Prologue - No longer friends

Prologue - Present

CRUNCH!

The vibrations from the blasting music suddenly stopped. Gasps of shock followed the sight of blood dripping towards the floor, and silence permeated the room in their wake.

The eyes glued to the scene wanted to know how it would unfold, but such noise was extra loud to one of them. As a Werewolf, it was obvious that those sounds wouldn't be the same as it was for other Humans, especially when the chatter erupted from everywhere around him, all at the same time.

Yet, it didn’t matter much for the young Wolf as the apparently broken nose of his victim in pain.

… A girl from the cheerleader squad tried to help him with the bleeding, while the purplish appearance of his skin made everything look more painful along with his injured mouth…

But the other teenager didn’t care about it. For him, the pain in his heart was several times worse than this show of his. 

“Never get closer to me again, or things will not end just with your broken nose.”

His words were full of anger like his temper, while the Werewolf felt stupid for all the months he kept flirting around and making out with the Human in secret.

Of course, other Werewolves and members of his Pack knew about it. However, for Humans, none had any idea how those two were a couple in the darkness, away from prick eyes.

So, without caring how he had completely killed the mood of the whole Halloween party, he uttered such words before leaving, confusing everyone else around them besides the Werewolf’s friends. 

“Jason! Wait!” a female voice called out for him.

“I will not apologize!” However, before she could say anything else, maybe something to try to ease his anger, Jason cut her out, not wanting to hear what she might have to say to him.

“What?! No! I just want you to wait for me, and you should have punched him harder,” regretting deathly how she had picked a zombie princess outfit for today’s party, the she-wolf said back to him, while everyone else inside the house tried to understand what had happened minutes ago.

Jason and Ryan were usually good friends, not the sticky glue-to-each-other kind, but still, very good friends.

Everyone knew the handsome duo from the soccer team. They were quite popular since they became part of the main team, and it was an unspoken rule to everyone there that they always should invite both to the parties if they wanted them to show up.

… It was extremely rare to see just one of them in such events, and it was usually where it was more common to witness them together outside the green fields…

Ryan would always hang out with other members of the soccer team and some cheerleaders, while Jason preferred spending time with his childhood friends from the same part of the town that he was from.

… Sometimes, the Human would call them ‘Jay’s wolf pack’ without imagining, or even assuming, how correct he was since he wasn’t aware his friend was a Werewolf…

But again, his friend wasn’t just a friend, yet Ryan would always call Jason like that.

HOOONK!

Smacking on the horn, Jason scared Clarissa…

HONK! HONK! HONK!

… He was tired of pretending that there was nothing between them, he was tired of the badass jokes, tired of how Ryan pretends not to like guys at all, tired of the sorry gazes his Werewolves friends always gave to him.

Jason was far from the type who would feel sorry for himself. He couldn’t be a Dominating Wolf like Clarissa, yet it didn’t make him think less of himself or what he deserved.

So, why was he letting this Human have control over him? Why was he letting it all happen because of this stupid relationship that felt like an illicit affair?

They weren’t even Mates… So, why?

Jason couldn’t understand it well… All he could tell was how his feelings were crushed again, just by thinking how three days ago, they were back at Ryan’s place, hiding under the covers in each other's embrace… 

They loved each other away from prying eyes as some sort of dirty little secret, now that the Werewolf stopped to think about it.

They didn't need anyone else's opinions, it was their lives, their choices. 

Yet, telling it to them, telling it to anyone else was something the Human never allowed him to do.

Their relationship could only be like this, a secret hidden inside those four walls that no one could know. 

Labels weren't what disturbed Jason, they could call it anything. They didn't need a name for it, they didn't need to explain what they had as long as the way Ryan looked at him took him to Heaven.

But, pretending it didn't exist had arrived at its limit as he saw the Human being intimate with someone else, his words were the last strike to break down what was already hanging by a fragile thread between them.

… It was an undeniable trigger that brought out an impulsive reaction from Jason when his fist met with Ryan’s face, and he didn’t feel bad about it at all…

The Werewolf had no idea how things would play out on Monday. However, Luck played in his favor.  

The Human’s parents were dealing with a divorce, and the other boy would soon move away with his father to a new town and school with a great soccer team that would allow him to have a better chance for college admissions.

In other words, all Jason had to do was hold himself back until Ryan was no longer anywhere closer to his vision field.

It was hard, especially when he wanted to kiss those plump lips, drowned in pleasure with the one he should hate, holding hands as their bodies joined together hidden from the world…

… None of those things were easy to stay away from, even more so when Ryan called and messaged him, wanting to talk and clean things up about what happened in the secret of his house… 

Yet, Jason stayed strong. 

It was a matter of giving time to time since it would eventually lead him to his Mate. Hopefully, it would completely erase those romantic feelings he had for the Human.

It was what Jason prayed to the Moon Goddess, wishing it all could be only something that he would remember and describe as young love mistakes to other young wolves someday.

He craved it so badly but at the very same time… He wondered why he had dreamed about Ryan that morning, almost ten years later… 

Doubts that remained until he got back home.

The Moon Goddess should be joking with him as he would never take that Human back into his life. Jason didn't care if he was his Mate or not, he would do what no other Wolf had ever done, he would reject that mating.