The Brooding Days

A new morning dawned near the beach, and the sun shone for the first time in months after months of rain in La Ber. Lucas got his things ready for another day at school.

He wore one of his hoodies to mask his scent and kissed his mother, who was still sleeping on the bed. His father was out of sight and woke early to hunt for Sunday meals.

He sighed as he looked at the brooding eyes looking at him outside his house. 'Guess today would be Patrick.'.

He heaved a deep breath and bid farewell to his mother softly before heading out of their door. He wore his thick jacket and went to where Patrick was waiting for him.

"Took you a while. Did you have a good night's sleep?"

Lucas, who only smiled, nodded at the older wolf. Patrick only sighed before driving away from Lucas's home. This was Timothy's plan.

Every older wolf will take a turn picking Lucas up from his house to the school, and the young ones will be his guards throughout the day.

Lucas was against the idea, but he knew it was for his good.

"You will understand when you transition on Sunday. For now, this would be the only thing to keep you away from him."

Lucas could only nod at the older male before being escorted out of the reservoir. He had been thinking the whole night about how dangerous it would be to be with his imprint. 

He had seen how his father protected their mother the moment they imprinted, and he was thinking of doing the same thing to him.

But he never realized how their pack Alpha would react.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he never realized that they had arrived at school, not until the dirt bike stopped.

"You okay, brother? You were so deep in your thoughts. Stop worrying about it. We will protect you until you can protect yourself."

Lucas stared at him, eyes flickering between confusion and anger.

"But why? Is it that dangerous for you guys to raise all alarms and for Timothy to decide that this is the best way to keep him away?"

Patrick looked at the younger one before sighing.

"Well, I was not supposed to say anything about this. Not until you transitioned, but your imprint somewhat came from this enemy clan. You imprinting on him puts you in grave danger."

Lucas looked Patrick in the eye before sighing. "Fine. Guess I have to wait until Sunday to get this sorted out."

Patrick gave him a tight smile and patted his back. Lucas shrugged as he walked away from the older male and towards his other friends—Maximus and Lucian—who were waiting for him at the school's entrance.

"Call us if something happens!"

Lucas groaned as he glared back at Patrick and watched him drive away. He felt an arm looped around his neck as he rolled his eyes and then looked at Maximus.

"Bad morning?"

Lucas scoffed away and brushed off Maximus' arm as the other male only rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, this will be fun. Plus, we will just be doing this until Timothy is sure that you are safe from...him."

Lucas sighed for the nth time as he walked through the crowd of students in the hallway. Maximus and Lucian followed behind him, snickering at whatever they found funny.

As soon as Lucas reached his seat, he slumped into it and covered his head with both of his arms.

He groaned softly and began to close his eyes. Maximus and Lucian watched him from afar as they took their seat.

"Do you think he is okay?"

Maximus, whose eyes were not leaving Lucas' side. "Not sure, dude. I mean, imagine if it were you. Will you be okay?"

Lucian frowned, eyes flickering back to Lucas, and shrugged, "Touche'."

Both males sat on their seats and waited for the teacher to come in to start the lesson. The whole morning passed by like any other day except for the constant checking of both Maximus and Lucian to Lucas.

Half of the day ended with a clean sweep, and it was time for Lucas and his friends to go home.

"Good day, everybody. Holidays are coming up, and I know everyone is excited for Christmas and New Year, so I won't be distributing any homework so you will be able to enjoy the holidays."

Howling sounds of teenagers were overheard from inside the room.

Even Lucas high-fived his friends for the good news that they had all heard from their teacher as they proceeded to go home.

Lucas slung his bag around his shoulder as he entered the deep forest with a huge grin on his face. Half of the Friday had already passed, and the weekend was coming up.

He was all excited about what would unfold on Sunday, especially with his sudden imprinting on a certain person.

Sebastian.

Timothy informed him. The youngster stopped abruptly and gazed at the tall, brooding trees in the forest, a small smile appearing on his face.

He took a deep breath of the cold breeze when he heard shuffling behind him.

He slowly opened his eyes and slowly turned around.

And there he was. Standing with his brooding expression, pale skin, and sunken blue eyes was his imprintee. Sebastian Reed.

"What are you doing here?"

Sebastian gulped before answering back. "I...I followed you. I am not sure why," he confessed. He lowered his gaze against Lucas' and felt a bit of shame for the lack of reasoning that he prepared.

Lucas looked at the taller male, searching for any signs of deceit in his eyes, but found none.

"I'm not trying to scare you or anything; it's just..." Sebastian trailed off as he searched his mind for a better word to describe what he was feeling.

"Just?" Lucas, who suddenly felt nervous, tried to encourage Sebastian to speak out about his feelings.

In all honesty, Lucas wanted to get near him, befriend him, and get to know him even better.

It's probably the imprint acting on it, but he didn't have much care. He wanted to get to know Sebastian Reed.

Sebastian took a deep breath and looked up. Blue met Brown once again, and it was like the first time they met.

"I—"

"Lucas!

Both men turned toward the direction of the voice, making Sebastian grimace with disappointment.

He turned back to Lucas, contemplating whether to grab the man and run away from the group of angry wolves or run out by himself.

"Never, ever do that, Sebastian. Never break the treaty. We owe them our lives." Damian once said to him.

With all his strength, he gazed at Lucas for the final moment before escaping.

He burst into the forest, down to the meadow, and out of the stream—a shortcut leading to his home that he discovered after stalking the wolves for a few days. "An escape route," as he called it.

"Are you okay?" Maximus asked Lucas, eyes filled with worry as Lucian—in his wolf form—stood his ground and sniffed out the area for the trespassing leech.

"Yeah, I am."

Lucas smiled at his friend, giving him more assurance that he was indeed not hurt by Sebastian.

"That fucking leech. Who does he think he is, huh? I thought Timothy already warned him to not get close to you?"

"I guess the warning was not enough."

Patrick—Lucas' cousin—spoke, caressing Lucas' back as he ran circles to somewhat calm the not-so-frightened teenager.

"I believe we should bring this to Tim's attention before chaos ensues."

The older men nodded at each other. Patrick was the one to grab Lucas and sit him at Lucian's back.

They all ran away from the forest and into their little fortress to report.

Meanwhile, in the deeper part of the mountain, a wailing creature could be heard. One that only his mate could save.