Chapter 99

I had started playing HALO when I was around fifteen or sixteen years old. My brother had been begging me for months and I had been watching him play long enough that I thought I basically had it pegged. I hadn't, but I learned quickly, beating him almost every time and then I began entering local tournaments.

I loved it.

Raph had let me choose my favourite map so he had put himself at a disadvantage. I chose my loadout and headed to one of my favoured sniper position.

Got him soon enough. I was searching for him to come through the same pass again but before I could back out of my hideout, I saw myself being shot. By Raph.

The corner of my lips tugged up into a smirk.

'Got me on the second round.'

He was still at a disadvantage though because I knew the terrain. I respawned near a hidden outcrop and I found a few grenades hidden in it. I waited for him to appear. Any second now.

He came around the corner in the only Ghost (think motorcycle) the map had and I fired a warning shot at him that drew his attention. I smiled as he veered in my direction I tossed my plasma grenade in his direction and hid behind the nearby boulder to avoid the shock wave.

Soon the oven timer went off and I paused the twenty minute game timer to get my cinnamon balls out.

'Maybe things weren't too bad.' I thought with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~

I exhaled into the brisk night air watching my breath mist. Raph just shook his head at me with a smile.

I stared a couple seconds. I didn't always take in my surroundings and it had been a while since I'd looked at his smile. His lips…

I looked away as I felt heat rise to my cheeks. I swallowed and looked ahead of us.

"Shall we?" Raph asked as he held his hand out.

"We shall." I replied with a grin.

Despite everything, I was going to try and be happy. It was working so far but who knew when things were gonna catch up to me.

We walked hand-in-hand across the road to Thomas's house. There was no fence around it and the yard looked worse for wear. I mean our yard wasn't too pretty but that was just because I was procrastinating and it was cold outside. But his yard looked… dirty.

I stepped over a plastic thing, that I then realized was a toy fire truck, and onto the landing. There wasn't a light lit on the porch but there was a faint light coming from the other side of the door.

"Does he even know we're coming?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"Of course he does, he invited us." Raph said as he rang the doorbell.

A bong resonated. And I heard footsteps nearing it. I could sense that Thomas was in the house, I'd become familiar enough with his channel that I could recognize it now.

"Hey, guys!" Thomas said as he opened the door. His brown hair was slightly curly and shaved on the sides making him look a bit like a sixteen year old. But his eyes. His eyes always held that wary, serious look that made you realize what he'd been through.

"Come in, come in." He ushered us in with a towel wrapped hand.

We both walked in and took off our shoes, jackets and toques. Raph did not wear a toque even though I'd put one in his stocking.

"Yeah, make yourselves at home, I'll just be in the kitchen."

"Kay, thanks man." Raph said.

~~~~~~~~~

After a pretty good dinner of barbecue ribs and Caesar salad we sat around the dinner table talking.

"So, hm, I forgot to ask. How's the wedding coming along?" Thomas asked as he took a sip of his beer.

I shook my head, I had been staring at the bottle, "Uh, um. Things are going great. The wedding planner we've hired is mostly doing the finishing touches but other than that we're set."

"Yep, we've chosen all the colours we want. And the table cloths. And we can't forget the-"

"Napkin holders." We said at the same time then we both laughed. There had been a little incident with the napkin holders.

Thomas watched us with an amused expression, "I suppose you're not gonna tell me what hap-"

All three of us turned our heads in the direction of the front door. I sensed a Lycan out there but I didn't recognize him.

Raph and Thomas both sniffed the air and then nodded to one another. There was a loud banging and they both got up. Raph put his hand out to signal me to stay here. I just rolled my eyes and walked to the doorpost at the entrance to the entryway.

I watched as Thomas stood at the door to open it while Raph stood just next to it to surprise the person? I don't know.

"Open the door." I said, still slightly confused as to why they were doing this. It's just a Lycan.

Thomas nodded to Raph and I rolled my eyes again, this was ridiculous, then he pulled the door open. One of the gate guards was standing in the cold wearing no gloves, I noted.

"Gamma! There's a problem at the gate." He said.

"Which gate?"

"This one." He turned and pointed to the gate and I could just make out three channels.

"I'll be right down." Thomas said, then closed the door.

He began to put on his winter gear and me and Raph decided that we might as well do the same.

We walked out and down to the gate. The road had been salted but there were still a few patches so I held on tightly to Raph arm.

-Why did the guy come to Thomas?-

-Because Thomas, being the Gamma, is in charge of keeping this pack maintained.-

I nodded, -Ah. And you're in charge of all the Packs?-

-Technically, the Alpha is,- He turned his head and nodded in the direction of the mansion at the far end of the road, -But I'm in charge of maintaining all of them. Whenever there's a problem in this pack, Tom will run it by me, and I'll run it by Thresh.-

I gasped, -You called him Thresh.-

He gave me a look and I giggled.

I made a small yelp as I nearly slipped on some ice and I almost nearly wrenched Raph's arm off to keep my balance.

"Sorry." I whispered as we walked up to the gate.

"I'll live." He padded my hand with an affectionate smile.

"Good, I'm glad." I replied with a cheeky grin.

We stopped a few metres from the gate while Thomas talked with the three shifted Lycans on the other side.

"Do you know what's wrong?" I whispered to Raph.

-Three she-wolves asking for their missing mates.-

I quickly took an inventory of my mind to try and see if I knew of any missing Lycans I could pair with this that would fit.

-The ones the Elves took?-

Raph nodded, -Don't know if they took them but they're missing probably due to something the Elves did.-

I nodded.

All of a sudden there was a loud fight or something, I couldn't quite tell. The only light was the dim, yellow one above the gate office.

Raph growled and I let go of him as he stalked toward the gate.

Thomas was on the ground I went and crouched in front of him.

"You okay?"

He nodded into the cement and held up a thumbs up, "Just great."

I helped pull him up and I saw that he had a bleeding nose, probably broken. I scrunched my nose and smiled sarcastically as I led him further away from the gate.

In the meantime, Raph had been talking to the she-wolves.

-Beta! Where are they?-

-Our children need their fathers.-

-He'd never just leave like this!-

I bit my lip as I looked at all the misery just one Elf could cause.