Some cry with tears;

Others with thoughts.

Octavio Paz

This time, there were no wolves howling at night. It was quiet outside, strangely so. The only thing Daphne could hear were the ocean waves lapping at the shore, the wind flowing through the trees and shaking the leaves.

She slept curled up on the side, her hands clenched into the soft blankets, nervousness forming in the pit of her stomach.

The next day would be her first day at her new school. Daphne would attend that school all through the rest of her junior and her senior year and to be honest, she was terrified.

She had always liked school, had like learning, but she had never liked any of her fellow students. They picked on her, first because she was smaller and lighter and because they could hurt her without her really being able to do anything against it and then later because she was the odd one that didn't have any friends. She was the weird one, the girl that had gotten detention for falling asleep in class because she had been awake until 3 am scrubbing the floor in the small shop around the corner and had then come home only to find her mother passed out on the floor in her own vomit.

Nobody had ever seen the bruises, the black eyes, the ribs that had been tender for weeks. Nobody had ever cared about the cough that hadn't gotten any better for nearly three months until Daphne had gotten her hands on old antibiotics.

She blended into the background, only coming out from there to be hurt and then hiding away again.

Daphne was the easy target and that she would continue to be that for the rest of her life.

Her new phone woke her the next morning and she got dressed slowly, her back still protesting. It wasn't healing, wasn't getting better and Daphne knew that she should do something against it but she didn't know what.

She kept it as clean and dry as she could, which was difficult enough but she couldn't reach her back and the cuts reopened constantly. She wore cotton shirts under her clothing to not ruin it and hoped that with time it would heal over.

It had always in the past.

She packed her new backpack, put on her new earrings and the necklace, put her new small sketchbook on top of the rest of her things and then went downstairs.

Caroline was already making breakfast and badgered her into eating a bowl of porridge. Matthew was already at work and Oliver showed up halfway through Daphne's breakfast and shovelled too much food in not enough time in his mouth.

Then, they got dressed for school, Daphne putting on her boots and her parka over the grey jumper that she wore. The sky outside was grey that morning and Caroline fluttered around the living room, seemingly even more nervous than Daphne was.

"Oh, we forgot to get you a hat!" Her aunt suddenly exclaimed. "And a Scarf. And gloves." Before Daphne could protest, her aunt was searching through the closet in the hallway for something for Daphne to wear.

It would have been fine. Daphne had survived Winter in New York without a scarf and a hat. Even when she had oftentimes yearned for that.

"Oh god, mum, we'll only be outside for five minutes!" Ollie huffed with a long-suffering sigh.

"It's cold outside, Ollie," Caroline said. There was more said between the two of them in one short look that only took seconds but Ollie shut up and Caroline produced a bright red beanie from the closet, pulling it over Daphne's ponytail until it covered her ears.

"There you go," her aunt told her, looping a just as red scarf around Daphne's neck. "We'll get you your own, but until then this is fine, right?" Caroline asked her anxiously.

Daphne could just nod, reaching out to touch the soft wool of the hat.

"Thanks," she brought out.

"Of course." Caroline smiled. "Now, have fun at school, do your best and don't worry." She took Daphne head in her hands and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Daphne was so startled that she couldn't help but hold still for that.

She couldn't remember Michelle ever doing that to her.

"Ollie, take care of her," Caroline said, also kissing her son on the cheek and then opening the door and herding both of them out of the house.

"Of course, I'll do that," Ollie exclaimed like even the suggestion of him no doing that was an insult to his honour. Daphne still wondered why he was even willing to spend time with her.

Daphne slipped into the passenger's seat of Ollie's red car put her backpack on her lap.

Ollie scrambled into the driver's seat, throwing his jacket on the backseat and then started the car to back out of the driveway.

"Nervous?" He asked her interest as they slowly rumbled down the unpaved pathway towards the highway.

"Yes," she answered truthfully, not caring if he thought she was a baby for being scared.

"Hey. Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise," Ollie told her and she nodded. She wished she had his positivity.

