Ironically enough, I probably would have updated this sooner if I didn't have so much Writers' Block and difficulty writing everything just right for my other book. Like it legit took less than a day to finish off from where I'd started on this one. Oops?

::CHAPTER 20::

[One Year Later]

Danyel's POV

It was going to be a couple more weeks until my birthday and then I was finally turning seventeen. Don't get me wrong, it’d been cool turning sixteen and being able to legally do the things that I already did anyway. But now it was going to be an extra year up where I was out of that rocky, barely legal age.

It had taken a while, but I had finally begun to look Chosen. I was bigger than Orion these days. He wasn't too happy about it. Probably because I kept rubbing it in his face. Come on, I think I've waited long enough to be smug about it. My height, weight and size were finally up to par and I'd been allowed to grow out my hair again. I'd missed it.

Asher wasn't too happy about letting me grow it out though. Apparently Alphas were known for having their hair shorter than most others. We'd compromised on having the sides cut low and the top longer and combed back. It was a new look for me but I think it worked. I was a changed man after all. A new look was in order.

At the moment I wasn’t wearing any ID to show it, but I was now an official Pack Soldier – uniform, daily work shifts and everything. And not to toot my own horn but I looked pretty damn good in uniform too. Even Orion, who usually avoided complimenting me on so much as my instant noodles, admitted that he was sure that I was the leading cause of wet panties and hard-ons in the Pack that first day I’d geared up.

Right now I was in casual wear after spending three hours on my laptop. Asher had put me on liaison duty today. I couldn’t exactly complain since I'd volunteered but that was before I’d realized how hard it was going to be. I got myself into it now I was stuck with the responsibility.

When on liaison duty, the officer in charge − usually the Alpha or Second in Command − would make digital contact with other Alphas and higher ups from foreign Packs. With the way the cameras could be intercepted these days, webcams were only allowed with soldiers using it in the den. Asher didn’t want civilians being spied on from outsiders so no one else had access to them.

Liaison duty demanded that I work with other Packs and it got old fast. It still surprised me that there were so many other Packs out there around the world.

When the humans first banished the Chosen to the forest, not all of them were willing to take the punishment. Many Chosen people refused to stand for the treatment they were getting. Instead of hiding out in Rondesdale with the rest of us, a lot of them chose to migrate to other parts of the world. They'd married and remarried and had Chosen and non-Chosen babies alike. They'd formed groups under the animal's demand for Pack.

The treaty hadn't made provisions for Chosen who decided to leave. That hadn't been in the agreement. The humans were pissed that so many of them had gone abroad. In the end, to pacify the human authorities, we kept in constant contact with outside Packs. They were all required to keep in touch with us and report in regularly.

As members of the original Chosen Pack, we were the strongest. We’d kept our Alpha and let the others fend for themselves. This meant that our Alphas were also the strongest of all the other Alphas in the other factions. In fact, whoever was the Alpha of our Pack held seniority over all Alphas of the other Packs. We didn't like to see it that way though. We treated them as an extended family. Their wolves were our wolves and vice versa.

Unfortunately, like all families, certain members were forever fighting. As the officer on liaison duty, I had to break up every squabble. And let me tell you, there was a crap load of them.

It was tiring dealing with these overgrown children but I adored each and every one of them, the irritating bastards. Admittedly, some of them made me wonder why Ahmose granted them Alphaship. I supposed it was because they were the best of the bunch somehow. After all, they were just a random group who had gone off on their own and developed a Pack. Leadership had to come from somewhere.

My mind ran on my birthday again. I was sure my aunt and uncle were planning something. They were being extra suspicious lately. Even Orion was. I bet it was a party. They'd been trying to throw me a party for the past three years or so. I hadn't let them. This year I was considering letting them go ahead.

I continued walking and grinned at the noise that greeted me. I followed the ruckus with longer strides, wanting to get there faster. When I did, it was chaos as per usual.

The kindergarten was in an uproar. Kids were running all over and their caretakers were trailing behind trying to grab a hold of the slippery buggers. Paper floated in the air after one particularly fast kid ran past with absolutely no clothes on. Clearly he had only just shifted back to his first form. His caretaker, a harassed looking teen, took off after him. The kid sprinted into the crowd and around a few bodies causing the girl to lose sight of him.

Stepping into the kid’s path, I forced a smile back. The six year old stopped in his tracks at the sight of me. There was a split second of panic that crossed his face. I made the effort to shield the strength of my animal from the pup. He relaxed a fraction and grabbed hold of my pants. “Hide me, Danyel!” he said with an urgent look in his eyes, “Silver wants to punish me!” At that I really had to hide that smile from my face.

