Double Update make sure you read 51 first!

As I stared at Nixon and Eli, questions began to swarm my mind. Why were they here? Was everything okay? I hadn't talked to anyone from the Silver Night since I left, so why were they here?

I turned to face Nicholas and the other warrior, Hanna and offered them a smile. "They'll be coming with me. Thank you for letting me know."

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced back at Nixon. As if feeling my gaze on him, he met my stare. I shot him a look, telling him to apologize to Nicholas. He stared blankly at me, a sign of a firm no. I didn't back down, though, and after a few moments, he scowled before turning to Nicholas and Hannah.

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble," he forced out.

Hannah offered him a smile, and Nicholas simply nodded. Pleased with the apology, I gestured for him and Eli to follow Maia, Celia, and I. Maia and Celia stared at each other before turning their attention to me with raised eyebrows.

I chose to ignore those.

"We need to talk," I told Eli and Nixon. "Follow me, and I'll take you somewhere where we can speak privately."

The five of us walked through the pack. As we did so, I couldn't stop my eyes from drifting back to Nixon, who was taking everything in. His eyes examined everything in sight, which reminded me of the first time he'd showed up, and we went to eat.

Eli didn't have the same excitement on his face, which was strange, to say the least. From the way Nixon spoke about him and our limited encounters, he seemed like the type to be bouncing off the walls; however, he simply walked beside Nixon. He did seem to be looking around, but not in the same way Nixon was.

"You didn't know they were coming?" Maia questioned through our link.

"No, I haven't talked to them since I left," I responded.

After leaving, neither Nixon nor Nolan reached out, so I didn't really know what had been going on with their pack. Maia didn't respond, but her eyes kept drifting back to Eli.

When we reached the office building, all of us filed inside. Instead of going to my usual room, I opted to use the larger meeting room. When inside, I took a seat with Maia and Celia at my sides, and then Eli and Nixon sat down.

My eyes drifted to Nixon, and I frowned. "Is everything okay?"

Eli responded before Nixon could. "There was an...incident that happened recently." The words came out as if forced. He took a deep breath before continuing. "One of the gammas, Fen, was revealed to be involved in crimes such as attacking Nixon and more."

I wanted to ask what "more" meant, but I could tell from the expression on his face that he didn't want to go into detail about it, so I'd have to wait to talk to Nixon.

"He escaped. Though we don't think he'll be traveling this way. Please do watch out for him."

I nodded along, but I knew they hadn't come all this way just to say that. If that were the case, I would've received a call from Nolan.

"Can I talk to you?" Nixon said, joining into the conversation. His eyes shifted to Celia and Maia before adding, "Alone."

I glanced at my gamma and head warrior before I found myself nodding. "Follow me."

I stood, and so did Nixon. We exited the room and walked next door to another. I closed the door once we were both inside and turned to him. His eyes didn't meet mine, which was unlike Nixon. I was used to his straightforward nature.

"Nixon—"

"I'm sorry," he cut me off, and finally, his eyes met mine. I could see the guilt within them. "I'm sorry, Tatum. I'm sorry for the way I reacted when you tried to talk to me about our relationship."

Hearing the words come out of his mouth did help to relieve some of the sadness I'd felt after leaving, but it didn't help with the confusion. My eyes drifted back to the door, and I questioned if this was the right time to be diving into this. It more than likely wasn't, but when I glanced back at Nixon, I knew I couldn't put it off.

"Thank you for that," I told him. "But Nixon, I don't want just to hear you say sorry; I want to understand. I need to understand if this is going to be something."

The fact that he'd come here told me that he wasn't over this relationship either. It told me that he wanted to try, but if that was the case, I needed to know that we could communicate with each other. He definitely wasn't the only one guilty of not always doing that, but I wanted both of us to work on it.

"I guess, before the whole long-distance talk, I didn't actually realize just how close we'd gotten. I mean, I did in a way; I realized that my feelings for you were growing, but I kind of just brushed it off. We never actually talked about what we were to one another before. Sure, we were kissing, sleeping together, and doing activities together, but when you asked me that question, it all seemed to become much more...real all at once. It was like I was being slapped in the face with all these emotions and feelings, and I wasn't prepared. It...it scared me, Tatum."

Hearing him say that made my eyes soften. While staying with Nixon, I began to pick up on his habits, and despite the fact that the guy himself was very spontaneous, he didn't like being blind-sighted. Nixon liked knowing the plan beforehand, and when he didn't, his reactions weren't always the best. I didn't think our talk would cause those feelings to arise, but hearing that they did helped me understand.

