And There Were Wolves

thirty | cause I know that it's delicate

* this might be the longest chapter, bear with me pls *

Is it cool that I said all that? / Is it too soon to do this yet? / 'Cause I know that it's delicate / Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?

XYRRA

'I have it with me.'

His reply had been shocking but it also brought relief to me. At least my mother's key wasn't lost. The first thought that came to my mind was that Eros had accidentally brought it with him. He probably had been curious about it and forgotten to return it. So my reply to him was, 'That's a relief. I thought it was gone for good. Can you give it to me on Monday?'

Then I waited and waited but his reply had not arrived until I fell asleep on the drive back.

Once again I was pulled into another dream. This time it had taken place in the kitchen back at my parent's house. I stood there and as I looked up, there was a red cloud of smoke hovering above me. The red cloud of smoke was twirling and twirling until I realized the end of its tail was actually connected to my palms.

I stared down, looking every bit confused, as I stared at the smoke in my palms. The smoke kept going in and in into my palms almost as if my palms had the power to absorb the red smoke. Kinda like a vacuum cleaner, really. Then I tilted my head up again and stared at the cloud of smoke to realize that it had a face. I squinted my eyes, trying to get a good look at it but before I could, I woke up.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Ryker, his tone was worried.

I glanced at him right at the same time, he was glancing at me too, and gave him a small nod. "I am fine."

Although I was not entirely sure. All of these dreams had been very random and yet they felt very real. I tried to shake my worry away by thinking about my mother's key instead. Checking my phone for the dozenth time, I realized that Eros hadn't replied to me. So I texted him again, 'Hey, are you ok?'

Usually, he wouldn't want to worry me and immediately text back. Yet this time it was different. I was not sure what it was but he didn't reply again. I waited until Ryker parked the car and we both entered the packhouse an hour later. Still, Eros didn't reply. I started to worry, wondering what happened to him. But with him being in the North with his pack, there was no one I could ask.

Then when I settled with the thought that he was still angry about me going to the East, my phone chimed in. I was eating dinner with Dmitry and I saw his fork stopped midair before he continued eating as if he had heard nothing.

'I can't give you the key.'

"What?" I stared at my screen aghast.

Dmitry turned to face me and asked, "What is wrong?" His eyes were dead serious and his body was taut. It was almost as if he was ready to jump into a fight for me.

"Um, nothing." I gave him what I hoped was a convincing smile and then went back to my phone. I confusedly typed my reply.

'Why?'

This time, Eros went back to not reply. Even after I had finished doing the dishes, he still hadn't replied. My initial thought of thinking that he might have accidentally brought it soon disappeared. I started to think that he was doing it on purpose. That he had stolen it, and not just intended to borrow it.

No matter how I tried to make reasons for him, running through a different type of scenario, it still didn't sit well with me. If he had it, then why hadn't he said something before this? It had been a week since we had been at my parents' house. Had he taken it when we had been there? Or did he wait until I'd left before he procured it? The million-dollar question remained unanswered: why? Why had he taken it? What was so special about that key? What secrets had he been holding from me? This couldn't be the only secret he'd been keeping from me.