She'll crawl back.

Noah barely had enough time to slump into his office chair when Enzo, his second-in-command, stormed into the office and slammed the door. "Dude, what the hell were you thinking? Have you lost your mind?" He screamed at the top of his lungs. 

Though Enzo was walking on thin ice, Noah took a deep breath and clenched his fists to calm down. It was his best friend, not Beta, who stood before him now. 

"First of all, you may be the Beta, but I have the power to change that in a matter of minutes, so next time, better knock before you barge into my office like that. And second, calm down; I did what I had to do." Noah did his best to sound calm and collected, despite how wildly his heart pounded against his ribcage and how much he wanted to tear his friend apart. 

"I don't give a shit if I lose the Beta position; I never wanted it in the first place, so you have nothing to hold against me!" Enzo kept screaming, unbothered by the possibility of the pack members standing near their Alphas' office. 

Noah knew how passionate his best friend could be, so if he allowed Enzo to act the way he did, in no time, the whole pack would hear him. 

"Calm down, God damn it!" Noah groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew the headache was coming, and there was no stopping it unless Enzo lowered his voice. 

"Oh, so now I should calm down, huh? You promised to tell her everything when she was ready, and now look at what you've done." Enzo stomped to the desk and slammed his fists against its surface. He hovered over the desk to scream in Noah's face, "You broke her, man! You gathered the public to confess your feelings to her, come clean with the family secrets, and if that wasn't enough, you humiliated her in front of the whole pack. Yeah, let's not forget the forced marking, no biggie, right?" A bitter chuckle left his lips. 

In retrospect, Noah understood why Enzo was so upset about everything that had happened, but it wasn't like his best friend had the power to change his decisions. 

"I hate repeating myself, and if anyone, you should know that by now! I did what I had to do; get over it!" Noah snarled and got up from his seat. As calm as ever, he walked to the office window and purposely turned his back on his Beta so Enzo would understand that their discussion was over. 

"But why? Why did you do it, man?" Enzo whined, unable to let the topic go. He had to seek answers: to understand what was wrong with his Alpha and, most importantly, his best friend. 

"I couldn't wait any longer."

Enzo sat in the chair across from the one Noah occupied just moments ago and let out a deep sigh. "Please explain; I beg you. We've been friends since I remember, and now she's my Luna; you know I'll take her side." 

"I knew there was something special about her from day one. Of course, at first, I hated her for the attention and love she got from my parents. At the time, I felt like she was taking my family away from me." Noah spoke slowly; he didn't want Enzo to miss a word. If an explanation was what his friend wanted, it was precisely what he would get. 

"Seriously? How old was she back then? Fifteen? She was disoriented and lost; she couldn't remember anything, and those injuries were wild. Besides, you have a six-year age difference; it makes sense that your parents focused more on her. They were trying to save a child. That's what Olivia was back then, brother; she was a scared, lost child." Enzo whispered. 

Noah had to admit he had forgotten many things about when Olivia first came into their lives, including the details about her health. It was a memory he had tried to suppress for years. 

"I was a jealous prick, alright? My parents had always been mine, and all of a sudden, I had to share." Noah thought of pointing out that he had grown since then, but instead, he kept it to himself and turned on his heel to face Enzo. 

Since his best friend remained silent, Noah stepped closer and kept talking, "Over the years, I started developing feelings for her. At first, it was just a little crush, and I kept teasing her to get her attention. Of course, when she got better, her body changed, and I hated watching boys drooling over her. That's when I first experienced what it felt like to be jealous." He chuckled at the memory of anger he felt for the world back then. "I convinced myself that I wasn't jealous. It was just a healthy dose of possessiveness- to protect what was mine. I convinced my parents to send her away to keep her away from all those guys, but first, I had to confess my feelings. They understood me and promised to help if, in return, I would promise to always protect her. I guess I already broke my promise." 

He felt a lump forming in his throat, and a sharp ping of pain hit his chest. Noah could only imagine how disappointed his father would be in him if he were alive and had to witness what his son did. 

Olivia was the daughter he never had. His little princess, the pride and joy of the whole pack. Noah wasn't ashamed or hurt to admit that his father loved Olivia more than anyone else. Often, she came before his mother, and truth to be told, his mother loved that. 

"I still don't get it. You kept her away for what?"

Noah took a moment to think. Why? Well, that was a good question. Why did he keep Olivia away from home for so long? "I wanted, and still want, her all to myself. The thought of someone other than me getting their hands on her makes me angry. I made sure nothing like that would happen while I was in Alpha training."

"So this whole thing was a set-up to keep her from men?" Enzo laughed at the assumption.

But he was right; that was precisely what it was. But aside from that, it was also Noah's selfish nature that wanted to ensure Olivia wouldn't give herself to someone else. 

"Might as well say so. The thoughts of her got me through the worst days. Just the idea of returning home and seeing her kept me going," Noah admitted. 

Enzo's eyes widened in shock as he slowly rose from his seat and stepped closer. "And you kept sleeping around. Hypocritical move, dude."

"I needed to get the frustration out. Give me a break. Whenever I had a woman with me, I thought of Olivia and only Olivia. You can't imagine how often I jerked off thinking about her." Noah figured that since Enzo wanted every dirty detail, he could as well overshare. 

"Allison?" 

"She was like a great secretary, always under my desk. She knew what a good blowjob was, but whenever her lips wrapped around my cock, all I could think about was Olivia." 

"Bethany?"

"Quick fuck, again, only one woman on my mind." 

Enzo parted his lips, ready to strike out more names, but Noah had none of it, so he interrupted his friend. "I don't care how sick and twisted this sounds, but I kept thinking about her. She's perfect, made for me and only me. I've studied her and kept imagining scenarios; hell, even now, I'm getting hard. I know her breasts will fit perfectly in the palm of my hands; I bet she tastes sweeter than honey, and damn, I can't wait to hear her moan my name." Noah admitted, possibly a little too excited. 

He imagined scenarios about Olivia but tried to pull himself back to reality once he remembered Olivia had always been the main character in his thoughts. She had been for years; besides, he wasn't breaking any laws since she was his adoptive sister. He knew he had the right to love her, regardless of how sick and twisted he might seem. 

Enzo slapped a hand over his mouth and nose. "Dude, calm down; I can smell your arousal from a mile away. Everyone knows I'm here. The pack members will think that the mark you forced on her was just for show when in reality, you're gay. Stop dreaming." 

"They know I'm serious about her." 

"Are you?"

"Yes, I am?" For some reason, what was meant to be a statement left his lips as a question. What was wrong with him?

"Then why did you force your mark on her?"

"To keep her all to myself, I already told you that," Noah repeated as he reached for the accounting folder. 

"Let me get this straight- you marked her without her consent to keep her for yourself, yet let her leave?" 

Noah dropped his hand on the folder and groaned, frustrated with his clueless friend. "That's right. She'll crawl back to me either way; it won't be long before she feels the mate bond forming." A grin spread across his lips. Olivia would run back home; she wouldn't get far. No matter how much she wanted to escape him, there was no escaping. 

"Sure, before or after the heat?" Enzo's question caught Noah off guard. 

"Huh?"

"She's marked; she'll go through heat within a week or two. As a rogue." As Enzo spoke, Noah could feel the colour drain from his face. No, anything but that. No!