So, I had to change the order of this and the next two chapters because I was made aware of the weird timing I was writing this story with. So, if you could all re-read?

11. Σχέδια

Alana was a busy person, but she was also driven, and a sucker for things that 'mattered to people', which though sometimes misguided in its outward response, was a nice sentiment. Jared knew for a fact that she would be completely on board with his idea, so long as he was sneaky about it.

Jared couldn't go to the orchard, not when the scent of ash had almost drowned him last time, but he couldn't let whatever was causing the smell to happen to remain there, not when it was obviously affecting people. Jared could literally not care less about Murphy, but Evan? Sure the omega had lied about his animal, but Jared couldn't blame him, claiming to be too small to fuck and dealing with the consequences was probably easier than admitting to being more dangerous than most - if not all - of the alphas at school and dealing with the entire alpha percentage of alumni - and maybe a few teachers, Jared wouldn't be surprised - trying to subdue him.

Everything else could be easily explained as the effects of whatever was making the orchard smell like ash; the weird behavior, the hiding things, the sudden interest in the older Murphy, so on.

Obviously whatever it was had Murphy wrapped around its metaphorical finger, and had given him the closest omega available to keep him submissive; it was too bad for "the ash" - as Jared named it to save time - had picked Jared's omega. Once the alpha got rid of "the ash" Evan would be back to his usual self, following Jared around like a lost puppy, only now Jared would be able to sink his teeth into him.

See, Jared had a plan. A plan that involved convincing Alana to help him 'revive' the old orchard, that way having professionals take care of the issue; he was sure people who worked on those kind of things would know what "the ash" was and how to deal with it.

With the thing gone Evan would come back to him, and maybe Murphy would re-bound to a moment in his life where he wasn't a psycho, but the point would be that they'd go their separate ways, Murphy to fuck knew where, and Evan back to him; and Jared would then keep him safe, and Evan would beg him to mate.

Because Jared could remember clearly Evan having no scent until a few days after he presented, and everyone knew dragons were always dragons, so obviously Evan was a half-breed of some sort, or the dragon thing was a rare-case genetic thing, like green eyes; Jared chose to believe in a combination of both, considering Evan's absentee father, and the fact that Evan already had green eyes so why not also dragon genes. Either way, Jared's genes should make sure their pups came out normal; and the fact that Evan was three times his size meant Jared could have him breed plenty of those.

Back to finding Alana to get her into the plan - without her knowing the truth behind it -; a feat not many would consider hard to achieve, but here Jared was. He eventually found her in the library, taking over half a table to work on a presentation for some class, or one of the thousands of clubs she ran.

He approached her with his most charming smile.

"Alana Beck, just the person I was looking for"

.. - .-. ... / - ... . / - - - / .-. - ...- / .-. .-. .-..

Heidi Hansen was a busy woman.

Having to take up work after Evan's father left, having to provide for herself and her child while also keeping the house, and paying for her classes so she could get her title and work on something better; it was a lot, so it was only natural that the times spent at her home were few and far in between. However, just because she spent so little time there, didn't mean she didn't notice when a new smell started lingering inside the walls, still fainter than Evan's scent, or her own, but definitely there.

So, the moment she realized the scent lingered most potently on her son, she was quick to make sense of what it was, what it meant, and when it had started. That summer, Evan had made a tentative friend, who he spent the last week of it with, a boy who wrote his name on Evan big and bold for everyone to see, and Evan had seemed perfectly ok with that which was very telling, and now the new scent; all the signs pointed to her boy having found an alpha that was interested in him.

Asking about this sort of thing should have been normal, if a bit awkward, but they weren't normal, they couldn't risk just anyone; Evan's dad, though a cheating ass, had at the very least never opened his mouth about Evan, Heidi knew because otherwise they would've had the government on their doorstep that February day.

So when she finally had the time to talk with him, even if shortly, she decided to bring it up, carefully, it could always be that she was reading too much into it. As she came inside she found Evan curled in the sofa, computer in his lap, probably writing one of the letters for Dr. Sherman.

"Hey honey, how was school?"

Evan looked up at her and gave an awkward smile.

"Uh, well, actually- I uh, saw Connor and we talked between classes so"

Heidi smiled encouragingly.

"What about Jared?"

"Oh uhm, you see, Jared is angry at me right now, because he thinks- he thinks Connor isn't good for me- for anyone, and I, well, I defended him because, you know, he's my friend too, and he's not like- like people think"

"Do you think maybe Jared was jealous?"

"Of me? I don't think so? They seem to hate each other"

Heidi chuckles.

"I was thinking more on the lines of him being jealous of Connor"

Evan looks at her like she grew a second head.

"See, that makes even less sense"

"Why? The two of you've been side by side for so long, he might be"

Evan looks away from her.

"Not after today he's not"

Heidi pauses, it was obviously not meant for her to hear, but now she's worried.

"What happened today?"

Evan whirls towards her, face pale; they stare at each other for a bit before he closes his eyes.

"I- you see, Connor, he's- he's like me, only not really because he's a shape shifting dragon, and I- I told him the truth"

Heidi smiles patiently at him as he starts playing with his shirt, eyes anywhere but at her own, going to an almost fetal position as he shifts back and forth.

"But see, Connor wanted me to show him, because everyone at school is convinced I'm a fox, so we went somewhere no one would see, but Jared- Jared was still mad about the Connor thing, so he followed us, and- he knows, he know I'm a dragon, and Connor told him to keep quiet but I- I think it's gonna blow up on my face soon"

Heidi sits down on the couch with him, her legs suddenly feeling weak; on the one hand she knows now that the boy interested in her son is safe, or safer than any other, but she now has to worry about Jared. It isn't the first time she's had to keep a close eye on a Kleinman, the boy must get his inconvenient timing from his father, but she thinks that if she plays it right, it will be the last.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do, you will talk with Connor, bring him over tomorrow after school, you're gonna need him in on this if you don't want to attract the wrong attention"

The plan was to divert the attention, alphas needed to show off, if there was no one to interest in the secret then there was no use to it; or, in this case, if there was no one to believe Jared, then he wouldn't open his mouth. They would have to play up to Jared's jealousy of Connor, Heidi would man the Kleinman parents, while Evan and Connor would have to do their classmates; that was, if the alpha agreed in the first place, Heidi had a feeling he would though.