Inevitably Yours

MICHAEL

I cleaned up my room after dinner to make sure my mom didn’t get mad. She liked the house to stay clean, and my father scared most of the omegas she hired within a few weeks. His explosive nature and discontent with anything less than perfection made it hard to keep good staff at the packhouse. He was more of a dictator than an Alpha, and when I took over the pack, things were going to change.

When everything was tidy once again, I laid on my bed and opened my phone. I had a handful of messages from Andi, but I ignored them in favor of opening Quinn’s contact page. I went back and forth in my head; should I call her or text her?

Finally, I gave in and called her. I wanted to hear her voice, and I wasn’t guaranteed a response with a text message.

“Hello?” she answered. “Who is this?”

“Forget about me already?” I teased her.

“Look, I’m having a bad night. Think we can do this little tit for tat thing another time. When I gave you my number, I never actually thought you would call,” she said. She sounded sad or maybe a little defeated.

I paused for a second, debating how to play this. I could be my outward cocky self and breeze past the problem or ask her directly. “What happened?” I asked her, hoping she’d open up to me about whatever it was.

“Nothing important, I guess,” she said dismissively.

“It sounds important if it got you upset,” I told her.

“Not everything you get upset about is important,” she countered. That wasn’t necessarily true. If it made you upset, it had to be important in some way.

“You could tell me; then I could tell you if I think it’s important or not? I mean, maybe it is, and you’re keeping it all hidden away,” I offered. She let out a small laugh, making me smile.

“I don’t think you want to hear about my problems,” she said. She was very wrong.

“Did I say that?” I asked. She was quiet, so I continued, “You can’t assume I don’t want to hear what you have to say unless I have told you I don’t want to hear it. On the contrary, I thought it was pretty clear that I do want to hear what you have to say.”

“You don’t know me, so why should I assume you care?” she asked.

“I happen to have a vested interest in all the pack members,” I said nonchalantly. Especially pretty ones.

“It’s a novelty that will wear off, I assure you,” she sighed.

“Try me,” I said.

“Maybe another time,” she said after a long pause. “What did you call for?” She was trying to move the conversation away from herself.

“You gave me your number,” I said.

“That did not come with a commitment of communication,” she pointed out.

“Commitment to communication was clearly implied, or you would have given me the wrong number,” I laughed. “What are you up to?”

“Wallowing in defeat, eating my sorrows, typical girl drama stuff,” she said.

“That doesn’t sound like fun.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, crunching on something. “The snacks are good.” I laughed at that.

“I guess I could leave you to your wallowing and snacks,” I said. “We should hang out.”

“My schedule is pretty busy,” she lied.

“Alright, guess I will just have to be patient. Good night, Quinn,” I said. I hung up before she could say anything else.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

That hadn’t turned out the way I thought, but it wasn’t a total loss. I was sure I could still get her attention; I would have to take a different approach than normal. She may not be outwardly interested in me immediately like I was used to with other she-wolves in the pack, but that made the chase more fun.

My stomach growled in hunger; the extra training I did after we got back made me hungrier than I thought. I pushed myself out of bed and strolled out of my room. My room was at the furthest end of the hall, far away from my parents, but I liked it that way. It kept them out of my business as much as possible.

I noticed Tyler standing in his doorway, looking worriedly at our parents’ room. Then I heard the shouting from the cracked door. I stopped in my tracks, trying to listen to what it was about. I heard a loud sound that had to be a fist hitting something. Tyler flinched from his spot.

Quickly, I rushed over to him and pushed him into his room. I closed the door behind me and held my finger up to my mouth to tell him to be quiet. He looked up at me with sad eyes. Being the firstborn, I was naturally bred to be strong and fierce. I was to be Alpha one day, and I trained accordingly. My little brother was the polar opposite. He was tall but gangly. He held himself awkwardly and didn’t have much confidence in anything except arguing with me. He knew I would never hurt him, so he felt safe picking fights with me.

“Just stay in here. Turn your TV on and try not to listen to them, okay?” I whispered. He nodded his head. “Do you know what it’s about this time?” I asked him. He shook his head; I sighed. “Alright. Stay here. I’ll bring you something to drink.”

Tyler stepped back and slowly walked to his bed. He slumped down, looking sad. He hated when our parents fought. Very few people knew about what actually happened with the Alpha family behind closed doors. I had learned to stay away when Dad got in one of these moods for the most part.

I quietly slipped out of my little brother’s room and hurried down the hall as quietly as possible. When I hit the stairs, I took them three at a time all the way to the ground floor. I let out a sigh of relief, knowing I was out of possible ear and eye shot.

The only good thing about my mother and father fighting was that my father would not stumble upon me eating outside of mealtimes. Going into the pantry, I found the hidden basket of snacks one of the kitchen ladies kept stocked. I grabbed a few things and shoved them into the pocket of my shorts before grabbing a few bottles of water from the fridge.

When I got back upstairs, the shouting was still going on. I knocked softly on Tyler’s door, opened it, and tossed him a water bottle. He nodded, and I closed the door. As fast as I could, I went back to my own room and closed the door quietly. I couldn’t hear them from this end of the hall, but if the fight left their room, I would. I stayed up for a few more hours, making sure nothing spilled out into the hall or toward Tyler’s or my bedroom.

