The Night [5]

Chapter 2: Big Boys

About an hour passed and dinner had already begun to conclude with people finishing their plates of food, which meant Henry licking his plate like the dog he was and Beck holding back a laugh, even though the wolf-hybrid could see the male's smirk out of the corner of his eye. I gave another tired yawn and stretched out my arms as I stood up from my seat, a moment passing by as I watched several creatures already heading back to their own rooms to sleep for the night. "Please don't tell me you're going to have another all-nighter." I heard the raven-haired hellhound remark from next to me, making my head turn to look up at Hyde, who had a serious look in his scarlet-hued eyes. I simply smirked at this and rolled my eyes at his words like it was all some silly banter, though I knew deep down he was being completely serious with me right now. "Don't worry, baby, I'm planning on going to bed once we get back to our room." I reassured him as I began to walk away from the wooden table now, "Besides, I'm going to need plenty of rest in order to plan this dance. I better get some help from you." He gave a huff at me and brushed his hand through his thick head of hair, "Of course, I already told you that I'm willing to help you with whatever you want, remember?" Hyde simply said, which made me nod as the two of us headed down the hallway back to my office that was linked to our bedroom. Meanwhile, Scruffy sat at the wooden table as he watched DJ and Piper already heading off out of the dining room area. That canine wasn't staying in her room, was he? Something about that made his skin crawl and a shudder went up his spine. Without even a second thought going through his mind, Scruffy leapt from his chair and followed the two down the long, darkened hallway that was dimly lit by candles here and there. In the back of his mind, he knew that he should trust DJ, he was Piper's friend, her first friend from what he heard Rebecca say, so why did he already have such a negative feeling towards him now? He didn't know, but refused to just stay around wondering, so he quickly dashed down the carpeted way and turning a corner, being able to catch a glimpse of DJ saying goodnight to Piper before she went off into her own room, leaving the large canine to his own company out in the darkened hallway now. It didn't take long for him to catch sight of Scruffy though, a smirk coming to his maw when the two locked gazes. "I'm going to be asking her to be my date for the dance that Rebecca mentioned." The male said, taking a few steps towards the smaller canine, "I do hope you don't mind, Scruffy." His tone was off to the brown-furred lab's ears, but he did not comment on this. "And why would I have a problem with that? You are close to her, aren't you?" Scruffy mentioned, "Despite not being here for her after all these months where she's been through hell and back with losing her first love and having to go through almost dying twice now. Oh, but you wouldn't know that, would you?" He said, narrowing his eyes. Scruffy did not know what caused him to say something like this, but he stuck to his words right now and didn't regret it.

The calmed, almost mocking expression in DJ's eyes slowly changed as the canine's words seem to strike a nerve with him, making the larger wolf take another step further towards Scruffy, a slight growl erupting from him. "Listen here, you little brat." He said, "You have no right to make claims such as that about me after I tried being so nice to you." Scruffy took a small step backward, slightly nervous about what this male would do. He didn't know what his patterns were and how stable he was personality wise. "You think I didn't notice how you were so put off by how friendly Piper was to me? She trusts me and cares about me, unlike you, because I'm a man who can protect and court her. Oh, sure, you may have all the experience with being with this family, having survived this long, but you think you scare me? You look like you'd run back to your mommy if I snapped at you loud enough." To even prove his point, the male stalked forward and allowed his lips to peel back into a fearsome snarl as he snapped his teeth dangerously close to Scruffy's muzzle, making him flinch and stumble back. This made DJ simply laugh and step back once more, "Pathetic. You think Piper would even consider having you as her partner, having such a weak little coward like you by her side? She needs a man in her life and that certainly isn't you." The wolf shook his head before turning sharply on his paws, beginning to already walk down the hallway and away from Scruffy, who had already gotten back up to all fours. "Leave this to the big boys, pup, or you might get hurt." DJ sneered before turning a corner and disappearing from the small dog's sight. He stood there in blind shock for a few moments, did that really happen right now? However, Scruffy soon snapped out of his daze, shaking his head wildly as he growled. He knew that something was off about the male, DJ, from the moment that he had found him in his chair at the table. It seemed that this wolf was working to replace him! Scruffy refused to let that happen, no, he would not let some random wolf that just randomly turned up in the manor to phase him so much like this. The small canine turned on his paws and sprinted down the hallway towards the one person that he knew to go to, having a plan of his own to fix this before it was too late. His tiny paws were quick on the carpet, all this energy is a lot for his tiny lungs, but he never stopped, not even once as he made his way through the large, dark manor in the middle of the night. Scruffy was determined, yes, very determined to make things right and not be the cowards that he was seen as by the damned DJ. The male was so smug, so confident in his abilities, but he knew things that DJ did not and would use this to his advantage. Yes, he would make things perfect.