Chapter 5

Arthur’s POV:

“We had a couple of new additions to the pack yesterday. It’s a family of omegas, they left their pack because of how badly they were treated. Turns out they had heard about us and wanted to give it a try. Father, mother and a pup of about three years. I helped then get settled already, but I need to know when you’ll be free to have a talk with them.” Stephen, my Beta delivered and I frowned at the information.

“Tomorrow is fine. Lila is bringing a new addition to the pack, I don’t have much information on her but I trust Lila to not compromise the safety of the pack. I’m just a little worried.” I said, leaning against my seat, tapping the pen softly against the table in front of me.

“Why? What’s the problem?”

“We’re growing bigger and bigger everyday. We’ve got all sorts of people here and although there’s no cause for concern at the moment I’m just worried that the bigger we grow the more troubles that will arise, the more question would be asked and the more the rest of the packs would try to reach us and it’ll only be a matter of time before Alpha Greyson sniffs us out. Asides that we’re running low on space, jobs and I need to find a way to keep a balance.”

“We’ll figure it out. We can’t exactly start turning away anyone. I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for any sort of trouble and for now I think it might be best if we tried to make alliance in some of the ‘legal’ packs.” Stephen advised and I hummed while trying to think through his words.

“That’s going to be difficult, but I’ll consider it and thank you so much for all you do Stephen. I really appreciate it.” I said genuinely and my Beta offered me a cocky smile that made me roll my eyes.

I was about to say something else but got distracted when my phone dinged with a text.

Lila - 4:55pm: “We’re almost here.”

The text read and I frowned.

Arthur - 4:56pm: “Didn’t you learn that it was dangerous to drive and text? See you soon.”

“Is everything okay?” Stephen asked and I nodded, tucking my phone away and picking up another one of the many files scattered on my table to go through.

“Of course.” Came my response and I watched as he stood up from his position, ready to exit the office.

“Will you still be joining us for the border patrol tomorrow? I know it’s been a busy week and you’re looking forward to relaxing with your girlfriend but we’ve had some new recruits, thought it might be wonderful for you to meet them and give a small address.”

“Yes, I’ll do that, maybe join in the training tomorrow. Just for some encouragement.”

Stephen hummed in satisfaction, giving a small salute before turning around and exiting the room. I let my head drop onto the table the moment he was out of the space and it felt like I could breathe better and just be myself for at least another couple of minutes.

I raised my head and began trying to work again but I could only do so slower due to the various thoughts in my mind.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t trust my Beta, he was the one person that I knew I could rely on to help me should incase anything went wrong, but when it came to trust there was really barely anybody I could say I one hundred person counted on, not even Lila. She was a wonderful person and the last couple of months with her had been pretty peaceful but I just couldn’t bring myself to completely trust and love her. I didn’t think I could bring myself to love anyone.

Well, anyone else.

I sighed heavily as she crossed my mind again, just like she constantly did for the last five years. How could you have so much anger for one person but still love them with all your heart? It was unexplainable, but it was my reality. And even through the years, getting myself into several relationships, meeting various other people had not been enough to completely take her off my mind. Somehow, she usually always lingered.

I groaned as the myriad of thoughts swamped through my mind and I knew that there was no way I could get anymore work done. I better started preparing for dinner then. Arranging the paperwork in front of me into a neat stack by the corner, I made my way out of the office, stretching as I went.

The house was too quiet and although I mostly preferred it but sometimes I craved otherwise, I wanted company that I genuinely enjoyed, not one that I had to force myself to tolerate. It was very difficult living this life sometimes, but I knew that it was one that I had chosen and so I dealt with it.

This pack was my greatest achievement in life and everyday that I looked at what I had built, I was thoroughly impressed and it pushed me to do even more, to work harder to protect the ones that entrusted me with their lives, to build more and grow me. It made every single thing worth it, the sacrifice, the loneliness, the nightmares, and maybe even the unhappiness that plagued my life.

I stripped off my clothes as I approached the bathroom, turning the knobs of the shower until the right temperature of water flowed through it, before stepping into the stall, scrubbing my body clean and enjoying the way the warm water helped to take care of the strain in my muscles.

Once I was done, I dried off, wrapping the towel around my waist before exiting the bathroom.

“Hi there.” Lila’s overexcited voice called from the bed and I smiled slightly, accepting the hug that she offered and even lifting her off the floor a little to place a kiss on her head which made her giggle.

“Is your friend here yet?” I asked but she shook her head, her eyes fixed on the towel I had wrapped around my waist.

“Eyes up here Lila.” I teased, rolling my eyes playfully when she let out a laugh.

“Well, she’s unpacking and although she doesn’t have so many things, I think we should have enough time to… you know… before I have to go pick her.” Lila said and I flicked at her forehead, before heading into my closet to dress up.

“Ouch, that actually hurt Arthur.” She called and I cringed slightly at the name.

