The question made Leo’s breath catch in his throat. The chill that flooded his veins and engulfed him entirely was worse than it usually felt. When he was confronted with the same question in his dreams.

  In the dreams, he always said no. Always.

  “That’s really what you wanna ask me? We’re all alone in a dark, kind of smelly storage room. Where’s your imagination?” Leo tried, but Ivan gave him a look, urging him to continue.

  Leo took a deep breath and looked at the floor. “Yes.”

  He waited for a reaction. Just one word, and he could already feel his heart racing. He didn't know why he had said yes. Maybe something about the way Ivan was looking at him had dragged the answer out from the deepest part of his heart. Or maybe he was allowed to finally tell someone, and he had taken it. Maybe because he knew that Ivan wouldn't tell anyone because he couldn't afford to let anyone find out about them either.

  “Oh.”

  Leo frowned and looked up at the other boy. “Oh?”

  “Nothing, it’s just… surprising, I guess.”

  They sat in silence for an awkward stretch of time, their revelations hanging in the air between them. Leo could feel the pain in his head subsiding, but it wasn't completely gone. He switched on his phone and glanced down at the time. Only fifteen minutes had passed.

  “Do any of your friends know?” Ivan suddenly asked with piqued interest.

  Leo laughed bitterly. “If any of them knew, we wouldn't be friends.”

  They settled back into silence. Leo wanted to stop talking about this. “What about you? Never had a crush? I don’t believe you.”

  Ivan, seeming to catch onto this fact, rolled his eyes and went with his change of topic. “You feeling any—”

  “Hey, give that back!” They heard a voice shout from outside the door, followed by a chorus of giggles. Leo didn’t have to look down at his phone to know what time it was already. They glanced at the door. Leo could see shadowed footsteps appearing and then disappearing under the crack beneath the door as the hallway began to fill up with students. One of the footsteps stopped right in front of the door, and they watched a hand reach down and grab a blue pen that had fallen by their feet.

  “We should probably get going. Janitor'll be here soon.” Ivan said. Leo glanced at him and watched as he got up, placed the paint bucket exactly where he had found it and left the room. Leo waited a few minutes and then did the same.

  Once outside, he scanned the busy hallway and spotted Amirah standing by her locker. She was wearing a pair of baggy blue jeans and a white knitted sweater that she constantly swore she had seen in Gilmore Girls. Her curls were flowing down her shoulders, and Leo could see one strand of the white ribbon tied at the back of her head.

  When she saw him approaching, she smiled. “Hey, what are you doing here so early?”

  Leo shrugged, then looked around them. “Hey. Where are the others? There’s no way that they’re this late.”

  Amirah snorted, “You never know with them. Theo’s been coming to school halfway through the third period for, like, three days now. But Mei walked by here a couple of minutes ago.”

  She pointed down the hall to a group of people that were huddled in front of a classroom. “And Parker is somewhere over there.”

  “I need to grab some books quickly,” Leo said, and Amirah lifted her backpack onto her shoulders and fell into step beside him as they walked to his locker.

  “Did you hear that we have a meeting today?” She asked.

  Leo shook his head. A meeting about what? Nothing was really going on in the pack

  “What's it about?”

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  “Your dad never told you?”

  “No.” Leo had left the house earlier than usual, so he hadn't even known there was a meeting. He hadn't seen his dad since he had gone to bed last night, so he wouldn't have found out later that afternoon.

  Amirah shrugged. “No idea. But my mom said that it’s an important one. All the pack leaders are going, which she isn't too happy about… but anyway—I mean, I don't know why, because she used to tell me she loved those things. Or maybe it was just to get me to go when we were kids?….”

  Amirah paused, then turned to him. “What were we talking about again?”

  Leo smiled, shaking his head. “Pack meeting.” When they reached his locker, he grabbed some books from his backpack and threw them into his locker.

  “Oh right, I forgot to tell you! The Crawlers are coming too, and you know that—that never means anything good.”

