𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 ⸙

2.66༊*·˚

"So Liam, a very emotional day for you too," Xavier said after a while of thinking deeply about Solana.

"Yeah." Liam stuck the tip of his tongue out with concentration, and Zayn's eyes kept wandering to it. "I'm um, I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this."

"I imagine you'll be doing that for a while, both of you." Some cut hair floated onto his lap. "I've heard a lot about you Liam, from your parents. We were together in that cave for two years and they often thought about what you would be up to, and where you were. I doubt they expected you'd be mated to a werewolf and living in a Packhouse."

"It's the last thing I expected too." Liam smiled at Zayn.

"Ah, which leads me to ask, how did you both meet?" Xavier studied his son with twinkling eyes.

"What was your dream like?"

"I dreamt of Liam in Ethdellin Library." Zayn had no more to offer, and Xavier raised a brow.

"So... what happened after the dream? Did you tell your mother?"

Zayn shook his head to say no. "I had actually met Liam before the dream. He trespassed."

Xavier looked up to the human who snipped the front of his hair. "Not with bad intentions!"

Liam squeaked. "I was escaping, um, bad people. I was thrown in the cellar for the night and released at dawn. When I next saw Zayn in the library I thought he was coming to threaten me or something. We met in an interesting way."

"You certainly did. Then what happened?" Zayn shrugged, so Liam took over and told him about how Zayn followed him around the town for a while, and how they grew closer before Liam accidentally stumbled upon Zayn shifting to his wolf form. He told Xavier about how that felt, and how Zayn was very patient with him, yet stressed because of what was happening with the Southern Alpha.

"And Solana had no idea what was going on before you, one night, came back with your mate?" Xavier asked Zayn.

"She thought Baela and I were mated because Baela followed me to make sure I had backup in the town."

"Baela," Xavier smiled. "Reena mentioned that she had tried to phone her. Is Baela the new Beta?"

Zayn nodded.

"That's great. I bet her and Niall get on well too. Niall was often frustrated with Jaiden's lack of enthusiasm."

The colour sucked out of Zayn's world in an instant. He looked away and the scowl returned to his brows. He had forgotten, and he wasn't ready for the disappointment on his father's face.

"I'll get you some food" Zayn left without seeing his expression, leaving Liam to finish cutting the rest of his hair.

Xavier sat very still for a while, then slow sighed.

"What happened?"

Liam pursed his lips, thinking of where to begin.

"Zayn's mental health declined a few months ago. He was paranoid and stressed all the time because of the Bedlam Alpha. Some Rogues provoked him and Zayn said and did things that are still haunting him. Um, to keep the story short, he chased the Rogues who lead them to more Rogues and Niall got killed."

"Oh" Xavier's tired eyes dimmed. Soon, he was frowning at the floor. "I'm saddened to hear that. Niall was a very good Delta, very eager, and always happy."

"Yeah." Liam swallowed thickly. "We all miss him."

He moved to the back of Xavier's head, neatening it up. "But that night, Zayn didn't come home. He was found in the woods by Daniel the farmer. Daniel took him back to the farm and um, told him off basically."