Deleted Chapter: Glory and Avery Before Book 1

They sat in silence. The only thing that was making noise was Glory chewing. Even though she was trying to do it silently. It was hard, the crunch of the tacos in the salad made an awkward noise.

He inwardly sighed, averting his gaze out the window. She continued to awkwardly eat her salad.

"Soo. . ." She trailed of, trying to start a conversation with Avery, not entirely sure what to say. "How's your mom doing?"

She realized the fault in her question and mentally slammed her head against the wooden table. "Dad - I meant dad!" She yelled, trying to correct herself.

His mother was dead.

And she was an idiot.

He shrugged his shoulders, he hadn't talked to his father in a while. Even when he did, it was always about pack matters. Never because they wanted to catch up.

"Cool, okay. Sound nice."

She was trying her hardest to makes things less weird. But it seemed like she was making it worse.

"How is your dad doing?" He mimicked her question. He was going to mark her, he needed to make conversation. Otherwise things weren't going to go so well when they live together.

"I don't know he spends more time with you then with me," she attempted to joke. A soft smile on her lips. It fell immediately when she watched his expression. It didn't even budge. He was like a stone, one that can't be broken.

Maybe he has yellow crooked teeth. Or maybe they're really small or he's insecure about to much of his gums are showing. She sighed, grabbing a napkin, cleaning her hands that weren't messy at all.

She glanced at the clock, ten more minutes. That's when he scheduled for the date to be over. She felt proud of herself for sitting through this for fifty minutes. It wasn't even as awkward as it usually was. Mostly because she didn't say much. The uncomfortable air around her was usually because of her.

They sat in silence for five more minutes.

"Do you mind?" She gestured towards the door. "If I leave five minutes early. There are some things I want to talk to my mother about. . ."

He was quiet for a few seconds. The closed mouthed smile that she was heavily forcing even stared to ache.

First glancing at the clock, then at her. "Sure."

"Thanks," she got up as quickly as she could, trying to not make it to obvious that she was practically dying and walked towards the exit. Walking as fast as she could in a pace that didn't seem like she was desperate to get out of there.

He took a sip of the red wine that stood in front of him. It was untouched. He wasn't a wine kinda guy. Glory had chugged nearly three glasses. There was still a little left in her third one.

The taste wasn't very appealing on his tongue. He felt like cringing, he took another sip. It did provide a nice feeling as his slid down his dry throat. Thoughts wondering to Everest.

Where had she been all these years? It was nearly impossible to be hiding in the forest like that. It's been four years, the Cresent Beam Pack has likely covered every inch of forest territory looking for the Feurstein twins. They gave up looking a year ago. They thought they were dead. Who knows, maybe her brother Edan was dead.

There was a rumor going around that she killed their alpha a couple years back. She didn't want to be the alpha so bad that she left Cresent Beam.

Turns out it was all a pile of lies, but maybe it still carried some truth.

Now that he knew she was alive there was a lot of weight on his shoulders. If anyone found they would have him punished for not sharing his knowledge.

Still - there was no way he would tell anyone. If she wished to not be an Alpha, then so be it. He wasn't going to out her secret for his safety. What about hers? She had a life too.

He rested his elbows on the table, running his hands over his short hair. If he was allowed he'd shave everything off.

Mind blank for a minute, he grabbed the stem glass and chugged the wine. Suddenly consumed with anger, he threw the fragile glass across the room and it shattered into a million pieces. Running his hand over his head again, luckily he didn't have long hair otherwise he'd have already ripped it all out.

His chest rose and fell, his heart pumping anxiety. His hands shook and he closed his eyes, trying to take steady breaths. Calming himself.

To many thoughts consumed his mind - he felt suffocated - like he couldn't breathe.

There was Glory. Whom he was to mate with in less than a year.

His father. That was pushing unnecessary duties onto him.

Everest. Who just added a whole lot more stress to his life. And confusion.

He needed to clear his head.

But not in the forest, finding Everest in there still had him shook.

He pushed his chair back, leaving his food untouched. He'd clean up the mess later - when his head was clearer.

Right now he needed to not think about how crappy his life was.