Mate Massacres

Chapter 50

Krey was silent for a long time, so Pip waited.

Krey eventually stopped breathing like he was in such a huff. He stopped gripping the back of Pip's hoodie. His heart soon calmed. Pip liked to think that he had a soothing effect on Krey. Pip knew how easy it was to calm down when others around you were relaxed too.

"Everything is pissing me off," Krey spoke eventually.

"Even me?"

"Everything apart from you."

Pip bit the inside of his lip. He was anxious about his next words, so chose them carefully, "I thought you were angry at me."

Krey was silent for a little longer. "You could never make me angry."

"B-But the way you acted, you changed so fast, I thought I said something wrong. You scared me."

Krey brushed their noses together and tightened his arm around him. "I'm sorry." He sighed. "When I'm like that, I deal with it alone. Now that you're here, I shouldn't just storm off and that annoyed me, so I stormed off because I was annoyed about not being able to storm off. This anger shit is an issue, but at least you know what to expect from me now." Krey had said all along that he wasn't a nice person.

Pip was the one to be silent now. Krey had said sorry, and that was enough. "What made you so angry?" he asked before the silence seeped down his throat.

"The stares," Krey mumbled. "In the canteen. I'm sick of it."

"tell them that it annoys you."

"I did on my way back here." Krey turned onto his back and pulled the duvet down to stare at his ceiling. The air was cold enough for Pip to see his breath, but Krey was hot. "A group were talking about you, saying that you were not what they expected, and how it was funny that you avoided their eyes instead of the other way around. They were going to make a game to see how much they could intimidate you. I snapped and would have ripped them apart if Sid didn't step in and recommend another punishment." Krey glanced to Pip.

Pip was a little hurt that they weren't sympathising with his situation and trying to make the institute as welcome as possible. But he expected at least some werewolves to find his shyness entertaining. Pip was very different to them, and they probably hated the change. Still, that was no excuse to be nasty. "What was the punishment?" he asked.

"to strip all the wallpaper in the entire institute, then paint the walls white. If it's not done by Monday morning, I'll personally punch each of them in the face."

Pip bit his lip to stop himself from showing that he found the punishment a little funny. "That's better than ripping them apart."

"I don't agree."

Pip sat up and crossed his legs. "Um, so you were angry because of the staring in the canteen? I-I can't stop thinking about how you changed so quickly."

"I do that a lot. I'm just used to being by myself to deal with it." Krey was no longer feeling as moody. He sat up too. "I tried to go for a walk, so you didn't have to feel awkward. I suppose you should see this side of me. You'll see it again."

"Have you always been like that?"

"Yes. I've never had patience. I just get violent, then deal with the talking stuff after."

"And, um, a-as Alpha, do you need to change that?"

"No. wolves fear me. That's good."

"Is it?"

"Yes. They stay disciplined."

"Was your da-" Pip stopped himself. "Never mind."

"Ask," Krey said, picking at the nail on his thumb.