"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves." - William Penn

Ethan’s grey eyes settled on me for a brief second before moving back to glare at Elliot.

The air was so brittle, it could snap. The temperature in the room had immediately dropped low. No one spoke, silence encompassed the entire place. In the suspended horror, I waited for Ethan to make a move.

You had one job, Vivian.

One job.

All you had to do was to keep him away but like always, you managed to fuck that up too.

“I think I told you to stay away from her,” Ethan's voice was cold, hard and punishing.

Elliot took a step to walk inside the room but stopped when Ethan raised his eyebrows in a way which said are-you-sure-you-want-to-do-this?

If looks could kill, then I’m pretty damn sure Elliot would be six-feet under.

Elliot gulped and stayed rooted at his old spot, “I’m staying here as a guest.”

“For what reasons, pray tell?” The icy tone of his voice sent shivers down my spine.

My eyes gathered his appearance. Even without his wolf, he appeared intimidating and strong enough to knock the shit out of Elliot... which I obviously didn’t want to happen.

“I asked him too.” I interrupted letting myself become the prey of his scrutinizing, cold, grey eyes.

“You ‘asked’ him?” A bewildered expression made its way on his face.

I turned my head towards Elliot but still felt Ethan’s gaze bore holes into me.

I knew exactly what was going inside his head. The ugly green-eyed monster was whispering doubts about us, fuelling his jealousy. But I wasn’t going to have any of it. We are grown ups – adults. Just minutes ago we had decided to move past everything and hell if I’d let his jealousy and over-possessiveness ruin it.

“He was the one who found Zack. I needed him here in case he remembered anything that could be crucial to the investigation.” I walked towards him with my arms crossed and eyebrows raised – challenging him.

“Oh yeah, that’s right. He was the last one to see Zack,” he let out a sarcastic laugh and turned towards Elliot, “May I know what exactly were you doing there? Last I checked, I had already kicked you out of the pack.”

“Ethan...,” I warned. This wasn’t the time to ruffle Elliot’s feathers. We already had an important matter at hand. Can he for once manage to keep his cool?

“No, Vivian... Let him enlighten us. Let’s see what your ‘guest’ has to say.” When Elliot didn’t answer, Ethan urged him, “Come on, go on then. We are waiting.”

Elliot walked inside, anger imminent in his face. “You know what your problem is, Ethan?” he spat, “You’re an insecure and miserable piece of shit. All your life others made decisions for you, you have been controlled by everyone around you and now when everything is out of control, you’ve completely lost it!” He angrily pointed a finger at him, “I was your Beta. Screw that, we were fucking best friends! And what did you do? You stripped me of my rank and kicked me out of my pack, my home! Did you ever ask for an explanation? Did you ever took the time to hear my side of the story? No, of course not. All you care about is yourself. Ethan fucking Salvador. The high and mighty.” His eyes darkened, signalling the presence of his wolf, “Well here is a reality check: You ain’t shit. You’re a jerk. And I am glad Vivian reject-,” before he could even complete that sentence, Ethan punched him straight in the face.

Elliot fell on impact. He spat blood on my floor and laughed, “Yes, go on! Hit me. That’s what you were always good at!” He wiped his mouth.

“Oh for Goddess’ sake, did he just spit blood in my office.” My wolf cursed in the back of my mind, not caring about the fight that was happening.

"They're just showing off as men do," she answered in return.

Before the fight escalated any further, I stepped between them and with surprisingly less effort, managed to push both of them away.

“If you both want to fight, then I suggest you do it somewhere which is preferably not inside my pack.”

They both gave one final, intense glare to each other before moving towards two separate corners of the room to cool down.

“Elliot, go to the infirmary and get yourself checked.” He opened his mouth to argue but my glare shut him up.

I closed the door and shifted my attention to Ethan.

“Are you serious?”

“What?”

“After all that fucking crap about ‘second chances’ and ‘moving on’, the first thing you do is this?”

“It is hardly my fault. I wasn’t informed that he was staying at your pack.”

I rolled my eyes and flailed my hands, exasperated, “Unbelievable!”

“He slept with you. I don’t want him anywhere near you.”

“Yes, I slept with him too, you don't have to remind me. It was a two-party, consensual act. I’ve been with other men too - What are you going to do? Hunt and kill them all?”

His eyes widened in rage at the mention of other men. I knew he was about to explode and reply with a ‘yes’ but he managed to restrain himself when he noticed my anger was more profound than his.

“All of this was in the past! When both of us weren’t mates! How can you blame it on Elliot when neither of us knew?!” I was enraged, my entire body was heating up, “Do you see me marching to your pack and attacking Cindy? Or any other girl you must’ve slept with? Do you?”

