Mate Mysteries

Chapter 12

Just a little reminder that I've made a discord server for writers/readers over the age of 16! Here's an invite: https://discord.gg/VXt4dbw

(you can manually type this, or click the link in my BIO) It would be great to see you there!

- Sian

Pip looked up when the door to the library creaked. Krey poked his head through, his brown and black ears flopping forward. "Have you washed your paws?" Pip asked.

Krey nodded and made a low noise as if to say of course!

"Alright, come in then." Krey hurried to Pip. His claws scratched against the wood. He stood on the couch with his front two paws and waited for Pip to rub his neck. "Good run?" Pip asked, grinning at Krey's wagging tail hitting the table.

Krey made another low noise as if to say Always! He tried to lick Pip's face, but Pip pulled back. He patted his knee instead and Krey sat next to him on the couch. Krey rested his big head on Pip's legs, dangling his four paws off the side.

Pip rubbed the soft fur on Krey's ears and read his book. Krey soon fell asleep, as he often did in his wolf form. His soft snores made Pip a little sleepy too. When he couldn't finish a page without half closing his eyes, he put his book down and curled up against Krey.

The wolf was beyond comfortable to lie against. Pip gripped his warm fur and rested a head on Krey's arm. Sleep soon engulfed him, and Pip fell into a dream about Jordan trying to push him from the window of Krey's office.

Pip woke half an hour later when he rolled off the couch and hit the wood with a thud. In his dream, he had been falling from the window and about to crack his head open on the stone yard below.

Pip rubbed his sore shoulder and sat up, coming face to face with a sleeping wolf. Pip softly scratched the top of Krey's head who didn't stir. Then he rubbed his own eyes, frowning from his dream. Reoccurring dreams had often meant something to Pip. Whether his subconscious mind knew where he had lost something or knew where he needed to go to feel better, his dreams were tunnels into the thoughts he suppressed.

Why do I keep dreaming of Jordan pushing me from the window? Maybe Pip felt bad that Jordan had met his unfortunate end by being pushed from the window he looked from every morning. If that was the case, surely Pip would have felt bad a year and eight months ago, when it happened.

Pip stood and stretched and looked to the book propped on the table. His head was too busy to read. He thought about crawling back under Krey's paws and lying against him until he woke. The thought was nice for his heart, but his head wanted to go to Krey's office.

Why?

Pip found himself walking down the narrow attic stairs anyway, and along the corridor towards their bedroom. He turned right through the heavy stairwell door and jumped down the steps, two at a time. Pip soon stood in front of the dark wood of Krey's office door. Krey had started locking the door after him.

Pip sighed and leaned against it when it wouldn't open. He looked up to the metal name, Roden Graymer. Krey didn't want to change it. Even now, he struggled to admit that his father wouldn't come back and reclaim the office.

Pip traced his fingers along the engraved metal, wondering if Roden would have really liked him, like Krey said. As he trailed the last few letters, the metal slab clicked slightly to the right. Pip tugged on the side, and the metal glided a little more. Something behind the nametag caught Pip's eye. He stood on tiptoes and glided the metal until the name had slid from its plastic casing.

The thing that caught Pip's eye hit the floor with a loud clang. Pip looked to his feet to see an old brassy key. He quickly looked left and right, but he was the only one on the corridor.