Raised By Wolves ✔

Thirteen

It was nearing midnight when Fabian finally collapsed on the back seat. He'd bent himself into one of the most uncomfortable positions I had ever seen. He had his head in the middle of the seat on the driver's side, drool slowly spilling out of his mouth.

One of his legs was suspended in the air up against the car door while the other was on the car floor, bent so he was leaning on his knee. One of his arms was bent at an odd angle against the door and the other was semi-tucked into the pocket in the back of the front seat.

"Who the hell sleeps like that?" Sage grumbled quietly from beside me.

"Are you seriously asking that question?" I chuckled softly, turning slightly to face him. "You've seen how Jaxson sleeps."

Sage huffed out a laugh and shook his head, grinning. "Jaxson is a bit weird, isn't he?"

"He really is." I beamed back at him.

Sage glanced at Fabian through the rearview mirror. "You trust him?"

"Yes," I answered simply. "And it's not just because he's my friend and I have to. I trust him because he trusts me and Fabian doesn't trust anybody."

"Why's that?" He questioned.

I paused for a moment. Fabian had trusted me and only me with the answer to that question. I didn't want to break the trust that had taken so long to even begin to form. But this might help Sage learn to trust Fabian. Or at least push him to believe he can.

"You can't tell him I told you any of this." I pleaded. "He would never trust me again and it took us so long to get to where we are now.''

"I promise I won't say anything," Sage promised, reaching out to lightly grasp my hand.

I squeezed his hand gently as I spoke.

"His parents left him and his sister in the care of their pack when they were eight. They promised they were only going to be gone for a week or so and they would be right back. Fabian found out that they had really been exiled for murdering a pack member two years after they left. When he and his sister were thirteen, they came home to an empty pack house. Their pack had abandoned them because they felt that Fabian and his sister weren't their responsibility."

Sage was quiet for a moment before speaking up.

"What about his sister?" He asked confused. "You said he didn't have anyone, so where's she?"

"Switzerland," I replied deadpan. "She moved there with a friend and their family when they were fourteen. Fabian hadn't trusted me enough to introduce me to his sister at the time, so we haven't met. I still hate her for leaving him though."

"Would be hard not to, considering how much you seem to care about Fabian," Sage replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked confused.

Something about what Sage said stirred something in the back of my mind. I felt the need to lash out and protect Fabian from anything that could put him in harm's way. But I also wanted to be gentle and listen to what Sage had to say. It sat in the back of my mind gently moving around, wanting to be noticed but still too shy to come forward.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, Cas," Sage answered. "I just meant that you care about him a lot. I mean, when you first brought him over, you stood up to the pack when they tried to hurt him. You've never done that before. You're always following the rules and doing as you're told. Apart from the whole taking off thing."

"Hey," I growled. "Anna said I could do that."

Sage just smiled at me and laughed, still clutching my hand. I thought back to what Jaxson had said the day I found out about the prophecy. Maybe he was right. Maybe I did want to be something more to Sage than just a best friend.