Mia's Path

MIA

“Leave? Why would you leave?” Drake asked and I could see the hurt in his eyes before he could try to hide it.

Why was he hurt by that? I thought he would want to get rid of me as soon as possible. I was the odd one out here, come on. I looked across the silent table and everyone looked at me the same way. They were all hurt by my words, even the big guy, Tom. It made me feel guilty all of a sudden. Maybe saying it out loud now was a bad idea. They were clearly invested in the idea of me staying and all that, like I was already an important part of their lives. Should I consider this idea? No. Why would I stay?

Well, I felt safe with them, sure. And they felt like home for a second there. They were very different from my last pack experience for certain and that was a wonderful thing. But was it all that it took to make me stay? I had no one outside here, my few friends from before were all dead and Max... I couldn’t even think about him right now. I knew he would want me to find a place to belong and settle down.

Could I settle down here? These people were the closest I had to friends right now and they seemed like a fun bunch. Then why did my heart squeeze painfully? I knew why and the truth was that I was really getting attached to them and I didn’t want them to have the same fate my other friends and loved ones had. It was not fair to them. It was not fair to anyone, really. Why did I spread death no matter where I went?

I took a deep breath in. I was tired of feeling sorry for myself and I was tired about things getting out of my control, so if I was going to do this, I needed to be honest with Drake, he was the Alpha after all. My heart ached again with the thoughts of him rejecting me after I told him the whole truth, but it was a chance I had to take. If he rejected me from his pack, then at least that meant my new friends would be safe for sure.

“So, you guys don’t have to fight over me?” I teased slowly. And with those words I could feel the mood turn light again at the table. I even heard some relived breathes being released. A shy smile crept on my lips.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, there’s no fight, really.” Drake recovered fast from the hurt and was smiling now.

“Huh?” It was all I could muster before he continued speaking with a smirk on his handsome face.

“You are staying with me until further arrangements are necessary.” Now he had a full feline smile on his lips. I could hear the others protesting through whispers, but in the end, I guess him being the Alpha was enough to make them not argue any further. Kyle seemed pissed about it and looked at me, with hopeful eyes, I think. I just shrugged my shoulders and nodded, saying. “Okay, I guess it makes sense.”

That made both of them surprised. I think they were expecting me to put up a fight about what Drake had said. So, I added. “As long as Raina can stay with us, of course.” This time I was the one smirking at him.

“Oh, snap!” I heard Sam say and laugh at the same time. I liked her.

“It’s only fair. I agree to your terms, Alpha Drake.” Raina said as if he was the one that requested her presence at all. That left no room to argue, because he dropped the devilish smile and nodded his head mumbling something about too much estrogen on his space. Men. This time I was the one with the feline smile on my lips. Kyle was amused now, seeing Drake deflate like that and simply comply to my request. Hm, interesting. His eyes met mine and he smile at me again.

We finished eating with a new argument between Sam and Kyle, about what weapon was best to carry with you so you could shift into your wolf. I had no opinions on that whatsoever. After diner the group was heading to the game room - yeah, they had that much space in here - but Drake stopped me by taking my elbow.

“Your new room it’s in the opposite direction.” He pointed the other way with his head.

I hesitated for a moment. I thought I could spend more time with everyone, but maybe I had misunderstood the whole thing and I was not free to do as pleased. He saw my hesitation and was quick to add. “I have a few more paperwork to do, so I thought I could show you to your room before that. You can come back here afterwards.”

“Oh, okay. Show me the way.” I said with a small smile.

He guided me through the corridor and into the stairs. He was explaining it to me that his office, along with Kyle’s and few more were on the second floor. His private quarters were on the second floor as well, as all the other private apartments. We took a left after the stairs and passed his office. By the end of the hallway were a set of wooden double doors. They were carved with wolves and moons and stars. It was really beautiful.

“My granddad did the carvings; it was a hobby of his.” Drake commented while opening the doors.

As I was expecting, the space was huge. It had high ceilings, and one wall was all made of windows. The room was divided into a leaving space, with comfortable looking couches, a big ass TV and a bar. The other side was a grand dining area, with a table set antique looking. It was gorgeous and screamed money. Typical Alpha male shenanigans. The colors all matched, dark wood tones accented the light walls and bright colors of the chairs and couches. To the right I could see and big marble island with a few stools around it. The kitchen was definitely high end and a bit too much for my taste, but it complemented well with rest of the decor.

“Yeah, I know. It’s too much for just me.” Drake breathed out. That took me by surprise, I thought he liked the riches, and you know, to show it off. Alphas usually did. I looked at him and saw he grimace a little more. “Okay, maybe it’s too much to even a full family. But some traditions are harder to break than others.” He saw something in my face and sighed again.

“I wanted to move out, but the pack didn’t allow me to have a smaller space. They said I had to show it off to other packs and all that shit.” He again explained himself, not that he needed it, I mean, it was his pack and his packhouse. He was the Alpha and could do what he wanted with his money. But knowing that he thought that the Alpha quarters was a tad too much made me smile somehow.

“Now I can see why you wanted company.” I teased him.

The moment the words left my mouth a wide grin spread across his face. His eyes had that mischievous glint to them again. He chuckled a bit and headed to the - again - double doors between the end of the dining area and the kitchen. He opened the doors, and it showed a long hallway with several doors. There were seven doors in total, one at the very end of the hallway and the rest to both sides. We stopped at the very end, and he pointed to big dark wood door.

“That’s my room, so if you need anything you can always knock on the door. And here is the room you can use, it has a closet and a bathroom, so you don’t have to worry about your privacy. Raina will probably get the room in front of yours on the one at your side.” He pointed to the room to the right of his and then to the other one on the left while explaining everything.

He opened the door for me and let me in first. The room was big and beautiful like the rest of his apartment - if you could call it that. There was a big window that took almost a whole wall, with a seat underneath it. Plush purple pillows were positioned perfectly at each side of the seat. The bed was on the right wall between two bedside tables with lamps on it. The bed itself was bigger than any other I had ever laid in and it seemed so fluffy with several pillows and a duvet by the end. It seemed that the color theme here was lavender, so everything was on different shades of purple.

There was a nice plushy rug in front of the bed and a fireplace on the opposite wall. A love seat and a couple chairs were positioned around the fireplace. I could see two doors on that wall, one at each side of the fireplace, so I assumed that would be the closet and bathroom he told me about.

“Wow” I breathed. I had never seen a room so beautiful and for sure had never stayed in a place that luxurious before. I must stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of this room. I heard a throat clearing and turned to Drake once again.

“I hope you like it. There are a few clothes on the closet for you already, but don’t worry, we will get you your own clothes and personal things along this week.” He informed me and I gaped at him. Was he serious? Was he buying me things so I could really live here with his pack? I didn’t know what to say to that. I tried, opening my mouth to speak a few times but closed it again. No words would come out, so I just nodded like an idiot. He smiled shyly at me and left me to get settled in.