After Roni and I have dropped Kai off at his home, and the laughter he caused by being so cute has passed, I can't help but notice the faint scent of alcohol and cigarette smoke coming from his home.

"Do you smell that, Renny?" Roni asks me, concern and confusion clear in her tone.

"Yeah, what do you think it's from? Maybe he has siblings that drink? Parents that smoke? It could be the remaining scent from the previous owners if Kai only moved here a month ago." I wonder aloud to Roni.

"I don't think so. It smells too strong to be old, but we're not in the house so it's hard to say. We can just ask Kai about it later." Roni tells me, putting her Jeep into reverse and backing out of Kai's driveway.

Kai's house isn't what I thought it would be. It's a decent sized house, not too small. Average size I'd say. That's not what's odd about it though, the porch has plants hanging from the ceiling, they're all dead. Maybe they're just lazy? I wonder to myself as we begin the drive back to my house.

"Shit..." Roni mutters under her breath.

"Roni? What's up?" I ask her, curiosity lacing my tone.

"Kai didn't have his school bag, how is he gonna do his homework?" Roni asks me, wearing an expression of worry for Kai.

"Actually, I don't think he did. He must have left it in his locker. I'm sure he'll just get it tomorrow." I inform her as we continue driving back to the house.

~

The next day at school goes relatively quickly, but there is no sign of Kai anywhere. His scent is nowhere so he must have stayed home from school today.

The final bell signaling schools end rings, dismissing the students to go home. I pack up my things and head out to meet Roni in the parking lot. On my way to her Jeep, I sniff around the school seeing if I can catch a whiff of Kai's scent. He must be home. I think to myself when I see no sign of him.

Walking up to Roni's car, I toss my bag in the backseat through the open window and lean against the passenger side door, waiting for Roni to come out of the building.

Pulling out my phone, I start playing a puzzle game while I wait, my thoughts drifting off to the only thing I've been thinking about since Friday, Kai.

The shoving of a school bag into my chest pulls me out of my thoughts. I look up to see Roni standing there with a smirk on her face, pressing a school bag that doesn't look like hers to my chest.

"Umm... what is this?" I ask her, the confusion evident on my face.

"Smell!" Is her curt reply.

I grab the bag from her and sniff, smelling the wonderful scent of cherry blossom trees. Right then and there, I know who this bag belongs to.

"Kai's bag! How did you get it out of his locker?" I ask her out of pure curiosity. The things she is capable of. I think to myself with a fond shake of my head.

"Oh you know, a she-wolf never shares her secrets." She repeats her motto with a wink. The amount of times she replies with this every time I ask how she managed to do something is ridiculous. I would not want to get on her bad side...

"You are something else, Roni." I chuckle.

"I know." She starts with a flip of her hair over her shoulder, "Come on, now we have an excuse to drop by his house today!"

"Oh, I see you. I know what you're doing." I say, narrowing my eyes at her.

"Don't act like you aren't excited! Now come on you big oaf!" She exclaims, jumping into the drivers side of her car.

I gently set Kai's bag in the backseat next to mine and climb into the passengers seat. Roni starts the car and soon we're driving out of the parking lot.

The drive over to Kai's is in silence. Not uncomfortable, though. Quite the contrary. It's a comfortable silence that allows me time to think. To think about what has taken place these past few days.

The terror in Kai's eyes when he looked at me that first day I met him is something that haunts my dreams. I can't get the fear on his face at that moment out of my head. Or how hard he trembled in the library just from my presence. I'm supposed to protect him, not scare him to death. I also can't help but blame myself for what happened with Jake. I wasn't there to protect my mate and so he suffered on his own. He probably would have tried to hide it from me if I didn't find him myself yesterday. Goddess, if this boy doesn't kill me with his adorableness first, he's definitely going to cause me a heart attack.

I also can't help but wonder what his family is like. He seemed a bit tense when we dropped him off yesterday at his home. I hope I'm just overthinking things, I'm sure he has great parents.

The sound of Roni cutting the engine of her black Jeep brings me out of my head. I look up to see Kai's average old house with the dead plants rotting away on the porch.

