Beckett

"Thank you for helping me, Miss Mia," Beckett replied as we stood before Mia’s two story home, all empty handed except for the small plastic bag clutched in Beckett's hand. He stood to my left, awkwardly rather close than a normal person would stand. Natalie's eyes shifted from him to me, softly biting her bottom lip as she just gave him a quick nod.

"Text me when you get home Sof, I want to make sure you get there safely," she told me, before giving us one last wave and jogging up her porch steps into her house. I didn't have time to respond otherwise I probably would have caught on that she really didn't care whether I got home safely or not. She just wanted to know about how I knew Beckett.

Speaking of him, he focused his full attention on me at moment, turning his body entirely in my direction. His brown eyes onto me expectantly. Not to lie, the closeness was kind of getting to me and I just stared back at him like a complete idiot. He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head, watching me.

"Are we going to drop you off now or what?"

Without my full consent, my gaze shifted to look over his shoulder. I had no clue what to say because in that moment, something in the very bottom of my stomach was begging for me to ask him to come along inside with me, to spend more time with me. But the largest and wisest part of my body,, still found an ounce of fear lingering around inside me. “Um, yeah, if you’d like,” I answered, feeling my eyes begin to squint from peering toward the sun as I refocused onto the adorable guy before me, “I could always walk myself if you need to take care of things.”

Beckett’s eyes flickered right and left as they searched before for a moment before he told me, “I’ll walk you home.” At that time if the part of my stomach that wanted him to stay had been a person, it would of sighed with content, but it wasn’t so it just felt less tense. I gave him a curt nod before I gestured over my shoulder with my thumb.

“It’s this way,” I replied, giving a pathetic smile before turning around and beginning the walk. For some reason, during this beginning time of knowing these wolves, I never really thought about asking questions about their lives. It hadn’t crossed my mind, but apparently it had crossed Beckett’s.

As we continued to walk down the street, passing by houses and trees and mailboxes, Beckett had his head tilted toward the sun. I crossed my arms, rubbing my right bicep as I made a face toward the ground. Due to the fact I’d like to keep this story relatively honest, this first walk alone with Beckett was awkward. Neither of us really speaking to the other, not to mention Beck walking with his head back like that and a pained expression grazing his face.

Eventually he spoke though, right when we’d reached the end of my driveway and I was ready to make my way up it. He released a long, loud sigh before asking, “Aren’t you curious?” I stood right on the crack that separated my driveway with the sidewalk. It instantly brought that saying to mind, the one about stepping on a crack and breaking your mother’s back.

“About what?”

“Me and my family,” he spoke, but his voice sounded light and cautious. I squinted up at him, noticing how he was standing relatively an awkward length away: not too far away that it wouldn’t look like we were talking to one another, but also not close enough that it wouldn’t provoke a double take. I bit my lip and shrugged. “Do you plan to come back to see us?” This was the only I’d ever seen Beckett appear nervous and shy. If only I would of known that at the time so I could take more notice of details and store it away because in the end, this moment replayed in my mind so many times.

“I’m not sure, Beckett,” I rattled back in complete honesty.

Looking back on everything right now, it’s more obviously how much Beckett was an observer, or at least he enjoyed taking in every single detail. Maybe it had to do with his time spent on paws, but I could barely count the times I’d found myself staring at this boy staring back at me. After a few moments, he pursed his lips and snapped his brown eyes in the direction of my house. If I hadn’t been so caught up in wondering why the hell he was just staring at me, I would have probably heard my brother step onto the porch and him saying Beckett’s name.

“What are you doing here, Beck?” Reed’s voice was strained and dripping with worry. No one spoke a word, not even Beckett who resembled a terrified puppy, until Davian was standing right beside me. His eyes washed over me, probably checking for any signs of danger or a solid reason as to why I was standing out here with the type of creature I claimed to be disgusted by. “Beck,” he spoke, turning to the wide-eyed 5’7” teen before us, “is everything okay? Should you even be here? Is this safe?”

“I-I don’t know,” Beckett answered, honest and overridden with confusion. He wasn’t nervous, that stutter was formed in utter confusion, “Shelton and I went to the coffee shop. We met Sofia and her friend there so I walked them both home.” Whenever Beckett was nervous or confused, he always seemed out of character like he had no clue how to act like himself or what possessed him to do certain things. It was nothing like how he constantly acted today, because the Beckett of today wasn’t the same teen that stood outside with my brother and me. Not after what they did to him, but so much happened before that, I shouldn’t tell those details yet.