“Aha! Gotcha,” the teenager jogged into a pause and ran her fingers through locks that were more mane than hair. Brown and pale gold threaded into heavy, black strands. She, like her charge, was Chosen.

“I didn’t do it,” he stomped his foot.

“Didn’t do what?” I asked though I had my suspicions.

“Steal the jam that I had put aside to make sandwiches for snack time,” Silver shot the boy a glare. It didn’t have too much of an impact. Her namesake mercury eyes were touched with the same white-grey that dominated Orion’s and yet it held a certain doting glint. She had a soft spot for the naked little cub no matter how angry she pretended to be.

“Nuh-uh. I didn’t steal any jam,” he huffed crossing his arms.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. The boy’s fingers were red with jam and his cheeks were smeared with the stuff. Even his belly was a sticky reddish-purple curve.

"You believe me, don't you?" he turned to me.

"Of course I do," I stooped to his level with a smile, "'Cause you wouldn't lie to me, right?"

"…oh. Um."

Silver rolled her eyes and grabbed the boy before hauling him over her shoulder. “Thank goodness you don’t have on any pants or they’d be on fire right now. You are a big ole liar, you know that?” she grumbled. That just started him on a whole speech on how he was blamed wrongfully and how the whole kindergarten was out to get him. She threw a hand into the air, exasperated but thoroughly charmed by her charge.

I needed this. My wolf had been extra restless today, anxious to be surrounded by Pack. I figured being around the Pack’s youths would calm him better than anything else. At the moment he was stretching and reveling in the sounds of laughter coming from every direction. Our Packmates were happy. He could laze around in the chipper voices and pitter patter of bare feet racing around in play.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out just as the ringer chimed. I answered with Alpha efficiency, “Danyel.”

“Danny, hey,” Aunty replied.

“Hi,” my tone softened for her, “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, yes. I just got a call and thought I should give you a heads up.”

“Alright,” my guards went up even at her claims of everything being fine, “What is it then?”

“Always wary,” she chuckled and I could feel her wolf nuzzle my own from this distance.

“I can’t help it,” I smiled at my animal’s joy over her. She spoilt him too much, “Who called you?”

“Richard…Crowley,” she added the surname as if there was some other Richard that ever mattered.

My grip on the phone tightened and I suddenly appreciated the titanium technology. The muscle spasm would have destroyed most other cell phones and ended the conversation. It probably didn’t make a difference because my voice seemed to go missing in action in that moment. I licked my lips, mouth gone dry.

“He called you but he didn’t call me?” I said finally.

“He called the house. He probably couldn’t get onto your cell.”

“What did he want?” my voice hardened around the words.

“To let us know that he’s coming back home to stay for a bit.”

“…how long?”

“He didn’t say.”

“Fine. I’ll see you when I get home.”

Cutting the call before she could say anything, I slid the device back into my pocket. If I’d left just a second open, I knew she’d make me get into this. The time when Richard Crowley and Danyel Maynard were inseparable was long gone. He had made his choice to leave and stay away. Returning for a one day visit wouldn’t erase that. Because while I could understand his need to leave, his lack of contact was inexcusable.

I left the kindergarten and made my way to Orion’s house. It was unlocked as usual. No one would dare rob the current Alpha’s house or enter without invitation or prior warning. No one except maybe a village medic or the second in line Alpha.

Letting the presence of my wolf roam ahead of me, I saw that Asher was in his room and Orion in his. It also worked as a ‘knock’ of sorts. The roaming wolf let the two men know that I was here. I was up the stairs almost before the presence came back to me. Orion was already looking at the door when I opened it.

Bounding over I fell onto the bed. Orion put down his magazine and gave me his full attention. I didn’t doubt he’d picked up the emotions from my animal in its roaming. “What happened?” he asked and tugged my flip flops from my feet before he tossed it aside. I always got in trouble with him for getting on his bed with my shoes on. It was too routine for me to bother commenting on the silent scolding. So fussy.

“He's coming back.”

“He? Who? Richard?” he sat up straighter.

“Yes. Bastard didn’t even call my phone. He called my house phone knowing damn well my aunt would answer.”

“So…” Orion seemed at a loss for words, “Are you cool with this?"

"I don't care," I folded my arms.

"You don't care?" he asked raising my arm in front of my face.

