Hyde sat at the dining table with a bowl of cereal in front of him for breakfast. An envelope laid next to it, ready to be opened. It came in this morning, addressed to Hyde. He recognised his dad’s handwriting on it.

He shoved a spoonful of cereal in his mouth before it became too soggy.

He wasn’t sure what to expect. He had told them to let him know if anything was going on back home. So, did this mean there was something important happening? Or they only wanted to check on him, they hadn’t seen him for nine weeks now. Three weeks in the village, about four weeks in Enath before Severn came back, now two weeks after that.

He finished his bowl as he stared at the envelope. He pushed the empty bowl out of the way and grabbed the letter. He ripped it open, pulled the piece of paper out and unfolded it. He took the spoon out of the bowl and put it between his teeth to bite on.

Hey Hyde,

Could you come home soon? As soon as you can? We need all the help we can get. Remember those territory issues with the other pack that have been going on for decades? They’re rising up again.

Hyde’s eyes widened. Shit, did he mean those problems? The ones his grandad had tried to deal with?

On one side, I’d rather you stayed away, it’s safer for you.

But on the other, we could really use your help. Most of the newer generation in the pack aren’t great fighters, they’ve never had to fight. But you do have some experience, even if it was against me.

Oh, were they going to be this casual about it, now? Okay.

And you tend to be clever, which could help with making a plan. Warlon isn’t very experienced, I’m trying to help as much as I can. But I’ve never been alpha during big problems like this, only in the aftermath. So, three minds would be better than two.

Also, on a completely different note; when you come home, don’t be surprised if your mom gets upset with you about your last letter. She didn’t like how you came out that way. Though, I’ve told her before, if you don’t want it to be a big deal, we shouldn’t make it a big thing either. She doesn’t get why. So I guess you’d have to explain that yourself.

Anyway, hope to see you soon.

Dad

Hyde sighed and laid the letter down. He leaned back in his chair and folded one arm over the other while the other held the spoon in his mouth, still biting on it. It probably wasn’t great for his teeth, but a few minutes wouldn’t do that much damage, would it?

He guessed he should go home, then. Could he be of much help? Fighting-wise, he supposed he did have more experience than the average person. Against his dad, against Rune, against the gang. And now that he was a vampire-hybrid, he would be much harder to kill. Even if he didn’t have all that, he should still go home and help his family.

He flinched when the spoon was pulled out of his mouth.

“Stop that, you’ll grind your teeth away.”

Hyde looked up to see Rune holding the spoon with a disapproving frown. Hyde was so lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed him coming in. Should Rune come? He wanted him to, because he didn’t want to be away from him until these problems were over. But, like his dad had said, it was safer to stay away.

“What’s in the letter?” Rune asked.

Hyde glanced back at the letter on the table. “It’s from my dad, asking me to come home and help with big pack problems.”

“How big?”

Hyde gave Rune a concerned frown. “The same ones that killed my grandpa.”

Rune stiffened up. “Oh, shit. Are you going?”

“I have to, I can’t leave my family to deal with this on their own! They could use all the help they can get, so we won’t get a repeat of last time.”

Rune sighed. “Fine. Then I’m coming with you.”

Hyde shook his head. “No, you should stay here. It’s safer. And your dad just came back, you should spend time with him.”

“You tell me you’ll put yourself into a dangerous situation and you expect me to let you go alone? Hell no!”

“I’ll be fine, I can heal like you, now.” Hyde smiled a little.

Rune tensed. “That doesn’t mean you’re invincible. You of all people should know that, you watched me die!”

Hyde flinched back. “I’ll be fine as long as they don’t have a wooden stake.”

“Sure, you won’t die, but you can’t regenerate. All you do is close open wounds to keep your blood inside your body. If your finger gets bitten off, that finger is gone.” Rune leaned down to Hyde’s eye level and put his hand on his cheek with a worried frown. “So please, don’t get cocky. I’d like to keep you in one piece.”

Hyde glanced down and sighed. “Okay, I promise I’ll be careful. But you—”

“I am coming with you,” Rune told him sternly. “I’m just as ‘invulnerable’ as you. If you think it’s safe for you to go, then it should be for me, too.”

“You shouldn’t put yourself in danger for my family’s issues.”

“Says you, who has put himself between me and a dangerous gang numerous times by now and nearly got stabbed to death for it. Whether you like it or not, I’m coming.”

Hyde sighed deeply. There wasn’t much he could do to stop him, was there? “Fine.”

