"Hazel."

I turn to find a very pissed off Archer looking back to me.

Wait-- Archer?

I blinked a few more times to make sure that I was seeing the right person, maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me and I was seeing an illusion of him or something.

But he really was here.

Black faded pants paired with a grey shirt, he was panting lightly as if he had been running. His eyes were dimmed as his stare pierced through me.

Why is he here? What is he doing here?

He should be in the pack being busy with something, yet he's here. It takes at least a few hours of travel to get here so he must've came here in a hurry, but why?

Was there a problem? Do we need to go back when we just got here? Oh gosh, was the pack attacked?

"Wh--what are you doing here?" I ask, my tone came off more offensive than how I would have liked it to.

Just as my mind started erupting with questions once again, I hadn't noticed the trouble that was starting around me.

Vic must've sensed that there was something wrong because he stepped closer to me and pulled me to him by my waist.

Oh my gosh, does Vic have a death wish or something?

My eyes widened and I immediately turned to him and at the hand that was on my waist. As if on cue, a threatening aura hovered the air and I knew it had to belong to Archer.

"Get away from her." Archer threatens as he shoots daggers at the hand that was holding me.

I looked around and saw that people were starting to look at us and the trouble that was ensuing. Werewolves who were disguised as humans looked nervous and didn't know what to do and some just turned to me to stop the commotion.

When I saw his irises flash gold, that's when I wake up out of my trance.

Finally snapping out of it, I get away from Vic and stood in the middle of the two.

I turned to my new friend and smiled at him.

"Thank you so much for helping me out earlier and for the drink! I do hope I'll be able to return your kindness if ever I see you again. See you around!" I say quickly and turned to my mate who looked like he was ready to jump on him any second now.

I grabbed Archer and started walking away from the place, hoping he would follow me and let the poor human go.

Thankfully, he did because he let me lead him away from the place.

The sun was already setting and it reflected prettily on the water. There were almost no people left swimming and there a few boats here and there.

I finally stopped walking and turned to Archer when we got away from the crowd.

"What are you doing here?" I ask again, still confused.

Archer, on the other hand, still looked pissed. He stopped to look at me from top to bottom and then proceeded to take his shirt off and handed it off to me.

"Wear this first." he said.

I just remembered that I was still in my bikini and I had left my beach cardigan with Polly. My eyebrows met and I crossed my arms.

"I don't want to." I say stubbornly just for the sake of it. Also because now, he was shirtless and girls that were passing by were looking at him. Like what is his deal?!

He rolled his eyes as he sighed. Excuse me? Did he just roll his eyes at me?

The nerve!

I was going to walk away but then he came closer and put the shirt onto my neck.

"H-hey! I said I don't--"

"The sun is setting and it's getting cold, you need to cover up."

I scoffed at his excuse. He probably just didn't like seeing me in a bikini, that's probably why he didn't even say anything about my photo.

"So what? We're at the beach," I say, "and you should cover up too, you're all naked here." I reprimand as I see the stares from around and to be honest, I couldn't blame them.

"I don't mind." was all he says.

"Ugh-- never mind. What are you even doing here? Is there something wrong with the pack? Did something happen?"

He stared straight into my eyes with a blank look, but I knew that he was thinking of something and just didn't want to tell me. "Am I not allowed to be here?"

I squinted my eyes at his statement. Well, it wasn't that he wasn't allowed to be here, it's just... unexpected.

I sighed and shook my head.

"Let's go to my room." I say to put an end on the argument and started walking ahead of him. I knew he was following behind me, but he wasn't really saying anything. A lot of thoughts started going into my head and that was stopped when a guy stopped me.

I recognized him as one of the guys that invited me for a drink earlier today and that I nicely rejected saying 'another time'. He was blonde, a hair that reminded of Chase's hair and even the playful smile on his lips.

"Is this the other time you were talking about?" he asked with a hint of flirting.

Just as I was about to answer, I felt an arm around me that ignited sparks to fly off. The guy was caught off guard and made an 'o' form with his mouth.

"I guess not, bud." Archer says coldly.

"That's too bad, but if you get tired of this guy, I'll be at the--"

"She won't. Get. Tired." Archer responds for me again as if I didn't have a mouth that worked perfectly fine. But it was fun seeing him this way.

What the--

Was he jealous?

I suppressed a laugh.

"At the beach volley area, right? I'll keep that in mind." I answer the blonde man and smiled at him. I feel Archer tense next to me and turn to look at me.

The blonde guy smiled and jogged away. Just as he left, Archer took off his arms and looked at me again with an annoyed expression.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asks me first, the irritation rolling off so easily.

I smiled and bit my lip to stop myself from laughing but that didn't work because I started chuckling.

"Are you jealous, Archer?" I ask.

His eyes widened for a bit and then his face painted confusion as if my question was gibberish. He didn't talk for a while, but then he took a step closer to me. He bended to put his face closer to mine so that our faces were only a few inches apart.

I was also taken aback and immediately, my heart beat rate shot up. I could feel his breath fanning me and I was too shocked to move away and the butterflies that erupted in my stomach didn't let me to even try.

I found myself swallowing hard because I thought that I had control of the situation but then he comes around and do something like this.

"Yes, I am. In fact, it drove me crazy and made me rush here because I knew guys like them would try to approach you, so yes-- I am jealous, Hazel."

I was breathing hard and my heart was beating so fast and I couldn't think of a proper response.

"G-good." was all I managed to get out. I was about to move away when I felt his lips on mine.

The mate bond went haywire, the sparks seemed to be stronger, my mind went blank but most of all, my heart was in a state of no return.

Instinctively, I closed my eyes and kissed him back. I felt my knees go weak so I reached to his chest for support and I was glad when he secured me by putting his arm behind my waist and pulling me closer to him.

When he pulled away and we finally looked at each other in the eyes, I could feel all my blood rushing to my face.

I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to. He must've guessed that by reading my conflict, but instead he only laughed and leaned down for another kiss, but it was only light and short because he pulled away right away.

"It's getting dark, let's go." he said.

I pulled myself up and got away from him. I was still in shock and didn't know what to say so I started walking, but was again stopped when Archer reached out to hold my hand.

"Are you really going to leave me here behind?" he asked poutingly and I had to make sure that it was Archer.

But it was him alright.

Without saying anything, I also held his hand and walked beside him.

"Let's go."

----------------

hi lovelies!

just a short announcement to make, the next chapters will be longer ones, i hope you don't mind!

and trust me, i really do try my best to get updates out as soon as i can, but i have cases to read and analyze and class notes to review.

but thank you all so much for your understanding and the never ending support!

i do love reading all of your comments and it's so fun to see your predictions!

please bear with me, we'll get through this!

stay safe and stay lovely!

much love,
-skyy 💕