"We're here." Roni says, scrunching up her nose when the scent of alcohol and drugs hits us.

"Ugh, why does it smell so bad! Kai must have an older sibling or something." I tell her, grabbing Kai's school bag from the backseat.

"You don't think it's his parents, do you?" She asks me, looking at the house with an expression of pure concern and worry.

I hesitate before I answer her. I don't know... I don't know barely anything about him, but I hope that's not the case.

"I'm... not sure, Roni. But, I hope you're wrong." I voice my thoughts, speaking barely above a whisper.

We get out of the car and start walking towards Kai's house. The closer we get, the stronger the stench of alcohol and drugs becomes. It's so strong that Kai's scent is barely even noticeable and his scent is supposed to be easy for me to pinpoint, but it's a bit of a challenge at his own house.

Roni and I stand in front of the door, side by side. I can tell she is hesitant to knock, just like me.

"Here goes nothing." I mutter, lifting my hand to knock on the door. I knock three times before the door is swung open to reveal a woman that looks to be in her middle to late thirties. She doesn't look too good and she smells awful. The stench of alcohol is so strong coming from her it's burning my nostrils and making my eyes water. Looking her over I can see that she is definitely drunk, the way she's leaning on the doorframe so she doesn't fall or sway, how her eyes are glazed over and she seems dazed, completely out of it. Her hair is a mousy brown and goes down a little passed her shoulder. She has dark brown, almost black eyes that look like they aren't seeing anything at all. She's shorter than Roni and I but I can tell she is taller than Kai is. She's not ugly, but she clearly doesn't take care of herself, leaving her looking sickly and a tad underweight like she couldn't be bothered to eat. She looks nothing like Kai.

"What do you want?" She sneers at us through hooded eyes.

"Hi... um, is Kai here?" Roni tentatively asks her.

"He's at school." Is this lady's response, her voice raspy and crackly.

Roni glances at me with a question in her eyes. I shrug my shoulders back at her. I have no idea what is happening right now. Why doesn't this woman know her son wasn't at school today? Did Kai skip? Is he here? My brain runs with so many questions that I have no answers to.

"Um, he... um... already left school so he should be here. We... um... just noticed that he left his bag so we came by to... uh... drop it off." Roni lies to this woman. I give her a grateful smile for lying because I'm not sure if he was allowed to stay home today and the last thing I want is to get him into trouble.

"His room's upstairs I guess." She tells us, leaving the door open as she wobbles her way to the sofa and plops down without giving us a second glance.

Roni and I make our way upstairs and I instantly know which room is Kai's because of how strong his scent is. I knock on his door and wait for a response.

At first, there is no response, but I know he's in there because I can hear the way his breath gets heavy and his heart rate picks up. That's weird...

I decide to let him know it's me before knocking again.

"Kai? It's Trenton and Roni." I gently say to the closed door, hoping he's listening.

Instantly, I can sense him calming down as his heart rate and breathing go back to normal.

I faintly hear the sound of footsteps and then the door is being gently pulled open.

"Oh... um, hi?" Kai more questions than says. He's looking at the ground, slightly shaking. Guess he's not over this mysterious fear. I think to myself with a mental whimper.

"Hey, Kai. How are you holding up?" I ask him, being sure to keep my voice gentle and quiet as to remind him that I would never hurt him.

It seems to work because once I'm finished talking he finally brings his beautiful green gaze up to meet mine.

"Um... I've been better." He says with an adorable sheepish smile on his face.

"Well, your mom didn't seem to know that you didn't go to school today. Did you stay home without telling her?" Roni asks the question that I know has been bothering her since we got here because it's been bothering me, too.

"My mom? Oh! You mean Jessica? She's not my mom. Besides, even if I did tell her I wasn't going to school today it's not like she'd remember. Too drunk to think properly..." Kai muttered that last part, probably forgetting that Roni and I could hear him loud and clear.

I look over at Roni with a big fat question mark etched into my expression. She has worry written all over her features.

"Oh... well we brought your backpack from school! You left it in your locker." Roni says, switching her expression to one of cheerfulness to hide her concern from Kai.

