Zeke

I begged Piper to stay inside the house before going outside. I followed Caleb's scent to the edge of the territory. He glanced at me before turning to the rogue. I walked closer, seeing a man I never even met. He looked in his late twenties or early thirties. I examined him. He didn't look like he's been rogue for long.

He was wearing clean clothes. However, I noticed a few bruises and marked on his skin. "Who are you?" I questioned.

"Brenden" he stuck his hand out. I moved to shake it, Caleb stepped closer to me just in case. "I'm not here to cause trouble" Brenden informed us. I nodded, believing him. Caleb questioned what he was doing. "I need to talk to Beta Kingsley"

I turned to Caleb. "Can we talk back at the packhouse?" I asked in a whisper, so Brenden couldn't hear.

Caleb stared at me. "Piper's pregnant" he reminded me. I nodded in understanding, but repeated my question. "Downstairs. You stay downstairs" he caved.

Thanking him, I looked at Brenden. "Follow me" I demanded. I led him back to the house. Everyone else was watching warily. I told whoever was downstairs to go to their rooms. A few- Sam and Liam- huffed and glared, but they all disappeared upstairs. "What do you need to talk about?" I inquired, motioning for Brenden to sit. Caleb leaned against the wall as a safety precaution.

Brenden slowly eased onto one of the recliners. "You're the Beta of the Blood Star Pack" I nodded in confirmation. "I'm looking for someone- a girl. There's rumors that she joined your pack" Brenden stated. The only girl that joined our pack lately was Leia. "She's about your age. I don't know if she changed her hair color and stuff. But she's kinda short. She's really aggressive"

"What's your relation to this girl?" I asked.

His body shot up. "I went to the same pack as her, Silver Crescent. Do you know her?" he inquired, looking at me with a hopeful expression. Caleb stiffened and I narrowed my eyes at Brenden. I trusted him, but now I'm not sure. He's talking about Leia- that's positive. But how does he know her? Silver Crescent doesn't have the nicest people. He could be trying to find her to bring her back.

He has scars and bruises. That could be from fights, or it could be from torture. Caleb got closer. "What business do you have with her?" the Alpha asked.

Brenden sighed. "Is she okay? That's all I want to know. Someone talked about her being seen with you. Then she wasn't seen ever again" he told me.

I nodded my head. "She's fine. She joined our pack, which means she's in the protection of our pack if anything happens" I said, keeping my eyes narrowed at him.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Nothing's gonna happen. I didn't come here for that. I just wanted to know if she's alright" he explained. "Leia is a tough girl. But the rogue life isn't exactly friendly"

"Were you two close?" Caleb asked.

Brenden smiled and nodded his head. "She's my sister" he mumbled. My eyes widened and Caleb sent me a questioning look. I didn't know she had a brother. She never said anything about him. "She thinks I'm dead"

And that's probably why she didn't say anything.

***

The rest of the day, we listened to Brenden's story. Apparently, Leia and he tried to escape together. However, they got caught. Brenden told Leia to run while he fought them off. He never caught up with her, but he never stopped looking. Since she never seen him again, Leia assumed he died.

"You don't mind if we just confirmed this little story, right?" Caleb questioned. He really doesn't like Brenden. I think it's his protective Alpha side coming out since Piper is pregnant. But she's still upstairs sleeping.

Brenden raised his hands and told us to do what we needed to do. I pulled out my phone and dialed Ashlyn's number. "Hi, this is Ashlyn. I-" I hung up on her cheery voicemail recording.

Sighing, I called Valerie. It was on the fourth ring when she answered. "You woke me up. Fucking jerk" she grumbled. Glancing at the clock, I realized it was almost 2 a.m. I heard shuffling as she moved. "What do you want?" she questioned before yawning.

"Are Ashlyn and Leia still at the packhouse?" I questioned. Valerie gave me an affirmative answer. "Give the phone to Leia please" I asked nicely.

She groaned. A few moments later, I heard a door open. "Just cause you saying please is rare" she stated, yawning again. Caleb snickered as I heard her knock on a door. "Zeke wants to talk to Leia" Valerie told someone- probably Ashlyn.

"What for?"

"I don't know, Ashlyn" Valerie whined. "Just take the phone. I'm tired" she complained. I heard Ashlyn sigh before the phone was being passed off.

