Perfectly Imperfect

Chapter Nine: Is It Stealing If They Want You To Do It?

Luci's POV
The food was absolutely amazing here. Had I not already had my mind set on leaving I would be tempted to stay for that reason alone. It had nothing to do with the solemn-looking model perched in the corner. I suppose it was the first time I had seen an attractive man, and I was a teenager now. I vaguely remember reading about hormones and how that could affect your behaviour. I surmised that was my issue, it had to be it.

We were making our way back downstairs to try iron out some minor details when we stumbled passed Tom who was curled into, who I presume is, his mother. When she looked up at us I was met with the same shocking blue eyes, it had to be. Tom was visibly distraught.

"What's up son?" The Alpha asked. Tom shot out of his mother's lap and wrung his hands together. Clearly embarrassed he had been found in such a position.
"My pack bracelet that we used for my scent, we never got it back." He sniffled, tears threatening to fall. He made a herculean effort to ensure they didn't fall. Damien immediately went over and spun him around, giving him a quick comforting squeeze before rubbing his hair affectionately. Making Tom giggle.
"It's okay squirt, we'll make you a new one."
"But it will never be the same, that one was special." He frowned again.
"Well, there are no rogues there anymore, in a couple of days we'll go look for it?" Damien tried to offer.
"But the normal animals will probably have ruined it by then!" He looked even more distraught by that concept.

I cleared my throat to get his attention, while noticing that each of their wrists held an identical bracelet to Tom's. I once again marvelled at it's beauty. It was the same blue as their eyes, the Alpha's bracelet also the same colour despite having deep brown eyes.

I crouched down to Tom's eye level, "Sorry Tom with everything going on I forgot to give you this back." I pulled out of my pocket the little stone bracelet. I was again struck by how heavy it was for such a dainty bracelet.

Tom grasped at it before leaping on me, his arms strung around my neck and squeezing tight. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," He chanted over and over again.
He continued to chant it as Damien yanked him from me, "Tom, be careful! You damn near crushed her!" His entire face had changed into fury. He looked terrifying. He looked exactly like the rogue pack, if not worse.

Tom didn't look too bothered, but he did stop chanting, "Sorry Luci, I didn't mean to hurt you." He looked sheepish.
"It's fine, I'm fine." I smiled back, I had a feeling I'd be saying that a lot in the foreseeable future.
"How did you manage to get it back?" He asked excitedly, the bracelet already firmly secured on his wrist.

"When everybody was fighting I saw it not too far away, so I went to grab it. I couldn't give it to you while you were a wolf, and I kind of forgot by the time we got back. Sorry."
He shook his head frantically, "Thank you so much for getting it, I don't know what I'd have done otherwise."

I absently wondered at the importance of the bracelet. Was it just a childlike attachment to something, similar to how human kids grew attached to a specific teddy? I guess it didn't matter if I knew, because I wouldn't know for long, I thought dejectedly.

It wasn't necessarily that I was perturbed by having my mind erased as much as knowing I would never again know werewolves existed. I was also slightly apprehensive about the logistics of mind-wiping, there was a lot of trust involved considering I haven't met the woman. What if she erased other things accidentally, how does she actually pinpoint exactly what to erase? The mind is a complex organ, after all.

I noticed both his parents staring at me. I presumed they were grateful for saving their son the grief but their faces definitely held a strange expression. I was never really good at interpreting expressions, other than the quite obvious ones like anger.