Flames and Starlight

50🌘

Peter

I woke up the next morning to Ruben shaking me awake.

I frowned and shoved him off of me, my mind still heavy with sleep, or the lack of it. I'd started dozing off when the sun was starting to rise and I probably had only two hours of sleep. I was mentally and physically exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep for the next ten years, not be woken up by some jackass.

"Come on," he snarled. "Get up."

I scowled and sat up. "The hell's your problem?"

He scowled back. I noticed through a bleary gaze that he had dark circles smudged under his eyes, as though he hadn't gotten any sleep at all. "I've tried to wake you up ten times already. Get your ass up now." 

I growled at him and slowly climbed to my feet. "I haven't had any sleep. Give me a break."

"I haven't gotten any sleep either, so suck it up."

I rolled my eyes and looked around. Everyone else was gone. "Where's everybody?"

"Laura, Ali and Derek had to go talk to the police. They said their parents are coming by."

We both winced at that last part. I was pretty sure that the one thing we could agree with was that whenever Laura had to interact with her parents, it was going to end badly and I immediately felt sympathy for her for whatever was about to take place.

"She said she'll come by as soon as they're done," he said. "I had to come by and talk to Ben for a little bit. He wanted to know how I was doing."

"How are you doing?" I asked cautiously. Even though I couldn't stand him, he, along with the rest of us, went through a horrifying experience and it was going to leave a lot of mental scars that might never fade. I wouldn't wish that on him any day.

He gave me a scoffing look. "As if you care."

Irritation sparked inside me but I managed to calmly say, "I do actually, because we all went through it together. But if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Sorry. I - I'm just trying to cope."

I relaxed a little bit. "It's fine."

A heavy, uncomfortable silence filled the room. We looked away awkwardly.

"Ben wanted to see you as soon as he got done with me," he blurted out, as though he was desperate to fill the silence somehow. "I guess you should get going."

I nodded and made my way to the door before pausing. Even though I couldn't stand the guy, he did help Laura out with everything when she had to go through with her family, me disappearing and popping back in her life only to disappear again, everything with Caius and the fear of what was happening. I respected him immensely for that and I admitted he wasn't as bad of a guy as I made him out to be at times.

"Laura's lucky to have you," I said to him. He looked over at me in surprise. "You really helped her through all this."

For some reason, his eyes filled with guilt. He shook his head and looked away. "I wouldn't go that far."

Before I had a chance to ask what he meant, he walked out of the room. I stared after him, a bad feeling twisting in my gut at his words.

I wanted to ask what he meant, but I told myself that it wasn't my business, that I shouldn't get involved, and I had to go meet with Ben. I shouldn't keep him waiting.

I made my way through the Clan towards Ben's cabin. The other shapeshifters were repairing the damage that was left after the crow attack. I noticed the way a lot of them stopped to stare in shock. . .and disgust. My step faltered, wondering why they were looking at me like that, then I remembered.