Page 11 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

I hope to hear back from you soon.

Your friend,

Haven Kenway

P.S. After I asked my mom for an envelope and a stamp and told her what it was for, she told me I should put a picture of myself in here. Please don’t laugh at my silly school photo. It’s the only one I had that was already printed. You can totally throw it away if you want. I won’t mind. Also, she said it’s fine for you to send your replies to our house from now on, so this address is fine for you to use.

Bye!

Haven

WESLEY

I didn’t check the mail at all that week.

I didn’t obsessively open the mailbox every time I walked by. I didn’t look through the incoming mail basket in our suite, or in my dad’s office, or at the front of the packhouse at every opportunity. I didn’t ask my mom if the mail had come in yet as soon as I walked in the door after school or after training.

I didn’t even give one tiny little thought to whether Haven would respond to my letter, to whether she’d decide to give me a second chance. Not one thought. Not at all.

At least, that was what I’d have told anyone who confronted me about it. Especially my friends. Especially Reid. That jackass would never let me hear the end of it if he knew I was stalking the mailman, waiting for a letter from a nine-year-old human girl whom I had never even met.

I had already gotten enough shit-eating side glances from Sebastian every time he caught me in the act, and my parents just exchanged this knowing look with each other whenever they saw me searching the mail. That was enough nonverbal teasing, in my opinion. If Reid caught wind of it, the teasing would definitely be verbal. Very verbal. Which was why I wouldn’t admit to my mailbox obsession.

It was Saturday—over a week since I sent my apology and begged her to let me have a second chance—and I had yet to hear from her. I was thinking all my waiting and checking and hoping had been for nothing.

Reid, Nolan, Sebastian, and I had training that morning with our dads, and the four of us were eating a small breakfast in the packhouse dining room before going out to the training yard. I sat between Nolan and Reid, and Seb was across from me at the table.

I kept stabbing my fork harder than necessary into my scrambled eggs. I was more than ready to head out and start sparring. The frustration built up inside me throughout the week ate away at me, and I desperately needed to let it all out.

“What did those eggs ever do to you?” Reid asked from my right, just as I shoveled a forkful into my mouth.

I swallowed, forcing more food down than I should have, making my eyes water.

“What?” I choked out once the lump of food moved out of my throat.

“You’re attacking your eggs with your fork as though they were your mortal enemy,” Reid pointed out. “I’m just wondering what great crime the eggs committed for you to be trying to kill them.”

“You should have seen him yesterday when we were doing homework after training,” Nolan chimed in from my other side, my head whipping around to stare at him in surprise. “I thought he was going to end up tearing all the pages out of his book, he was turning them so roughly.”

“I was just trying to finish quickly,” I mumbled, but my words went unheard. They were on a roll, and nothing I said would deter them.

“Oh yeah, and in class the day before, he kept checking the clock every ten or so minutes. I thought he was going to break his neck with how much and how quickly he kept turning to look behind himself at the wall,” Reid continued, talking over me.

“You think that’s bad?” my idiot little brother Sebastian piped up from across the table. “All week he’s been stalking the mailbox, checking it every hour, waiting for—“

I didn’t even let him finish his sentence. I launched myself across the table, tackling him in his chair, sending it and us to the floor. The chair broke apart beneath us as Sebastian wiggled around. He tried to get out from under me, not wanting to let me pin him.

He kneed me in my nuts, and I groaned, my body hunching in on itself to protect my family jewels from a second assault.

Sebastian used this to his advantage, using my body weight against me and rolling me onto my back. He jumped up to his feet in a flash and ran through the large dining room towards the back door that led out to the pack grounds, weaving around the many tables that occupied the space.

I was on my feet and following him in an instant, closing the distance between the two of us with every step, my breakfast forgotten on the table, Nolan and Reid laughing and egging us on from their chairs

One of them rooted for me, and the other for Seb. I couldn’t tell who was rooting for who. My attention was too focused on Sebastian for me to figure out which of my best friends had decided he was going to be a traitor.

Sebastian’s hand was about to grab the doorknob when the door opened, and my dad’s very large and imposing frame was revealed, filling up the entire doorway. Seb froze when he saw our dad, and I tried to stop myself, but my momentum was so great I ran straight into his back, sending him forward into our dad’s massive chest.

Dad’s large hands gripped Sebastian by the shoulders. His critical gaze scanned my brother first, then me, and then the room. His eyes landed on the broken chair, and he switched from Dad to Alpha Harrison Stone by the time his focus turned back to us.

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