---- To declutter: Remove unnecessary items from an untidy or overcrowded place. ----

As Max had said, it was not the first menacing letter father had received.

After I calmed down, he brought me to father's office and took out a couple of other letters from a drawer he had to open with a key. Looks like father had been ignoring them too. Ironically, we had more things in common than I had thought.

Since that day, it had been a bit over half a year.

I was finally lying down on bed, mentally preparing to check my phone. It had vibrated a couple of times during the meeting I just had with Max, Noah and Liam, his father and former Beta.

Both Liam and Gamma Josh had been pillars for the smooth taking over of the pack, and were always there whenever we needed some help. Especially at the beginning.

Those first days after the attack were a blurry mess of ceremonies, paperwork and formalities, mixed with lack of sleep and not much appreciated condolence visits.

As it was expected, packs that we were in good terms with sent people to be present in the quick funeral we held for father and the two warriors. Some of them it was the alpha itself, some others sent a delegated person.

The ones that could not make it in the rush of the occasion, sent condolence letters that required a proper answer, adding another task to our already painstakingly long list of things to do.

Some of the visitors were comforting and reassuring, like Alpha Neil. He proved to be a good ally, friend, and a better person with all of the support he gave us during those days.

Other visitors ended up being more of a pain than anything else, like Maverick.

He was one of the first ones to show up, turning out to be very much overbearing. Instead of giving me the space I needed to get over the duties and mourn in my own way, he kept pestering me to lean on him and never giving me a minute on my own. Though I had agreed to start going out officially with him, I was not ready for that. Weather I liked it or not, I had learned to only trust three people during my life and, right in the moment, only two were left. My relationship with Maverick was not in that level yet and all his fussing around made me shut him out, not in the best way.

It took me a good four months to patch things up, but I knew I had hurt him and I needed to invest some more time if I wanted things to be back to how they were before.

Time I did not have. Like today.

I was exhausted after a long day and I was sure the flashing light in the screen was caused by some of his messages or calls. I felt a bit overwhelmed and took a deep breath to calm myself.

Many things had changed since the attack but I was still basically grounded within the pack limits. This time, it was something both Max and me had agreed on. At least until we knew more about the sender of the notes.

Obviously, Mav didn't understand that decision and had complained several times about it, but I could not tell him the real reason behind it. We could not involve him more than he already was. That meant our just budding relationship had been put on hold just after starting.

Max struggled for a while with all of the pack work but, having helped father with the job for a while already, he got the hang of it faster than expected. Also, unlike our father did, he delegated some tasks to the people that were there to help him. That is, Noah and me.

During this half a year, he was mainly busy with the position of official CEO in the pharmaceutical company of the pack. His schedule was jammed with business trips to meet old clients: greet and assure them the business would continue as usual. Also, he had been meeting potential new clients father was working on.

Noah was meanwhile engaged with the pack: transmitting the alpha's orders and decisions, making sure everything was running well and keeping Max informed on a daily basis of the pack events.

I, on the other hand, was busy with the role the future Luna would be doing. I started checking the provisions of the pack and doing visits to the school, hospital and houses to analyze and tend to the pack needs. I had my share of struggles since the very beginning, but I was determined to fend off by myself.

I had been basically isolated since the accident, so everyone was pretty much weary and distrusting of me and my abilities. As far as they knew, I was the stuck-up daughter of the former alpha. They had understood I was the one to alienate them, believing I thought too highly of myself for stepping down and mingle with the crowd.

Very welcoming starting point, I know, but I could not blame them. It was long due I had more interaction with everyone. I had been confined in the crystal box of our manor for too long.

I decided I needed to gain their respect and appreciation on my own. I couldn't rely on Max and Noah or I would never be accepted by them. To that end, I had been working my butt off to keep up with all of their demands and necessities, always trying to go above and beyond to prove myself as useful. To show them I was not what they had pictured up until then.

