Just One More Day

Lucas was hanging out at his house's front porch when he spotted Calvin's car. He could see a hint of a reflection of him and Beatrice, making Lucas excited to see an old friend.

It had been a busy and stressful week for everyone, and a fresh face could only mean one thing—a short relief from all of the stress that Lucas was currently feeling.

"Lucas!" Beatrice, who was as cheerful as a deer, called out to him with a huge smile on her face. Lucas jumped over from the railing, down to the muddy ground, and skipped towards the father and daughter duo.

"Hey, Trish." Lucas gave her a toothy grin as he turned towards the direction of her father. "...Calvin," he trailed.

"Hey there, kiddo. I heard you and your father will be traveling on Sunday."

Lucas nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! It will be fun!"

He couldn't hide his excitement for Sunday. He had been waiting for the day since his father had told him about their legends and their ancestral marks.

"Cool. Mind if Trish here could tag along?"

Lucas' enthusiastic glee paused as he looked over to Beatrice, who was probably expecting a "yes" as an answer.

Lucas sighed and looked apologetic towards Calvin. Hesitating, he pursed his lips in a thin line.

"Oh, sorry, Calvin. I am not sure if I could bring her along. The place is a sacred place for our family and…" Lucas trailed off. He searched his brain for a better word just to make sure he wouldn't be giving much unnecessary information that could lead him to trouble.

Calvin saw his hesitation as he chuckled and sighed in defeat. "Oh, it's okay. I just asked since Trish over here had been hanging out with the Reeds that I thought that she could have a change of…scenery."

Beatrice rolled her eyes as she slightly glared in her father's direction. "Oh come on, they weren't that bad, Dad."

Calvin scoffed as he put his left hand on his hips and looked at his daughter dead in the eyes. "I never said they were. The Reeds, well, they are a bit odd, but they are good people. Damian and Evelina's children are respectful and kind."

"But?"

Lucas watched as Calvin looked for the right words in his mundane mind. "Well…they are nice, but you hang out with them all the time. Aren't you sick of hanging out with them?"

Beatrice whipped her reaction towards her father and shook her head. "No! Why would I? They could be your future in-laws since Sebastian is my boyfriend."

Lucas felt a tug in his heart when she mentioned his name. Sebastian, his imprint. He slowly shook his head to keep him out of it.

He managed to keep a pensive face as the father-daughter duo were still bickering back and forth in front of him.

"Just so you know, I have not yet given him my full permission to actually date you, Trish. You guys are still young. Still full of life. I don't want you to waste it all in this relationship. I want you to be able to explore the world more. With or without him."

Beatrice didn't like it. Her face said everything. Lucas could see how much she hated that her father was being overprotective of her, especially when she was currently dating Sebastian.

"Well, you better suck up with it. Because I am not breaking up with him, Dad." Calvin flinched at the sudden attitude, making Lucas look at him with worry.

Calvin, who no longer wants to argue with his daughter, only gave a tight-lipped smile before tapping Lucas' shoulder and going inside his house.

Beatrice and Lucas were left outside. Beatrice with her grumbling and Lucas looking for words to console and scold a friend at the same time.

"Hey," he started. He took a deep breath before looking at Beatrice.

"Don't be too harsh on him. He's just looking after you. It's what Dad does." He tried. Beatrice only rolled her eyes before leaning back at the hood of the small car.

"Well, he is good with it, no?"

Her words were laced with sarcasm. It's making Lucas irked with irritation. The attitude didn't sit well with him, but he knew that being mad with her wouldn't help with anything.

"I guess so," he ended up saying, making Beatrice smile a little. A long, awkward silence followed the initial conversation, and Lucas was awkward enough that his mind stopped.

A few minutes in, Beatrice cleared her throat and looked at her friend. "So, Sunday? Where is this sacred place you'll be going with your parents? Is it far from La Ber?"

Lucas perked up at the sudden topic and gave her a sheepish smile. "Yeah. It's far from here. It was up north near the border of Canada."

"Oh wow, it's that far out, huh?"

"Yup. Everyone was excited to go, actually. We have a huge event coming; that's why everyone was all giddy and ready to go."

Beatrice scrunched up her brow as she tried to understand what he meant. "Everyone? You mean all of you guys here will go?"

Lucas looked at her and nodded. "Yeah. All of us are here. It's an old tribe thing—where one goes, everyone should follow."

"Wow, sounds tiring having your family with you every single day." 

Lucas made an effort to refrain from slapping her for her impolite behavior; however, he was unable to suppress his skepticism.

"Not sure what you meant there, missy. But I never mind having my family with me all the time. Plus, it's fun when you have all of the people who know you best."

Lucas watched as her expression changed from being snarky to being embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean it that way."

"It's fine. So, do you want to come inside? It's getting cold out here."

Beatrice nodded and gave him a sheepish smile, which Lucas dismissed in the back of his head. She had already crossed the boundary, and now their friendship was in danger of being severed.

Beatrice walked first while Lucas watched from behind with his bored eyes. Mind wondering what Sebastian had seen in her to even date her. 

He scoffed quietly as he followed his "friend" inside his house. Lucas already felt tired, and his day hasn't started yet.

—

Lucas once again woke up from an alarming pain in the middle of the night. He felt his limbs aching worse than the first time he felt changes started to show in his body. 

He remembered what Alpha Timothy had told him regarding these changes, but he never warned him about the pain.

"Just one more day. Please, just one more day."

The words felt like a mantra that he had been saying since the first pain came. Each mantra changed as Sunday was slowly approaching.

"Please, just one more day."

Hours of painful groans and moans, the pain slowly subsided, and Lucas groaned for the last time as his eyes gradually felt heavy. He heaved a deep sigh, hoping that no other person had heard him.

Slowly, as the night drew to a close, Lucas had felt in his deep slumber—dreaming about Sunday.

Unbeknownst to him, a certain creature had been watching and listening to his every pain. A suicide watch, as he called it. Something even his father wouldn't attempt to do.

Where did he get such confidence to be in a forbidden land filled with his enemies? Lucas. It was Lucas who gave him that. And he would do it over and over again.