DESIRE

18

It took them fifteen minutes to shower and get dressed before leaving in Jace's car. Liv was aptly dressed in a pair of Jace's smallest sweatpants and a hoodie. He was wearing the same attire.

 "I'm nervous." Liv admitted resting her hand against her knee to get it to stop shaking so badly. "I don't even know why I'm so nervous." 

 "I think you're always nervous." Jace chuckled placing his hand over hers to steady her knee.

 The tingles that she felt whenever he touched her soothed her heart and she finally stopped shaking. 

The old shifter school was on the very outskirts of town, just at the pack border between the human district and no-man's land. 

When they drove up, Liv's shoulders slumped every bit of happiness leaving her body. There was hardly a building standing, the structure was still burnt wood and ash. Jace sighed, he had been convinced that the building work had started earlier than he thought. With a sympathetic look he squeezed her hand. 

 "Let's still go and have a look." 

Forcing a smile onto her face, she unlocked her car door stepping outside into the cool autumn air. The seasons had changed quickly, they always do in their little village it seems like it is winter for far longer than it is summer. 

Begrudgingly Jace exited his car sighing when the cold air hit him, being a halfie he was less immune to the cold weather when compared to other shifters. He hated it when all of his friends were able to walk around in shorts during winter and he had to pack on the layers. 

Warmth filled his body when she grabbed his hand pulling them towards the desolate building, something at the back of his mind reminded him of how unsafe this could be if a part of the building feel.

 He couldn't mention that to his overly anxious mate; she would have an anxiety attack. 

 "It's not that bad." Liv grimaced as she looked around what used to be the main hall "How did the fire even happen?" 

 "Alpha Erik speculated it was the hunters but there was no evidence to who it could've been." Jace sighed "I'm inclined to agree with him, the fire started in the gymnasium." 

He tugged her hand pulling her over to where the gym hall used to be.It was common for shifters to use wood as a main resource in all of their building efforts as they typically live in the forest. After the school fire, many of the packs had reinforced their buildings with metal. 

 "This is where it started," He nudged the patch of charcoal with his foot. He didn't like to come back here, so many childhood memories which had been burnt away with the fire. All of the memories of him and his friends growing up together, shifting for the first time in the field outside the school. All gone.

Calmly Liv looked around, her eyes trailing over the burnt surfaces before a flash of pink caught her eye. Jace was still looking around the hall with a sadness in his eyes making Liv's heart ache, he had been so supportive of her the entire time they had been together, she knew she had to be as supportive towards him.

She looked back over at him before walking over to where the pink fabric was lying. It was burnt but Liv remembered it like it was yesterday. In fact, she had seen it yesterday in the video clip that was sent around the school. 

 "What's that?" Jace murmured, looping his arm around her waist as Liv examined the fabric. It was a light pink cardigan with some holes in it where the fire had burnt through. "A cardigan?"

 "Jace," Liv paused pursing her lips as she stared down at the cardigan "I think this was arson."

 "Yeah, by the hunters."