It was in a partial shift with claws replacing my nails. I knew what Asher would have said if he'd seen me now. Control, Danyel. You have to keep your emotions under control. Pulling my hand out of his grasp, I watched as I went back to my outwardly human self.

"So what are you going to do?”

“Not a thing. We were friends and he abandoned me. That promise wasn’t supposed to be broken. He can’t just waltz back here and expect to be forgiven.”

“It’s Richard. You might not want to forgive him, but I’m pretty sure you will when the time comes.”

He didn’t seem too pleased about that but he believed it. It was no secret that he wasn’t Richard’s biggest fan. His wolf wasn’t the kind who enjoyed sharing much. "I doubt I will." There was too much venom inside me where Richard was concerned.

"What about us?" Orion asked.

"What about us?" I raised a brow, "We're together now. He can come and he'll go and we'll still be together. Him being here won't change a thing."

"You sound sure."

“I am sure. Enough of that. We have three hours to kill until dinner. Wanna go out drinking?” I rose from the bed.

“Let’s go,” he grabbed his wallet from the bedside table.

We left and walked toward the only reasonably priced bar in the village. It was more of a pub than a bar and owned by a guy who went by Earl. Just Earl. I didn’t know anyone who knew his surname. He was a tough son of a bitch who would toss most younglings out if he caught them trying to order anything with even two percent alcohol in it. His long blonde hair was scraped into a messy ponytail, his beer belly was covered in a t-shirt bearing a picture of a large steering wheel with the caption ‘Driving The Ladies Wild’ and his facial hair was full enough to be home to small critters.

Earl was at the counter as usual taking orders and pouring drinks. We took seats at the bar and waited for him to get to us. He was not a man who tolerated being rushed. He came over to us when he was good and ready and didn’t bother asking for I.D. He knew we were legal.

He beamed a toothy grin at us, proof that the Chosen weren’t always lookers. “What can I do for you boys?” he asked, “Mr. Future Alpha, sir.” I cringed.

“Oh no, she got to you too?”

“Yep. Let’s face it, Kenny is a menace no matter how much we like her,” Earl said with another toothy smile.

“Damn her. Got the kids calling me that too,” I grumbled, “Two beers.”

We’d been coming to Earl's often enough that he didn’t need to ask what kind. The clunck of glass on wood signaled the first round. Orion almost immediately grabbed it and poured some down his throat.

I raised a brow, “And I thought I was the one with the issues.”

“You have no clue,” he muttered and returned the bottle to his lips.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“What are we? Chicks? Just drink your beer so I won’t be wasted alone.”

“You think if we saw a shrink it would cost us less than coming here every time things get crappy?” I wondered aloud.

“Considering that Earl upped the price of this stuff?” he looked at the bottle, “Yeah, it would definitely cost less. But we’d be conscious. So I think this is works better.”

“I’ll drink to that,” I said and we knocked bottles.

Three hours later, our conversation completely shifted and our portion of the bar counter was running out of space for the empty bottles. We were surrounded by people who were listening in on us but no one actively joined in.

“Camren D’Angelo’s boobs are not real.”

“They are too.”

“No, they’re not,” Orion insisted, “Are we even talking about the same boobs here?”

"What would you even know about real boobs?"

"Just 'cause I like m'chests flat and a little bulge in tha jeans don't mean I can't tell some store-bought tits."

“You don’ know what you’re talking about. I’ve felt ‘em. They’re real.”

“You’re such a bloody liar. You ain’t felt nothin’.”

“Yup. I did. Backseat of her mom’s car. It wazzawesome.”

Orion scowled, "You were sucha whore before we got together. Ahmose, that chick's got years on you."

“Neither of us were legal.”

“Liar,”

“I can’t lie, stupid. I’m an honest drunk. And I’m more drunker than a…than a…a…oh my God I love this song!”

“Your gay side is showing,” Orion called looking highly amused.

“You half-converted me. Don’t act like you’re ashamed of my gay side,” I danced my way to the center of the bar.

A girl sidled up to me, not even threatened by my animal now that I was pumped full of beer. My senses were too numbed for him to bother anybody.

I barely got a rest in between the girls that wanted to dance with me. I'd gotten pretty popular in this bar and Orion didn't bother getting jealous anymore. He was on the other end dancing with a girl and a guy who I knew were related to each other.

It was two − okay it could have been three or four − songs later before we actually danced with each other. He stepped up behind a guy, removed the boy's hand from my hips and sent him on his way. I let him cut in.

