"New year's are supposed to be for starting fresh, you can always use a new school year for that," Liam smirked, but he still felt a bit of worry. He added, "Besides, you were hot blonde, so I dunno if people are going to forget that so easily." The almost letting herself get killed might be one that few would forget but they had the sense to keep their mouths shut about it. Contrary to popular belief, high schoolers weren't assholes all the time.
Liam was starting to think that maybe what he heard from others had been false. They'd exaggerated it. He was even feeling more comfortable with the two of them just chatting. They both bore the weight of a potential call to the alpha position later in life. Liam would never, however, equate it with royalty. It definitely came with perks and his police record in Boston was pretty much non-existent but sometimes the king wasn't that great of a king.
And then she said she loved him. Liam's brow furrowed and before he could say anything, she clarified. Not romantic love. It was a love friends shared, though Liam always felt weird about the word "love" because it always felt way more intimate than he was comfortable allowing.
"I would be there," Liam said, "You're my friend, Adri. Friends are there for each other until one of them makes it clear they don't want the other around anymore." It was friendship and instinctual pack tactics. The primal need to stick with your pack, but it was more than that too. It wasn't just the call of nature. Nature drew them together but a real friendship made it just that, a friendship.