Page 28 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

I inhaled and exhaled a few times, calming my heart and my mind. Nolan’s sister. A member of our pack. The knowledge she’d be safe and taken care of and loved soothed the boiling lava in my soul and erased the blackening pit in my heart.

“He better be nice to her, or I’ll have to kick his ass,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest.

My mom snorted and roughed up my hair, and my dad chuckled and scratched his beard, meeting my mom’s eyes over my head.

“Gamma Felix and Fiona will be here soon to begin the process with us,” Dad said. “I promise you, we will keep you updated on everything that is going on with Haven.”

“Can I talk to her?” I asked him as he stood and walked to his office door to show me out.

He sighed, and his hands rested on his hips.

“Unfortunately, no,” he answered. “We have to do this the right way, and they’re not giving us the information on where she’s staying or anything. And yes, we could hack into the systems or use a witch to find her,” he added before I could protest, “but we have to play this by the rules and be very careful because of what happened. They’re keeping a close eye on the Franklins, and we don’t want to raise any red flags against ourselves or the Shepards. Okay?”

I nodded. I wanted to push him, wanted to say more, but he was the alpha, and I had to listen to him and respect that this was his last word on the situation for now.

“Wesley!” he called out as I exited the room. “I promise you on my title and our pack that we will do everything we can to help her.”

My throat tightened, and my eyes itched, the watery feeling in them returning as I listened to him make a solemn oath to me. And the primal thing inside me settled back into its place, subdued and appeased for the moment.

CHAPTER 12

WESLEY

“Have your parents said anything?” I asked Nolan as he walked up to me before training. “Have they heard anything?”

“I don’t know if they’ve heard anything, and no, they haven’t said anything to me.” Nolan sighed. “And I am sure my answer will be the same tomorrow,” he added as he bent down to stretch.

I huffed in exasperation. The same answer. The same fucking answer every day since my parents told me Felix and Fiona were trying to adopt Haven. And that was several weeks ago.

I tried to be patient, but patience had never been one of my strong suits. I was more of a “right now” kind of male.

That restlessness inside me stirred again, but I pushed it down, tempering it with my breathing and my stretching.

It had been happening more and more in the weeks since I learned of Haven’s situation with her family. This fierce, feral thing inside of me would rear its ugly head any time I would think about Haven or someone would mention her, and I would have to refocus and recenter myself to push it back into the recesses of my mind.

“Dude, I know you’re anxious and upset and impatient, but you don’t have to growl at me,” Nolan muttered.

“I wasn’t growling.”

“You were literally just growling at me,” he argued.

“I didn’t growl!”

“You totally growled,” Reid chimed in as he joined us, plopping onto the grass and leaning back on his palms. “Oh, look, his eyes are flashing too.”

“Don’t provoke him more, Reid,” Nolan scolded.

“Is it provoking if I’m just pointing out a fact?”

“Reid.” Nolan shook his head at him again, his brows raised and eyes wide in warning.

“Get off your ass and run with me,” I grumbled, taking off to run laps around the field without checking to see if they followed.

I knew they would.

I set a slower pace so they could keep up with me, even though I itched to sprint off some steam. But I also wanted to talk with them, and out of earshot of our parents.

“Did you get them?” Reid murmured, and Nolan glanced behind him to check on our dads.

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