Nearly five years since changing my name and one would believe that I would have been used to it or at least grown into it but it was quite the opposite. Sometimes it was easier to deal with but other times I was hyper aware of it and it made my skin crawl.

I didn’t like the name, I didn’t enjoy being called or known by it, I hated it’s origin, but I knew that I had to deal with every single one of these things like the hundred other things I had to deal with.

“It was supposed to. Keep your horny thoughts till after dinner. I’m sure your arousal can be perceived from the living area at this point.” I said, rolling my eyes when Lila actually followed me into the large closet.

She had no sense of personal space sometimes, one of the many flaws that she had.

“How was your trip?” I asked and she nodded her head in response, rubbing her fingers through a particular rack of clothes.

Once I was done dressing, I took her hand in mine, gently pulling her out of the closet and down the stairs, we spent the next half an hour talking, well with Lila mostly talking but I preferred it that way. It was easier to listen to her than actually participate in the conversation.

“Your friend should be about ready now.” I said, my eyes moving to the grandfather clock on the wall.

“Oops totally forgot. I’ll go pick her up now. You’ll like her, don’t worry.” Lila assured and I hummed in response.

I walked towards my library at the other end of the living area after she left, picking one of the books and heading to my bedroom and continuing the book I had begun reading from the previous day. This was my favorite pastimes and one of the only thing that made me happy and although I didn’t get the opportunity to do it as often as I wanted, I still indulged it as much as I could.

I got distracted with the book as usual and it wasn’t until I heard Lila’s loud calling for me that I was brought back to reality.

“Shit.” I whispered to myself, bookmarking the page I was on before dropping the book and making my way down the stairs quickly.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t expecting you to be back so early.” I said, looking to Lila first before moving my eyes towards the person standing beside her

And when my eyes fell upon her, I could’ve sworn that my heart stopped functioning completely in my chest. I could hear Lila saying something but I couldn’t bring myself to focus.

What was she doing here? Was it really her? Jess was here after five years? My head felt like it was spinning so fast but I knew that I had to organize myself. I couldn’t let her or Lila see how much her presence affected me.

And so forcing a smile on my lips, I stretched out a hand to welcome her, the burn that I felt as our fingers touched was one that was more difficult to mask but I pushed through it.

The worse part was seeing the look of hurt, confusion and sadness in her eyes. I couldn’t be sure why it was there but after years of trying to convince myself that I wouldn’t ever be having anything to do with her family and of trying to convince myself that I truly hated her, it was becoming quite questionable as she sat across from me on the dinner table and I had to force myself to keep a neutral face while I questioned her.

She hadn’t changed much. She still had her father’s grey eyes and her mother’s petite frame and extremely pretty features, she still drew invisible patterns on the table, a sign that she was stressed and nervous and she was still a terrible liar.

I could tell how she struggled to keep up with whatever lies that I knew she would have planned with Lila and to be honest I couldn’t be sure who I was more disappointed in. Lila for planning with her and lying or Jessy for going through with it.

I couldn’t understand what she was doing away from her father’s pack. I was surprised Greyson had let her out of his pack in the first place. Where had she told him she was going? I needed to make sure I took a sweep of the pack tomorrow, knowing Greyson, he had probably sent people to follow her and give reports of her whereabouts.

Dinner was soon over and I couldn’t express the relief I felt when Jessy left the house, it was almost as if I couldn’t breathe at all having her in the same room and my heart had continued to hammer in my chest and it was starting to get too painful at this point.

My wolf was also going crazy and I was just overwhelmed generally.

“What do you think about her?” Lila asked soon after and I frowned.

“I think she could be very useful to us in the future.” She said and my frown deepened.

“What do you mean?” I asked and she let out a laugh that grated on my nerves, moving from her position to approach me.

“Let’s talk about that some time later. Right now it’s time for you to fulfill a promise.” She drawled in a seductive attempt but I really wasn’t in the mood to even consider entertaining her for the night.

“Go home. We’ll see tomorrow.” I said, already making my way towards my room.

“What? Arthur you ca-“

“Fucking get out Lila.” I almost roared.

And I felt a little bad when she flinched in shock but I couldn’t bring myself to even attempt apologizing. It was all too much for me.

I continued to make my way upstairs, sighing heavily when I heard the door slam shut. I moved towards the bottom drawer at the end of the room, opening it with a key I almost always had with me, pulling out a box.

I moved to settle on the bed, opening the box and pulling out a few items from within it. It wasn’t often that I did this but I knew it was essential for the night. The box held a picture frame of myself of myself and Jessy from when we were much younger. I couldn’t remember when the picture had been taken but it had remained a favorite through the years. The rest of the contents were paintings that Jessy had done of me, they were pretty old but I kept every single one of them.

I sighed heavily running my fingers through each one of them.

I couldn’t believe she was really here, after years of trying to get her out of my mind, she was back here, in my pack, my safe space, the place I had created to hide away from her.

For the first time in years I was at a loss for what to do.