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chapter three
what's written on the cave is prophesy

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Zed is the first thing she sees when she wakes up the next morning. He's peppering her face with kisses before she even knows what's happening, tickling her sides, the sun shining brightly from where he had tied back her bedroom curtain. She groans and swats at him, attempting to hide her face under her pillow, still thoroughly exhausted from everything that had happened the day (and night) before, but he doesn't relent, snatching it away and tossing it to the end of the bed.

"Up and at 'em, Addy," he says, sounding excited. "We have a lot to do today."

"'We'?" she grumbles in question, half-hidden under her arm in a desperate attempt at finding darkness once more. She hears him laugh before he presses a cold palm against her exposed hip, squeezing playfully.

"Yes, we," he replies, like it's obvious. "Now come on. Your parents only let me in here on the promise that we'd both be down in time for breakfast." She grumbles some more before finally giving in.

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up."

Begrudgingly, she rolls over onto her back and cracks one eye open and then the other, blinking a few times as her eyes struggle to adjust to the brightness of her bedroom. Zed grins wide from where he hovers above her as soon as he sees her eyes open, one hand leaning on the bed, the other still anchored to her hip, his thumb absentmindedly rubbing circles against her skin.

He's dressed for success today, or as successful as a zombie can be in the world as it stands; his white button down shirt fits snugly against him, and he's wearing a pair of dark blue jeans that aren't ripped at the seams. It's...different from the Zed she knows. She wonders what exactly he has planned for them today.

"Good morning gorgeous," he says, his voice quieter now. "I've missed you."

She can't help but roll her eyes as she reaches her hands up and runs them through her hair, crazy and tangled from all the tossing and turning she had done through most of the night. Sleep hadn't come as easy as it should've, and she had spent most of the night thinking about Wyatt and what he had said, which wasn't something she wanted to admit to her boyfriend first thing in the morning.

"I know for a fact that I do not look gorgeous right now," she tells him instead, her eyes meeting with his. His smile turns softer, and his eyes shine against the sunlight. His lips move closer to her own.

"You're always gorgeous to me," he says, smooth as ever, before closing the distance between them. She deepens the kiss before she fully knows what she's doing, some part of her wanting more, wanting to believe she wants more, because this is them, this is love, this is their future, and she just wants to feel something more than what she's been given over the last few months. He can't ignore her here, he can't disappear with the excuse of a seven am test or midnight campus curfew.

Her hands end up in his hair, tugging him ever closer, and he nearly falls on top of her, pulling back so that he can catch his breath and readjust himself before kissing her again, both of his hands beginning to inch their way up her sides this time around.

She would be lying if she tried to say guilt didn't also fuel her, because it was. She didn't want to tell him what she had agreed to the night before, or mention how alive she had felt with Wyatt after three years of nothing, unaware that she had been craving that freedom for all these days until she stumbled right back into it. But she can't tell Zed that, not in this very moment. Not at breakfast with her parents, where they must be perfectly lovely to escape their hard scrutiny.

Maybe she will tell him later, when the moment is right. Maybe.

It's easy to get lost in the moment when she's trying so hard to forget. It's easy when his hands slip under her pajama shirt and press against her warm skin, his fingers freezing to the touch. It's easy when he's kissing her this hard, giving her everything she wants and then some, moving with her, following her lead.

There's a loud crash from downstairs, and Addison's mother curses alongside her husband, their voices echoing through the walls.

She's startled from the moment, her eyes snapping open. Zed laughs softly against her lips, more relaxed than she's ever been inside this house.

She slides a hand down to the front of his chest, pushing sternly. "Stop," she requests, struggling to catch her breath. He does as she asks, albeit a little confused as he pulls back and looks down at her, his own chest heaving.

The corner of his lips curves into the start of a smile. "If it's time you're worried about, we've got plenty," he jokes, a bit uneasily.

She sighs, and it comes out a bit heavier than she had wanted it to. Slowly, she starts to sit up, and he moves back as she does, taking a seat beside her as she turns and plants her feet firmly on the carpet. Addison turns to him a moment later, taking his hand in hers and intertwining their fingers. "It's not that Zed, it's just…" she pauses, picking her next words carefully. If she was too blunt about it, that would set him off, and if she was too casual, that would make him think it wasn't seriously a problem. "You know, we're—"

To her surprise, he cuts her off before she can even get the words out. "Hey, it's okay. You don't have to explain it to me if you don't want to," and if he pulls his hand from hers with a little more force than needed she doesn't say one thing about it. "We should probably get downstairs before your parents start asking questions anyway. Remember the last time we were caught up here?"

