gaius

"He did what?" Foster asks through laughs.

I roll my eyes at the idiot I call my friend. We were just about to begin patrolling the borders and I had just finished telling him about the mess I came home to and of course, he would laugh at my misfortune.

"What would you expect from a monster?" Gray says before walking off.

I frown as I watch him leave. If anything, I'm sure that being locked inside all day paired with the feeling of hunger played a role in him destroying the house. Instead of saying this, I roll my eyes and continue to walk with Foster.

Foster eyes Gray for a minute before looking at me.

"So what are you going to call him?" He asks.

"What?"

Foster raises an eyebrow. "What are you going to call him? You don't want us saying 'the feral one' or 'monster' so what are you going to call him?"

I pause at this. I've never thought of giving him a name or anything. It made sense though.

We pause when we reach the middle of the pack lands and begin to get ready to shift.

"Well...I found him at the northern border so I'll call him North," I reply.

Foster hums in response before Gray begins to talk and we turn to listen.

...

As I walk home from patrol, I see Mrs. Hastings arguing with Mr. Rogers again. I shake my head at the two of them and turn to go handle the issue when Gray beats me to it.

"Mr. Rogers, Mrs. Hastings..." Gray's voice trails off as he walks towards them. I shake my head as I watch the three of them engage in a conversation.

I knew they wouldn't be able to get along.

Turning back in the direction of my house, I continue onward. It never made sense to me how two person could spend so much time arguing. I'm sure they spend more time fighting than they do with their families.

When I reach home, I move to unlock the door but frown when I find it already unlocked. When I step inside, Dad's scent hits me in a face like a freight train.

"Dad?" I call out and make my way towards the living room.

Dad sits there with a frown on his face, his eyes shine with disapproval. My eyes trail downward and to the side of the couch where North sits in a cage.

"What did you do?!" I yell at him angrily.

I rush down to open the cage door and let North out. Dad moves quickly and yanks me backwards before I can do so.

"What am I doing?" Dad scoffs. "What are you doing, Gaius? Bringing that- that- damn monster into your house? Into pack lands?!"

"Dad-"

"No! Don't give me some bullshit excuse! What was the first lesson I taught you, Gaius?" His venomous glare lands on me.

"He's my mate," I ignore his question and say.

Dad rolls his eyes. "No he's not. You're confusing yourself. You should've killed him the moment you saw him."

Pain fills my chest and I stare at him with a glare.

"How do you know that? I'm not stupid, Dad - I know what I feel.Were you confused when you met Mom?" I snap back.

Anger fills his eyes. "Don't you ever mention your mother when talking about that beast again. Your mother was an angel- there was no need for confusion, but this?" He gestures to North. "This thing can't be trusted."

"Well if he can't be trusted you're welcome to leave," I snatch my hand out his arm.

"Gai-"

"Actually you're not welcome to, you're going to," I point towards the door before moving to North's cage.

"You're going to regret this choice, Gaius. You're the fucking beta for crying out loud! You're supposed to do what's best for the pack and instead you're endangering it," he shakes his head.

I scoff at that. "North hasn't left this house once since he's been here. He hasn't bitten me let alone attack me in any other way."

"You named it? You're unbelievable," Dad growls out in frustration before heading towards the door. "You're going to regret your decision, Gaius. You're confused- even if he was your mate, he wouldn't be able to feel it anyways or shift for you."

"You also told me feral rogues didn't have mates and now look," I gestured towards North.

"Feral rogues have no humanity, Gaius. He probably doesn't even understand you," Dad rolls his eyes before opening the door. "Call me when you come to your senses."

Dad walks out the door and I stare at it for a while. I knew Dad hated rogues in general wether they were feral or normal and I knew that he would hate the fact that I was mated to one, but it still hurt to hear him say so.

Part of me wanted to go after him and try to convince him to give North a chance. After Mom died, Dad and I got a lot closer than we were before. He taught me practically everything I knew and I wanted him to like my mate.

The other part of me knew that wouldn't end well. Why did Dad hate rogues so much? I didn't know. His hatred traced back to before Mom's death and every time I brought it up he went into a lecture about how they were terrible but never why his hatred was so personal.

The sound of shuffling pulled me from my thoughts and my eyes widened.

"North!"

I turned and quickly opened the cage before moving back just as North bolted out. He looked around before scurrying to the corner of the the living room.

"North..." I stand and move closer. "I'm sorry-"

North lets out a growl and his red eyes feel as if they're glaring daggers into me. I frown and back up before moving towards the kitchen. The plate of chicken that had been left out for him remained partially uneaten which told me that Dad had been here for a while. North's eyes followed my movements and I offered him a smile.

He bared his teeth and I shook my head and let out a sigh before making my way to my room. Things seemed like maybe they would work out before, but now I wasn't sure. Even if North proved to not be as dangerous as everyone made him out to be, he would never truly be accepted and the thought of him not being happy here upset me.

Seven years of waiting and it still felt like the harder I tried, the more I was dragged down and pulled into the abyss known as loneliness. No matter how hard I tried, I would never truly be able to be happy.