She brought her hands up shakily to his face, settling them on either side of his cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, Honey, if I knew we were neglecting you, I would have done things so differently.” She cried to him, not for the first time, at least a couple times out of every time he comes to visit, she’s happy until she starts going on and on about how guilty she feels about his childhood.

It breaks him every time, seeing her so differently than he remembers. It brings up memories he wants to forget; he wants to believe she would have done things differently, too.

But she didn’t when they happened, too focused on her health, and in her own business to notice her child was punished far too harshly, her other child was fine, so he would be too.

He would behave eventually, and then it would be fine. It wasn’t on her mind that her child was being punished for doing nothing. He was being discriminated against in her own home.

Now it’s too late for her to redo his childhood. Now he’s afraid of doors being locked when he leaves them unlocked. Now he gets lonely when it’s dark. Now he hates being alone; he craves hugs.

He was never told why he was by himself, but he found himself there anyway.

“I know, Mamma, I forgive you.” He doesn’t know if he actually does, but he can pretend until he does. If it makes her happy, if it makes her hug him more, he wants her love, even if it’s late.

Heavy steps walk into the room, rushed and heated. Instantly, he felt himself sit straighter, suck the tears back in.

He turned around, meeting the angry face of his brother.

Will smiles at him, showing his canines with how wide he forces his mouth. “Oh, he–y.” Before he can greet him, he’s cut off.

“Shut the fuck up, I heard you from the hall.” His gruff fifteen-year-old younger brother named Christoff, bristles at him. His smile falls, working his jaw as he looks down.

“You might forgive her, but I don’t.” Chris bites, glaring at her from where he stands with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

“I know you aren’t the same now, but I don't forgive you.” He bites again, shaking his head, as he looks down from where his eyes connect with hers, letting out a heavy breath as he does.

Then he looks back up, firmly looking back into her eyes, hurt shown clearly in his dark brown eyes.

“Liam didn’t deserve to be ignored. If I weren’t there, he would have really been alone. Regretting it isn't enough!” Chris's shout echoes through the room, Winter having long ago gone quiet and contemplative in the silence, staring straight at Chris.

But she didn’t clap back, she didn’t deny anything he said, she just looked at him like she was sorry, she just let him be angry at her.

Chris didn’t settle at that, he didn’t quiet, he just stomped out of the room, not going very far as his steps stopped quickly, not getting quieter but just stopping.

Will can tell his friends feel confused at everything that just happened, before and after his brother came in.

But he just looks at his mom, who stares at the door Chris left through, like her gaze is all she has to apologize with.

“Mamma, I'm going to introduce my friends to Chris.” He spoke carefully, but she didn’t hear him. So he just picked up his crutches and hobbled to the door, his friends following behind him.

When they get out, he whispers to them apologetically. “I’m sorry you guys had to hear that. I thought she might be okay today.” Noah just shakes her head.

“It’s not your fault, you just wanted us to meet her.” Eve nodded in agreement, firmly shutting down his worries.

“What Noah said, it’s fine, we’re just surprised, why didn’t you tell us you had a brother?” He asked, tone shifting to confusion at the end.

“He actually asked me not to because he wanted to ‘maintain the illusion,’ whatever that means. I think he just wanted to keep his status as a loner; you guys are super popular, so people would start to wonder who he is. He said it was too much trouble.” Will reasoned, his brother also liked to pretend he didn’t like him, but he wouldn’t tell his friends that.

“Says the guy that’s also ‘Super popular’, don’t people come up to you or take pictures all the time?”Noah teased him, wiggling her eyebrows and looking smug, as she put it in air quotes.

“They only do that because having green eyes is rare. It's not my fault my family is special,” he huffed and crossed his arms.

“Okay, and? My point still stands, also are you or are you not going to introduce him to us or do we have to ourselves?” Noah nods her head in the fifteen-year-old's direction. The 5’7 and grumpy teen had leaned against the wall, pretending like he couldn’t hear them.

Chris was wearing ripped blue jeans, an oversized black hoodie with some sort of snarky message on it. He had green eyes and dark brown hair, just like his, except his was less messy, and more kempt, parted down the side with the part of it that swung down falling in his face. Where Will let his hair fall to tickle his neck, Chris liked his shorter in the back.

“Fine, but don’t blame me if he roasts you.” He rolls his eyes and walks over to him. The rest were hanging back for a second to wait for a cue.

Then he got close enough and paused, standing near him, but not saying anything for a minute.

“Sorry I said all that, it just irks me so much that she would ignore you, ignore us, ignore what he did, and then just because she’s getting crazier, she thinks she can be forgiven.” Chris spat, chilling out a little when Will nodded firmly.

“I get it, I know you’re just trying to protect us, I don’t know if I can forgive her either, but I don’t want to turn her away when she’s trying,” Will whispered, biting his lip after he finished, looking down at Chris.