She does remember, and the only reason he got caught in the first place was because he got too sloppy with climbing the old tree that sat perched outside her window, and they had heard his feet on the roof shingles. What was supposed to be a romantic surprise had turned into something far from it when her mom and dad slammed open her bedroom door, that was for sure.

What he doesn't know is how many times Wyatt had done the same climb, and yet wasn't caught once, or twice, or even three times like he was.

It's another thought she hides away.

"Yeah, I remember," she replies, a bit distantly, and if he notices, he keeps that to himself too.

"I guess I'll go fend off the 'rents so you have time to get ready," he muses more to himself than to her, and a second later he's leaning over and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before standing and heading towards her door. He turns back to look at her as he reaches for the golden knob. "I love you."

Her stomach turns, but for what reason, she doesn't know.

"I love you too," and then he's gone, pulling her door shut behind him. She can hear his heavy footfalls, the steps creaking beneath them, and then the muffled sound of her parents, asking if she would be down soon because her mom had made her favorite kind of pancakes, and if Addison was being honest with herself, she wasn't in the mood for pancakes at all.

She was in the mood for some type of fresh meat, maybe some wild berries and s'mores on the side. For a while she had skipped breakfast completely, because werewolves were out for so much of the night sometimes that their dinner was usually around the time humans ate breakfast, so if Addison had a phase in college where she cooked herself all kinds of random meats at odd times in the morning, so what? (Her roommate claimed she never minded, though Addison knew she did, and switched back to her regular human schedule with only a little bit of difficulty.)

Now though, even with Zed having promised a day full of plans, there was a part of her that just wanted to take off and run. Run as far and as fast as she could, leaving all of this behind. Running with a pack behind her, with Wyatt next to her, the wind pushing back her hair, the moon casting shadows over everything it could reach towards...

She turns toward her window and watches as a group of birds stumble and scatter from the bundle of trees that sit off in the vast distance, hiding a mass of forbidden ground behind them. A part of her ached to scale the jagged pieces of the old building she knew sat out there, just beyond the fence. It was a good spot to do some werewolf training, and she needed to catch up if she was to meet with the Mountain Pack as the Great Alpha.

But her eyes move to the sun, high and shining in the middle of the bright blue sky, and she knows none of the wolves will be awake at such an hour, fast asleep from a night of hunting and stalking and being as wild as they wanted.

She exhales and starts to gather her things for a shower, picking apart the remains of a bedroom she has long outgrown. She hadn't brought much back with her this summer, figuring she wouldn't need much, but upon a closer look into her closet, she realises she doesn't have much at all. She wonders if Wynter and Whitney still made clothes for anyone who needed them, and makes a note to ask Wyatt...whenever she hears from him. They had parted on the promise that he would text her the next day, and she was too busy poking fun (again) at the idea of him using a cellphone to ask when that would be.

Out of the corner of her eye, she catches a glimpse of her moonstone necklace in the mirror.

She can see her reflection in it, bare of any werewolf features without a marking on her cheek to fully activate them, her powers resting not so peacefully just below the surface whenever she puts the necklace around her neck; she is a wolf, and yet she lacks everything that makes her one.

Anxiety tugs at her then, sudden and sharp. How in the hell was she going to be anything close to a Great Alpha after being gone so long?

She hears Zed and her parents laugh from downstairs. She closes her eyes and pushes the worries from her mind. For now, a shower and breakfast with the people she loved would have to do. When she opens her eyes, they land on her necklace once more.

She grabs it and runs her thumb over the front of the moonstone, feeling ancient power flow through her veins even just from touching it. She reaches up and ties the string around her neck without a second thought, leaving the stone to rest against her skin as she heads toward the bathroom.

Bree crushes Addison in a hug as soon as she enters the restaurant, Zed chuckling from behind her as he stands holding the door open. Bree squeezes her tight enough that it's almost hard to breathe, her moonstone glowing from where it rests, her senses sharpening as if she's in danger and not, in fact, being hugged half to death.

