My eyes fly open and a feeling of dread and anxiousness washes over me. "Something's wrong" Enya says. I look beside me and see that my mate is still sound asleep. I slip from under his arm and out of the bed. Grabbing my robe I look at the clock showing 6:00 AM. Grabbing my phone, I see that I have 6 missed calls from my younger sister. I call back and get no answer, so I send a message. Still feeling uneasy, I try calling my mom. It's early but she's usually up by now but I get no answer. I go take another shower in my second room, I didn't want to wake my mate. Wait, I don't even know his first name. Chuckling, "does it even matter anymore?" Enya asks as we get dressed. "Shut up Enya," I say with a blush as thoughts of last night start to pop into my mind. Walking back into the kitchen and turning on the electric kettle to make some tea, I pick my phone up again to see 7:00 AM, 5 messages from Bryant, several from Anna and the girls, there's even a missed call from Ryan, but nothing from my mom or sister. That anxious feeling starts to wash over me again, so I call my dad's office in the pack house. The first time I call no one picks up, I call again after 10 more mins and an unfamiliar voice picks up, "hello, who's this?". Feeling confused, I say "this is Amelia Redd, is the alpha there?", "no, the alpha isn't here, what do you want?", starting to get annoyed, "where is kelly, his office assistant or Ben his beta? You are extremely rude and unprofessional, why are you in the alpha's office and answering his phone?" I ask, giving off my alpha authority. All of a sudden, I hear "What are you doing? Who is that?". Passing the phone to him he says, someone named Amelia Redd, "Good morning Ms. Redd, this is Seth, one of the head warriors here, how may I help you?"
"Seth, the alpha and I had a video meeting at 7 AM, I've been waiting but he still hasn't jumped on the video call" I lie. "Ah, let me apologize on his behalf, he had to go lead an investigation personally so he is unreachable for the next two days. I didn't see any scheduled meeting for this morning, I would have had Kelly inform you when he left yesterday evening," he says waiting for a response. "No worries, I say, please have him reach out to me as soon as possible once he gets back," I say before hanging up. I still feel like something is off so I text my sister again. After that I return Bryant's call. The last time I spoke to him, I was telling him to leave before my mate catches him. Who would've thought I would get caught instead, I think as the phone rings.
“Good morning Bryant”, “Ah, morning Ms. Redd” he answers. “You do know that when it’s just us on the secure line you can use my real name right?”
“At this point, it’s just out of habit,” he chuckles. "He found me," I say getting straight to the point. I hear him cough, "wait, when...how?" he asks, trying to compose himself. "Are you choking on your coffee again?" I ask, "Ms. Black, please don't change the subject" he fires back, "how'd he find you? are you ok? what did he do?" He asks back to back. "Bryant!" I say getting his attention, when he stops I say, "we mated but we didn't mark each other, and that's ok because I'd rather sort out everything before I let him mark me, seeing that I have no intentions of walking away from the life that I've made for myself here." He finally let's out a long sigh, "are you sure? do you think he will agree to let you stay here?" he asks. Feeling annoyed, "it's not up to him to decide, I will hear his opinion but the decision is mine and mine alone, I won't be controlled by any mate". "He's not like that," Enya reassures me.
I let out a frustrated sigh, "anyways, I need something else from you," I say changing the subject. "Sure, what do you need?" he asks, "I need you to find out what's going on back at my pack. I can't reach my family right now, so I called the pack office to find out what's going on but none of the usual people are there, which is weird because my dad doesn't like different people in his office. Seth says he's unreachable because he's personally leading an investigation but something still feels off," I say telling him everything. "Ok, I will check things out and get back to you later on," he answers. "Thanks, I'm going to go ahead and give Anna a call, she's proably waiting by her phone for my call," I laugh.
After hanging up, I dial Anna's number. Picking up the call, “You no good, ingrate of a sister, it’s really taken 3 whole days for you to call me?” She answers, “It’s only been a few hours” I say rolling my eyes. “It’s practically Wednesday already” she continues, “Hahaha, happy to know you’re still as dramatic as usual, although I was expecting harsher words” I answer back. “Oh so you’re already aware you’re a total bi…”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I panicked. I didn’t know what else to do, I just…sigh…I called to ask you to let me have dinner with him tonight at the lounge” I cut her off. Once she gets started hurling insults, she won’t stop. Chuckling, "did he find you?" she asks, sighing I say "I don't even want to know how you figured that out". "Let's just say it's a lucky guess," she answers. Taking a deep breath, "Did you guys mate?" she asks, "Yes", "did he mark you?", "no, we didn't want to mark each other yet, there are a few things we need to discuss before we mark each other," I answer her.
She takes a second and then says okay, "but you're going to have to come here now, so I can doll you up". "But he's still here, in my apartment," I whisper. "1st or 2nd apartment?" she asks. "2nd" I answer quickly, as I check over my shoulder to make sure he was still in the room. "Ah, you're find then, just leave a note for him telling him to meet you here at 4 pm for dinner." Thinking about it, "what do you think Enya" I ask, "Sounds like fun," she giggles.