Rune smiled and placed a kiss on Hyde’s forehead. “I’ll pack some stuff.”

Rune walked out of his room with a bag over his shoulder. He went on his way downstairs and passed Severn.

“Where are you off to?” Severn asked.

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Rune turned to him. “To Corburn.”

“Which is…”

“Hyde’s hometown. His family needs his help with stuff.”

Severn frowned. “Oh, okay. Will you be away for long?”

Rune shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Rune and Hyde were preparing to leave downstairs. Everyone else was there, too. While the girls both hugged Rune, Thomas turned to Severn and asked, “Can I go home, yet?”

Severn raised his eyebrow. “What, are you tired of us?”

“I’ve been here for six weeks! As much as I love you all, I’d like to sleep in my own bed again.”

Severn glanced down in thought. “I suppose it should be safe now.” He sighed. “Fine, you can go.” He looked at his daughters with a frown. “Maybe it’d be good to be alone with the girls for a bit. To connect with them better.”

Thomas smiled and rubbed his shoulder. “They just need to get to know you a little, they’ll warm up to you.”

Rune and Hyde finished preparing. They said their goodbyes to everyone and left. Thomas went home afterwards, leaving Severn alone with his daughters. He looked at them both sitting on the couch and sighed. How was he going to do this?

----------------------------------------

Hyde made his way to his parents’ house through the heavy rain, wearing a hoodie with the hood up. Rune walked closely behind him. Hyde turned to him, Rune had a grumpy look on his face, Hyde laughed a little. “I guess the rainy season has begun.”

“You don’t say?”

Hyde reached out to grab his hand and pulled him next to him. “Come on, you won’t melt. It’s better than the suffocating heat, isn’t it?”

Rune groaned. “I suppose.”

“These downpours never last long anyway.”

“Then why are we walking straight through it instead of waiting it out?”

Hyde shrugged. “I wanna go home.”

“Does being soaked in rain not bother you at all?”

“It’s annoying, but I’ll manage.”

Hyde walked through the door and pulled Rune inside. He closed it before too much rain could get in. “Hey!” he yelled to let his parents know he was here. He pulled his hood down. The fabric hadn’t done much to keep his hair dry. He looked over at Rune, his hair was wet, too. Rune pulled his hoodie off and cringed at the soaked hoodie in his hands.

“Ugh, I hate wet clothes.”

Hyde raised his eyebrow. “Why?”

“The way they stick to you and that suction noise it makes when you pull it off”—he shivered—“makes me feel icky.”

The door to the living room opened. Hyde turned to see his mom.

She gasped. “Oh—my goodness, you’re drenched!”

“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed,” Hyde said dryly.

She sighed and pulled Hyde’s hoodie off for him. “Go dry yourselves and put some clean clothes on, you’ll get sick.” She took Rune’s hoodie, too.

“Okay, fine.”

Hyde grabbed Rune’s hand. He took him up the stairs and into his bedroom. “Stay here, I’ll grab some towels.”

“Okay.”

Hyde went into the bathroom and grabbed two clean towels from the towel rack. He came back to his bedroom and saw Rune shirtless, looking cold and uncomfortable.

“Here,” Hyde said as he handed him the towel. Rune only smiled and took it. He rubbed his face dry. Hyde rubbed the towel through his hair and over his face, too. He pulled his shirt off and watched Rune dry his torso. He smirked as an idea came to him. He went to put his arms around Rune as he said, “Come huddle for warmth.”

Rune tensed and put his hands up to keep him away. “No, dry yourself first!”

Hyde hugged him from the side anyway and pushed their cheeks together with a satisfied hum.

Rune uncomfortably groaned. “You’re cold and wet,” he whined.

Hyde chuckled. He kissed his cheek and let him go. He continued drying himself.

Hyde went to his closet and grabbed two sets of clothes, one for each of them. He laid them on the bed. They both changed into the dry clothes. Both with jeans, Hyde in a t-shirt and a blouse, Rune in a long-sleeved shirt.

Hyde hummed at Rune with a smile. Rune raised his eyebrow at him.

“That shirt looks nice on you,” Hyde told him.

Rune blushed and glanced away with a smile. “Thanks.”

They went downstairs. Dione stood in the living room, waiting for them, while Fallon sat in the kitchen.

Dione walked up to Hyde and slapped him on his arm. “How dare you come out like that?! You don’t do that over letter!”

Hyde flinched away from her with his arms pulled against him. “Would you have preferred to wait six weeks for me to tell you now?”

