Kane

Fire.

Out of all the shit he had to deal with why the hell did it have to be fire?

This was the first thing that came to Kane's mind. Then, it was smoke, the noxious fumes filling the air around him. He couldn't breathe, he needed air. But first he had to get out of the building, everyone else is safe, he thought to himself. The people all got out safely, he was the only person left.

He would not even be in this situation if it wasn't because of his damn hero complex. Why is it that Nia is always right?

"How the hell was I supposed to know that the Hunters would set a whole ass building on fire? Fuck this!" Kane cough and ducked his head down in time to avoid a fallen piece of metal.

"I just need to get out alive and then everything will be fine. The firemen are on their way... hopefully" He could hear the people outside screaming, were the people seriously still waiting out there? They need to get to fucking safety, Kane thought to himself indignantly, not wanting his hard work to be for nothing.

A glance at his injured arm made his expression turn grim as he stumbled past a fallen, burning beam. He ran past the burning doorway and jumped the wooden stairs that immediately collapsed once he set foot on the first floor. An exit was in sight, he held one arm close to his chest as he dashed towards the door, the other arm scraping against a fallen piece of the ceiling. He hissed in pain as he sprinted from the building and ducked into an alley, ignoring the people waiting for the hero who had saved them.

Kane leaned against the dirty wall, trying not to choke on his coughs. "Good job Kane, now you have to either suffer or go to a fucking hospital, and risk getting caught." Kane told himself, face palming at the idea of him going back to his house in this state. But then he shrugged, not feeling too worried about the idea. "It probably won't be that bad. I could probably heal this away, it'd just take a few more hours. Kane chuckled to himself bitterly. The quiet laughter turning into a wince when he started walking with a slight limp.

"Must've hit my leg on something back there." He muttered, leaning on the opposite wall of the alley for support. Of course it had to be a fire, he always wondered if the Hunters were pyromaniacs. It's too bad he was right.

The walk back to his house wasn't that bad, except for the occasional police car zooming down the street in the direction Kane had came from, it was quiet, but not suspiciously quiet. He stayed to the shadows so that no one would notice him and it worked.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something..." Kane rubbed the back of his head, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Fuck! I was supposed to meet with Nia. Dammit!"

He quickly sped up walking in the opposite direction of his house. Nia was probably so worried. When Kane finally reached his Nia's house he quickly went to the back door where his friend was waiting for him.

"Oh my god, Kane what happened to you?!" Nia asked frantically, trying to keep her voice down so she wouldn't wake her parents.

"Turns out the ambush, was actually a fire but the good news is that no one was severely hurt but me!" He said with a grin on his face, wincing when he moved his arms. Kane was putting all of his weight on his right leg, in order for him to hide his limp.

Nia facepalmed, trying not to become frustrated with her friend. "Okay, let's go upstairs, we need to talk and maybe I'll be able to help your injuries.

"It's fine, most of my injuries will be healed by tomorrow." Kane said, trying to ignore the pain his burns were causing.

"Come on, let me try something." She said, as she helped him up the stairs to her bedroom.

When they reached her room, Nia gestured for him to lay down on the bed.

"Take off your shirt." She told him, as she took a an old, tattered book off her shelves.

He raised an eyebrow at her command, "You know Nia, that isn't what I had in mind when you said you wanted to talk." Nia rolled her eyes, stifling a laugh.

"Just take off your shirt, Kane. Please stop joking around, this is important. "

"Hey, I never said I mind it. I just thought I came her to have a conversation." He smirked when Nia blushed and stomped her foot. "How is it that you're practically dying on the spot and still manage to be a smartass? Take of the shirt before you bleed on my sheets."

Kane laughed and took off his shirt, trying to ignore the burns and cuts that were spread across his skin, some were already closing while others had not even started the healing process. He could see the tattoo on his shoulder glowing brighter as he looked at it. When he looked back at Nia's face he saw her looking at with worry he couldn't help but feel the need to reassure her.

