Shadows of the marked

16

Benjamin and I ended up at Ihop. It's dead inside, but the waitress seems pretty friendly. She talked to us about how her kid accidentally stuck a nerd up his nose once before. I found it pretty funny. After we take our order and my stomach growls loud enough for everyone to hear, we sit in a peaceful silence for awhile. The quiet clanking of a fork against a plate is heard by the older couple in the back corner.

"So have you talk to Calvin at all?" Benjamin breaks the silence. I sit the drink I was sipping on down and focus my attention on him. I figured this was coming. Ben has his own little ways of squeezing things in.

"All dirty talk. Why didn't you get me a damn chasity belt?" I play frown, trying to crack a joke. Ben perks up a little bit and scratches the back of his head.

"Anyways, you haven't talked to him?"

"No," I say. "We banged, fell asleep and I left before he woke up. What part are you not understanding?" I sip my drink while Ben rolls his eyes.

"I mean, you have been waiting so long and had so much to say. Why did you leave?" He points out.

"I-" I begin to stutter. Do I even know the real reason why I left? I mean I practically begged Cal to sleep with me and then I'm mad at him for actually doing it. It doesn't make sense. I'm mad at him for abandoning me, and I'm mad he kept me away from everything he did.

"Listen Gray." Ben lets out a sigh. "I'm worried for the both of you. You hardly ever eat, or get out of bed. You're not the Gray I knew before.-" he presses his forehead into his hand and blows out a breath. "Cal- All he does is work, and he's mad all the time. If we're being honest, I've come home a couple times from him and I fighting." I frown at the idea. Calvin has been more angry, and has had less patience with Ben.

"That isn't my fault." I furrow my eyebrows. "You didn't deserve that, Ben. I'm sorry." Ben looks back up at me, the frown still on his face.

"It's his own," he states. "Calvin pushed you away, knowing it would break his wolf. I don't know how he hasn't blown up yet." I purse my lips.

"What do you mean blown up?" I lean forward, completely interested on what he has to tell me.

"If he blows up, Gray, his wolf will take complete control and he won't be able to stop. Calvin has held back so many of his wolf's cravings. He will kill whoever gets between you and him, and if he gets control over his wolf again then some of the changes would be irreversible." My heartbeat quickens.

"But it can't just snap back to normal." I say nearly panicked. Ben sighs and supportingly touches his hand onto mine for a brief second.

"I know, Gray." He gives me a half smile. "But it'll work out." I let out a heavy breath.

"How do you know that will happen? Calvin is older than anyone, and the only one like him?" I furrow my eyebrows once again. My head is spinning with questions.

Ben looks confused. He thinks for a moment before answering. "It has happened once before." He lets out a heavy breath. "I figured he would have mentioned it by now. Calvin only has so much control over his wolf. That thing has so much power it's crazy-" he starts to babble and then shoots back to what he was saying. "The last time Calvin lost someone so important to him was devastating. He lost control..." Ben swallows harshly. "That wolf is a monster when it doesn't have Calvin to contain it. What I'm getting at is, if Cal loses his fight because he can't get you back- it might be a repeat of what happened last time."

I swallow hard. I've seen Cal angry, I can't even imagine him before worse than that. Even when he pretends to be angry with me it's scary. A chill runs down my spine.

"What...happened..?" I gulp. "Last time.?"

Ben bites his lip and looks around. He shows me the scar running from his wrist all the way down to his elbow. I look back up and Ben, wondering what he was going to tell me.

"When I was eleven, it happened. My dad was his beta. He went crazy one day- and I was going to go show him something that I had made for him. I didn't know he was mad, and he went to attack me but my dad jumped in to keep him from hurting me anymore. I think his nail got me, but it was down to the bone." Ben sighs. "Then he ran off for months. No kind of contact. My dad had to play his role for a long time until he finally came back a few years ago...with you."

I scratch my head. So much is coming into my head. Calvin could have killed Ben, years ago. My heart is racing. "Wh-what made him go crazy?" I question wearily. I'm terrified to know, if it had gotten that bad it had to have been something horrible. My mind races from scenario to scenario.

"He never told you..?" Ben looks confused. I shake my head, confused on what he's trying to tell me.

"His so-" the waitress comes up and abruptly stops Ben from saying anything else. "Hi guys! Sorry your food is a little late, we had some people not show up this morning. Does everything look alright?" She asks after putting the food onto the table. I look at the delicious food in front of me and say a thank you before she walks off.

"What were you saying?" I ask Ben. He takes a bite of eggs and looks at my plate.

"Eat your food and I'll tell you." He gives me a smirk, pointing to my food with his fork. "All of it." I frown.

We eat our food in complete silence.

Half way through our meal, Ben's phone rings. He takes it out of his pocket and answers it immediately.  Ben doesn't even get to say hello before the other line is blaring so loud I can hear the anger in their voice.

"She's right in front of me. She's fine." He mumbles, I can see him cowering down in his seat. He must be on the phone with Cal. Just the rumbles of his voice on the phone is making my wolf yearn for him. Ben puts his fork down and lets out a breath.

"She's eating, you wouldn't want her to go hungry- would you?" Ben snaps into the phone. "I didn't think so. So let the poor girl eat, and I'll bring her back."

I frown when Ben makes eye contact with me and mouths a sorry.

"I'll bring her to you, sir. We're at ihop right now." He looks down, as if he's bowing to me.

"Not yet." "Fine." Ben hangs up the phone and gives me a look.

"Cal is on his way to come get you. He won't let me bring you home." I purse my lips as he speaks. Ben tried, but if I were him I wouldn't argue too much either. As much as Ben stands up to Cal, I would have never of guessed that Cal nearly killed him.

"Please eat, Gray. I don't want you to not go hungry." He frowns. "I'm really sorry."