Before Seb could inquire further, he heard the front door open, and Daisy and Luke rushed inside. Edmund was rushing out of the room in the next moment, and Sebastian followed as quickly as he could.

“We saw someone in the woods.” Daisy told them as soon as they were in sight.

Ed was out the door before Sebastian could even protest, so instead he turned his attention to the others. “Did they look familiar in any way?”

Luke shook his head. “No. We didn’t even notice their presence until they’d gotten that close, so they must have been purposefully hiding.”

Seb did not like the sound of that. He went after Edmund, praying desperately that it was just one person, and his boyfriend wasn’t about to be jumped, when he saw said boyfriend returning with someone.

It was a girl. She looked around the same age as Daisy, maybe younger, and had familiar features – though Sebastian couldn’t place where he recognised them from. Ed was holding her by the arm and easily pulling her along despite the attempts to dig her heels into the ground.

She looked about as threatening as a fly, but if there was one thing that Seb had learnt from the supernatural, it was not to judge things by their appearance. After all, Daisy herself looked harmless, until she shifted into her wolf form. So, just in case, he walked over to the pair carefully, ready to invoke a sleep spell at a moment’s notice.

“Let me go!”

“Not until you have told us why you’re spying on us.”

“I wasn’t spying! I just… got lost in the woods.”

“I think we all know you didn’t get lost in the woods, kid. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been hiding yourself.” Sebastian commented. “Wait, Elsie?”

“You know her?” Edmund asked at the same time that the girl said, “My name isn’t Elsie.”

“You look like her though. Are you related to the Reedworths?”

“Reedworth? Wait, you mean Collin’s aunt, Elsie Reedworth?” Ed questioned.

Seb nodded and looked a bit closer at the girl. “I guess you're a bit young to be Elsie. She's just a bit older than us after all. But you look a lot like her.”

“I'm her niece. Kit.”

“Oh! You're Collin's baby cousin!”

The girl glared. “Do I look like a baby?”

Edmund shrugged. “No, but that's how he referred to you. So, little Kit, why are you spying on us?”

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“I already told you I wasn't spying! You know you can't just take me hostage like this. I don't think Collin would like it, even if you are his friends.”

“Right. He definitely won't like the fact that you've been sneaking around in the woods.” Sebastian pointed out.

“Okay, fine, I was curious about you guys since Collin mentioned last night about your pack. I wasn’t spying though.”

Ed and Seb exchanged a glance.

“You’re not telling us the full story there kid.” Edmund said, much to Kit’s vexation.

“What more do you want me to tell you?! That’s all there is to know. Collin told grandfather about the change in territories. I got curious, so I came to see you for myself.”

Sebastian cocked an eyebrow. “He told your grandfather? What, were you spying on them too?” Kit just glared at him and Seb’s eyes widened. “Wait, did you actually spy on them, and then decide to come investigate us after you heard that we were a new pack? Do you realise how dangerous it is to get this close to a pack’s den?”

“And how did you even know to come here? I can imagine that there’s far more danger to be found if you stumbled across the Wiker Pack.” Edmund added.

Sebastian nodded. “Exactly. Your cousin himself warned me about them before he even knew about our pack’s independence. Do you have a death wish?”

The girl looked decently scolded, though she tried to maintain a tough exterior. “I was hiding my presence for that very reason. Obviously. And I knew where I was going since Aunt Penny showed us pictures of you guys as kids, in this house.”

Edmund raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “How did you find the house from a picture?”

Kit rolled her eyes. “I asked where the house was.”

“Dial back the attitude, kid. Or we’re going to have more to report to your family.”

“Wha- you can’t tell them! There’s not even anything to tell them. I didn't do shit!”

“You eavesdropped on a conversation between your cousin and grandfather, then trespassed on private property.”

“I wasn’t eavesdropping, I just happened to hear them from outside of granddad’s room. You’re not really going to turn me in, right? I didn’t hurt anyone.”

“You’re lucky that no one did get hurt. Yourself especially.” Edmund pointed out sternly. “You need to face consequences for your actions.”

Kit muttered under her breath, but otherwise seemed to have accepted her fate.

“Guess we should drive her home then.” Sebastian sighed, then turned to look back at the house. “Luke, Daisy, do you two want to come with us to drop off Kit?”

The pair, who had been standing in the doorway with Persephone and Hayden, nodded then stepped outside towards where the car was parked. Persephone and Hayden walked over to the teens.

“Guess that concludes our business. We have to get back to the interviews at the emporium, so we’ll talk to you tomorrow, perhaps.” Hayden said.

Ed sighed. “I guess so. Sorry we had to cut things short like this.”

“Not your fault. Good luck with the kids.” Persephone said with a smirk before she and her wife went off to their car.

Edmund guided Kit to the other car like a juvenile delinquent, and Sebastian followed, but then paused. “Dammit.”

Ed looked back at him. “What?”

“We just acted like parents scolding a kid.”

Edmund looked confused, as if he didn’t understand why that was bothering Seb, but the teen couldn’t help wondering how the fuck they’d gone from normal highschool students to this. He gave up on finding an answer easily enough, and continued to the car. There were more pressing questions to be answered after all. Like how this might shape a relationship between their pack and the resident loreleis…