"Trust me, it's not as bad as it looks." He winced and Nia open the small book, looking through it until she found what she was looking for. Then she walked over to the bed and sat down, slighting grazing injuries as her palm hovered over them.

She gently put a hand on his shoulder, covering the tattoo as it glowed. Nia looked at the book one last time before she started to mutter words under her breath, he couldn't understand a damn thing she was saying. The words seemed ancient, almost as if it was a dead language.

Her brown eyes glowed gold, and Kane felt a comforting heat on his shoulder. Light filled the room as she continued to speak in the archaic dialect. Kane felt his tattoo burn even stronger than usual before he felt his wounds healing rapidly, a few of them closing almost immediately.

"Holy shit! What the fuck was that?!" Kane asked as he looked at Nia to see her with a proud grin on her face. Nia threw his shirt back at him, and he put it back on.

Nia grinned, obviously satisfied with her work. "It was a spell, I found this book in the archives of the main pack house a few months ago and I've kept it since. Sadly the spell didn't work completely because I'm not a witch, but overall the healing process has been accelerated greatly!" She grinned, ruffling his hair as she stood up from the bed. She took one step before she started falling to the floor, the room spinning as she tried to catch herself. Kane paled and caught her in his arms before she could completely pass out on the floor.

Kane slipped off the bed, cradling her in his arms. Before he could get a word out she laughed. "I must've overextended my energy, I spent months studying these spells... now I know that I need to rest, maybe I should stick to my day job. I'm sorry." Kane sighed and lifted her onto the bed, wincing as some of his wounds screamed at him.

"Okay, it's settled you are never doing that again. The only person who's allowed to risk their life in this friendship is me." He said to Nia as she rested her head on his chest.

