ANIMALS

Thirty-Eight || A Night We'll Never Remeber; A Time We'll Never Forget

~Tristan~

"Mmmm, ow," 

I groan as I slowly pick my head up from the cold hard floor, or at least attempted to. Every square inch of my body ached and burned with every movement and I almost wanted to fall back asleep again.

Opening just my eyes once again, I find myself lying next to one of my living room lamps that had been knocked over with the light bulb shattered just inches away from my face. The room was drenched with the scent of my roommates and it calmed me just a little bit to know they just had to be here somewhere near.

"What the fuck, where am I? Hello?" I heard Mase call out to us and I groaned as I tilted my head up to find the couch had been demolished and flipped over sideways with Mason completely naked on top of it. His hands tied in front of him with a thick bungee cord I usually used for my surfboards and blindfolded by one of Noah's sweatshirts.

Although his awkward position caught my attention, the sight of the long scratches, love bites, and bruises in the shape of a strong hand had my jaw-dropping. That along with the massive neon blue symbol scarred across the right side of his chest. Opposite to my red mark, the two had combined to form a massive tattoo of ultimate symbolism across his upper chest. 

It must be Noah's mark. 

Slowly casting my gaze back down to my own bare naked body, I was just as bruised and battered as Mason, except I wasn't tied anywhere and I now carried both of their marks on my shoulders. 

My only tattoos in comparison to Mason and Noah who both had so many I couldn't count.

"Marco?" Mason calls out and I can't help but laugh a little. But the laughing hurts like hell and turns into soft whimpering as I just want to curl into a ball right here and not move for a solid week. 

"Polo," I groan, slowly dragging my own naked body towards him like a zombie. Unable to even think about walking right now with the amount of pain I'm in.

"Tris? Why am I blind?" He asks and I groan as I make it halfway before taking a small break to catch my breath. 

"Hold on, I'm coming," I grunt before continuing my struggle across the living room floor before finally reaching him, I drag myself up on the back of the couch and yank the blindfold from his eyes. His big brown eyes stared back at me in a state of shock as we just eyed each other for a few moments, neither of us knowing what on earth transpired for us to end up like this. 

"Where's Noah?" I ask and he blinks a few times, shaking his head as he does so. 

"Shhh, you'll wake him," Mason whispers and nods behind me. 

I slowly turn my head back towards my bedroom finding the mid-afternoon sun perfectly reflecting across my sleeping boyfriend's pale skin. 

His dirty blonde hair highlighted in the perfect bedhead disaster as he was curled up in a small ball at the end of my bed without a single mark on his perfect back half of his body. 

Mason and I both freeze in place, almost terrified when the beast turns over and stretches. The only marks on him being Mason and my bonded mark on his lower collarbones, forming a beautiful cowl of red and navy blue tattoo curled together as one. 

"Jeez, you call him your boyfriend like he's the only one in this relationship," Mason huffs and I raise my brow at his remark.

"Sorry, I didn't-" 

"No, I get it," Mason cuts me off and gives a small smile that I didn't believe for a second. 

"Do you remember anything?" I ask him and he shakes his head slowly.

"No, well a little, our wolves took over. That's the only thing I know for sure." He says and I gulp. If our wolves took over, how did Noah get off without a scratch while Mason and I are demolished? 

"He's a shifter, that's why. He's stronger than the two of us combined. He just doesn't know it," Mason fills in the blanks in my thoughts as if he could read them. And I forgot he can. 

Mase sighs as he looks down at his hands and tries to take off the cords himself without asking for help. I let him struggle a little before I carefully take his hands in mine, gently taking off the bungee cord.

I know it's not his fault and that he will probably never ask for help. The alpha in him is a lot stronger and more headstrong than my Loyro. 

But it's nice to catch him in small moments like this that make me feel like I can actually be there for him. 

As I carefully untie his wrist, he gently nudges his mark on my shoulder and I tilt my head to give him full access. His soft kiss warming the sensitive spot and for the first time, I see that strong fortress he built around himself just crumbling slightly for me. 

"Mason," I sigh his name as I take his hands in mine and give them a gentle squeeze. Just him resting his head against my shoulder made some of the pain go away. 

"Guys?" Noah's voice breaks my contact with Mason, turning to find Noah yawning softly as he just wakes up. Both Mason and I freeze, holding our breath as he slowly tilts his head towards us and smiles.

"You guys look terrified," He giggles and Mason slowly lets go of me. When he does so, I feel him retreating back into himself as I grip onto the backward couch and try to stand. 

"Do you remember what happened?" I ask and he raised his brows. 

"Of course I do and it was absolutely amazing, my favorite part had to be when you chained Mason to the couch. You two are so cute and sexy when you actually like each other for a change," Noah mentions like we knew whatever the hell we did. 

"I remember you went into heat and we found you," I slowly retrace my steps and Noah stretches to crack his back. 

"Well, it's been three days since then sweetheart. We've been in here that whole time and I think all of our neighbors moved out," He says with a soft smile before getting up and shuffling over to my closet. Tossing on one of my hoodies and a pair of his boxers he quietly moved over to the bathroom with Mason and I trailing him with our eyes. 

"I'm going to start the shower so it'll get warm for you two. Why don't you wash up and I'll start cleaning up this disaster," he smiles and looks slightly different when he stands. Almost a little taller than before he shifted and his eyes were lit up in a brighter blue that was almost cyan. 

He even smelled slightly different. 

But that can't possibly be due to his first shift.

"Do you think he drugged us?" Mason asks and I elbow him. 

"No, our wolves took over our human bodies and didn't let us have any fun," I grunt as I stand up almost fall to my knees if it hadn't been for the wall and Mase beside me. 

"I'm just saying I want to take part in whatever it is he's smoking," Mason chuckles as he tries to support me when he can barely support himself. 

"What?" I choke and hold back my laughter cause I know it hurts so much that it will probably give me a hernia. 

"What are you two laughing about?" Noah asked and both of us go silent as we continue our painful march to the bathroom.

"Nothing hon," I comment to try to put him at ease but Mason's snickering wasn't helping. Noah just rolls his eyes as he goes into the closet to grab the cleaning supplies while Mase and I close the bathroom door behind us.