All Chapters of Winter: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

“Winter!”I jumped when I heard my name being yelled. Looking past Mr. Penn, I saw my dad storming into the library. Blinking, I tried to think of a reason why he would be here. Better yet, what I would have done for him to come all the way here for me.“Dad, I…”Dad looked from me, down to Mr. Penn, who was frowning now as he sat across from me. “What is going on here?”“I…needed some extra tutoring.” I slammed my books shut. “Mr. Penn was willing to help me so I didn’t fail.”My dad scoffed. “Of course you need help.” He shook his head though. “Where is Rebecca?”Furrowing my brow, I shook my head. “I…don’t know. Mr. Penn was tutoring me through my study period. I don’t have the same schedule as Rebecca. So I don’t know…”“Give me your phone.”I scrambling to remove the video app that was up for the German, I handed it to my dad. He frowned as he looked down at it.“You don’t have Rebecca’s number in your phone.”It was so hard not to scoff. “I know it by heart. I don’t need to have

I blinked at them. “I’m sorry…what? What are you doing in here?”“Well, you wouldn’t come over for dinner. So…we thought we would come over here and cook for you.”“How did you…?” Stepping in, I shut the door behind me.Ember scoffed. “I’m technically your landlord, Cas. I have a key.”Opening my mouth, I just decided to let it go. The two of them were a little over enthusiastic about having me back but they were my family. My Uncle in Blue Crescent took me on as a favor to his brother. One that he owed from long ago.He never treated me like immediately family. I was always the cousin who was from another pack. That’s not to say he treated me if anything other than respect. He just was harsh but in a good way.I didn’t mess around in school anymore like I had been after my parents died. His rigid way of doing things helped straighten me out as a teenager. Something that I think Ember and Damian couldn’t have done for me. They babied me and it was understandable but not what I needed.

Despite Monday’s surprise dinner, the week went smoothly. I’d turned in the plan for Winter’s German session, much to the surprise of Miles. It was a debate with him if she was willing to take on two tests for language at the end of the year but I assured him she was going to be fine. The lesson’s were progressing along smoothly in the Latin classes and most students were showing improvement even within the few weeks I had taken over.There were problem students. In the Latin 1 classes, it was easy to tell who took the class because they wanted to and those who didn’t. I needed to figure out something to motivate the ones who either took the class because of their parents or because they didn’t like the other options. I didn’t have the problem of not liking languages, so I needed to think of something that would have helped motivate me in the past.“Mr…Penn?”I looked up from my book at a few she-wolves gathered on the sidewalk. I’d decided not to cook breakfast and headed down into th

I looked at my brother for a long time. Unsure of what to say. It really never crossed my mind that my leaving would take such a toll on him. I always thought it was better that I left. There was nothing for me at Blue Crescent. The last thing I wanted was to get in Jared’s way. He was taking over for Uncle and I didn’t want anything to do with that. Leaving made sense back then.‘You didn’t even discuss it with them though. You just up and left. You didn’t even talk to them for a month until you had already enrolled and were in classes.’Sighing, I shook my head. “It was never because of you. I just felt like an extra. I was always in the way. Here and back at Uncles. Always. I just thought it would be better to remove myself from everything. It had nothing to do with running from you. I was…running from everything within the packs.”I continued after a breath. “I’m an Alpha. Just like you. I shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t even be stronger than you. Yet somehow, here I am. I don’t want to

I stepped into the library, fully accepting that I wouldn’t see Winter. She hadn’t been at school Tuesday or Wednesday. Damian and Ember weren’t saying anything and I had no information coming in from anyone. It was frustrating to the point where I started to show up at the training grounds after school to let off some steam.After yesterday though, Damian told me to lay off because too many patrol warriors were calling off because I had gone a little too hard. Onan chuckled but we would have to just do a straight run today. However, I was surprised to see Winter, sitting in the back of the library.She had her book open on the desk and a notebook open next to it. Coming up to her, I looked her over. There didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong. I didn’t realize how worried I looked until Winter looked up at me and smiled.“I’m okay, Mr. Penn.”Nodding, I sat down on the other side of the desk. “Are you sure?”This time, she nodded. “All good. Sorry to miss so many classes.”“As l