"How did you...?" Kai starts, but I cut him off.

"Don't even bother asking how she got it out of your locker because she won't tell you. I already asked and never got an answer. You just learn not to question her at some point." I tell him with a smirk.

Roni laughs and Kai giggles. Oh my goddess, he's so cute! I can't help but think when I hear his little giggle.

"Okay, well we also came here to talk to you." Roni adds, her tone turned serious.

"Oh, um... okay. Come in." Kai says, his voice shaking a bit probably from nerves as he opens his bedroom door wider to let us in.

His room is completely plain. There's nothing hanging on the walls, no pictures on the dresser by his bed, nothing laying on the floor. Even his bedding is plain, just a boring brown color. It looks as if no one even lives here, the only indication of his presence is his scent lingering on everything in the room.

Kai goes to sit on his bed and Roni and I just kind of stand there.

"Okay, so to start. How do you know about werewolves?" Roni just jumps right in.

I immediately notice how Kai tenses up with that question, but we need answers.

"Um... my sister. She was mated to a werewolf and told me all about them." Kai says, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You have a sister? What's her name?" Roni asks him.

"Um... she's dead." He replies, his voice completely monotone.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Kai. I didn't know." Roni says with pity in her tone.

"It's fine. Anyway, you're the Alpha?" Kai asks, turning his gaze to me and changing the subject. I let it slide because I can tell how uncomfortable this topic is for him. I hope he opens up to us soon...

"I'm the soon to be Alpha. So, kind of? I won't take the position until my dad retires." I inform him.

"Oh! That reminds me, I actually need to introduce you guys!" I add on with a big smile.

"You... want me to meet your dad? The Alpha of your pack?" He asks, his voice wavering.

"Eventually, but I'm in no hurry." I reassure him, "I haven't even told my dad yet and I'd rather talk to him about everything first. There's no rush at all."

"Okay." He says, heaving a sigh of relief as the tension in his shoulders eases.

"Alright, well I guess that's everything for now. Oh! Here's your bag." Roni says, handing Kai his school bag with a smile on her face.

"Thanks. I was so worried about not being able to do my homework." Kai says with a chuckle.

"I kind of figured you'd be worried about it. Glad we could help you out a bit." I let him know, "Alright, we'll be heading off now. Oh, by the way, we covered for you with Jessica. She thinks you just got home earlier than usual is all."

"Oh gosh, thanks so much! That makes my life so much easier." He says with a nervous chuckle, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck in an uncomfortable gesture.

Roni and I turn to leave but before I can follow Roni out the door, there's a tug on the hem of my shirt. I turn back around to see a nervous Kai lightly pulling on my shirt to get my attention.

"What's up?" I ask him, keeping the gentle tone in my voice to let him know he has my full attention.

"Can I... have a hug?" He asks me, his voice quiet with a shy expression on his face.

I smile brightly at him, "Of course you can."

I step closer to him and wrap his small frame up in my arms, pulling him flush against me and squeezing him tight. I never want to let him go. I mentally whimper.

After a few moments, he pulls away with a cherry red face, not meeting my eyes.

"Thank you... Be safe." Kai says with a shy voice, shuffling his feet and hands fidgeting.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" I say with a questioning tone.

"Yeah, tomorrow." He says, looking up at me to finally meet my eyes with a shy smile.

I turn around and walk out of his room. Making my way downstairs, I see that the woman Kai called Jessica is completely passed out on the sofa. I don't like her... I can't help but think to myself as I make my way outside of their house.

Roni is already in the driver's seat of her Jeep when I get outside, so I jump up in the front with her and close my door. Looking over at her I can see she is deep in thought.

"I don't like his living quarters." Is what Roni finally breaks the silence with.

"Me neither. Something is definitely off here. Where are his parents? And what happened to his sister?" I voice my thoughts to Roni.

"I don't know, but my guess is whatever happened to her is the cause for why he's so apprehensive around us werewolves." She replies, her tone laced with concern.

"We need to get to the bottom of this, Roni. I don't like this." I tell her, my voice firm and determination laced in my tone.

"Yeah... I agree, Renny."