“Thank you so much, Mom.” Millan says from their bathroom, fetching more diapers to put in Nyla’s bag.
“I’m always happy to look after Nyla, you know that.” Stella says from the adjacent bedroom, holding her sleeping granddaughter.
Millan comes back in the bedroom, hands full with useful and not so useful items.
“Millan, maybe you should take more time off, you shouldn’t overwork yourself.” Stella says, eyeing her son while he struggles to find space for everything in the duffle bag.
She shakes her head at the three teddy bears and four blankets that won’t possibly fit in the small bag.
“I’m not.”
Stella gives Millan a telling once-over.
He’s disheveled, wearing the same clothes he wore the day before, fatigue written under his eyes.
“I swear!” Millan says with more force, turning to l
The rhythm of his feet hitting the ground, the irregular beating of his heart and his erratic breathing are the only sounds Millan's ears can pick up.He knows he is panting and probably wheezing and he knows they’re closing in, but he can only focus on putting one foot in front of the other and so on, as fast as his wolf will allow without shifting.In between two beats of his heart, he hears a threatening growl from one of his closest pursuers.Closer than Millan was expecting.He almost falls, trying to propel his body further than his feet will permit.The border is visible now.He can see the ancient oak tree. His sanctuary.He knows the pack won’t go further than the border and he knows the tree will be his shelter if he can only get to it in time.And if he read the map right.Just as one of the wolves is closing in, he makes a hard turn, jumping over a fallen tree as he does so.His attackers are faster and stronger, being alphas and betas, but he is agile and experienced in t
Millan has been awake for at least a couple of hours when daylight peeks through the cracks of the old wooden door.He hasn’t moved yet for two reasons.One, his leg is killing him; the slightest shift to his position sends piercing pain through his whole body.Second, and also most importantly, he can smell an alpha outside the cabin. The alpha knows Millan is in there. He is certain of it.Why else would he have stayed outside, just meters away, immobile, for at least the two hours Millan has been awake?He’s been thinking of a plan to get away unnoticed for all that time now and he hasn’t come up with anything good.By the subtle and soft snoring sounds he’s been hearing for the two hours he’s been awake, Millan figures the alpha is asleep in his hideout. There lays his only chance.He’ll try to get past the wolf without waking him.A plan that is most likely to fail pathetically, but Millan can’t think of any other way. He sighs, trying to ignore the twist in his stomach and gets
Andy had been in there for a while and the more time passes, the more Millan can hear shouts through the adjacent door.To his dismay, he can even make out some of the words they’re saying, mostly what the pack Head Alpha is saying since he shouts the loudest.“No, Andy! How many times do I have to… before you finally… NO WAY … a rogue in OUR pack?… cannot trust him … don’t care to know him … have enough members to worry about.”He hears more indistinct shouts before he hears pretty clearly: “His OWN pack didn’t even want him!”Millan feels like someone squeezed his heart in their hands and isn’t letting it go.He guesses Weston is not going to want to meet with him after all. He still sits there, on the edge of the couch, his precious bag between his feet and everyone in the room looking at him, some with pity, some with disdain, some with curiosity. Even the dictionary-reading beta looks at him with empathy in her eyes.He wills his head to stay up high and his posture to stay conf
“It’s fine, Millan, don’t worry about it. I was just coming in to see how you were. You had me a bit worried is all. But I see you’re in good hands.” Andy smiles.“He is.” Nara adds, smiling to Millan in the same way.Millan looks at them both warily.“Yeah...” He says while narrowing his eyes.He still can’t understand Andy’s intention.Everybody’s way too kind in this pack, he pondered.There must be something underneath that he’s not seeing. He supposes he’ll just have to watch his back and not let his guard down.Nara and Andy share a brief look of concern when they see Millan gauging them distrustingly.“So you’re all patched up, Millan. It would be better if you rest for a couple of days, don’t put pressure on it too much and I would like, only if you want that is, to do a general check up, just to make sure you’re healthy since I reckon you don’t have the opportunity to see doctors very often.”Nara sends a silent prayer to whoever is listening that Millan will accept. Her wolf
Millan hopes Weston doesn’t realize that he is panicking.The rise and fall of his chest created by his unnaturally fast beating heart is sure to give him away.Being drawn to an alpha this way, this urge to please and submit is new and confounding.And it’s all the more bewildering when it’s an alpha he doesn’t even know.Never has he, whatever the consequences it resulted in, bent to an alpha’s will just to please. Even going as far as to purposefully displease alphas just for the sake of it.Hell, that’s the main reason Brook Pack ended up chasing him away.Still, it’s hard to behave in an omega manner when Alpha Commands have no effect on you whatsoever and everyone looks at you like you’re a defective freak.Despising omegas who submit so easily and avoiding any obedient actions is the only way to survive without a supportive pack.Also, it’s fun to poke an alpha’s nerves until they snap. Unfortunately, it’s also a good way to perpetuate rejection.Now looking into Weston’s gold
“Weston? Is that you? What time is it?”Jace’s voice cuts through the silent darkness of the hallway. He was followed by Andy, both of them holding bundles of papers for the Pack School.Weston approaches the two as they all walked towards the direction of the brother’s apartment.“Hey guys. I just want to speak to Amir.”“Amir’s asleep, man. Can’t it wait ‘til mornin’?”“It really can’t. I need his advice.”The two looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders.“Is everything alright, Weston?” Andy asked worriedly, mirroring Jace’s worried expression as well.Weston sighs, “Don’t worry, guys. I just really need to pick Amir’s brain. He’s the pack strategist, after all.”Jace and Andy nodded as they continued their walk in relative silence. When they reach the door, Andy opened it and entered followed by Jace, then Weston.He looked around the three-bedroom apartment and noticed Amir’s door slightly ajar. Jace placed the bundle of papers in his arms over the center table in th
Amidst numerous pills and creams, there lies the desired item.The problem is, it’s the only one of its kind there. Taking the whole jar would be too obvious. I need an empty container, he figured.“Container… container,” he mumbles while looking around the room.Not finding anything useful, he goes back to the cabinet. He decides to pour one of the bottle of painkillers into a smaller, concealed compartment of his own bag.Painkillers are always practical anyway. He proceeds to transfer as much of the ointment as he can in the now empty bottle without it being too conspicuous.Ointment back into place and cabinet locked, he tosses the key on the floor where Nara had rushed to help him earlier. Hopefully, she’ll think she dropped it.He contemplates keeping the key to further his stash later, but that would be a greater risk and he supposes he’ll have plenty of opportunities to steal medical supplies during his stay.Besides, the lock on the cabinet doesn’t look too hard to pick. He
The library is degenerately massive.From the foyer where he stands, impossibly high ladders lead to the highest books. Impressive wooden stairs, engraved with gold molding lead up two floors above his head.People are milling about in silence, reading in different lounging areas, looking through the indefinite options on the shelves.Millan even notices some of them in their wolf form, relaxing next to readers.Everything looks so peaceful and majestic.The omega’s tentative steps into the quiet space reverberate through the marble floor. Madelyn is observing him with a knowing grin.“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”Millan can’t stop gazing at the space, trying to scrutinize every little detail and memorize them.Even whispering feels too loud.“How? No pack Headquarters I’ve seen is like this. I mean- what- how?”Madelyn leads him to a nearby corner furnished with big vibrant poufs and smaller shelves where pups are reading small colorful books.Their words are muffled by the lower ceiling