I listened to Ashlyn wake up her mate with a lot of grumbling from the girl. "People sleep. Sleep is very important" Leia huffed.

Motioning for Brenden to go in another room, I apologized for waking her up. I made sure Brenden was gone just to make sure he doesn't say anything to Leia. "Do you have a brother?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

There was a sharp intake of breath. "I used to" Leia mumbled. "Hold on. Ashlyn needs to sleep. I'm going downstairs" she informed me. I waited for her to leave the room. "Okay why are you asking about my brother?" Leia inquired after a couple minutes.

I relayed the incident with her. By the time I was done, she was crying on the other end of the phone. I didn't even know it was possible for Leia to cry. She always just seemed angry about everything. "Can I talk to him?" she asked, sniffling.

After calling Brenden back into the room, I put the phone on speakerphone and we sat on the couch. "Leia?" Brenden muttered.

There was a sob on the other end. "I thought you were-"

"I'm fine" Brenden cut her off.

Leia started bawling again. "No, you're not. I know they didn't just let you go all healthy, B. It's all my fault. It was my idea to leave. But then I left you. And they got you. And I didn't come back" she rambled.

Brenden ran a hand through his hair and hushed Leia. "Leia?" I could make out Ashlyn's voice on the other end. "Babe, what's wrong?" she asked softly. "Zeke, what'd you do?!" she asked in an angry voice. It really didn't suit her. I didn't answer her and let Leia explain. "What? You have a brother?!" Ashlyn exclaimed.

"I'm the brother" Brenden spoke up. "You're her mate?" he guessed.

It was silent for a few minutes. "Yeah. Uh- I'm Ashlyn" she introduced herself in her shy voice again. I chuckled, unable to keep it in. "How come I didn't know about him?" Ashlyn questioned in a whisper.

She really needs to learn how to whisper better. We are werewolves. I went to the kitchen, leaving Brenden to talk to Ashlyn and Leia. I grabbed a pack of Oreos before returning to the living room. "Oh! Can I have one?!" Brenden asked, his eyes lighting up.

Caleb laughed. "Zeke doesn't share his Oreos" he informed Brenden. I nodded in confirmation, popping one in my mouth. That's like Sam sharing any type of food. That guy is a like a vacuum cleaner. "There's another pack, I'll get it" he offered.

I guess he's warming up to Brenden. "Zeke" Ashlyn sang. I sighed, knowing that she was going to ask for a favor. "Do you think Brenden can join the pack?" she questioned.

Brenden looked at me as I nodded. "I don't see why not. I just have to speak to Nick about it" I informed them. Ashlyn squealed. For some reason, she seemed more excited about it than Leia.

"Stop doing that. It's annoying" Valerie's voice came through the phone. Ashlyn huffed. I could imagine her pouting and crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't go back to sleep thanks to you. Jerk" she grumbled closer to the phone.

I chuckled. "Your beauty sleep doesn't even work anyway" I teased. Valerie sighed, muttering about me being a jerk as usual. "So you just naturally wake up sassy?"

Someone clicked their tongue. "We've slept in the same room for a week. You should know this by now" Valerie pointed out.

Caleb returned and threw a pack of Oreos at Brenden, who raised an eyebrow at me. "I wasn't aware you had a mate" he stated.

"I'm not his mate" Valerie informed him. Not that it was his business anyway. "I'm in the middle of defying my parents. Moving out of the house was the first step. Zeke was just convenient" she explained.

Caleb laughed and I huffed. Convenient. "You practically begged me" I stated. Valerie shouted about her never begging for anything. "Lying is a bad habit"

She huffed and quieted down. "Are they always like that?" Brenden wondered. Caleb nodded and I threw a pillow at him.

"You've seen her once! And that was like thirty seconds!" I exclaimed.

He shrugged. "Yes. They are always like that" Ashlyn confirmed. "I think they secretly like it when the other pushes their buttons" she said in a whisper.

I don't like it. It's annoying. I narrowed my eyes at the phone. "I can still hear you" I reminded her. She didn't respond. "Hey. My room isn't trashed, right?" I asked Valerie.

"Who would've thought that the Monster is really a softie?" Brenden muttered to himself.

However, I heard it along with the girls on the phone. I also heard their breathing hitch. I didn't realize how loose I was getting. It was too risky. I was getting lenient. People would think that they could just do whatever I want since I wasn't a hard-ass anymore. People could attack. Other people could get hurt.

