Page 13 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

We all stopped in front of my dad, and my hands went to the top of my head as I took in deep lungfuls of air and focused on slowing my heart rate back down. It didn’t take too long since I was a future alpha and had lycan healing. When I could finally shift, twenty laps would be nothing for me.

My dad just looked at us with an unimpressed stare before he moved into our regular training session and dismissed Nolan for the day. Lucky bastard.

The rest of our training passed without incident, and the three of us trudged up the stairs when we finished, heading to the alpha suite to get cleaned up and have lunch.

I could tell before we even entered the suite something important was about to happen. I opened the door and walked in, and right there, on the entryway table, was a light purple envelope addressed to Wesley Stone and sent from Colorado. My heart fluttered in my chest when I saw it.

She wrote back. She actually wrote back!

I reached my hand out for it, but before I could even touch it, Reid snatched it off the table and ran towards the kitchen with it held in his hand over his head.

“Give it back!” I shouted, but he was already ripping the envelope open, not even attempting to lift the flap like a normal person.

He tore the letter out and unfolded it, moving faster than I’d ever seen him move, his eyes already skimming over the contents of Haven’s letter. Luckily, he didn’t notice the other content of the envelope that fell to the floor in his haste to get the paper out.

I darted forward and grabbed it, tucking it into the pocket of my basketball shorts before he or Sebastian could see it.

I stood there while he read, an sigh escaping my lips as I waited for him to finish the letter. I knew he wouldn’t give it back until he did.

His eyes finally met mine over the top of the paper, but instead of the teasing I expected from him, he gave me this look before handing me the paper and leaving the room. I glanced after him, a bit concerned, but I could hear the door of the guest bathroom close and the shower turn on, so I left it alone, turning my attention to the item in my pocket I saved from the floor.

It was a photo. The tiny ones from school that mothers or grandmothers usually put inside their wallets to show off to their friends, the clerk at the grocery store, or their hairdresser. I assumed the girl in the photo was Haven, since it fell out of the envelope addressed to me.

Her hair was a strawberry blonde or light red color and was a wild mess of curls and waves that fell past her shoulders and ended out of the frame of the photo. She had dark blue eyes, and although she smiled in the picture, it was a forced smile, a fake smile.

It was a smile I had seen on Reid’s face when we won a game and his dad wasn’t there. Her eyes, too, held a sadness that was much too heavy for a nine-year-old.

As soon as I saw her, I felt this instant need to always take care of her, protect her, and keep her safe. It was a peculiar feeling, one I had never felt towards anyone outside of my family before. Well, besides Reid and Nolan, but I knew they could also take care of and protect themselves.

I was barely aware of Seb telling me he was heading to take a shower. I was too engrossed in the photo. I finally tore my gaze away from Haven’s face and went to my room, my eyes not registering my surroundings as I walked through our home.

I turned the shower on in my en suite bathroom and then sat on my bed to read her letter while I waited for the water to heat up.

CHAPTER 6

DearHaven,

I cannot tell you how happy I was to receive your second letter.

Well, no, I guess I probably could try to tell you how happy you made me, but in all honesty, there are not enough words in the English language or any language to express how I felt when I saw your letter finally come in.

You can’t tell anyone this. But I was waiting and waiting and waiting, hoping that you would give me another chance, and I’m not going to lie—at one point I thought maybe you had decided I wasn’t worth it.

But seriously, please don’t tell anyone, because I have already endured enough teasing from my parents and my brother, and even a little bit from my best friend, Reid.

Not that I’m embarrassed to be your friend. That’s not it at all. It’s just that the constant taunting from my little brother and my best friends is annoying. So annoying. That’s what it’s like, by the way, to have siblings. ANNOYING.

Okay, okay, it’s not ALL bad. Sebastian, my little brother, who is two years younger than me, and I are actually really close, and we get along fine, but I think it’s pretty natural for siblings to also intentionally drive each other crazy. Which Sebastian does. A lot.

Reid and Nolan, my two best friends, are also almost more like brothers to me. We’ve all known each other since we were born, and the four of us (Reid, Nolan, Sebastian, and me) spend pretty much all of our time together, outside of school at least, since Nolan and Sebastian are in different grades than Reid and I.

But other than that, we play together, do homework together, and even go on family trips together, since all of our parents are also best friends. And we all constantly give each other crap—I mean tease each other—about anything and everything. I guess it’s in the sibling job description.

Other than them, I have a much younger sister, Madeleine. She’s three and is literally the princess of our family. The princess of our town, if I’m being frank. She has my dad wrapped around her little finger.

Honestly, I think she has me wrapped around it as well. I am afraid of what she’ll be like when she gets older, though. I have this feeling she’s going to end up being a force of nature that none of us will be prepared to deal with.

So, now, you asked me a bunch of questions in your letter, and I’m going to answer them, but I’m expecting you to answer the same questions when you write me back, plus any other questions I decide to ask you. You have been warned.

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