dreamt of his features.

Even when they’d confirmed it was each other (once both had had the dreams, they only needed to brush hands to know), Riya hadn’t been able to accept him as her mate. Because of a promise she’d made to Atticus.

When they’d become friends, Atticus was still recovering from a traumatic experience, and it hadn’t been long before Riya’s 16th birthday, and the boy was terrified that she’d find her mate and leave him behind. She’d promised that she would never find her mate before he found his own.

She really hadn’t expected to have the dream on her 16th birthday, and since then, she was still adamant to wait to accept the bond until Atticus found his own love.