~17~

Sunday crawled on even slower than Saturday had been and there was still no sign of Kieran and even more irritatingly, he had spent most of the weekend locked in Kieran's office.

Just curled up on his chair and staring into space, he had a hard time fighting off intrusive thoughts, he had already decided that he wouldn't jump into conclusions till he heard from Kieran.

It wasn't as easy as he had thought it out in his head but at least it kept him from sinking into despair.

He woke up on Monday feeling like roadkill, a quick glance at the mirror told him that it wasn't just a feeling, he also looked like he had been run over more than a couple times.

He had slept in compared to the past two days, a quick glance at the time revealed that it was just 8:30 am but he felt bone tired like he had been sleeping for a whole day.

He pushed himself to do his morning routine, breakfast was tasteless going down his throat, he was sure he looked like a train wreck but no one dared point it out.

Underneath his exhausted appearance, a sliver of excitement ran through his veins, he was looking forward to meeting Kieran.

And in the same vein he just wanted to go back to his bed and mope for the rest of the day, maybe it was the wait that had drained him.

At this point he just wanted to be in the same space as Kieran at least until he recharged sufficiently enough to confront the Head Beta.

So after breakfast, he grabbed his laptop and notes, taking the spare key to Kieran's office that Erin had given to him, just in case that Kieran didn't show up again.

He made his way to the fourth floor, his heart in his stomach. Out of reflex, he knocked lightly on the door before trying it.

There would be no reason to knock if there was no one in the office, he tried the handle, his eyes going wide in alarm when it opened up, making him stumble in.

He slowly lifted his head to find the very person he had been waiting for for days sitting behind his desk.

Kieran raised his head when he heard a knock on the door, wondering who it could be.

He dreaded Bryan showing up and at the same time, he was constantly fighting the urge to go down to his apartment and invite him over.

So his shock was palpable when the very person occupying his thoughts stumbled right into his office.

"Hi." Bryan murmured under his breath, trudging into the room.

Kieran was sitting on his desk, looking the same as ever in all black formal wear and designer accessories while Bryan looked like he had crawled out of bed and immediately headed there.

Now that he had seen that Kieran was okay, he wanted to curl up and sleep but he would be better off expending that energy trying to write.

He had hit a really thick wall ever since and writing had been nonexistent for the entirety of the weekend, he had the freedom to not write but it would only increase his workload later.

He made his way to the corner of the office where Kieran always told him to sit on the ground if he wanted to tease him or if Bryan was making himself a nuisance.

Usually, he would march right up to Kieran's table, drop his stuff on the Head Beta's table like he owned it and immediately start chatting away.

He had to admit that the Head Beta gave him a lot of leeway but all that didn't matter anymore.

Being away from Kieran without knowing where he stood anymore had been draining.

Kieran frowned when he took Bryan in, he looked absolutely terrible like he hadn't slept in days.

He supposed that he shouldn't be too surprised considering that he had barely gotten any sleep himself but what made his frown deepen was when Bryan walked straight up to the office corner and plopped right on the ground.

He figured that it would be expecting too much for Bryan to treat him like he always did but something about Bryan sitting on the ground unsettled him.

It reminded him of when he cowardly treated Bryan blatantly like a child to avoid attachment, it hadn't worked, obviously.

Because the werewolf sitting on the ground across from him, floppy auburn hair wild and tousled as he bent over his laptop was definitely not a child.

Well, well, if it wasn't the consequences of his actions coming back to bite him in the ass, he couldn't let Bryan sit on the ground anymore, he had to make that part at least known.

"Bryan, you don't have to sit on the ground anymore." He forced himself to say, concern evident on his face.

Bryan looked up like he was surprised that Kieran had spoken to him. "No, no, I don't mind…" He started to disagree, his eyes wide in alarm.

Kieran felt something shrivel up and die in his chest at the look in Bryan's eyes,  he had caused that.

"Bryan…" He said in a quiet voice.

"You can go back to treating me as a kid." Bryan found himself saying, his voice weary.

The thing was, he had been bracing himself to confront Kieran about the night that he had run off but as the endless hours passed by, Bryan turning around restlessly on Kieran's chair, he realized…

It didn't matter what he convinced himself to believe, he could tell deep within himself that if he tried to push, this time it would be more than Kieran taking off, he would lose the other werewolf entirely.

That was far more scary than anything else so even though it killed him slowly, Bryan would go back to being the kid that hung off Kieran's sides, he would take whatever bit of Kieran that he could get.

Kieran didn't register his legs moving, one moment he was behind his desk and in the next moment, he was crouched beside Bryan, pulling him into his arms.

He had done the worst thing possible yet, Bryan would wait for him… he had caused this.

Even though Kieran was cursed to always leave.