“What did you do?” Rune asked as he stepped next to him.

“He decided it was a good idea to tell us he’s gay through a letter,” Dione complained.

Rune let out a snort and put his hand in front of his mouth to hold it back. “Nice one.”

Hyde glanced at Rune. “I”—he turned back to his mom—“I didn’t want it to be a big deal, okay? Can’t it just be an understood thing?”

Dione stared at him for a moment, then glared to the side at Fallon. Hyde looked too, Fallon was eyeing her as he smugly drank from a mug.

“Don’t say it,” she warned him.

“I’m not saying anything.”

“Stop giving me those eyes.”

Hyde wanted to ask what they were talking about, but then remembered the last part of Fallon’s letter. “And it’s not like you didn’t already know. You all guessed before I even knew.” He squinted. “How did you know, actually?”

“I noticed you’d been scent-marking Rune.”

Hyde gulped and tensed up.

“Scent-what-now?” Rune interrupted.

“I was doing that?”

“Does he rub his face on you a lot? Particularly in your head-and-neck area?” Dione asked.

Rune thought about it for a moment. “Yes, he does.”

“That’s scent-marking. It’s a subconscious thing werewolves do when they like someone. It’s to get his scent on you to ‘claim’ you. Or to let other werewolves know that, Hey, I’m pursuing this person, or This is my partner.”

“Seems a little possessive?”

Hyde gave Rune a worried look. “Does it make you uncomfortable? I’m sorry, I genuinely didn’t realise I was doing that.”

Rune looked back at him. He bit the inside of his cheek as he considered how he felt about it. He shrugged. “I suppose it isn’t much different from something like a wedding ring. Simply showing people you’re spoken for, right?”

Hyde sighed and smiled. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“How did you come out?” Dione asked Rune.

Rune tensed in surprise. “I didn’t, actually.”

“Your family doesn’t know yet?”

“They do, but I never told them. They all just figured. I was away for five years, then I came home with a guy and after a day, they all assumed I liked him, which obviously meant I wasn’t straight.” Rune shrugged. “Not sure why, we weren’t super cuddly or anything. Maybe I gave off gay vibes.” He looked at Hyde. “Or you did.”

Hyde gave him a squint of his eyes.

“Or you two together,” Dione added.

Hyde thought back to how Selene and Raven guessed what kind of connection they had, despite barely knowing Rune. “Probably. Gayness aside”—Hyde looked at his dad—“what’s going on exactly?”

Fallon put his empty mug down with a frown. “Right.” He walked over to them. “What I told you in the letter.”

“You think it’s as serious as it was back then?”

“Warlon has gotten threats already.”

Hyde’s eyes widened. “Oh. Why do they take it so far? It’s just a stupid forest.”

Fallon shrugged. “Beats me.”

“I know I’m ignorant about all this,” Rune chimed in, “but if you don’t care for it, why not give it up? Let them have it if they care so much.”

“I tried that last time,” Fallon begun. “They claimed a chunk of the forest after they killed my father. I told them to take it all, because I was sick of it.” He folded his arms and tensed his shoulders in frustration. “But then they said it wasn’t honourable and didn’t feel deserved. And I thought”—he gestured his hand around—“do you need to kill me first or something? I’m telling you it’s yours, leave me alone!” He unfolded his arms and clenched his hands in front of him. “But they wouldn’t take it. And now, thirty-one years later, they suddenly want it and they first want to kill us again!”

Hyde squinted in thought. “It’s like they waited for an alpha who’d fight back.”

Fallon released the tension in his body and looked at him. “What?”

“You surrendered right away after grandpa died, but they didn’t accept it because they didn’t have to fight. As if they didn’t actually want the forest, they wanted the fight. But they knew you wouldn’t give it to them. So all the thirty years you were alpha, they left you alone because you wouldn’t fight.”

Hyde grabbed his chin. “Now Warlon is alpha, has been for only a year, and they decide to attack again. Like they waited a year to see what kind of alpha he was and see if he would be worth the fight. And it seems like he is more active than you.”

His parents stared at him for a bit, thinking all that over. Dione hummed. “It does make sense. The pack always hated your passive attitude, but if he’s right, then that might be exactly what had protected them from all this for the last thirty years.”

Fallon frowned. “Maybe.” He went to the door and grabbed Hyde’s wrist on his way. “Come with me.”

Hyde walked along. “Where to?”

“A pack meeting. We’re going to figure out what to do.”