Safe Space

Keith took a moment to process what Apryl had just told him before he spoke.

"Hang on, you said that your family is involved with this now. What do you mean by that?" He asked wanting to get a better understanding of what she meant by that. Apryl became away first that people were starting to watch them, probably because of the intense way she had spoken and approached the other.

"Is there somewhere else more private than this we can talk?" She asked lowering her voice slightly as she didn't want everyone who was around to hear what they were talking about. She wasn't that fond of noisy people but knew that she couldn't do much about that if she chose to talk about a private matter in a public space.

"Yeah. I have a private room, but it is in a different building as it is part of a lab I work in as my other part time job." Keith replied as he began to pick up his things. He really couldn't afford to leave work right now, but this matter was more important than what he had to do. Considering he never slacked off, he was certain his supervisor would understand if he was helping someone with a family emergency.

Apryl didn't realize how long Keith's legs were until she was following him to the building that he said the room was located in. Because his strides were much larger than her own, she had to walk twice as fast to keep up with his pace.

The lab he worked in during most of the evenings was one that dealt with microbiology work. He didn't do a lot of the work with the microbes themselves, he mostly just helped to monitor the temperature and make sure that everything was tidied up and restocked at the end of the day for the next day.

He had to set his stuff down on one of empty tables so that he could reach into his backpack to pull out the key he knew would open the room. He ushered her in first before entering himself.

It was a little bit of a cramped space since it was only used for a few hours each day. There was a study desk and chair in one corner and one-way glass covering the section of the wall that faced the lab so that he could sit inside working on his studies or anything that he needed to get done while being able to keep an eye on the lab at the same time. There was enough space for them to stand a few feet apart and for Apryl able to turn around and face the other with her arms crossed over her chest.

"As I was trying to ask before, what do you mean that your family is involved with him?" Keith repeated his question, hoping she would answer before pressuring him to give her the answer that she was looking for.

"I mean that my mum just had her last litter of pups and thinks that there is good reason to keep him away from them. He hasn't done anything to us, but she said he smells like a wolf who has blood on him from doing something unacceptable." Apryl replied, watching the change in expression that crossed over Keith's face as she said this.

"She's not the only one though. Oreo, one of the omegas who traveled with my pack and is part of the family said something similar that where his pack originally came from that they had heard some rumor going on about a wolf named Brian." She further explained. Keith was quite for a minute longer than she would've liked before he replied to what she said.

"Your mother only just had the pups? That would mean that you aren't really in any kind of position to be moving. How many other wolves are in your family and are there any other pups aside from the ones that were just born?" His sudden string of questions caught her off guard and took her moment to process before she could reply. Why was he suddenly the one asking all the questions when she came here to find out what was going on?

"Let's just say that there are a fair amount of us, and yes, there are a few younger pups aside from my siblings that were just born. Things kind of didn't go as planned when we moved here and that's why we're in this situation currently." She knew in the back of her mind that if her father had been there, they'd have already found another place to stay away from Lydia and Brian. Of course, he would never tell them anything about Brian even if he felt the same way that Summer did, unless there was a reason to.

"What's with all of these sudden questions though? I came here hoping that you would be able to give me some insight into what's up with Brian, not ask about my family."

"I promise that I will answer your questions in time about him, but right now I'm trying to think about what the best option for your family would be. Had I understood the situation sooner, I would've come up with something for you before now." Keith replied feeling stressed by this sudden unexpected situation.

"Well, I do apologize, had I known sooner myself I would've already figured something out as well, but I didn't find out until now. Perhaps if you had told me when I asked earlier, this situation wouldn't be where it is now." Apryl retorted, her tone a touch more annoyed and sarcastic than she had meant for it to come across. Without realizing it however, her tone triggered Keith.

"I didn't tell you because it was none of your business. It didn't involve your family at that time as far as I was aware, thus you didn't need to butt your nose into something that didn't involve you." Keith replied, his tone suddenly rather cold which was something that Apryl hadn't experienced from him before.

"This stuff isn't important right now though. what is important is finding a safe place for your family at this point in time. If you don't think that they should stay there, then we need to find some place that we can move your mom and her pups to that won't stress her out too much." he explained in not quite as cold of a tone as he had spoken in previously.

"Do you know of such a safe place for wolves like us who have no money to afford anything?" She asked keeping her tone low as she didn't want to upset the other again as she was still trying to process his sudden change in attitude.

"Yes, I do, but it would require me to call in a favor from Chester and you'd have to tell him what's going on." Keith replied as he pulled his phone out. He wasn't sure what the other wolf was doing right now, but he was sure if he told him it was urgent, he'd be willing to come over and at least see what was going on.