–

I quickly flipped through the files in my father’s office, searching for her name. Tyler coughed up Quinn and Kent’s last name this morning, so I snuck out of breakfast to see if I could find anything in the Alpha’s office about her. There were files on all pack members, even the Alpha family. Some had lots of information, while others had next to none. Finally, I found her.

I pulled the folder out and skimmed the contents. Not much was in there, but I snapped a quick photo of the listed address. The only thing out of the ordinary in the folder was a sticky note with the word ‘Breed?’ scribbled on it. What that meant, I couldn’t guess. I closed the folder and shoved it back into place.

The door to the office swung open, and I quickly snagged a random folder out of place and turned around to find my father standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing in here?” Alpha Lawrence demanded.

“Nothing,” I said quickly. We both knew it was a lie.

“You have no access to anything in this office until I deem you worthy of succeeding the title of Alpha,” he growled.

“Yes, sir,” I said, holding his gaze directly. We were evenly matched in size now that I was almost of age. When I was younger, I would lower my eyes, but I was running out of things to fear from him. I refused to give him the satisfaction of being outwardly submissive any longer, even though it often meant dealing with the consequences.

“Do you need a lesson in your place here?” he threatened.

“No-” I started.

“Lawrence, I need a word,” my father’s Beta interrupted us. He strolled in the room, stopping just behind my father. “Oh, Michael. Good to see you. Having fun on your summer vacation?”

I nodded my head, “Yes, sir.”

“Leave us,” my father commanded. I wasn’t going to be told twice. I rushed past both of them, staying away from my father’s reach. I didn’t say anything to anyone else as I left the packhouse.

QUINN

I moved around the house with my earphones in listening to music. I danced as I dusted the shelves in the hall filled with books and movies. I grabbed the wood polish from the cleaning caddy and started wiping down everything, leaving behind a pleasant citrus scent on the shiny wood.

Mom and Dad were working, and Kent claimed to have already finished his chores. None of my friends wanted to do anything this morning, and I was still in a funk after Courtney’s news anyway. I knew some less frequent chores had been neglected for a while and didn’t want Mom to spend her whole weekend running around cleaning, so I decided to help.

When the shelves were all clean once more, I grabbed the cleaning caddy and headed back to the kitchen. The dishwasher was done, so it was time to unload it and fill it with more dirty dishes. My music was up way too loud to hear anything as I danced in place at the sink.

I missed my brother coming into the kitchen, so I jumped back in surprise when he tapped my shoulder. I ripped my earphone out, exclaiming, “What was that for?”

“Someone is at the door for you. They have been ringing the bell for like ten minutes,” he said unenthused.

“Oh, sorry,” I said. He shrugged and left the kitchen. I turned the water off and headed to the front door. Kent left it cracked, so I didn’t realize who it was until I opened it all the way. “What are you doing here? Wait, how do you know where I live?”

Michael smiled cheekily. “I have ways,” he said. His eyes moved up and down me. I now felt ridiculous in my tiny shorts and baggy shirt. My hair was tied up high on my head in a messy pony, and I probably looked ridiculous. “What are you up to?”

I looked back behind me before looking at him. “Is he serious?” I thought.

“Who cares?” Sapphire answered. “He looks scrumptious.”

“Down, girl,” I chided. Michael wore a simple t-shirt with cargo shorts and athletic shoes. Nothing flashy, but his muscular arms did pull at the sleeves of his shirt a bit.

“I’m cleaning,” I said, sounding kind of stupid.

“Want to hang out?” he asked. I blinked rapidly.

“What?” I asked. Did he find out my address and come here to ask me to hang out? There was no way this was real. He doesn’t know me at all.

Michael laughed. The sound came from inside his chest, and I liked it. “Ditch the chores. You can do them some other time. Do something with me,” he said.

“Um,” I started.

“Just go! Let’s have some fun!” Sapphire pleaded in my head.

“Pretty please,” Michael smiled, poking his l*p out adorably.

“Okay, just um,” I said, looking behind me again. I had to change my clothes at least and finish the dishes. “Let me finish one thing. You can wait in the back.”

“Sounds good,” he said happily. I watched him turn and casually stroll around the side of my house. I closed the door slowly, still a little surprised.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Sapphire pushed inside my head. I ran back to the kitchen, shoving the dishes into the dishwasher haphazardly. Once everything was in, I started the cycle and dashed upstairs. I grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a loose tank top, quickly changing. I pulled my hair down, finger combing it and pulling it back up just a little neater this time.

I slipped my phone in my back pocket and grabbed my current reading book out of habit. I slipped some shoes on before heading back downstairs. I looked out the back door to see Michael casually sitting on the hammock outside. He looked relaxed and at ease as he scanned our small backyard. When I slid the door open, his eyes snapped to me, and I felt a blush creep up my cheeks.

He stood as I came down the deck steps. “You look really pretty,” he said sweetly.

“Um, thanks,” I said, rubbing my arm awkwardly. “You look nice too.”

“Do you bring a book with you everywhere?” he asked. I stilled for a second, feeling embarrassed.

“Uh, I guess,” I whispered. I couldn’t meet his eyes, all of a sudden feeling very nerdy. “What do you want to do?” I asked, hoping to draw his attention away from me.

“That trampoline work?” he asked, pointing over his shoulder.