Page 38 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

I reached for a cookie, but as was my luck, my little brother decided he had an urgent need for my attention and yanked me away from the table and towards the docks.

“Wes. I think you need to pinch me. Or get me a breathalyzer. Or, honestly, maybe both, because I swear to the fucking Goddess I just saw someone I most definitely should not be seeing on our pack lands.”

“Oh, fuck me, is it Katie?” I asked, looking around behind us at the party. I didn’t want her to see me.

“No, no, not her,” he said, shaking his head. “But you wouldn’t believe me if I told you who, so I’m just going to…”

His voice faded as I kept moving forward, my eyes locked on the woman in front of me. Even from the back, there was almost no doubt in my mind who it was standing at the edge of our lake.

I wasn’t sure how she was there, or why she was there. All I cared about was confirming what I already knew to be true. What my lycan was telling me was true.

That red hair. Those long, graceful limbs and that pale skin. It had to be her. There was no way it could be anyone else.

The pebbles under my feet rattled, so I cleared my throat to alert her to my presence, hoping I wouldn’t scare her too much.

She made a sharp turn, and her deep blue eyes looked into mine. Time stopped as we took each other in, her eyes traveling over all of me and mine stuck on her face.

That face. I would know that face anywhere. I had a tiny, wrinkled, faded 2x3 inch photograph of the nine-year-old version of that face that I kept along with every letter she’d ever written to me. It was a face I thought I would never get to see again.

She shook her head like she was trying to shake off the remnants of a dream, and my eyes widened just as hers did when we locked gazes again, and almost all of my doubts washed away.

But I still had to know for sure. Still needed to confirm it out loud, so I whispered with a shaky voice, “Haven?”

CHAPTER 15

WESLEY

“Haven?”

I took a small, hesitant step towards her. I wanted to touch her, to put my hands on her and check if she was real. But I stopped in my tracks when she crossed her arms and tugged her leather jacket tighter around her body. As if it was a shield.

Why would she react like that? Like she needed to protect herself. How could she think I would hurt her? Had someone else hurt her? My lycan did not like that idea.

I pushed those thoughts away as she shook her head again, her loose curls swaying with the motion. Her face scrunched up in confusion, and she looked up at me.

“I’m sorry, I-this is—“

“It’s me. Wesley,” I said, taking another small step forward. “We used to—“

“Yeah. No. I mean-I know who you are, I just-how?” she stammered. “How is this possible? How are you here?” she asked, gesturing with one hand.

“I could ask you the same question,” I replied with a laugh.

She tilted her head to the side, and the movement was so wolflike I had to stop and inhale to double-check her scent. Human. Definitely a human scent, with notes of jasmine and something… something fruity…

“I’m here with my roommate,” she said, and I opened my eyes. I hadn’t even realized I’d closed them.

“Your roommate?” I repeated.

“Um, yeah,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “It’s her birthday.”

A lightbulb went off in my mind. I had forgotten Maya had asked permission for her human roommate to come onto the grounds for her party today. Hell, I had forgotten she was living off packlands until I saw that request come across my desk.

“Oh, shit, you’re Maya’s roommate?!” I exclaimed.

“How do you know Maya?” Haven asked.

I just gave her an incredulous laugh. She had to be joking. After all, she was in my hometown. She had to remember this was where I lived. She’d written the address down so many times that year when we wrote to each other.

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