Chapter 14: Philip Harrington vs. Troy ‘Travis’ Stanton~ The beat to his heart … Friendship goals!

***

“You’re all idiots.” He muttered as he turned towards the bar to pour himself a drink. “The silly boy is refusing to change the bloody cat’s name.” He growled as he came back to join his friends.

“I love this boy.” Paige laughed.

“Lip, you okay?” Jeremy asked softly.

“What do you think?” Philip rasped.

“You need to go easy on him, dude,” Jeremy told his friend.

“Your brother is a piece of work, Jer,” Philip muttered.

“Put yourself in his shoes,” Jeremy said quietly. You first kill his family and then threaten to end his pal. You wouldn’t like you either if you were him.”

“Yeah, the cactus.” Stan drawled. “Damn, that was a good one.”

“From what Cami tells me, those two are just friends so chill,” Jeremy said.

“Your smart mouth of a brother is not making it easy, Jer.” Philip groaned.

“Easy, brother,” Paige murmured. “You’re what? Twelve years older than him, right? Come on, Lip. He’s bound to irritate you. Try not to allow yourself to be drawn into his…”

“Wait till you find yourself at the butt of his clap backs.” Philip groaned. “Trust me, you might want to smack him upside the head.”

“Well, if you don’t have the heart for his clap backs, then don’t throw shade at him.” Paige drawled.

“Also, if you could just tone down your anger…and all that lust, jeez…” Jeremy chuckled. “Lust rolls off of you in spades when you’re around him, Lip.”

“That’s not true.” Philip snapped as Paige and Stan burst into laughter. “I don’t feel lu…”

“That’s because you’re usually focused on the anger.” Jeremy countered. “But trust me, you wanna smash him so bad even I feel it.”

“Fuck.” Philip combed his fingers through his hair in a sign of frustration.

“What did you expect?” Stan drawled. “Dude’s clearly tired of his hands. Wouldn’t you be too if you were him?”

“I definitely would.” Jeremy chuckled. “Speaking of which…” He stood up and downed the rest of his drink. “I gotta go.”

“To your mate and rebel of a kid huh?” Stan yawned as he stood up too.

“Yeah. That kid is going to be something else.” Jeremy said with so much pride. “I still can’t believe he actually dragged Ryan all the way to where we were just to save me.” He chuckled.

“That’s some Twilight shit.” Paige laughed.

“Can’t wait for it to drop.” Jeremy started for the door. “We’re meeting at eight tomorrow morning, guys. Is everything set for the run, by the way?”

“Yep,” Stan responded. As head beta, it was his duty to ensure that everything was in order for the pack’s monthly run.

The Stanwood pack was making preparations towards their usual monthly run as the full moon was almost upon them. It was usually the most important event that occurred every month because newly turned wolves got to take their first run to the joy and pride of the grown-ups. Werewolves from other packs joined them as well. As part of preparations, however, the warriors needed to scan the parameters to ensure that the pack would be safe during their run.

The checks were to ensure that hunters or rogues wouldn’t be lying in wait for them in the woods. Rogues were wolves with no packs who were usually broken from customary behavior and killed indiscriminately and heedlessly. Since hunters had made it their life’s mission to destroy supernatural beings such as werewolves from existence, they were equally dangerous.

“Good. See you guys in the morning.” With that, Jeremy left Philip’s suite for his, which was two floors above Philips’.

“Will you be okay?” Stan asked his alpha.

“Sure.”

“Need to have a short meeting with the warriors. I’ll be back.” Stan said as he headed for the door. “Slip?”

“I’m staying right here,” Paige said as she got off the rug and stretched out on the couch. “Need to give my little brother some pointers.”

“Did she just say little?” Philip rasped with a tilt of his head.

“She so did.” Stan laughed as he closed the door behind him.

“Now, listen carefully…” Paige began.

***

“Wow!” Troy breathed as he stared at the tiny mark above Gloria’s belly button. “I have the same mark.” He sounded so shaken.

“I know, baby.” Gloria gave a tremulous smile. “Jeremy has it too.” She let go of her black pajama top and closed the elegant black dressing gown she had on.

It was almost four a.m. Gloria sat comfortably beside a somber-looking Troy in her living room. They had been talking since the night before. She had told Troy everything he needed to know about their family and narrated how he was taken from then at the tender age of five by the wicked Wyatt clan. To say Troy was shocked would be putting it mildly. At some points during the narration, Gloria hadn’t been able to hold in her emotions. She had broken down and cried. Troy had, to her surprise, held her hand anytime she’d broken down. She had also told him the basics about their species with a promised to delve deeper into werewolves at another time.

“So you still don’t know why he kidnapped me,” Troy said quietly.

“No,” Gloria whispered. “But knowing Reynard, it was probably for something sinister.”

“He was okay,” Troy said softly. “He was never cruel to me. I didn’t see him much anyway.”

“Well, I’m grateful that at least he kept you alive,” Gloria murmured as she tenderly combed her fingers through Troy’s hair. “To think that we were all at the same place at the same time but…” She moaned pitifully.

“That Philip dude saw me.” Troy pointed out. “He was probably so consumed with the thirst for the carnage he failed to recognize me.

“He couldn’t have recognized you, baby.” Gloria chuckled. “The last time he saw you, you were just a scrawny little kid.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that.” Troy sighed. “I can only imagine how devastating it is for a mother to lose a child. In your case, you lost a husband too. At least you had Jeremy.”

“Jeremy made my grief worse actually.” Gloria gave a humourless laugh. “He literally went mad. He and you were so close. You would only sleep at night if you had his arms around you. He was your hero. You two were inseparable. He was devastated at your father’s death but losing you hit him hard. He couldn’t take it.”