We danced and danced until we couldn't dance anymore. Sweating and tired, we dragged ourselves back to the bar counter to rest and get some water. Earl came over beaming with the glasses before we could even ask. Once we'd sobered up enough to walk outdoors, we left the place.

"Wanna come crash at m'place?" Orion offered wiggling his eyebrows and swaying a little, "Parents er at tha den."

"Oh…um…"

"S'okay," he pat my face knowing that I always said no, "Not yet, right?"

"No,” I scowled and swayed on the spot, “Not right. Y'know what? Yeah. Let's go. S'go to your place."

Orion blinked up at me in bleary-eyed shock. His house was less than a minute away and would take next to no time to get there, but he was too busy staring at me to walk. "C'mon let's go," I grabbed his hand and dragged him along.

There was no protests or 'Are you sure?' from him. We'd been together for a long time and I'd denied for him even longer. He wasn't going to hand me an out when I was offering so nicely. He was too drunk to even consider the possibility.

At his house, we stumbled through the dark and into his room. We tripped over ourselves and each other, babbling all the way. I padded over to the bed and fell onto it feeling 56% tired and 81% wasted. I’m not even sure if that math made sense.

I turned when I heard Orion swear after bumping into something. I laughed thinking it was the funniest thing. He lay down next to me, rubbing his shoulder. "We're going to have sex," I nodded decisively. He turned to me with a wide grin nodding too. "So where the hell do we start this?" I said with a laugh. He gave a shrug and a stretch so I figured I’d make the first move.

It was awkward dragging myself back up again. I crawled over Orion, limbs all awkward and sluggish but he didn't seem to mind. He just lay on his back looking up at me giggling softly to himself. He pulled me down for a kiss and I couldn't help but wonder if it was the cocktail he drank tonight that made him taste like sweet alcohol. I made a note to self to try it next time. My mind drifted back to Orion when he slid his hands under my shirt. They were chilly from the cool night and endless beer bottles.

"You sure I'm not gonna be your first?" Orion murmured as if he’d just remembered the conversation we’d had recently, "Gotta be sure before I hurchu by accident."

"Nah. Preston was m'first," I made a face, "It was bad. Shouldn't o' dunnit. Was so drunk."

"You did it with Prezton? How drunk were you?" he made a face before kissing my neck.

"Shit faced drunk. Worst dee-ci-sion ever."

I moved out of the way a little. Goosebumps rose up on my skin. It felt weird having him touch me like that. Off. It was kind of unsettling having his hands undoing my jeans, drunkenly groping at me. He didn't seem to notice.

"You're so pretty," I muttered tilting his head back so that I could see him better. He hated when I called him that, but this time he didn't complain. I think he'd let me call him a pretty princess at this point and not care.

I tried to move up for another kiss but my stomach lurched and I made a face. Hovering over him was not going to work. Settling down to straddle his hips, my eyes widened a little. He was already hard. Hard and looking at me as if he wanted to eat me alive, his hunger was so real.

That was perhaps the most sobering thing of the night.

I'm honestly doing this? Knowingly cheating on my mate? If Orion knew that I’d met my mate and knew who it was already, he wouldn't have even considered touching me. He'd hate this part he played in that betrayal. An even bigger part than him simply dating me.

I leaned away, but he took that chance to kiss my jaw and raise my t-shirt up a bit. His eyes scanned the bare skin and seemed pleased. I frowned but let him at it.

This would be so much easier if I was in one of my heats. Details wouldn’t matter too much then. It isn't as though I'll ever get the chance with my actual mate anyways. Feeling convinced, I took his mouth in what was probably a pretty sloppy kiss but he responded just as eagerly all the same.

His hands pushed at my jeans and fingers brushed at places they really shouldn't have. I recoiled reflexively at the intrusion. Blast it. I scowled. I’d been getting these horny burst on and off all week. I’d craved something like this and now, all of a sudden, I didn't want it? I couldn’t feel the animal over all the alcohol but I knew it was fighting this.

I couldn’t even manage to make myself enjoy the hot guy taking my mouth in a hot kiss, willing to do whatever I asked him if it would make me happy. None of this felt like I’d wished it would. It wasn't just sex. Not so simple. My body had been craving this kind of contact for a while, but it was rejecting this entirely. I wasn't meant for him and I couldn't force that.

"What's wrong?" he blinked and backed up once I started pulling away.

"Nothing. Except…I mean it’s not nothing but I just… I can't. Sorry. It's just – it feels – I’m sorry."