I clenched my jaw. "I'm going to bed. We leave at ten tomorrow" I told Brenden.

He nodded, not realizing the sudden change in atmosphere. "What about your phone?!" he called out as I walked up the stairs.

I shrugged. "Just give it to Caleb" I demanded. I heard footsteps behind me. "Can I help you?" I asked, turning to face Caleb.

"Don't be a dick" he scolded me. I sighed before apologizing. "Look. I get it. The whole 'play a badass so no one will mess with you' act. I guess it's working. But no one supports it" he informed me.

I nodded in understanding. "But it's not any of their decisions. It's mine" I reminded him. He rolled his eyes at me. "Get that guy a guest room" I nodded towards Brenden. "Please" I added after.

He grinned at me. "Just cause you saying please is rare" he said, copying Valerie's words. I glared at him as he chuckled. "As the girls would say-" he feigned a hair flip. "I totally ship it" Caleb squealed in a high-pitched voice.

Groaning, I stomped up the stairs and to my bedroom. "Hey. What are you doing up?" I questioned, spotting Amanda walking out of her bedroom.

She frowned, rubbing her face. "Someone's having a nightmare. I just felt it" she informed me with a sigh. I almost forgot about her gifts. She rarely uses them. "I can't control it when I'm sleeping. I just go into other people's heads and-"

I pulled her into a hug. She took a deep breath, letting a shaky one out. "You want some warm milk?" I offered as I pulled away.

Her face scrunched up. "Milk is supposed to be cold. That's why it's refrigerated" she pointed out.

Chuckling, I lightly shoved her. "It's supposed to help" I defended. Sighing, she agreed before going to her room. "Damn. Now I have to go back downstairs" I muttered to myself.

I got downstairs, passing by the living room. Brenden was beginning to say goodbye to Leia. I went to the kitchen for Amanda's milk. "Here" I caught my phone against my chest, glaring at Caleb. "At least you caught it" he pointed out.

I rolled my eyes and put the cup of milk in the microwave. "Amanda had a nightmare" I informed him.

He sighed. "There has to be a way to not tap into someone's mind while asleep" he stated. I shrugged. "Go back to your room. I'll bring her the milk" he offered. I thanked him before my phone started ringing in my hand. Caleb chuckled. "She said she was gonna call you again"

I was confused until I looked at the screen. "What do you want, Valerie?" I questioned, accepting her call. I began walking back to my bedroom.

"I can't sleep" she mumbled.

After closing the door, I jumped onto the bed. "What do you want me to do about that?" I asked.

I heard shuffling on the other end as she moved. "Just talk. It was weird falling asleep without talking" she admitted.

Slipping off my shirt and pants, I laid down in bed. Jeans aren't comfortable to sleep in. "I haven't even tried sleeping yet" I informed her. "What'd you do today?" I asked.

I pulled the covers over me as she spoke. "Technically, you want to ask what I did yesterday. It's two in the morning" she reminded me. I rolled my eyes at her as she let out a chuckle as if she saw me rolling my eyes. "I actually just sat around your room. I didn't snoop. I just played some games on my phone, drew a bit, and-"

"You draw?" I cut her off.

She clicked her tongue. "Interrupting people is very rude" she jokingly chastised me. "But yes. I do draw. But I hate coloring. That's for kids. Most of my stuff is like pencil shading and charcoal and stuff. I'll show you a few when you come back tomorrow" she offered.

I smirked. "Technically, you want to say when I come back today" I corrected her. She laughed as I let out a yawn. "I'm tired and I have to leave in eight hours" I stated.

Valerie yawned. "I'm getting tired too. It's work to talk to you" she teased. "Goodnight, Zeke" she muttered. I could tell that she was already falling asleep.

"Night, Valerie"  

_______________

"Life's like a movie. Write your own ending. Keep believing. Keep pretending"

-Jim Henson

Someone once told me that history always repeats itself, so there's no point in second chances. That's a lie. Everyone deserves more chances. Everyone deserves to right their wrongs. But you don't have to expect things to fall back to normal after someone wronged you. We're all writers. We write the story of our lives. We determine where we go in life. We decide our choices. You don't like how something ended? Add more to that ending.

Kayyyzzz Byeeezzz

~A.J.