Two days passed with the visitors. I avoided them, especially Joshua. He seemed to be doing the same. It was probably because of what happened that one morning. I still felt a bit bad. Either way, though, I would have to see him tonight. We had our run today. It was basically an entire day of events: we had a picnic lunch at our local lake and spent the rest of the day there until nightfall. Once the moon rose into the sky, we all shifted and began the run. It was a great time to bond with our packmates. I still enjoyed it even if my wolf was slightly slower than most. Erin sometimes stopped to run with me, but he was usually at the front. That was always fine though because, after the run, we all gathered back by the lake and just spent the night out as a pack.

I already had a small bag of extra clothes and what not to take with me as I walked to the packhouse. I was going to meet Erin and our friends before we went off to the picnic. The weather was perfect for the event too, thank goodness. We've had to do in the rain before, but the day honestly felt so perfect, like nothing could ever ruin it.

As I went to open the front door, I suddenly found it slamming into my face. I cried out, holding my nose. The person who hit me gasped, closing the door quickly. I peeked my eyes opened and was extremely surprised to see Joshua. Wonderful. So he'd seen me half-naked and he's probably bruised my nose.

"Wren," Joshua said, looking panicked.

"Ow, that really hurt," I whined, still holding my nose as I tried to calm down.

"I'm so sorry! Let me take you to the pack doctor or something. Shoot, I didn't mean to, I swear!" He rambled, his hands scrambling around to try and find something to do.

I stepped back, shaking my head. "No, no, it's fine. It'll heal soon anyway."

He looked at me carefully, his face becoming unreadable for a moment. "So, um, about-"

"Wren!" A voice suddenly called out.

Joshua stopped mid-sentence, his face going blank when he saw Erin, Ryder, and Aaron coming our way. I smiled, still holding my nose. When Erin stopped in front of me, he noticed me holding my nose, a frown taking over his gorgeous face soon after. "You're hurt. What happened?" He asked worriedly, grabbing my hand to pull it away from my nose.

"Joshua accidentally hit me in the nose with the door. He apologized already and if I'm being honest I wasn't really looking where I was going anyway," I explained to him as he examined my face.

"It doesn't look too bad. It should heal up soon."

I nodded my head. As werewolves, we naturally had a more accelerated healing rate than humans did. We had longer lifespans as well. We weren't invincible, of course, but the healing ability certainly came in handy when you got a paper cut. Those things hurt like crazy.

"Anyway, why don't we all head to the lake together? Aaron's letting us use his car!" Ryder offered, smiling widely.

Erin nodded in agreement, looking at Joshua, who'd gone completely silent. Joshua opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, nodding his head in agreement. I gave him a small smile, to which he quickly avoided my gaze. I felt an arm wrap around my waist and I looked up, smiling at Erin.

"Okay, let's head out then. Joshua, where are your alpha and alpha-to-be?" Erin asked, keeping me close.

"They left with your father. I had come back to get something."

Now that I thought about it, I realized he was carrying a small bag. I guess I never noticed it. Erin nodded his head, telling us to get going. Ryder and Aaron began to walk, getting ahead of us. Erin and I walked together, Joshua behind us. Aaron's car was parked a short walk away with a few other cars. I don't know why he didn't just park near the packhouse like others did since there was a small parking lot off to the side of the building. Maybe he wanted to keep it open for guests.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Erin asked me softly as we walked, his arm still wrapped around my waist.

"Of course. I enjoy the runs," I agreed with a hum.

"I know you do, and you look so cute when you're running in wolf form. I wanna eat you up sometimes," he answered playfully.

I laughed softly, nudging him. "Whatever. You're such a lovesick puppy," I teased.

"I am. I'm lovesick for you, pup," he hummed, leaning down to nuzzle against my neck.

I hummed back, closing my eyes for a moment. At that point, we'd stopped walking for a moment. Erin suddenly decided to bite playfully at my neck, causing me to giggle. "Erin, stop it. That tickles."

He laughed against my skin, holding me close. He then went silent, his head still resting in the crook of my shoulder. Before I could ask him what was wrong, we were brought out of our little moment by a throat clearing. Erin pulled back, looking at Joshua, the future beta looking almost sick. "Sorry, man. Sometimes you just can't hold back, you know?" He said with a small chuckle. "And this guy here is too cute to resist."

"Right," Joshua answered slowly. "I didn't mean to interrupt or anything, but I don't know the way to the car and your two friends are too far ahead," he explained.

I glanced behind us since we'd turned around on the trail, realizing he was right. Oops. I nudged Erin, silently telling him we had to get moving. Erin cleared his throat, nodding his head. "Right. Well, let's go then."

We quickly caught up to Aaron and Ryder, the two of them spending time chatting against Aaron's car. They both looked up when they heard us, Ryder waving us over enthusiastically. When we arrived, Ryder huffed, crossing his arms. "You guys are seriously so slow. What were you doing?"

"Nothing. We were just enjoying the scenery," Erin hummed, sending me a wink.

I pushed him playfully, walking to the car. "Come on, we have to go." I turned to look at Joshua, who'd gone quiet again. "Joshua, you can sit in the back with Erin and me."

We all piled into the car, Aaron driving with Ryder up in the front with him, and Erin, Joshua, and me all in the back. I looked out the window, enjoying the scenery. It was a quick drive, but a drive nonetheless. We all wanted to save our energy for the run. What fun would a run be if you couldn't even keep up with everyone else?

Erin put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me to rest against him. I let my head rest on his shoulder, closing my eyes but not going to sleep. I could feel the rise and fall of Erin's chest as he breathed, the sound comforting me. I didn't think I would ever be so happy with someone like this. For all of my life, I'd expected to never find this kind of happiness without a soulmate but Erin had shown me otherwise. I could be happy; we could be happy. I couldn't help but secretly hope that my mate never meets me. I didn't want to hurt them like that. They could sense me but I would never be able to unless they told me and we mated. Only then would I be able to sense them.

"So, Joshua, do you have anyone back home? A girlfriend, maybe?" Ryder suddenly spoke up after a few minutes of silence aside from the music playing from the radio.

Joshua coughed a bit to hide his surprise. What an odd question to just blurt out. Poor guy. He avoided Ryder's gaze, rubbing the back of his neck. "No, not exactly."

"Ooh, I see. It's a boyfriend," Ryder concluded.

Joshua shook his head quickly, his eyes wide. He looked increasingly more awkward, his eyes flitting around nervously. Ryder suddenly yelped. "Hey! Don't hit me!"

Aaron sighed, his eyes still on the road. "Don't be a dumbass and I won't hit you. You don't just ask someone that, you know, werewolf or not."

Ryder huffed, crossing his arms as he slid down in his seat a bit. "I was just wondering." He turned his head to look back at Joshua, obviously expecting more from the poor guy.

"I'm, uh, waiting for my mate, I guess," he answered, his eyes briefly making contact with mine from where I was.

Ryder nodded, satisfied with that answer. "Good luck, man. It sucks to still be waiting."

"You can't saying anything, Ryder. You're not waiting," Aaron pointed out.

Ryder rolled his eyes. "But I did and it was totally worth it. Ugh. now I want to go see her."

"You'll see her at the lake. It was your fault for not inviting her to join us. I told you to tell her."

"Whatever!"

Erin and I laughed at them, making Ryder turn to glare at as. "Don't laugh! You guys are all horrible. I'm always the victim."

~~~

This chapter is a little short and cuts off kind of abruptly but it's only because I realized the original chapter was reeeallly close to 4,000 words, so yeah XD

Also, how is the update speed? Should I switch to two days a week or keep it the same?

Thank you so much for reading <3

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