"We're going home?" Celeste frowned at Jeremy's words. Were they safe now?
After the brutal attack by Kent and his rogues, the pack had gathered in their secret hideout. Celeste thought they would have to stay for a while longer. But now they were leaving already?
"Why so suddenly? Did something happen?" She took the breakfast as Jeremy handed it to her.
"No. Nothing to worry about." Jeremy shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile. "We've sent werewolves out to keep an eye on the rogues. And it turned out they had a disagreement and the rogues are now in another town. For now, our pack is safe. And since the traitor doesn't know our whereabouts, it's better if we split up."
Celeste nodded. It made sense. Besides, the members of the pack had their own life to tend to. If they were absent for too long, it would raise suspicion.
But another thought crept into Celeste's mind. Once the pack left, Nancy wouldn't be able to sneak into Jeremy's room in the middle of the night and ask him for a hug or a kiss. Realizing what she was thinking, Celeste felt her ears turn hot. She was helpless.
As a result, the werewolves went back to their houses.
Life seemed to be finally getting back on track. The parents went to work, which left Celeste in the care of Jeremy.
Celeste didn't see anything bad about that. Her wolf needed Jeremy. And she was free from Nancy and any of her snarky comments.
But now, it was just the two of them stuck together in the house. Things felt ten times awkward.
Her wolf was still feeble, so she relies heavily on Jeremy's company to give her peace of mind and help her heal faster. But the bad thing about that was her wolf couldn't stand a minute of them being apart. Every time Jeremy was gone, the wolf was anxious and restless.
But when they were in the same room, both of them fell into silence. Every conversation seemed to end quickly because they were too busy staring at each other to keep track of the conversation. In other cases, they were dancing around the topic they didn't want to discuss yet.
Celeste struggled to remember how they got along with each other before the transformation. But her memory seemed to have vanished altogether. And it seemed impossible to get rid of the awkwardness every time they were in the same room.
Celeste didn't know why they were able to talk to each other less awkwardly in the hideout.
Perhaps it was the dim moonlight that shone through the small window? Or the murky environment that made them both open up? Or perhaps, it was Jeremy's sleep-deprived mind and her groggy feeling after just waking up? Either way, the easy conversation seemed like a distant dream.
In the end, they decided to ease their awkwardness by keeping themselves busy. Celeste asked Jeremy to bring her a book to read while Jeremy played his video games.
They sat quietly in the living room, each focusing on their own time killers. Jeremy sat across from her, his eyes glued to the screen. He seemed to be playing some sort of shooting game, nothing that Celeste could understand. The moving graphics made her dizzy, but she was grateful that they didn't have to make eye contact with each other.
Celeste held the book between herself and Jeremy, her eyes scanning each line and her brain racing to decipher the meanings. However, the letters seemed like symbols with no meaning. She read slowly, parsing each line with great diligence, but once finished, she found herself oblivious to exactly what she had just read.
So she had to start over again, and her gaze jumped back to the beginning. But every time her gaze moved, it would inevitably wander outside the edge of the page and fall discreetly on where Jeremy sat. Sometimes, Jeremy seemed to sense her eyes and turned around to look at her. But her gaze flitted to the page immediately.
In those moments, she felt her heartbeat accelerate, desperately hoping he wouldn't hear the pounding in her chest.
Ten minutes slipped by, but Celeste had yet to even finish a single page. Even on the rare occasion that she managed to power through it, her mind was already wandering elsewhere, unable to absorb anything of substance. Of course, it wasn't her fault for the book being so densely packed with arcane vocabulary, right?
Jeremy seemed to be fully engrossed in his game. But apparently, he was not very good at it. he had died countless times already. He scrunched up his face in frustration but still didn't give up on the game.
"You sure you know how to play this game? Looks like you've died more times than I can count!" Celeste couldn't help but comment.
"Shut up. I do know how to play!" Jeremy replied defensively. "Speaking of which, do you even want to read a book? I haven't seen you turn a single page."
Celeste paused at his comment.
What? How did he know? Was he secretly watching her, too?
As she opened her mouth to speak, a shadow flashed across the window, catching both of their attention simultaneously. Was someone sneaking outside the house? Who were they? What did they want?
Jeremy and Celeste had been highly alert ever since they went home. Better safe than sorry. They were fearful that the rogues might return for another strike at any moment.
They looked at each other in silence. They both frowned.
"Who's there? Could it be the rogues again?" Celeste whispered to Jeremy. Her face was pale. Her shoulder seemed to be in pain again.
"I will check it out. Don't worry. I'm here. No one is gonna hurt you."