Right now, Daphne was just dreading it.

***

"Grace, I swear..." He called after his sister, to finally show up so that they could drive to school.

His wolf was already projecting annoyance, mostly because he wanted to see Daphne. And the longer his sister was taking, the longer he needed to wait until he saw his mate again.

"Calm down, Luke, we still have time," his sister huffed when she finally came out of the house."Why do you even want to go that early? Normally I am the one that needs to get on your nerves to finally get going?" Grace asked him as she slipped into the passenger seat.

He didn't answer, just started the car and got driving.

He hadn't told anybody yet. Nobody but him knew and it was...it was nice to have that secret. Nobody knew, nobody needed to know yet and he was going to keep it like that for a little while.

Luke was very much aware that he was trying to get out of explaining this to his family, to Ollie and Caroline and Matthew, to the rest of the pack and he knew that the longer he waited...the worse it was going to get when the eventual blow-up happened.

Just for a little while longer. Just until at least the funeral was behind them.

Oh, the funeral...his mother had already started making casseroles for the wake at the Hyde's home and Luke was already dreading that. Daphne seemed to be nearly...emotionless whenever her mother was mentioned.

Luke knew exactly what she doing. Namely put up a wall between herself and her emotions and not letting them overwhelm her. She hadn't cried once according to Oliver. No tears. She had seen close to them a few times, and he could smell the pain notes in her scent but she didn't want anybody to see them.

"How do you think she is going to handle finding out?" His sister asked suddenly and he could only shrug. There was only to hope that she wasn't going to have a complete freakout and be terrified of him for the rest of her life.

"I don't know," Luke answered with a sigh."I am more worried about the funeral, to be honest."

"You are more worried about the funeral than her finding out that we can turn into wolves?" Grace asked him incredulously.

"Yes. She's not dealing with her grief at all, Grace. She's pushing it down in a box and not dealing with it. And that's going to boil over sometime soon. And when that happens, it won't be pretty," he told his sister, who stayed quiet, sunken in thoughts.

At the moment he finally pulled into the parking lot and was happy to see Ollie's car already parked. He parked next to him, Grace jumping out immediately, and ignored her and Ollie kissing to get around the front of his car to get a glimpse of Daphne.

She was just getting out of her car, wearing a bright red beanie that hid her light blonde hair mostly from view. Her backpack dangled in her hand and the rest of her was swathed in a parka.

Once again, Luke was reminded of how utterly tiny she was. She looked up at him, putting a smile on her face and Luke tried to prepare himself for the onslaught of her scent.

He failed terribly.

Again it enveloped him. Warm and sweet it was there, wafting around her and the only thing that Luke could think about for a moment was how it would be to hold her in his arms and breathe in that scent from the nearest proximity possibly.

Press his nose against her neck, maybe even kiss her...no, we are not doing that, he told himself. Not if he wanted to get one of these inappropriate erections that teenage werewolves tended to have too often.

"Hey," she greeted him hesitantly and he smiled at her, careful not to show his teeth because he knew that that sometimes tended to put humans on edge.

Even in their human form, wolf teeth tended to be white and gleaming and could feel threatening even if they weren't meant that way.

"Hey," he gave back, his voice hoarse. "How was your evening yesterday?" Luke asked her, trying to think of something, anything that would break the ice.

It seemed to work. She gave him another hesitant smile. "We had dinner. I painted," she said, the simple pleasure of that apparent in her voice. It had been fun for her, he realised. Just a simple family dinner and the opportunity to spend a few hours losing herself in her paintings.

She was extremely talented, he had seen that even when he had no idea about painting. Her emotions seemed to jump from the page and become a real person in the room.

The picture of the beach had been dark and moody, the cliffs rocky and the lines shaky. It was obvious that she had been working through something when she had painted that. There was pain in that picture, pain that Luke wanted to take away and that he knew he would never be able to.

She had lost her pack, her family. And even when she wasn't alone right now, even when she was surrounded by her family and she had people around her that wanted her there...Luke knew that she would always carry that loss with her.

