*****

*Jayden*

I was barely awake when someone grabbed my arm to drag me out of bed and stumbled over my feet to keep up with them. The explosive sound that had just gone off had my ears ringing and my head pounding. It was so loud. Definitely not a good way to be woken up.

"Jayden!" I heard Corey's frightened shout between many other screams.

"He's fine," Zeke called back. I opened my eyes to see that Zeke was the one that had dragged me from the trailer before my eyes drew to the people running around us in panic and the smoke looming overhead.

"What the fuck just happened?!" Kaden shouted.

"They said someone planted a bomb in the kitchen. Help me get everyone as far away from here as possible." Sean said grabbing a little girl that was currently screaming her lungs out as she cried. No one seemed to be with her so I suspected that she had lost her parents in the chaos.

"Where's Trent?!" Corey's voice came again and I looked around trying to find him, he stood amongst our friends looking around.

"He's getting the girls," Zeke replied. I pulled my arm from his hand and turned around before gasping. The restaurant was on fire... and there were fuel tanks behind us. Who the heck would set something alight at a gas station in the middle of practically nowhere?!

"Guys! Stop staring at it and help me get people away from it!" Sean shouted at us.

I glanced around. There were quite a few people running around screaming, others in cars trying to get out of the parking lot without hurting anyone but being blocked by more cars and people. It looked like less than one hundred people, but definitely more than fifty.

"Jayden, get out of here." Corey's voice drew my attention back to him.

"No. I'm helping." I stated. He opened his mouth, undoubtedly to protest, but I continued, "I may not be as fast and strong as you are but I'm a lot faster than you think! I'm not leaving!" I left before he could argue and I grabbed an old woman and a guy not too far from her.

"What are you –?" The man was silenced by the fact that we were over 200 meters from the gas station in just a couple of seconds. I turned to head back but was held back when he grabbed hold of me.

"Wait!" He shouted, "My wife – she-she was in the bathroom, she's short and has blonde –" he was saying but I left before he could finish. One of the others would find her if I did not, I was certain of that.

We went back and forth with people until they were all safe in the field and the fuel station blew up. I looked around trying to spot the man from earlier and was relieved to see that he had found his wife. They, like everyone else, were either staring at us or the station in shock.

"Alright, now what do we do? They've all seen what we can do." Zeke hissed.

"We compel them to forget," Kaden replied as he walked up to a woman to speak to her. Izabella, Rita and Trent followed his lead but before I could, Corey grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face him. The first thing I noticed was that his blue eyes had gone completely dark.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" He snapped at me, "It might not have been a direct order but you can't just disrespect my authority like that."

"Stop telling me what to do! I'm not part of your pack, you're not my Beta; you can't order me to do anything –"

"As long as we're out here, I damn-well am your Beta! You –"

"This is not the time or place for the two of you to be arguing! Both of you shut up!" Hayley interrupted him.

Corey and I glared at each other for a few seconds but I felt my glare fading as a look overtook his narrowed eyes that made me wonder if he regretted the wish he didn't make. It hurt. I let out a sigh turning away from him to walk up to some random kid.

"That was awesome – you guys are so fast!" He jumped while grinning up at me. I chuckled.

"Yeah?" I knelt down placing my hands on his shoulders as I looked into his eyes dark eyes, "The station blew up and you don't know how you ended up here."

His face turned confused and he looked around before his gaze returned to my face. "Who are you?" He mumbled.

"No one, go find your mother." I stood up and made my way to the next person.

-----

"So... do you think they had insurance on that car?" Izabella spoke after everyone had been silent for a while. I would have laughed if not in such a bad mood.

"I doubt." Kaden chewed his lip while looking back towards the station.

"It'll be fine, we'll figure out what to do later," Sean told him. "Right now... We just have to get back home."

"We can't walk all the way back." Hayley frowned.

"We have to. We already used more money than we were meant to, we're only got enough left for food at this point." Trent said.

