I flicked the glowing green button upwards, and Viviana's shrill voice flew through the screen faster than I could even answer, let alone utter a greeting, "Oh my Goddess! You would not believe who just passed me in the hall!" In the middle of her lengthy speech, she cursed herself, something that she would repeat often when she became passionate and started to speak ten words every second. Her rants were always messy. "Oh, wait, don't listen to me! That's a bit of a lie, because he did it at least thirty minutes ago, but it still counts. Because, either way, he looked mad!" She emphasized her last word, and it came out sounding more so like a stretched out 'mahd'.

"Viv-"

"This is insane. I've done a lot of research on him, but now that he's actually right in front of me, I feel straight up creepy. I am honestly his top stalker, which is saying a lot considering I recently found out he has a whole fan group," she spoke excitedly, proud of her findings. "But, that is not the main topic right now, and we will talk about that later. Anyway, he really came out with this 'I'm ready to kill' look! He stomped down that hallway like nothing I've ever seen before. And, I'll be honest with you, at first I thought that maybe it was because of you. I know my girl ain't easy, and he got to work for it, but I just figured that he was in one of those 'wish my mate liked me' moods. But, get this, as I followed him farther down the hall he met up with recently demoted Beta Leo, and that's another hot cup of tea that I need to spill with you! Okay, so, the first words out of his mouth-" she deepened her tone, "'this better be important or else I'll rip off your-'"

Viviana's hard to ignore voice seemed to only double in volume as soon as I pulled my phone away from my ear. Her rambling had even reached the surprised blonde who was shaking at the idea of overhearing a conversation of mine that was deemed private, yet to me it was not a problem at all.

The aura that she gave off was sweet, like strawberry gummies.

Annora resembled a deer caught in headlights, staring down the items in her hands as she hurried in her spot. I casted my gaze to her, shaking my head playfully at her reaction. The simple interaction thankfully brought her back to her cheerful self, and she continued cleaning up the dishes without an ounce of worry. I mouthed to her a 'thank you'.

Annora flashed me her signature smile, tilting her head to the side as she rested her chin on her shoulder. I pointed towards the door, and gave her a small goodbye wave as I stood up from the chair. Next to the door was a neat line of my clean, summer shoes. I quickly grabbed a pair of sandals that were once stored away on the top shelf of my closet, but Morpheus had clearly torn that out and shoved all of its contents into my small suitcase.

Annora might be one of the nicest out of all the people I have met in my short life, but I need an opinion that only a best friend can give.

Viviana carried on while I slipped out the door. Suspiciously eyeing the heavily decorated hallway before it ended and was replaced with a set of stairs. I kept my phone up to my ear, listening in as I tried to maneuver my way through the pack house. Every once and a while, if I paid extra attention to her instead of my feet, I could hear a few of her fuller statements.

"Who would have guessed, my Emery with this man? I won't lie, I dreamed of the day that you would come to live in the pack house with me, but I would have thought an Omega for a mate, at the most. They're the least threatening out of all of them. But, if we're getting real truthful, I thought that Max and I would just adopt you and Johnny. For sure. Yeah. That's what I really imagined for us. I dreamt about it once. Picture this, we all live in a cottage farther west of the pack territory, and we live our lives baking bread. Moral of the story, Alpha Morpheus is literally the biggest plot twist I have ever witnessed in my whole, entire life."

You and me both, I thought to myself as I tiptoed down the last step, the sounds of my shoes tapping against the hardwood echoed against the walls. There was just one door separating me from the floor that Viviana had to be on.

Walking was all I was doing.

Viviana gasped loudly, too loudly. My head snapped to the side to face an almost empty hallway, something that wasn't hard to find when half of the building was made up of personal living spaces for the pack members, it was the bottom floors where the public areas like the infirmary and kitchen were located. I spotted her instantly. "Beta Leo just came out of the office without Alpha Morpheus!" She soon turned silent, and quietly, she asked, "Do you think he can see me? He's kind of just waiting outside the door, and he's not looking my way or anything. Wait, can he hear me? Oh, nevermind. He's leaving."

I traveled forward, hearing her voice become clearer the closer I got until I could finally reach out and touch her. Viviana was been bent over awkwardly and had moulded herself over her phone, letting her black hair cover her face as she watched Beta Leo move away from outside the Alpha's official office door. He turned the corner, now out of sight. I could hear her snicker perfectly in person, but it had came out fuzzy through the phone, "Looks like he just needed to take a break after talking to the Alpha. I can't really blame him, that man is terrifying up close."

With a smirk, I hang up on her, and the light beep sounded off. Viviana pulled away confused, holding her phone out in front of her as her pointy nails clicked noisily at her glass screen. "Did she just hang up on me?"

"Viv, I'm behind you," my words hit her like a slap on the face, and she twisted her whole body to look back at me. Her black hair twirled behind her as she gasped aloud.

She let out a sigh of relief once she realized it was just me. "Emery! I'm so glad you're here, babe. There is so much to talk about. So much."

"I do have something on my mind-"

She cut me off, "So, how about we start with you telling me why Max and Johnny know more about what has been happening these past couple days than I do?" Fluttering her eyelashes at me, she waited for an answer impatiently, and her blue eyes burned at my skin.

I shrugged innocently, "Would you accept 'long story' for an answer?"

Viviana quickly smiled down at me, placing her hands on my shoulders as she hummed, "Oh, sweetie. Good thing you're so cute." She squeezed my cheeks together, and said, "Don't worry about it, you can tell me everything over a French vanilla at Manda's, okay? And, I mean, everything. Max is really worried about you, so is Johnny."

I wrapped my hand over hers and pulled it down, letting out a breath as I prepared myself for the inevitable. My face noticeably dropped. "I know, I know. But, Viv, I have an issue. Another issue. There's so many issues. I can't keep up!"

"Emery," She shushed, and motioned for me to calm down, to breathe. "Now, what kind of issue is it? Are you feeling okay? Did he do something? Because, if he did then I'm going to break down that door and I will show him what happens when someone messes with mama bears-"

"No, no, no-" I watched the door cautiously, thanking anything above or below me that all the rooms were soundproof, especially his office. "-nothing like that. It's about me. I feel guilty."

Viv of all people would know. She went through the same, and by same, I mean that she felt guilty. For different reasons, of course.

"Guilty? You don't need to feel guilty about liking your own mate, babe. It's okay. As long as you're happy, that's what matters. I promise." Viviana stuck her pinky out at me. "I pinky swear."

I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from smiling at her ways of making me feel better. "What do you think Dad will do? Honestly. He won't be happy. I know he won't be."

Viviana grabbed onto my arms, holding me in place as she made me look her in her eyes. "Listen to me, your happiness is the most important thing. Your Mom would be over the moon." She would be, she really would be. Oh, sugar. She would write a book about this. "Don't let one rogue control your life. He's gone, and he is never coming back."

"How am I supposed to move on when the same man he worshipped is the man I'm meant to be with?" My words quivered as my nerves grew in size. Even mentioning him made my skin crawl. "It was fine when I thought that I didn't have a mate."

"I would do anything for you, Emery. You know that. Johnny would, too. And, so would Max. They're werewolves. But, babe, the best advice I could give you right now is to go talk to him."

She's right.

💕