Chapter 43 Chapter 43
"Jane, we're here." Scarlett tapped me. I slowly opened my eyes, stretching my arms out a bit. When did I fall asleep again? "We're here." She repeated.
I glanced out the window at the two story building sitting right in front of the car. It had so many flowers and plants around it, on the walls, the rails, which added to its beauty. Behind the house, there was a forest that seemed farther than it looked. "It's such a beautiful place." I commented.
"Yes, let's head inside." She still sounded sulky.
We got out of the car and caught up with Alpha Keegan by the doorway.
He rang the doorbell and it didn't take a minute before the door flung open and Pam Anderson, Scarlett's Mother, came in view, grinning from ear to ear. Scarlett looked like a photocopy of her with the same blue eyes and short blonde hair.
"Alpha, Scarlett, I'm so glad you're here! And you're together." She grinned and pulled both of them into a joint hug before pulling away.
"George!" she called into the house and Scarlett's father grouchily came out. His sturdy face was replaced with bliss when he spotted Scarlett. He looked a bit older than the last time I had seen him; his coffee brown hair wasn't slicked backwards like it used to and though his golden brown eyes were filled with delight, his huge and muscular figure still scared me. The only thing he had in common with Scarlett was his lips.
"I didn't know you were coming today, and with Keegan- sorry, Alpha," he corrected himself and pulled Alpha Keegan into a manly hug before hugging Scarlett really tight and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Let's head inside; it's going to be really cold outside soon."
They assisted Alpha Keegan and the driver in carrying the bags inside, not bothering to notice my presence.
The driver left then they all had their seats. I didn't feel comfortable enough to sit with them so I stood beside Alpha Keegan.
"Isn't she leaving with the driver?" Pam stared in my direction with narrowed eyes.
"No, she isn't, she accompanied us for the weekend." Scarlett explained with a forced smile.
"Oh." George added, his scrunched face didn't help in hiding his disapproval of my presence. "We didn't expect anyone, so we didn't arrange a room for her."
"She can stay in the "
"It's fine. She'll stay with me." Alpha Keegan cut Pam off.
They shared a glance at each other like they were communicating internally.
Scarlett cleared her throat to return their attention to her. "It's really fine. Is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."
"Why wouldn't there be?" Pam's smile returned. "I made your favorite dishes. Lets head to the dining area, shall we?" she rose up and left for the kitchen.
George had a stern face directed at me and it made me feel very uncomfortable, like I was in a place I also wasn't accepted.
We all headed to the dining table while Pam served everyone's meal on the table with a very small portion served for me. I assumed it was because she wasn't expecting me. The food was certainly not going to satisfy my tummy, but it wasn't something I couldn't manage.
Halfway through dinner, I was done with the content on my plate when Pam finally broke the silence. "How is everything in the pack?"
"Great," Alpha replied.
"And the pack members? Still as grumpy as ever, right?" she chuckled.
"How would that even change?" Scarlett chuckled, glancing at Alpha Keegan.
"To be honest, I had thought a few things were going to change when Keegan completely took over as Alpha, but it just seemed the same." George said and shrugged.
A frown formed on Alpha Keegan's face with his gaze fixed on George's like he was about to say something very bad to him or yell.
"Dad," Scarlett nudged his shoulder, "everything in the pack has to be the way it is for the pack to excel."
Alpha Keegan's facial muscle relaxed. He glanced at me and passed a portion of his meal to me without a word. "That wouldn't be enough for you." He muttered.
"And I guess the omega is treated better than before?" Pam asked, gazing in my direction.
"Mom, how is the preparation for the celebration?" Scarlett changed the topic.
"Oh, it's nothing large. We just wanted to see you and only a few friends around, so not many people will be attending." She smiled at her.
"No way! While I'm here, your wedding anniversary has to be an event to remember for a long time. You're celebrating your twentieth wedding anniversary, it's special!" She exclaimed.
"I know right? Pam never listens." George rolled his eyes.
"Never listen? We both agreed to not celebrate it dramatically." She sent a glare at him. "Scarlett honey, I know you won't let a dramatic celebration slide, but at least, keep the number of guests to a small amount, and the venue was be here."
"Sure!" She grinned.
Scarlett continued on how she was going to plan tomorrow's celebration then they continued discussing about different events that had happened in their lives and normal family-friend discussions. After my meal, I rose to my feet and held my plate; there was nothing for me to say and my presence was clearly useless here.
"Aren't you going to wash your plate?" Pam asked, her eyebrows were curled in irritation.
"Yes, I am."
"Take all the empty plates on the table and do the dishes. Who do you expect to do it?" Seriously? Was I ever going to get a break?
I arranged the empty plates and decided to carry them in bits to the kitchen. Alpha Keegan's face had twisted into a frown, but I doubted if it was because Pam was making me do chores.
After doing the dishes, I headed back to the living room to have a nice chat with Chloe while they continued chatting in the dining area.
Preparations for the wedding anniversary celebration had been going on since this morning. I hadn't stepped out of the room because I knew I wasn't going to feel unaccepted among everyone. My life felt more than boring and I can't believe I said this, but I felt like going back home. At least I had things to do at the pack house without feeling this frustrated from boredom. My phone's battery had run out and stupid me had forgotten its charger back home.
I let out a frustrated groan, just in time for Alpha Keegan to walk into the room. He stopped and glanced at me before walking up to me with the blankest expression I had ever seen on anyone's face.
"Are you bored?" He asked.