I felt terrible doing this to him. And not to mention embarrassed. Running a hand over my face, I stood up and buttoned my jeans. I was still soft inside them. This was so frustrating. How long could I keep this going with Orion if I couldn't even stand him touching me like that? I was pissed the hell off. I’d wanted this. I really wanted to try this time. See if I could do it. For Ahmose’s sake, if I couldn’t have one then the least the universe could do was let me have the other. Mating is supposed to be a fucking choice, damn it!

I looked back at Orion to see not anger or frustration but confusion and sympathy. He was too good for this. Kenny was right. I would wind up hurting him in the end. I was too selfish to let that make me break up with him even after tonight.

"Danyel. Hey, c'mon. Don’t look like that,” he pulled me onto his lap, “What's th’matter? What's really th’matter?"

"Not this time, okay? Not t’night."

"S’okay. Am not talking about that. If you're not ready yet, we can wait. But I get th’feeling you're not telling me something."

Damn right I'm not telling you something. I couldn't look at him. I needed to work on this. There had to be a way for this to work. It couldn't be that I was only able to be with Richard.

He didn't want me as a friend. He couldn’t stand being just a friend. No way he'd want me as something even more committed than a husband. Hell, last time I checked he was straight and I was most definitely not a girl. He was not Chosen. Even if he was interested, the Alpha couldn't be with a human. I doubted they'd make an exception for a mating that was one-sided. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. And forcing myself to move on was proving more difficult than expected.

"Is it okay if we just don't say anything?"

"Fine. Want me to walk you back home?" he asked because staying here was feeling more awkward by the second.

"Alright," I nodded, "Ri?"

"Yeah?"

"I really am sorry−."

"No. It's cool."

It was the polar opposite of 'cool' but I was grateful for how understanding he was. I didn’t imagine that it was exactly fun to be dating a total cocktease. I’d have felt better to just have him blow up at me instead. I deserved it for trying to use him like I'd used Preston.

Orion fixed his clothes, already gone soft in his own pants and I felt my face heat up a bit at that. "Seriously. Stop that," he kissed my cheek, "I'm not upset." You should be. I’d have been if I were you.

We left the house and made our way back to my house. The end of January chill made me want to ruffle my fur, but I wasn't wearing any right now. My human form didn't like winter much.

"Did t'night have something to do with Richard comin' back?"

"What?" I turned to him, "No. No it…t'was all me."                                                                                 

"Had to ask," he shrugged, his eyes trusting.

"Wanna grab one more beer before heading back."

"Nah."

"It's on me."

"Sure."

We detoured and went to Earl's. He slid us two bottles each and waved us goodbye for the night. We walked again, sipping from the bottles and holding onto each other for dear life. This was a great idea. It loosened us up again and we were back to being happily drunk.

"I bet he won't come over to see us for days," I nodded taking a swig, "Probably avoid me for a bit." Orion looked confused. We hadn't been talking about Richard at all. I don't even know where that came from.

I found a log near the forest's edge and we sat down to nurse the drinks. I was stalling, but I knew that I'd have to go home at some point. A part of me hoped that he hadn't reached yet. I hiccuped. Nope. He probably won't want to see me at all, I bet.

I took comfort in that. There was no way to prepare for seeing him face to face again; lanky, messy haired and grinning with his ears that stuck out too much and his eyes big, brown and all seeing. I remembered how he looked to the tiniest detail, the dork.

While the mated part of me adored the loser − flaws and all − to no end, the hurt side of me hated him and everything about him. I had no idea which side would come out when we did eventually run into each other. I ended the first beer and reached for the second. My heart wasn't ready to go home and find out.

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Part 2 is officially OVER. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! 

I can't wait to hear what you guys think now that the first half of the story is over. What do you think of the characters now? Especially compared to the kids you met them as? Are you surprised how much they changed or did you totally expect it? Story not what you expected? Getting cliched yet? Like it? Hate it? What do you think so far? Write me a billion messages if you need to. I think it'll be good for Part 3 to go in with your thoughts in mind :)

Next upload is obviously gonna be Part 3 when everyone meets up again and new people and old people pop into the story. *_*  it feels like it's been decades since I've had my babies together. They've been through so much and grown up so beautifully. I feel like a proud mama bear...

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WAIT 500 YEARS FOR THE NEXT UPDATE CUZ I CAN'T SEEM TO EVER POST ON TIME I SWEAR TO AHMOSE.