He watched her jump as a car door crashed shut, bitterness evading her smell. It made him jumpy as well, even when he knew that there was no threat there.

"You don't need to be scared," he told her softly, unable not to. She looked at him, blue eyes wide open.

"is it that obvious?" She whispered and he would have given everything at that moment to be able to reach out and offer her any sort of comfort. He knew he couldn't. It wouldn't be well received.

So Luke just gave her another soft smile and shrugged.

"Only slightly," he told her, trying to infuse his voice with calm."Nobody here will hurt you. I promise." At least not if they didn't want to meet him shifted. His wolf growled softly in agreement.

"Where's your locker?" He changed the topic, not liking to keep her outside for much longer. She was shaking like a leaf and he wasn't sure if that was the cold or her fear.

"113," she answered and he couldn't help but grin.

"I am 115, so we are right next to each other. Do you want to get there before classes start?" He asked her, happy that the stars had aligned in his favour. He would have one opportunity to actually be alone with her.

And to have her smile at him that way again, all soft and sweet and thankful.

"Yes, please," she whispered.

"Ollie, we are going to the lockers," he called for his friend, not receiving an answer and he didn't bother to turn around to look for him. He just smiled at Daphne.

"Come on. These two need a few more minutes. They haven't seen each other in a long time," he added only lightly sarcastically and made his way away from the car, carefully to match his long strides to Daphne's much smaller ones.

He couldn't ever be really angry at Grace and Ollie having their fun, not if it made his sister so happy to spent time with her mate.

"They saw each other yesterday afternoon," Daphne said more a question than anything else and he just shrugged.

"Yes, nearly 10 hours. And it wasn't like they didn't text throughout the evening." Still, for wolves...that were quite a few hours that they hadn't been near their mates.

Daphne turned to look towards them and Luke looked back as well, seeing Ollie reach out to tuck a piece of Grace's hair behind her ear. Ollie said something, Grace smiling at him and then kissing him again. Luke knew that if tried to listen, he would be able to hear their conversation but he made a concerted effort not too.

"They are cute," Daphne commented softly, a note of near longing in her voice, and he looked at her.

"You think so?" He asked her carefully.

"Yeah." She sighed softly. "They seem to be happy...like the couple that stay together forever. Even if that just happens in a fantasy world," she added quietly and he stared at her.

No. That didn't just happen in a fantasy world. At least not if he had anything to say about this.

This would be them in a few months if she was willing to give him a chance.

"My parents have been married since they were 22. It doesn't always just happen in fantasy worlds," he decided to say finally.

***

She was absentminded when she walked at Luke's side through the school corridors, still thinking of Ollie and Grace and how cute they had seemed at that moment, completely happy in their little world.

And then she ran headfirst in another person when they passed a corner.

"HEY!" The guy exclaimed loudly and she couldn't help but flinch and scramble backwards, trying to get away from the guy that was looming over her.

"So...sorry..." she stuttered an apology, her hands clenching in the straps of her backpack.

"Cant' you be fucking careful?!" He snapped at her and she flinched again at the loud word.

"Kyle," Luke interrupted them in a warning tone. "It was an accident. She apologised. And it wasn't even her fault, you should have paid attention as well." He said, stepping backwards as well, his hand reaching out to gently grip her arm and Daphne couldn't help but to half hide behind him.

That Kyle Guy looked terrifying. He was broadly built, like a tank and maybe wasn't as tall as Luke but probably weighed the same.

"And I know that Oliver would be upset if he heard you talk to his cousin like that," Luke continued, something in his voice that Daphne couldn't place. "I certainly am."

She watched how the other guy sneered at them and then there was an ugly smirk on his face.

"Wow, you really made a downgrade with that," he commented and Daphne couldn't help but flinch again at the way the words cut. Like she ever would have a chance with a guy looking like Luke. "Does she at least have other...benefits?"

Daphne couldn't help but turn bright red by the implication of that. She wasn't...she...