"I just wanted to help you...". Nia trailed off, almost immediately dozing off to sleep before she could finish the sentence. Kane smiled and laid her down on the bed, resting beside her letting the feeling of tiredness take over him.

~~~~<>~~~~

Liam

"Can you believe what happened yesterday? It's all over the news!" This was all Liam had heard all day, everyone was talking about the how a small apartment building had been set on fire by the Hunters. But lately attacks like this were normal. The real hot topic was how by the time the fire department got there the people in the building were all safe outside the building. When questioned by the police the occupants of the apartment building said that they were saved by someone, single person.

"I wonder who saved them, apparently when the victims were questioned they said it was a man. But that's all we know about them, he disappeared as soon as the fire department showed up." Enesta said as she bounced up and down in her seat, excited from the news

"Who cares? I'm just trying to eat my lunch in peace, there's probably a reason they covered their face Enesta." Thomas, was probably the least entertained by what had happened. Considering the fact that this was another attack from the Hunters, his sour mood was justified. But then again for the past few months he seemed to always be in a sour mood.

"Come on! You can't tell me this isn't interesting at all. Why would someone risk their lives like that? It's just so reckless!" Enesta exclaimed, only becoming more excited as Thomas tried to calm her down. "Come on Liam, back me up. You agree with me right?"

Liam shrugged, "I don't really care. Either way we should still be worried about how the Hunters attacks have become more frequent. This is bad news."

"What are we talking about?"

Liam sighed as more of their friends joined them at the table, probably to gossip and spread some bullshit about the fire.

Enesta grinned and beckoned Hyejin and her mate, Sam, to sit down next to her at the table.

"Where's everybody else?" Sam said with a mischievous grin on his face.

"In class, they have a different lunch today dumbass." Enesta said with a grin on her face when Sam turned to face her.

"Good one, I bet you've been waiting all day to insult me haven't you?" Sam smirked as Enesta rolled her eyes at him. "As if Samuel, it's just that everytime you open your mouth you say something stupid."

Sam leaned back in his chair, his arm still wrapped around Hyejin. "Come on Nessa, you know I'm your best friend."

"Don't call me that, I swear to God do you ever shut the fuck up? You're too annoying for me to even tolerate your presence."

Hyejin elbowed both Sam and Enesta, not even trying to keep her laughter to a minimum. "Come on Enesta we all know you guys are best friends. And besides you guys can amuse me with your bickering later, we have more important things to talk about." Then Hyejin got a dreamy look in her eye as she started to speak.

"Who do you think the hero is?" Hyejin asked as she leaned in. "The witnesses said they may have been a guy! I wonder if he's hot." She said, almost blushing at the thought of the mystery man.

"Not hotter than me though, right babe?" Sam asked as his mate gave him an innocent smile.

"Of course, but I can still admire heroes from afar." Then she kissed him on the cheek and Liam could see Enesta fake gagging in the background.

"You guys are so cute it disgusts me." Enesta said as she smiled at Hyejin happy to have someone to discuss this with. "I wonder who it is? Who would do something like that and not want their actions to be acknowledged? If I saved a bunch of people I would want to be thanked at least."

"The person probably doesn't want their identity getting out. For all we know they could be a teenager or something." Liam said, becoming more involved in the conversation now that it had taken a more interesting turn.

"They could even go to this school!" Thomas sarcastically exclaimed before he went back to looking at his phone, while Hyejin and Enesta gasped, "Oh my god you're right, they could actually go to our school!" Thomas sighed while Enesta grinned and started looking around the cafeteria for potential candidates. Her smile faltered when she saw something happening a few tables over.

They heard a clattering noise as someone was pushed to the floor, along with a sharp wince. The group of friends turned around to see Kane Zaveri being kicked by some of their classmates as he struggled to get up off the floor, vehemently coughing as his classmates preventing him from moving.

Liam rolled his eyes when he saw Enesta expression morph  into a frown. "Enesta just let it go. And besides, the guy should be used to it by now. What type of idiot decides to go to school full of werewolves without considering whether or not they would be bullied?"

Sam stifled a laugh as Liam continued to eat his food, ignoring what was happening in the background. "Dude, you're an asshole. Who the hell thinks like that?" Sam asked as he dodged a slap upside the head from Hyejin.

"It's the truth. You would have to be stupid to go to a majority werewolf school and not be a werewolf's mate or something like that." Liam crossed his arms and tried not to get defensive when Enesta and Hyejin glared at him.

"One of our closest friends was a human, do you realize that Liam? How can you say something like that?" Enesta sneered Liam, who was becoming very nervous as he realized that Enesta was becoming angrier.

"And look where that got us. Turns out she was a crazy person who thought she was Thomas's mate! How the hell could a human be mates with the future Alpha of one of the most influential packs in America? She was batshit insane."

In the corner of his eye Liam saw Thomas tense up, not liking where the conversation was going. "Liam, shut the fuck up. Don't talk about Nia like that." Thomas's voice mad everyone at the table stiffen, it was clear that he was mad.

"Okay... fine, I didn't think you would care. My bad." Liam felt like he had just swallowed acid as soon as the words left his mouth but he had to apologize. He wasn't going to pretend that he didn't feel bad but he was just stating the truth. Nia was crazy as fuck, spreading rumors and trying to convince people that Thomas was her soulmate. It just wasn't possible.

"I really don't care, I'm just saying it's kinda hypocritical to judge Nia like that when you were such good friends with her. You shouldn't talk about her like that." Thomas awkwardly coughed, not liking all the eyes on him and got up from the table, taking his things and throwing his lunch away.

The rest of them barely spoke a word at all, the table falling into silence that contrasted with the cafeteria until the bell rang.

"Damn, Thomas so temperamental nowadays. He was never like this before." Liam said as he watched people leave the cafeteria.

"He's been like this for months now and his mood was fine before you mentioned Nia, you were being an asshole." Hyejin said as she got up from the table.

"But when is Liam not an asshole when it comes to humans? If he didn't have flings with then I would've sworn that he hated them." Sam said, laughing at Liam's glare.

"I'll talk to Thomas about it later. But for now we should go to class." Enesta said as she got up from the table.

"Do we have to?" Liam asked, still not finished with his food.

"Yes, we do. Come on dumbass, we can be late again."

The group all got up and left, not giving a second glance to the boy who was still on the floor wincing from his injuries. Too involved with their own problems.

End of Chapter.