I furrowed my eyebrows in my own wave of confusion as I watched my brother place a hand on the werewolf’s shoulder. Reed’s head moved around as he checked for any sign of injury on his friend. Of course, he found none. The wind decided to pick up then, breezing passed our bodies.

“You should head home, Beck, while no one has seen you,” Reed’s voice held authority and finality. Beckett didn’t bother to argue, he had no real reason to. He flashed my brother a soft smile before refocusing his eyes onto me and everything kind of stayed frozen for a while. Not like a dramatic movie, where everything literally freezes or moves in slow motion, instead our bodies simply stayed put. Beckett watched me for a bit, taking note or searching for whatever it was he thought he needed to find. It didn’t last long before he mouthed me a goodbye and we watched his back as he retreated in the direction of the cottage and the woods.

“They aren’t all bad, Sof,” Reed spoke up, once we could not longer see any sign of Beckett. I brought my attention over to him to find him doing the same thing Beck had moments earlier: watching my face in a desperate attempt to find something I had no clue of. Reed’s face held worry though, nothing like Beckett’s complete lack of expression. “I will be asking Lou about this though. Why were they at the coffee shop?”

I nodded, eyes now glued onto the sidewalk as a silence filled around us. Remembering this moment is even more embarrassing then when I looked up to meet my brother’s expectant eyes and realizing he was asking me this question, not just saying it as an example. “Oh, oh my gosh, sorry, Reed,” I slapped a hand over my eyes, “I have no clue why they were there, but, “ my hand slowly left my face as I debated whether I should tell him what Shelton had slipped out, “Reed, I did hear Shelton tell me it was Beck’s idea.”

Reed nodded slowly, sucking in his bottom lip, “Yeah, I figured. I think I understand now, but I still have to talk to Lou. It isn’t safe, even someone as replaceable in the pack as Beck shouldn’t be doing stuff that could result in his death.” That part of my stomach I mentioned earlier sparked up again, hearing Beck being talked poorly about made me almost want to defend him.

Almost, but I didn’t.

“Replaceable?”

“He’s clever with making plans, quick on his feet and good with avoiding hunters,” Reed explained, “but he has a horrible gut instinct. It’s probably what bought him out here in the first place. He would probably be one of the strongest if he didn’t fuck up everything he did.”

“Such as?”

“Why do you care?” His lips twitched and I rolled my eyes at his teasing tone. “Thought you hated them, Sof, you said they were monsters.” Reed smiled down at me.

“They are, but tell me anyways,” I answered, shrugging to show him just how much I didn’t care about those flee ridden wolves. Reed shook his head, like he was disappointed in my reaction, but he still ran a hand through his dark hair and explained further:

“Beckett went out in the woods once right during the hunt. Remember in school? The hunt was in 2001 when half the men of the town and surrounding towns all came together in one massive hunt, trying to bring down the wolves after that guy’s son got hurt.” Our town, considering it’s long history in this department, had only had that hunt which many viewed as the town “cracking under pressure” and then one in the 30’s. Both resulted in no wolf deaths, only hunters’.

I nodded, “Yeah, but then they found out he really wasn’t hurt by the wolves, but in a freak accident with his friends.”

“Exactly,” Reed smiled, “they didn’t teach that bit in school, I’m a little proud.” I had only been like seven at the time, so I didn’t remember much of it, but Reed always did. He was five years older than me.

“Don’t be. Mia’s cousin is a huge wolf fan so he reads up and one day he went on a rant. Said people need to love em’ before they lose em’.”

Reed gave me a look, clearly disappointed. “Right, okay, well, like I was saying, Beck went out during the hunt, and since you probably can’t tell, Beck is actually closer to my age, not yours. That made him like ten and his poor judgment was worse than it was now. He took a bullet to the paw, but he managed. He’s clever, hid in some dead leaves or something and took care of the wound somehow. I don’t remember.He’s strong, but stupid. End of story, let’s go eat.” I let out a laugh while Reed draped an arm over my shoulder and guided me into our home.