Chapter 214

Dream waits patiently after knocking carefully, hearing nothing on the other side of the door, reaching out to knock again, he startles when the door swings open to reveal Hayden with bed hair in an oversized shirt and loose sweatpants, a healthy glow to his face.

"Dream!" He exclaims happily, pulling his friend in. "I was wondering if you would make it."

Dream fakes a pout. "I said I would, you don't trust me, huh?" Hugging Hayden with his armful of cupcakes.

"I didn't say that." Hayden smiles, leading the way to the living room. "Is that… are those cupcakes?" His eyes track down to the package in Dream's hand.

"Of course!" Dream agrees smugly. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't bring a housewarming gift."

Hayden colors up at this, he had spent most of the morning cleaning up, Virgil had done a decent job but his good friend was coming over, he had to make sure the house looked perfect.

"Although, it couldn't have hurt you to tell me that your boyfriend is the Alpha of an entire fucking Pack!" He exclaims, settling on a couch at Hayden's direction, making heart eyes and cooing sounds when Apple climbs into his lap.

"I-I didn't think it was that important." Hayden stutters sheepishly.

Dream appraises him, saying nothing about the hickies on his neck. "Really? It's not important that you're going to be the 'Luna' of a Werewolf Pack? Really, Hay?" He asks in disbelief.

Hayden flops back on the couch at this. "Ugh! Don't remind me about that."

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep better at night." The blonde says dryly, blue-gray eyes sparkling as he inches closer. "Now let me see the ring."

Dream frowns when he takes Hayden's outstretched hands. "I think I'm colorblind because it's a gold band? Where's the diamond?" He asks, voice heavy with disappointment.

Hayden laughs at this. "Virgil didn't want to take off the promise rings so he just went ahead and bought wedding rings instead."

Dream blinks at this. "So you're married?" He asks, horror painting his voice.

Hayden makes a face. "Hmm? I think so."

"Don't do that, don't think because I'm going to be the bridesmaid, how is that going to happen when you're already married." He complains unhappily.

Hayden's grey eyes go round. "I'm not a bride." He mutters with color on his cheek.

"Neither is Virgil, that's for sure and someone has to be the bride." Dream concludes haughtily.

Hayden laughs at the, shaking his head. "There'll be no big wedding anyway so that's not happening."

"You're no fun." Dream complains, already digging into the cupcakes.

Hayden already had his mind made up, just a small affair, he would have foregone it altogether if it weren't a formality, he preferred Werewolf marriage rites anyway, what's more fun than dancing in the moonlight?

•~•

Luke shifts uncomfortably in the back seat of the car for the umpteenth time, honestly, he didn't see why he had to tag along, the two Werewolves in front were crazy strong enough to handle a wild coyote pack all by themselves.

Plus the tension always rolling around them was downright unpleasant, he didn't understand how two people could walk around with that much bloodlust towards each other.

Being a Warrior was fun, it had its perks but not when he kept getting dragged into situations like this.

Darian is the one driving, another Werewolf that Luke gave a wide berth, Leon acted happy-go-lucky sometimes even if it was at odds with his cold sapphire eyes and threatening sleeve tats, and piercings but Darian also acted the part of a cold-blooded killer.

The guy never smiled, had a blank look at all times that you couldn't tell if he was appreciating the cut of your shirt or he wanted to skin you alive unless he said so.

The car slowed to a stop after driving over uneven ground for a while, this was close to the spot where Pack runs sometimes happened and pups wandered easily.

It would be horrific if they ran into a Pack of bloodthirsty coyotes who would hesitate to take advantage of their weakness and try to hurt them.

They're both out of the car before he can teach for the door handle, shirts off in preparation to shift.

Luke suppresses another frustrated groan, another reason why he utterly detested having to tag along with them, although he couldn't say no to the two highest-ranking Warriors, they bloody competed at every fucking thing.

Nevermind that they're both freaks of nature with rippling muscles and unrealistically huge wolves, they had to worsen things by being at loggerheads over every single thing.

He got out as well, albeit reluctantly, he had gotten his Warrior tattoo on his right shoulder, the only perk of Leon taking over was that he modified the rule on tattoos, sure you still had to get one to be a part of the Warriors but it didn't have to match anymore and you could get it wherever you wanted, not over your chest anymore.

He shifted as well, his wolf wasn't average but it looked almost small beside the wolves of the other two.

'try to keep up'

Leon's voice rings in their heads and Luke can practically feel Darian's eyeroll.

Good thing he was fast because, as expected, Leon set a punishing pace from the very start, Darian easily keeping up.

At this point, he would accept extra shifts at the pet store just to get out of scouts like this.

They moved silently and quickly through the trees and rough uneven ground, large, heavy-duty paws used to this kind of exercise.

'Slow down.' Leon's cool voice floats into his head again. 'I can smell the trespassing bastards.'

They all do as was ordered, Luke might complain a lot about the two of them but there was no question that they were damn fine fighters with impeccable hunting skills.

He falls back gradually as they both slink down, in tune with each other like the moves had been choreographed.

It doesn't take long to sight the animals, and Luke frowns again, Leon was brutal, sure the coyotes could be dangerous but there were calmer ways of killing them off.

Darian was a more methodical killer but he didn't even flinch at Leon's sadistic methods, Luke couldn't decide which was worse.