"Bored' is an understatement. There's nothing to do, no chores to attend to at least, there's no one to talk to, and I was so stupid to have forgotten to bring the phone charger..." I let out a deep sigh.
"Let's go on a walk." He offered and I lifted my gaze to him with a quirked eyebrow. "I'm equally as bored as you are. As much as the workload of an Alpha is tiresome, being here makes me feel like I'm doing nothing and makes me feel useless. There's also nothing to say to anybody, so if you're interested, let's go on a walk. It'll be relaxing and refreshing, but It's fine if you don't want to-" "Why wouldn't I?!" I cut him off.
"Okay... hang on," he walked over to his bag and returned to me with a box in his hands.
"What's this?"
He crouched in front of me and took off the slippers I was wearing before opening the box to reveal a pair of black and white striped espadrilles.
"What's going on?" I wondered with a smile slowly crawling up my lips.
"It's a walk. You should wear something more comfortable." He wore the espadrilles for me and the way his hands moved in the most gentle motion I had ever observed as he touched my feet made chills swim down my spine. "Let's get going!" He jumped to his feet and I rose up too, lifting my leg up to check out the new item.
"It fits perfectly fine and it's so cute on me, don't you think?"
"I have nothing to say about that." He shrugged. "If you're done with adoring the shoes, let's leave."
We headed out, bumping into a few people who were decorating the living room with flowers and other crazy designs while I couldn't stop grinning at the fact that I owned a new item.
"Oh, Jane," Pam held my back and handed a piece of cloth to me, causing my grin to slip off my face, "I was just about to come to you. Give this to Farah and assist her, she needs help with-"
"Mrs. Anderson, the omega and I have to go somewhere." Alpha Keegan held my hand and dropped the cloth on a table beside him. "We'll be back before the party starts."
She furrowed her forehead at both of us as Alpha Keegan left the house with me.
"Don't you want to at least have a break in your life?" He glanced at me and started heading in the direction of the forest. I wanted to reply but didn't know the right words to use. Who wouldn't want a break if they were in my shoes?
We continued on a silent walk for the next few minutes yet he still didn't let go of me.
"Is it strange that I want you to be safe?" he tightened his grip on my hand and reduced his pace. " I feel like you're always in trouble or something is about to harm you and you won't be able to defend yourself, that's why I was really mad at you when you snuck out to meet Casper. I know I might have overreacted, but I was very scared and thought something bad had happened to you or you had run away."
Was he indirectly apologizing? "You were scared I was going to run away?" A proud smirk formed on my lips.
He glanced at me with a playful roll of his eyes. "I wasn't scared."
"You were! I didn't realize I'm that important to Alpha Keegan." I chuckled.
He was silent for a while and I noticed a millisecond smile appear on his face. "I wouldn't say... I don't know, I guess sometimes I pity you."
"Pity me?" Was he in his right state of mind? How could he pity me?
"Yes, you're wolfless, a weak werewolf. Sometimes I wonder how life must be so frustrating for you because I know how it feels to be wolfless." "You do?" I stopped, peering intently at him. "How's that possible?"
"I was kind of wolfless too, but not exactly like yours. As someone with the Alpha blood from the Gray family, I was supposed to have my first shift at three or at most five years old, but it didn't happen until a few years later, so my father made me feel like I was wolfless and worthless."
"Your father? No one has ever mentioned him in the pack."
"Stefan Gray, no one has mentioned him, yes, because he's not useful to the pack." We resumed walking at a really slow pace. "How isn't your father useful? Isn't he supposed to be like the main mentor or mind behind the Dark Stone pack?" I wondered, hoping he wasn't going to get angry that I was asking for something beyond my permission.
"Well... maybe he could've, but certainly not. He's extremely terrible and never believed in me, so he wasn't even going to be in support of me building a pack with my capability. He only cared about my brother and made me feel completely useless while making my his other son feel extremely special and more important than me."
"You have a brother?" That was definitely new news.
"Not exactly, he's my step brother. You've met him." He finally let go of me. I tried to think of anybody I had met in the past that could probably be related to Alpha Keegan but there was no one; he has always been on his own. "I don't think so."
"He's Vladimir."
My eyes widened at the unexpected and shocking new piece of information. "Vladimir? Alpha of Night Shadow pack? He's your brother?!" "Step-brother, he's just my father's son." "Wow. I had no idea. How is he so different from you?
Vladimir's a sweet man and so he's so nice." I blurted out before I could control it and clearly pissed Alpha Keegan off. His face twisted even more and he continued walking fast while I tried to keep up with his pace.
"He isn't so nice, he isn't even nice at all. Vladimir isn't trustworthy. Most times, I feel like he's played a major role in the destruction of my childhood. It was kind of his fault that my father made me feel really terrible and mistreated me." He squeezed his face with deep hatred burning in his amber eyes, expressing how much his childhood annoyed him. "If your childhood was so bad, why did you make the rules to make everyone's life equally bad, especially to lower class werewolves like me?" It made no sense to me.
He glanced at me with furrowed eyebrows. "I wasn't in full control yet. I didn't exactly make the rules, but it's all for good. I'm the best version of who I was born to be and everything, all control is in the right order." The way his face was scrunched and his eyes darkened warned me to keep quiet before I blurted out anything stupid that could cost my life.
"I'm sorry if I said anything wrong..." I trailed off with a bow.
"Remember, no one must know about any information I just discussed with you, else you'll be in trouble, immense trouble..."