“Okay… Who are they?” Chris accepted that, with one firm word, then paused for a second before he pretended not to know who they were as he took one hand out of his pocket to point at them from where they were, a few feet away.

“My pack, you can come here, guys.” Will beckoned them over with one hand, turning his body to include them in the conversation. The three of them walk over, meeting them where they were previously shuffling about, trying not to be awkward.

“Christoff, This is Oakley, Noah, and Eveline.” Will counted off, a hi coming from the person when he addressed them.

“Great, now that I know your names, who wants to tell me why our school got suspended for police investigation?” Chris questioned, turning to all of them, with a forced smile, his eye twitching.

“That is a long story, Chris, one that leaves only sadness, so maybe no, we won’t.” Oakley shut him down, crossing his arms, as he gave him an apologetic ‘I’m sorry, bud, we would ruin your dreams if we told you that’ look.

“Yeah, no, that’s not gonna work for me, because I can already tell my dumbass brother has something to do with it, and not knowing what happened, it’s not going to slide.” Chris piped up again, rocking on the balls of his feet as he emphasized his point.

“So you can tell me, or I’ll find it out myself, whether you like it or not.” Christoff threatens. Will doesn’t, in fact, want him to find out himself, so he clears his throat.

Oakley looks at him like he doesn’t want him to have to explain. But his brother is one of his (wether he would admit it or not) best friends, so he tells him, even if he wants to pretend everything is normal.

He tells him everything, from the beginning, about those teddy bears in Noah’s hallway, the teddy bear he found in the teacher's office, and what was on it, Oakley’s confirmation that it looked like his dad, the rumor they heard about a wolf-dog, the recordings they got of Noah’s dad confessing, Will’s fight with the wolves, and how he got kidnapped right after they bonded.

Chris’s mouth didn’t shut for a while when he gaped and gagged as he explained the video, only closing and then tightening when he told him about the fight, then seething when he told him he got kidnapped.

“I need you to tell me when these things happen, Liam…” Chris shook him by his shoulders when he finished, Will shutting his mouth and working his jaw.

“I actually forgot about the fight, I swear, and I was so out of it in the hospital, I forgot to text you, and everything had just snowballed. I didn’t know how to tell you when you weren’t there, I didn’t want to fail at being an older brother. I didn’t want you to think any less of me than you already did.” He felt it all fall out of his mouth; he could feel himself crumple a little, his voice getting more and more breathless as he spoke.

Chris pulled him down, squeezing his spine in reassurance as he pushed Will’s head into his neck. Will let him.

“It’s okay, I’m not mad, I don’t think less of you, I’m so upset you think I do, I’m just glad you’re okay, just because you got hurt, and didn’t want to seem weak to me, doesn’t mean you're a bad brother, okay? You're the best brother on the planet, believe in yourself, stupid.” Chris comforted him, surprisingly adept at soothing his anxious ball of a brother.

Will chuckled through his tears. “I feel like I’ve been crying so much recently.” He joked and wiped his eyes. He separated himself from the younger boy’s arms.

“Dude, duh, that’s kinda how trauma works.” Chris deadpanned, blinking his eyes twice. Will thinks he’ll never be left alone again after all that’s happened, the fight, and now this. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

His most deeply traumatized bits scream that he’s lonely, and he won’t complain if people want to hug him, or hold his hand, or tell him he’ll be okay; in fact, he’s going to sob if they do.

If they look at him concerned, oh well, because he’s so happy he’s not alone anymore. He’s dependent and attached now. It’s incredibly unlikely that he’ll let go by himself.

Pulled out of his thoughts, when Will notices Chris’s gaze drifting down to his cast after he explained that his leg was fractured, giving him a little summary of his time at the hospital until now, he explained, but it still feels weird to be looked at so he starts to fidget.

Will’s leg is still healing, having been locked away for the past 5 weeks. The cast had been on while he was at the hospital for two weeks and three weeks at home; the one on his arm was removed after the first week passed at home.

If he could have, Will would never go to a hospital again, turning into a dog and planting his but firmly on the ground, but when Eve forces him to go to the doctors for persistent pain and stiffness.

Will get’s the less than desirable news that if his leg continues to have its cartilage worn down, he may develop a firmly permanent limp, arthritis having formed in his knee and ankle, only made slightly better if he goes to physical therapy, which Will is wont to do for retraumatization purposes while the fracture is still in a cast.

Another reason the doctor says his cartilage is deteriorating, he walks slightly differently to keep from putting his weight on it, the different gait putting pressure in places there wasn’t any before.

Not to mention stress and the now chronic pains that refuse to leave him alone. He wishes he didn’t have to walk sometimes, or that he could just cut the whole thing off when the pain gets bad.

Will knows it isn’t that easy. Once the cast comes off, he knows his friends will worry if he doesn’t go to physical therapy. So until then, he’ll try to keep off of it and see how he feels.