"Bree, I just texted you the other night," she tells her with a disbelieving laugh, and the girl in question finally lets go of her. Her moonstone quiets once more.

"I know, but texting isn't the same as seeing you in person for the first time since Christmas! How are you, Addy?"

Zed gently cups Addison's shoulder then, ushering them inside and out of the way of the scowling humans behind them, muttering things under their breath as they pass by. Her moonstone necklace allows her to hear all of it, and silently she bristles, but stays quiet if only for the sake of her friends, and wanting a dinner out that didn't turn into an immediate Z-Patrol call - which is how things usually worked when her and Eliza were involved.

"I've been good," Addison says, smiling and shrugging when Bree gives her a look. "No, really, Bree. It's...things are good. Especially now that I'm not at school." She laughs, and Bree still doesn't look convinced (of course she isn't, not when she knows how Addison really feels on the inside) but she simply reaches out and grabs Addison's hand in her own.

"I'm happy as long as you're happy, Ads," she whispers under the endless chatter of the restaurant, and Zed's chest is at her back, and his arms are slung around her waist, and even though they're standing in a pretty sizeable waiting area off to the side of the door, she still feels trapped as soon as the words leave Bree's mouth.

No matter how good of an intent they had, all the words did was remind her of the same things that had kept her up last night, and kept pushing on her mind all day long.

Zed wasn't kidding when he had said they had plans that morning. After a surprisingly nice breakfast with her parents, next was a visit to Zoey and Zevon, with some arts and crafts thrown in. Then was an afternoon movie at Zombietown Cinema (which had always been loads better than the old one the humans always went to), in which Zed had somehow bribed the theater to play one of her favorites. After was a small lunch of froyo and brains, and then was a walk on the beach, the sand between both their toes. They had stayed at the beach until it had begun to grow dark, and then Zed had informed her that there was still one thing left on the list, and now here they were, just about ready to settle down for a nice dinner with their friends.

As if on cue, Eliza and Bonzo arrive behind them, the latter pulling Zed into a hug with a happy grin. Eliza rolls her eyes at the sentiment, crossing her arms and standing back a bit, but Addison laughs and pulls her into a hug anyway.

"Hey werewolf," Eliza teases, Zed stiffening at the choice of nickname from where he stands beside Bree and Bonzo, even though it was nothing new. "Been living it up at college without us?"

"Not too much," she admits as she pulls back, and Eliza almost looks disappointed but Zed interrupts before anything else can be said.

"Okay hang tight, Bonzo and I are going to go and check the reservation." He leaves a kiss on Addison's cheek before they go, and as soon as they're out of earshot, Bree and Eliza corner her.

"Have things gotten better at all between you two?" Eliza asks, and Addison sighs.

"I don't know. He's been amazing since I've been back, even though it's only been, what, a day and a half? I mean, everything he had planned for today was so sweet, and reminded me why he was always the one for me in the first place…"

"But?" Bree offers when she leaves the end of her sentence hanging, her eyebrows raised in interest.

"But I just don't know. A few good days don't erase how the past few months have been, and they haven't been good. And now that—" Bonzo calls for them in zombie-tongue, waving them over, and Addison shakes her head, looking at Bree, and then at Eliza. "I'm trying to figure it out guys. Don't worry."

Her mind can't help but flash to Wyatt again as a hostess leads them to their table and passes out their menus. It's already dark, and he still hasn't texted her. She wonders for a moment if he hadn't really meant it, that he wanted to meet up again tonight, that the pack missed her as much as she missed them. She pushes the thought away in the same breath - he's the Alpha now, too busy to remember to text when something more urgent could easily have come up.

(Too busy for her?)

"So what do you think, Addy?" Zed's voice is warm from where it ghosts over her ear and she jumps, not expecting it. He gives her an odd look but laughs it off, placing a reassuring hand on her side. "Sorry. I only asked what you wanted for dinner."

"I'm sorry," she apologizes, looking at him with the best smile she can muster, "I was just lost in my head for a minute. What're the specials again?"