"I love you, Tatum," he admitted, and my eyes widened. "I might not always have the best way of showing it, but I do, and I want to give this—us—an actual chance."

Hearing this brought a large and genuine smile to my face.

"But I don't want to do long-distance."

Now that smile was replaced by more confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. "I can't—"

"You can't just leave your pack, I know," Nixon said to me. "But, what if...what if I came here?"

"To the Howling Night?"

"Where else would I be talking about?"

My eyes searched his for any signs that this was some type of joke, but he stared at me with a serious expression. He was genuinely asking me if he could come to the Howling Night.

"What about your pack? Your brother?" I asked, the surprise showing on my face.

Nixon smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in it as well. "I've already talked to Nolan. This was his idea, after all. As for the pack, well, I trust Nolan. He's a good leader, and he'll have Roan and Atlas there with him now that Fen is gone."

Even as he spoke, I couldn't get past the fact that he was being serious. Nixon wasn't the biggest fan of change, and yet, here he was, standing in front of me.

"You said Roan and Atlas; what about Eli?" I asked, thinking about the man in the next room over.

"I think he needs to get away from the pack just as much, if not more, than I do," Nixon told me. "I was thinking that he could come too. I mean, you need a beta, and I have one willing to come."

I turned away from him and tried to make sense of everything that'd just left his mouth. Was this something he actually wanted, or was he doing it out of fear that we wouldn't last otherwise? Making Eli my beta? Did he want that, or was there something else going on in his mind? Would they—

"Tate, calm down." Nixon moved closer to me, and his hand raised to the side of my face.

"Are you sure this is what you want? There are so many unknowns," I searched his eyes for any signs of hesitation.

If there were any, I wouldn't say yes. Switching packs was a big deal, and it wasn't a choice to take lightly. Packs helped werewolves thrive, and I wouldn't be the reason he was unhappy—I couldn't.

"I know," he said. "I know it'll take time to adjust to, but I trust you. I trust that this will work out."

His voice was filled with confidence that shut down any other possibility that this could go wrong. So I took a deep breath before leaning in to close the small gap between us and our lips connected.

"Okay," I finally agreed. "But I still need to talk to Eli before deciding if he can join."

Then there was the whole beta situation. If I were actually to consider him as a candidate, then I'd need to do a lot more research. But, as I stared at Nixon's smile, I pushed those thoughts away. They could wait until later. For now, my attention was focused solely on the alpha in front of me. The glare from the first day I met him was now replaced with brown eyes full of love.

A smile of my own broke out, and I leaned in once again.

...

"Nix, we are not going to have sex when there are people right next door."

"We've already been in here for ages. They probably already think we are. Might as well make their suspicions reality."

"Nixon."

"Tatum."

A silence fell over us, and I stared at the brown eyes man who I'd been unable to pull away from for almost an hour. We needed to leave, but fuck, he made it hard to do so when he couldn't keep his hands to himself. Whenever I tried to pull away and be the semi-responsible one, he shut down and pulled me back. My resolve was slowly crumbling, and if we didn't leave soon, an hour would turn into much more.

"Nixon," I warned as his lips found my neck. "Later."

He let out a sigh and finally pulled away. "I'm holding you to that."

"I'm sure you will," I shook my head. "Come on."

I grabbed his hand, and we went back to the other room. I expected the others to have left by now, but surprisingly they were still there and were talking. They stopped and turned toward Nixon and me when we entered.

"About time you joined us," Maia shot. "After an hour."

"We would've been longer," Nixon retorted, eyes shooting toward me.

I rolled mine and glanced at Eli. "Nixon told me that you were considering transferring. I'd like to talk to you about it; however, I'm sure you're both tired, so we can wait until tomorrow. "Until then, we'll set you up with a room."

Eli nodded, and Maia and I quickly began to link pack members to make sure everything was set up. I didn't bother to worry about Nixon since I knew that, more likely than not, he'd be staying with me, but I did try to ensure that Eli wouldn't be too far away from him.

After a few moments of searching, I managed to get one of the couples in the pack, Mars and Harmony, to agree to let Eli spend the night at their place. Knowing that he'd be staying there made me feel better. Something told me that Mars and Eli would get along just fine, and that way, he wouldn't be too far from Nixon.

I took Nixon to drop Eli off, and after he made sure his friend would be alright, we made our way back to my home. The walk there was mostly calm since Nixon was more focused on looking around than anything else, but the moment the door opened, that all changed. My back collided with the walk when Nixon slammed his lips against mine.

And this time, I didn't fight it.

Around 1-2 chapters left!