Luke didn't react other than grit his teeth, his face a stark shade of white.

His hand was on her arm then, guiding her away and she let him, wanting to go hide somewhere.

And then suddenly, there was nothing more than what sounded like a growl, before she was backed against the wall, Luke right in front of her, as Kyle had apparently reached for her.

The sudden movement disoriented her and she could only stare as it seemed like Luke seemed to nearly shake, his body turning blurry at the edges.

"Don't. You. Dare." It wasn't a threat. It was a promise. And that should have terrified Daphne but she could just stare at Luke in fascination as he stepped forwards, towards Kyle. She couldn't see his face but she saw Kyle's face and there was fear in his eyes.

That one simple step had screamed "Don't try anything with me."

"Now what seems to be the problem here?" A woman asked suddenly, maybe in her mid-sixties, grey hair cut into a bob.

"Mrs Pritchard," another guy said and Daphne turned her head, unable to realise that suddenly they weren't alone anymore, but more people were lurking around, apparently watching the drama that was unfolding.

"Jason, you seem to be cool-headed, tell me what happened here?" Mrs Prichard, probably a teacher asked the brown-haired guy who pulled a face.

"Daphne accidentally ran into Kyle. She apologised and when Kyle didn't stop to berate her, Luke interrupted. And then Kyle implied that...that Daphne was sleeping with Luke and Luke turned around to go away. And then Kyle reached for Daphne," he exclaimed and for a moment Daphne wondered, where he knew her name from.

"Now. Kyle, into my office. Right now," Mrs Prichard said calmly.

"Now." She repeated herself again when Kyle didn't move. Finally, he did walk away but not without throwing another venomous look at Daphne.

"I'll take care of that, he won't bother you again," The woman told her kindly. "I promise most of us are nice." She looked at Luke, her eyebrows furrowed. "Luke, do you need the school nurse?" She asked and Daphne stared at his back only to finally see the muscles relax slightly.

"I am fine," he said, turning towards her, giving her another smile. "Let's go to English class."

She just nodded silently, shaken up from that and followed him like a lost puppy, letting his hand on her elbow steer her towards the Englisch classroom.

"Who was he?" She finally brought out and Luke just sighed.

"Kyle Wilder. Senior. On the football team with Oliver and me and having an anger management problem," Luke explained to her. "He gets into fights constantly."

Great. And exactly that guy Daphne had managed to piss off before class had even started.

"I didn't mean to run into him," she whispered, her fear spiking again. Why did things like that always happen to her? She just wanted to hide in the background and for people to leave her in peace. Was that too much to want?

"I know you didn't. And if he would get his head out of his ass he would know that too," Luke told an edge to his voice, sitting down on a double desk near the window and prodding her in the seat next to him. She went bemused and sat down, as careful as she could shrugging out of her coat.

"Aren't I...taking the seat from somebody?" She asked him, staring at the white tabletop because she had trouble imagining that Luke didn't have people queuing to sit next to him.

"You aren't," he told her, a sunny grin on his face and she was left staring at the table again, not quite sure what that was meaning. Why was he so nice to her?

Ollie and Grace arrived then, handholding, sitting down in the row behind them.

"Everything alright?" Oliver asked her and she opened her mouth but was unable to bring the words out.

"We had a run-in with Kyle," Luke said, his voice dark and Ollie raised an eyebrow.

"What did he say to you?" He asked her and Daphne just shook her head, not wanting to...

"Oh, he just implied that she was a whore and sleeping with Luke. Called her a downgrade from Haley and then asked Luke if at least she had other benefits," the brown-haired boy from before said happily. "Luke looked ready to kill him."

"Jason," Luke said warningly but the Jason just shrugged.

"I just mean, I wonder if he's suicidal. That's the only explanation I have for why he would be trying to taunt him..." Jason continued thoughtfully.

"I...I think I need to kick the hell out of him," Ollie said and Daphne shook her head. He couldn't get into trouble for her. Not for that.