He repeats them to her once more, and she settles on steak along with the rest of the table. Zed, always different, chooses chicken, and the waiter takes their order away with the promise that it will all be out very soon. They catch up as they wait and then eat, exchanging stories of life inside and outside of Seabrooke and quietly reminiscing on the days long gone when they would see each other every day.

The bomb hits as their plates are being cleared, their stomachs full and their conversation falling into a lull as the night draws on.

"So do you have plans on seeing the wolves while you're here?" It's Eliza who asks, and Eliza who she'll most likely kill later, if she ever gets the chance. Zed doesn't react, not yet, and Addison chews quietly on a piece of her steak before just deciding to throw it out there.

"Actually I already have," she reveals. "Well, I've seen Wyatt. I'm supposed to be seeing him again tonight."

The corner of Eliza's lips lifts as she nods and looks back down to her food. Bree, never as subtle, allows her mouth to gape. Zed glances over, suspiciously calm. "Two nights in a row? Why?" She locks eyes with him, and sees what he's trying to hide, all the hurt and confusion and the hint of anger that has nowhere else to go.

"Well," she starts, putting down her fork. "He asked me to meet him, and—"

Her phone goes off, and she exhales, thankful for the save as she reaches into her pocket to grab it. She thinks it might be her parents, checking in, or her roommate, asking how things at home were going. So when she sees Wyatt's name on-screen, it's impossible to keep the smile from her face.

Waiting for you at the old stomping grounds.
Think you can keep up tonight, Alpha?

She quickly texts back a smart response and then turns back to the rest of the booth. Eliza has an expression on her face that tells her she knows exactly who that was, and even Bree and Bonzo are eyeing her with the same sort of knowledge. Zed's face is a maelstrom of emotions, hidden carefully under a mask of calm. Her stomach twists.

"I have to go," she says to the table, pushing her phone back into her pocket and collecting up her things. "Sorry, I don't want to just leave, but...it's really important."

Zed's face creases into a frown, his lips twisting unhappily. "Where are you going?" he asks.

Her heart constricts, just a little bit. "Out," she says, and leaves it at that, unwilling to tell him any more.

"Out?" he repeats, and then his eyes widen as he realizes what the term means. "Out with him?"

"It's not like that, Zed."

"I still don't trust him."

Addison meets his gaze evenly, her eyes burning with barely-contained frustration. "Why?" she asks, stepping into the glass house she's been tiptoeing around all day. "I'm a wolf, and he's part of my pack." Her voice rises; some people turn toward their table at the mention of the word, mumbling fearfully among themselves. "If you won't trust him, then at least trust me, like how I've trusted you this entire year, or you can…"

She trails off, the weight of her own words hitting her. Zed is rendered silent, and stays silent as he slides out and stands off to the side so that she can exit the booth. She doesn't reach for him after she stands, brushing crumbs from her dress. She bids the other three farewell, and they brush off her apology, telling her to get out of there already, and Zed-

Zed doesn't say anything else.

Addison leaves the restaurant feeling like her heart is lost somewhere in her chest with no way back.

"Wyatt?" she calls out when she doesn't see him waiting for her, coming to a stop in front of the abandoned building that sits just beyond a gate Seabrook's never bothered to fix, the hinges rusted and decaying from within.

The building itself is an old division of the power plant, if Addison remembers correctly, shut down as soon as the actual plant had exploded and turned half of the town's population into zombies. She's still surprised to this day that Seabrook hadn't tore the place down, brick by brick, just to wipe themselves of the memory.

A wave of sadness overtakes her when there's no answer, and figures maybe he's mad that she's thirty minutes later than she said she would be. "I'm sorry, I had to go back home and change, and then dodge questions from my parents, which, well, you know how that goes." She knows he's here somewhere, can feel his presence from her moonstone. "I was out at this dinner, with everyone. Zed wasn't too happy when I said I was leaving."

"Did I interrupt a date?"

She startles, following the voice up, and seeing none other than Wyatt waiting calmly at the very top of the building, sitting back on his heels.

She smiles, "No, it was just a friend thing."

"Still sounds like I stepped on a few toes," he says, smirking, and before she can even think about responding, he's jumping from the building and landing a few feet away from her, like he didn't just land a jump that would otherwise be impossible to survive from. He smiles over at her, and throws his arms out wide. "Come on then, Alpha. Show me what you've got."