Willow's Tree

25

Summer soon arrived and Trey and I graduated from being high school juniors. The two of us spent our time with each other since my friends were busy. Isaac went on vacation with his family like he did every summer, Olly was away volunteering at a camp, and Rebecca was busy helping out with her family's café.

I told Trey that he could've gone back to his werewolf residence if he wanted to, but he said he didn't want to go back and had no need to. Besides, they knew where he was and if they needed him, they would contact him.

When I told him that they would be mad, Trey told me that they didn't really care anymore. He said they had accepted our relationship—which had been words similar to Helen's—but I was still skeptical.

Surprisingly though, during the last few weeks of school, I had felt that the werewolves no longer gave me looks and treated me like any other students. And I swore I saw some even smile at me, but it might've just been my imagination.

"I told you, they're okay with you now." Trey rolled his eyes. "Is that really so hard?"

"Maybe you forgot about the fact that they didn't want you to live here in the first place?" I reminded him. "What made them suddenly agree?"

"Because you're my mate." He answered and I gave him a confused look. "Willow, I already told you. Mates are important to us. And since you happen to be mine and there's not a single thing they can do to change that, they've decided to accept you."

"Just because of that one word, everything changes?"

"It's not the word that changed their minds. It's the meaning behind the word."

I still didn't understand and just shook my head as we continued to lay on the couch.

As the sun set, the two of us slowly began drifting off into a small nap. The sky was turning the same orange as Trey's eyes and I felt even more relaxed by that as my eyes slipped shut. But right at that moment, Trey stiffened below me, making my eyes open again.

When I lifted my hazy eyes up at him to see what was wrong, I saw that his expression was full of fear. Then, he suddenly shot his body off the couch and we landed on the floor with a thump. Trey took the blunt of the fall but was unharmed as he wrapped his arms tighter around me.

I was confused at first, until I heard something tear. I raised my head to look at the couch and saw that there was a guy standing there, holding a large knife. He had torn my couch, leaving a large hole on it.

"No." I heard Trey whisper.

Immediately, I knew that we were in danger. "Trey." I whispered his name frantically.

"Willow. Stay back." He pushed me back until I was up against the living room wall. "Don't go out of my sight."

Then the stranger launched himself at Trey, but he dodged out of his way and kicked out his leg, making contact with the knife-wielder's side. That sent him flying and he crashed against the wall, damaging the plaster and making me blink with shock.

This wasn't a break-in. The stranger wasn't here to rob us. His movements were quick like Trey's and I knew that the man had to be another werewolf. But did he belong to Trey's pack? And what did he want?

Trey walked over to him and stomped his foot onto the guy's chest. I heard a sickening crack and knew that Trey must've crushed his ribcage. It surprised me. During the time that Trey and I had been together, he never showed that much strength. I never knew that he had this much power in him.

"Why are you here?" Trey growled, his nostrils flaring. His body was also tightening, like he was preparing to pounce.

"Orders." The opponent said with a snarl. "Kill the traitor."