I zoned out of the conversation as I glanced back at Corey. He wasn't paying attention to the talking. Was not even walking with everyone, instead trailing a few feet behind all of us, his hands buried in the pockets of his sweat-pants while his head hung letting a mess of blond hair shield some of his face. It wasn't his fault... He was supposed to act like he cared. That was what mates did. Especially Alphas and Betas, they were ridiculously careful and protective when it came to their mates. I hated seeing him upset... I held my breath slowing my walking until I was behind everyone and he caught up to me. He looked up a little surprised to have someone beside him but immediately turned his head back down when our eyes met, I didn't miss the frown he gave me though.

'I'm sorry.' I linked him hoping he was not blocking me out at the moment.

'No. I am... I shouldn't act like you're a child.' He replied.

'It's... nice... that you care.' I linked to him again. I was glad he did and that he showed it given how we started off. I instantly felt better seeing a small smile play on his face as he kept his eyes on the tar at our feet.

We dove into a comfortable silence as we kept at our own pace listening to the others joke around, their voices occasionally drowning out as a car drove by us.

'Your nightmare... What was it about?' I was a little startled by the sound of Corey's voice in my head after being quiet for so long but just shrugged at the question.

"I can't remember," I replied out loud.

'Right.' He knew I was lying and obviously wasn't very happy about it.

I didn't care. I wasn't going to tell him. I wasn't going to tell anyone. The last thing I needed was more of their concern... more pity. The last thing I needed was for everyone to think of me as even weaker or look at me differently. I especially did not want Corey to... Besides, I didn't want to have to recall everything that happened. It was enough that the nightmares started again... and my 'behavioural problems', I didn't want to have to think about it or envision it more than I already had. It was always so vivid and draining. Joe wasn't going to let it go this time...

"Don't tell Joe," I spoke up. I regretted not linking to Corey when everyone else stopped and looked over at me. I opened my mouth to brush off what I had just said but my mind had gone blank for a second.

"Don't tell him? It's... a little late for that, Jayden." Corey said. I looked at him to find his eyes focused on the field behind me, avoiding mine.

"You already have? Why did you call him?! It was one time. One nightmare. Everyone has nightmares." Wasn't calling Joe a little dramatic of a response to that?

"Kade says you're lying." Corey looked at me.

"You told him?" I turned to Kaden.

He shrugged, "He asked, and –"

"You can't just tell anyone about stuff like that!" I cut him off.

"What is going on?" Adan spoke looking absolutely confused, as did everyone else except Kaden who shook his head at me.

"I won't apologise. He isn't anyone, he's your mate and I assumed it was cool to tell him because of that. What's the big deal, Jayden? He knows – everyone here knows about your father and we're all here to help you –" Kaden was saying.

"I don't need help! They're just nightmares. Everyone has fucking nightmares. It'll go away like it did last time. As for my dad, that is not anyone's business. So back off and keep your mouth shut." I snapped at him. He looked taken back before his brows lowered but Rita spoke before he could.

"Before anyone says anything else, can we stop the bus?" I turned to see a bus coming and clenched my jaw as the others called for it to stop. It slowed down before stopping right in front of us and I stared at the tyres to avoid looking at anyone around me.

"Hello, Sir. We need a ride to the closest town. Would you happen to have a few extra seats open?" Adan spoke to the bus driver. The man studied each of us before he spoke.

"You kids look pretty beat, you must have been walking a long time. Get in." He said.

"We'll pay you when we get there because we don't have any –" Sean was saying.

"It's alright. You don't have to." The man smiled.

"Thank you so much," Corey said leading us in. The bus was pretty full but there were enough seats open for us. I sat down right behind the driver, next to an old woman. There were more seats open towards the back but I didn't want to be close to anyone I could have an argument with at the moment and Kaden and Corey both sat pretty close to everyone else in the rear seats.

As the bus began to move, I sighed closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the seat. My mind felt so clouded, I was still so mad at them. I just needed to write so I could get out of my own head. Shit. My eyes tightened in dismay as I remembered. The car was gone which meant my guitar was gone and that my book and everything in it was gone. The day could not have gotten any worse.

I frowned opening my eyes while feeling a buzz against my leg. At least I still had my phone. I pulled it from my pocket and felt my body tense slightly at the number displayed on the screen. Great... I stand corrected. It could get worse.

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