He didn’t answer.

“If you want us to work, then you need to move past this thought of me sleeping with Elliot and other men. It happened. It was in the past. Now, move on! If you cannot trust me, then I am sorry to tell you, 'we' cannot happen.”

Ethan’s nostrils flared, his hands clenching at his sides. Those grey eyes were burning a hole deep into my soul.

A knock on the door halted our conversation. I turned around to see Jonathan entering the office.

“The other Alphas have been summoned and are on their way. Shall we proceed?”

I nodded because I was done with the conversation Ethan and I were having. I grabbed the letter from the desk and walked towards the door to leave, but not before grabbing a box of tissues from a nearby shelf and tossing them in Ethan’s direction.

I felt my wolf take over, “When you’ve calmed down, and cleaned the mess you’ve created on the floor, you can join us.”

----

“This has never happened before.”

“Exactly. No past events talk about Lycans throwing a ball in celebration of an Alpha female crowning.”

“They might have thrown a party for killing one though,” Josh joked, but soon realised no one was amused, “A bit morbid? My apologies. Continue with the concerns, please.” He leaned as far as he possibly could on his chair, trying his best to find a comfortable position.

“I thought this was an Alpha only meeting,” Ethan asked Jonathan, signalling towards Josh and Tyler.

“Vivian called us, you’ve got a problem?” Tyler answered in his stead

Not this, again.

“What do you propose we do?” I diverted my attention to Alpha Lennon, Alpha Carlos, Jeremy and Ex-Alpha Chris.

“There is danger in both circumstances. We don’t know for certain what their intention with you is.”

“I do, I thought it was already quite clear enough,” Josh nonchalantly replied, as his index finger rose to point at me, “they want to kill her.”

Ethan slammed the desk, scaring everyone with the sudden noise, “That. Will. Never. Happen.”

Josh furrowed his eyebrows, “Chill out. I said ‘want’ not ‘will’, pay attention.”

Alpha Lennon was about to contribute something to the conversation but his eyes unfocused and hazed signalling that someone was mind-linking him.

My eyes moved towards Alpha Carlos who also had the same look on his face. Josh and I shared a look. We turned and found Tyler looking at Ethan, who had the same expression as well. To no one's surprise, Jeremy was also going through the same experience.

“What is happening?” I asked Chris who shrugged his shoulders.

Something was wrong. How come all the Alphas were getting mind-linked at the same time?

Alpha Lennon was the first one to break the link.

“Well, guess what Vivian...,” he paused and let his eyes connect with mine, “A letter arrived at my pack just now.”

“Same for me,” Alpha Carlos joined and a second later, so did Ethan and Jeremy.

“Let’s wait and see what it says.”

The two minutes where we had to wait for the Betas to arrive were the most excruciating two minutes of my life.

Everyone literally jumped from their seats when the first Beta arrived.

It was Aiden.

His eyes scanned the room, a worried expression taking over his face when he noticed everyone ready to pounce on him.

“Uh... I didn’t do anything, I promise,” he raised his hands in a surrender motion, everyone’s eyes automatically following the letter he held in his right hand. Ethan walked over to him and easily grabbed the letter from his grip.

“You can leave, Aiden.” He dismissed him, his full attention on opening the letter.

Aiden seemed fairly young for his position. Usually Betas are the same age as an Alpha but he seemed almost my age, if not older.

“That’s all? No thank yo-,” Ethan’s glare cut him short.

He pouted and was about to leave when he spotted me. A grin overtook his face as he enthusiastically waved in my direction.

Confused, I slowly raised my hand and waved back in return. If it was possible, the grin on his face grew even wider. He bowed his head in my direction and then was out the door.

“That your Beta?” Tyler questioned, the smirk visible on his face.

“Yes, he is. You’ve got a problem?” Ethan answered just how Tyler did not long ago.

“Ready for round 2 of showing off, Vivian?” my wolf perked up at the testosterone that was building and was ready to explode any second.

“Oh, hell no.” I replied back.

“What does it say?” I changed the subject in order to distract both of them from turning the room into a WWE ring.

Ethan sped his process of tearing the letter open.

Josh poked me from the side, “I think we should arrange a day and let them have a go at each other. This pent-up energy is not good for any of them. And personally, I’d love to see these two fight over you.”

“I concur,” my wolf hummed in agreement.

I let out a low laugh. My wolf and Josh were a match made in heaven.

Ethan cleared his throat to alert everyone he was ready to read.

