Young and Foolish

Chapter 4: His Tradition Mantra

Ryder's POV: 

Colby's scent was one of the most familiar scents to me. He was my beta, after all. 

He checked the road for passing cars (none, as usual on this deadened street, but he was a stickler for silly rules like looking before crossing the road) before dragging the branch away, out of harm. 

Typical Colby. Cleaning up after me, without a word. He didn't even expect gratitude. I'd never understand, and I'd never admit that I liked that in him. He probably already knew it, without me saying a thing. 

"Annie's not here yet?" he asked once he had finished with that. 

"You just missed her. She ran off with some girl." I replied with a shrug. 

"The new girl? You met her already?" he raised an eyebrow. If you didn't know the guy, it'd be hard to tell when he was excited. He and Annie were total opposites in that aspect. Sometimes it seemed like she got excited about even the most boring things. He, on the other hand, merely focused a little more intently at the things that excited him. And surprisingly, there were plenty. 

I shrugged again at him, somewhat unsure of how to answer. If it was that Sarah girl, I couldn't quite say we met, per se. Colby looked at me for a moment before stuffing his hands in his pocket and looking up at the leaves. 

"Annie was excited about meeting a childhood friend, or something like that. Said the girl was moving here from way up North. Our age, part werewolf." His eyes caught on the splintered stump where the branch used to be and he frowned in thought. I turned to him. 

"Werewolf? I didn't catch that on her scent." She smelled mildly pleasant, but with the cigarette smoke and the broken finger fiasco, I didn't sniff hard enough to discern her species. 

Was she a rogue? Those were always something to be wary of. You could never tell if they were innocents that escaped a bad pack, or bad wolves that were forced out of a pack. Even if they were innocent, it wasn't a good thing. Sometimes, packs went after wolves that escaped, so that they could get rid of them in a more permanent way, so that their evils or crimes were never brought to light. 

"I don't think the family is rogue. Annie doesn't know the full story either, but there's some type of situation. I'll try to find out more." Colby was a beta by heart. He could read my head like the back of his hand, and he was always reporting information. 

"Annie told me to stay here. I'm not sure if she wanted me to wait for you, or if that meant she was coming back." If it was the latter, we'd be able to find out more by asking Annie directly. 

Colby shook his head. "They're not going to be at the hospital for long, but they're heading back to Annie's place when they're done." Despite not even graduating high school yet, Annie and Colby both had each other's mate marks, so they could mindlink whenever they wished. 

Most wolves did that once they had fully matured, at age 20, but the two of them were head-over-heels in love with each other, so they did it early on. It was as symbolic to werewolves as marriage was to humans, maybe even more so. 

"We can meet them there, if you want to come along. I'm going to be spending the night at her place anyways." Colby suggested. I shrugged, but started making my way there. 

I frowned lightly at how Colby still referred to their house as Annie's place. He insisted that he still lived with his parents, but he spent more time at Annie's house than his own. He even had keys to her place, and majority of his belongings were there too. 

A stupid traditionalist, he wanted her parents' approval before they made any life changing decisions. But Annie's parents were practically nonexistent. They probably wouldn't have even gotten their mate marks had Annie not pushed him to do it. 

I'd never let something silly like tradition stand in the way of being with my mate, whoever or wherever she was.