  Leo stared at her, his eyes widening. This would be their second meeting with the Crawlers in the same month. This definitely couldn’t be good.

  — — —

  The meeting room was full today. They were in the usual meeting room, but this time all the blinds had been drawn closed to prevent prying eyes. Leo glanced across the large, wooden table, expecting to see Ivan’s hateful glare, but there was only a blind-covered window staring up at him. Ivan probably loved this stuff, and not just the fights, even the boring ones that were just two hours of reports.

  Amirah had told him that it was so important, they hadn’t allowed any children but him and Rohan into the meeting. They hadn't even allowed the Deltas or any spouses. So it was only his parents, Rohan’s parents, their Beta — Amirah’s mom — and Ivan’s dad.

  His dad said, his gaze briefly moving over Leo then back to the rest of the people at the table. “We are extremely grateful that you all managed to make it.”

  “I think we can skip the formalities, Reyes. We all know why we were called here today.” When Alpha Kohli started speaking, Leo focused his full attention on the other man. No one ever spoke to his dad like that, especially not rival Alphas. What was this meeting about?

  His father’s features hardened, and the fabricated smile he had previously put on dropped. He signalled to a man in his twenties who had been camouflaged against the shadows in the corner of the room. The man handed his father a file with shaky movements, and the second one in his hand slipped between his arms and spilt papers over the floor.

  “Shit. I- I’m sorry. I swear I’ll….” The man started to say something, then trailed off when he met the impatient look on his father’s face. He bent down to pick up the papers, but his father put a hand on the other boy’s shoulder. “It’s fine. You can go now, Harrison. Thank you.”

  When Harrison left the room, his father opened the file and spread its contents onto the large wooden table. Gasps filled the room, and Leo didn’t understand why until he glanced down at the pictures. The pictures, both wide and up close, contained horrific images of dead animals soaked in blood somewhere in a forest.

  Leo’s eyes widened, and then he felt his lip curl in disgust. This had to be the work of witches and wizards.

  His father cleared his throat, and the room settled back into silence.

  A man who looked vaguely similar to Ivan grabbed one of the pictures and turned it around. “A few weeks ago we found out that there have been dead animals rotting in our lands. Now our conduit has been activated, which means our power is increasing. We’re getting more powerful, at a rate that’s almost thirty per cent faster than before.”

  Leo frowned. Why would you reveal that you were becoming more powerful to your greatest enemy?

  “What does that have to do with us?” His mom asked, giving him a hard stare.

  Leo saw the other man’s jaw clench, something he had seen Ivan do countless times. “We still have to do an autopsy to confirm, but we think it was a witch coven. The elders estimate at least 200 of them… maybe more.”

  Alpha Kohli leaned closer to the table, his posture maintaining its rigidity. “These photos look almost identical, which means yours is also likely the result of a convent, and you know just as well as I do that you don’t have the resources to fight this alone.”

  Luna Rani glanced at her husband and then back to Leo’s father. “We need to put aside this territory feud. At least for now.”

  Leo’s eyes widened at what that implied. Holy shit, the Crawlers were asking them for help.

  Amirah’s mom stood up curtly. “If you think that we would ever need your help, you are wasting your time here.”

  “If you can’t put your ego away for even twenty minutes, then you really haven’t changed at all, Gabriel.” Alpha Kohli turned from her and fixed his dark brown eyes intensely on his dad. Alpha Kohli's face was neutral, but his voice had revealed everything his face was attempting to hide.

  His father scoffed. “We’re done here. Just talking about this has gotten us nowhere.”

  His father stood up, and all of his pack members, including Leo, followed suit. “This meeting is over…for good this time. ”

  He crossed the room and walked towards the exit. Right as he stepped over the threshold of the door, Alpha Kohli's arm gripped his elbow firmly. “You’re going to regret this, Reyes.” He whispered into his ear.

  His father tugged his arm from the other man’s iron-clad grip, and he rubbed away the crease in his suit. He glanced at the other man, eyes glowing a bright yellow. “And I’ll deal with it if I have to.”