“It is the Lycan Committee’s deepest pleasure to invite the Alpha of East-Moon Pack, Ethan Salvador, his family and his Beta to attend a ball being held in celebration of Vivian Alejandro, the North-Moon Pack female Alpha. To be held on the twentieth of June, at the Luna Ball Room. A five course meal shall also be served in the Lycanthrope Hall. Further details will soon follow. We hope to see you both there.”

At the same second when he was finished, the other two Betas and Janice, Jeremy’s mate entered. There was no hierarchy in the Rogue community, they had no Betas or Gammas which is why his mate came with the letter.

All of the letters had the same content in them.

“I guess we’re all invited to the ball now...,” Alpha Carlos confirmed as all of us tried to process the gravity of the situation.

“Does this mean we go?” Tyler asked.

“The ball is in three days from now, I think we all should take some time to think about it. Let’s not make any rash decisions which might cost us something later, agreed?”

Everyone nodded towards Alpha Lennon’s way.

It was a fair decision. This was something crucial. We couldn’t make a haphazard decision which might result into causing more danger than could’ve been avoided.

“Let’s meet one day from now and come to a unanimous decision.” Alpha Lennon concluded and everyone got up to leave.

A ball. In my honour.

Thoughts of fear looped around in my mind until there was no room for anything else. What does the future hold for me, for us, for my pack?

What will I do without Father's guidance, without Mother's love, without Zack's-

“I am not even the Alpha yet and shit has already hit the roof,” Josh swiftly rose from his seat and rolled the cuffs of sleeves, “To be honest, I am already tired of these boring meetings.”

“You want us to bring alcohol next time for refreshment?” I jested.

His eyes immediately lit up at the mention of alcohol, “Can you? That’d be awesome, Viv! Bring the cherry one you served at the crowning!”

I rolled my eyes at him but the corners of my lips tugged up anyways. He always found a way to make me smile when I was upset.

“Vivian,” I turned around and saw Tyler standing next to Ethan. Both of them staring at me.

“What’s with all this staring? I get it we’re gorgeous, but they can tone it down. It is getting downright creepy,” My wolf huffed.

“Oh, I am sure you’re enjoying the attention.”

She let out a yip in response.

“Yes?” To be frank, I had no idea which one of them called out my name because I was too busy listening to Josh. And I was afraid of calling out the wrong male.

Tyler stepped forward as Ethan eyed each of his movement.

“I was just about to go but couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to you,” he opened his arms and hugged me.

“Rest in peace, Tyler.” My wolf remarked, clearly referring to Ethan’s jealousy.

He pulled back, hands holding my arms and looked me in the eye, “Stay safe, yes?”

My gaze travelled to Ethan who had his eyes tightly shut closed, and his fists clenched by his sides. His breathing slow, and controlled.

I quickly moved my attention to Tyler, gave a smile and nodded as response.

As soon as he departed, Josh quickly took his place in front of me.

“Stay safe, yes?” He lowered his voice to mimic Tyler which made me laugh.

“Yes, Master Josh, as you say.” He smirked at the nickname and faced the other side to leave but in true Josh fashion, turned around when he saw Ethan with his eyes closed, “Think about that fight, will you?” He winked and walked out the door.

I noticed Jonathan was still in the room so I signalled him to leave us alone.

“They’ve gone.”

His eyes fluttered open at my voice.

He stood idle for a while, not making any movements but after a minute, he gave his shoulders a wiggle and lolled his head in circles in order to relax himself.

“I...,” he cleared his throat, “will I see you later?”

I thought about it for a brief minute. I still had to check with Jonathan about my schedule of the coming days, especially now with the ball hanging over our heads. “I’ll let you know.”

He gulped and nodded his head in a curt manner. Then slowly and hesitantly stepped closer to me.

His right hand reached out and took mine, igniting sparks all over my skin. He looked at me. His eyes sending me a message, reminding me that I won’t be able to feel this way with anyone else.

And the next second, he was gone.

----

Upon arriving back at my pack, I headed towards my office to securely put away the letter.

My wolf was quick to acknowledge the clean floor as I made my way towards the desk, marvelling at the job done by Ethan, telling me of how he would serve as a perfect cleaner if the need for an alternative job ever arose.

"It was just few drops of blood, nothing special," I reminded her as I reached my desk. Just as I was about to reach for one of the draws, something in the centre of the desk caught my eye.

It was a lavender tulip.

Underneath which was a note, extracted from the notepad resting nearby. I placed the letter on the desk and moved towards the centre. With my right hand, I picked up the tulip and with my other hand, I picked up the note.

“I am sorry. Forgive me?” it said. A tiny, sad face drawn just under it.

The corners of my lips curved upwards.