Amendable REWRITTEN (Book 3 of SOCIETY SERIES) *In Progress*

Chapter 5: Hitting a Nerve

Every gathering was meant to keep the expanded pack connected, and so far it's been a brilliant idea. There were those I remembered vaguely from the pack grounds near Aunt Penny's house mingling who'd moved to Sage Circle, and they got along with the native residents.

Thea had told me once that Sage Circle had been a part of Blood Moon Falls where the wealthier families resided. Those being Supernatural, anyway. Despite living among humans, Alpha Brown still wanted to ensure that the Werewolves were still kept safe and weren't exposed to those outside us reformed Advanced Hunters. I get it, but often made me wonder whether the rest of Blood Moon Falls were ever suspicious as to why Sage Circle was so closed off to the rest of the town. I would be.

Aside from being closed off to everyone else, I get the more low-key reason why Alpha Brown has these gatherings every few months or so. In the way of the Werewolf, it was to celebrate the lives of those lost five years ago. I guess it wasn't so 'low-key' when Alpha Brown calls for our attention and welcomes us all for another gathering to atone for those we couldn't have here today with us.

My gaze immediately went to Thea who still choked up about the loss her and I had that fateful day.

Although a handful of Weres were lost that day—both from the Alliance and the Blood Moon Falls pack—it was my friend, Maddox Hollow, that made that day so painfully significant for me and Thea. But also because of Langley, who was a tied connection between Thea and Easton.

Over the years, Thea has managed to deal with Maddox's death and the guilt of blaming herself for it. Countless nights of crying sessions and one-sided screaming at Dennison about losing Maddox being her fault because she wasn't 'fast enough' or hadn't been there beside him was only the first year. Eventually, Thea had to talk to a therapist—telling a loosely truthful recount of losing her best friend in a tragic murder, alongside his girlfriend, her other best friend. It was a therapist that Aunt Penny found right outside of Blood Moon Falls and Thea spent a lot of time here with her family because of the trips she had to make for her sessions.

The days of her sessions when Uncle Jim would drive his daughter out of town was when Dennison would spend the day at my house. We'd sit on the porch, watching Connor play while Little Maddox was being bottle fed by Aunt Emeel. It was during those times that Dad would give simple words of encouragement to Dennison. They were just enough to keep Dennison's armor up for Thea whenever she'd have her meltdowns.

As two years passed, Thea stopped seeing the therapist but we all still were there to let her know that we were her support system. And it was never her fault. That was a must, I noticed, as she would stare at us, chin and lip trembling before Thea took a deep breath and nodded, "It was never my fault." though I'm not sure she believed that entirely still.

While Thea worked through what happened to Maddox and Langley; embracing our support to help her heal, Easton... was the opposite.

Easton shut everyone out since Day One. Nothing and no one could get through to Easton—not the Six, not his parents, not Alpha Brown. No one. Dad often tried to push me to go talk to Easton but I flat out refused. I understood that the guy was going through something and I was going to respect that—even if I was a bit uneasy that Easton would lash out at me too. A lot of guilt weighed on me because I knew deep down I was relieved that Easton had eased up on his attention of me. So, I let it be.

That is until some months ago that we were having a get together at Aunt Penny's house and I attempted making an apple pie from scratch—burning one already that morning—and then a second time when Dennison returned from his long trip to the Alliance. Easton had walked in and smelled 'something good' and although I had warned him not to try it because the pie wasn't good, that Moody Werewolf snagged a piece away and ate it, claiming he liked it so much. I think that might have been the first day when I noticed that Easton wasn't 'the Easton everyone remembered' but there was a glimpse of him to everyone. He'd joked around that day even if it was short-lived, but Easton had managed to stay the entire time of the get together. Everyone took it as a sign that Easton was working through his trauma of losing his twin sister.