He stepped back. The instant onslaught of cleaners hit him again and he closed his eyes against the smell, against seeing any anger on Jackson’s face. He couldn’t believe he did that. Pushing into his space, forcing Jackson into letting him -“What’s going on?”“The smell.” He forced himself to talk, but kept his eyes shut. He wouldn’t make Jackson wait for an answer this time. Jackson had been so good to him, so far, but Jackson’s heart was still pounding. He was angry. He had to be so angry. “The cleaners used-” His words cut off as a scraping sound filled the room and a gust of wind diluted the scent.Wren opened his eyes. Jackson was leaning against the window sill. He smiled and shook his head. “Wren, you have got to start talking to me. Tell me when things are wrong or hard. Let me know.”Wren stared. He couldn’t figure out what was happening. Jackson… wasn&rs

Jackson woke up to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom. It took him a minute to realize why that was wrong, then he jolted out of bed only to slam to a stop outside the bathroom door. He couldn’t just walk in on Wren in the shower. It wasn’t Kia in there.Jackson crawled back onto his bed with his laptop. There were a lot of orientation things going on throughout the day. Jackson was going to skip most of them. He had no interest in whatever motivational things the bigwigs in charge of the school had to say. Lunch on the quad would be interesting though, at least if Wren was interested in going.He pulled open his list of names to keep an eye out for. Most of his peers that he wanted Wren to be able to eavesdrop on were a bit older than him so they wouldn’t share many, if any, classes. Again, he cursed the fact that his dad had him moved out of the best dorm on campus.The shower shut off. Several minutes passed and the door clicked

Jackson stepped back into the room. Wren hadn’t even twitched from his position. The pizza was untouched on the plate. Jackson wanted to reach for it, move it away, but Wren could still be a little protective over his food and with him already tense, Jackson wanted him to have his space.“Are you ok?” Jackson asked. Wren flinched at his voice and didn’t answer. Jackson ran over the conversation in his head. He’d been so focused on Liam that he wasn’t sure what part made Wren so upset. The information about Kia had surprised him, but he hadn’t looked upset at it.“Gay means… You have sex with men?” Wren’s voice was shaky in a way Jackson had never heard it before.Jackson was struck all over again by how much Wren didn’t know. “Yeah, in my case. I’m interested in men to date and potentially have sex with. Kia’s interested in women, though she’s never been with anyone.

Muffled whines woke Jackson up. The window was wide open, the room was a couple steps past chilly, but his quilt was much thicker than the hotel blanket had been. The moon was full and bright enough to light the room up.Jackson rolled over to stare at the Wren shaped lump across on his bed. Another whine filled the room. Jackson started to push the blanket off, started to go wake Wren up, but he stopped. Wren flinched back from touch as a human when Jackson initiated it. It was only when he was a wolf that Wren seemed more comfortable with touch.The next whine cut off half way through and an audible gasp of air came from Wren’s bed. Jackson watched as Wren lay still, then rolled over. His eyes glinted in the moonlight. For several seconds, they stared at each other.What was there to say? Nothing Jackson could say would make anything Wren had gone through any better. The silence stretched between them. Wren tugged the blanket tighter around him and Jacks

Wren and Zain were off frolicking in the woods. Jackson was waiting for a call and Liam was chowing down on the pasta Jackson had delivered.“Just gonna skip your afternoon class?” Liam asked around a mouthful of food.Jackson scowled at him. “Did no one teach you to not speak with your mouth full.”Liam swallowed and grinned, “Sure they did, but they ain’t here now, are they?”Jackson rolled his eyes, but smiled so Liam would know he didn’t really care. “Grandma said she’d call half an hour ago. I’m not going to risk missing the call.”“You never explained why you don’t call more. How long did you say it’s been since you last saw them?”“Six years.” Six years. He had been twelve the last time he’d been allowed to see his grandparents. “We can only talk when they go into town and use a payphone and I borrow someone else&rsq