At last, with the Moon Goddess festival around the corner, it looked like some of them had started to warm up to me.

I also got more responsibilities in the pharmaceutical company, which was a positive move for my research. The time I didn't spend making myself worthy among the pack members' eyes, I spent in the lab of the facilities.

I looked over to the laptop on my desk and felt tempted to immerse myself again on the research, but I discarded that option. I was exhausted and I needed to answer the phone. Badly.

I felt around the bed until I found it and pulled it towards my face, unblocking it. I had a message and a couple of calls from Maverick. I sighed, opening the short message.

Call me!

Since the funeral of father we had kept in touch, but I had to admit he was not my priority and always ended up postponing contacting him. We hadn't met either, as I barely had any free time anymore. I seriously needed to put my life in order before I could continue this relationship, especially since I was not missing him the way I should have.

I dialed the number and heard the ringtone twice before Maverick picked it up.

"Rie, I can't believe you actually called me!" His voice sounded actually surprised, making me feel guiltier if possible.

"Yeah, sorry Mav, you know we're still struggling..."

"No problem, princess." I rolled my eyes. I never liked the nickname and he insisted on it even though I had told him to stop several times. He was convinced I would start liking it at some point. Well, not for the moment. "Gunter was asking about you the other day. He wants to know how you are doing."

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. I had been out of touch for a while with Dr. Lopez too, not to put him under risk either.

"I will call him soon." Maybe after the festival I was finally a bit freer to do so. This reminded me I had the perfect opportunity to talk with Maverick face to face. "I hope you didn't forget this weekend is the Moon Goddess Festival. Are you still coming?"

"Was I even invited?" I could hear his smirk from the other side of the dial.

"Yes, much to my dismay, you came in the Ackerman family set. Plus, I haven't seen you in so long I'm starting to think you are an imaginary friend..." My ironic answer got no witty retort back. I knew he did not like that I used the word friend, but that was basically what I was feeling in the moment. I waited a couple of seconds before I insisted. "So? Any plans?"

"I'll be there Rie, of course." His voice was a bit cold, making me flinch a bit in remorse. Nonetheless, as much as I didn't want to hurt him now, he didn't deserve a half-cooked relationship like the one I was offering him. "And so will my brothers."

"Oh! The whole basketball team checked attendance!" The words escaped my lips before I could think twice about them. Luckily, I heard a low chuckle from the other side of the line. I sighed in relief and smiled, glad to confirm my friend was still there. "Can't wait to see you guys, seriously. I need a break."

"You sound like you need one." He paused for a second, thinking his next words. "Call me whenever Rie, I am always available." I nodded with my head and muttered a thanks. We both knew it was very unlikely to happen. "Now, rest! And do not forget to dream of me and my beautiful blue eyes!"

"Mav, I still remember how you look like and they are without a doubt green..." I rolled my eyes and snickered a bit. He mirrored my laugh and I sighed, finally a bit more relaxed. It was good we were seeing each other soon. "You have a good rest too. Take care."

"See you soon, princess."

He hung and I let my arm fall limp on the mattress, staring at the ceiling and gathering my last energies. I needed to change and brush my teeth before I gave in to the entertainments of Morpheus. Another long day finished.

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

I was preparing breakfast when Max entered the kitchen with something in his mind. From the corner of my eye, I watched him sit down next to the counter and mumble a greeting, still mulling over it.

I served the oatmeal on a bowl and peppered it with plenty of berries and banana slices. I smiled at my master piece and turned to my brother, placing the bowl of deliciousness in front of him.

"Good morning Max." My words snapped him back to reality and he gave me a guilty smile. "Eat this while I prepare some bacon and eggs."

"You know you are the best, don't you?" He didn't even bother to finish the sentence before grabbing a spoonful of the cereals and start eating. "Correction, your oatmeal is the best."

I rolled my eyes and headed to the refrigerator. I needed more ingredients to finish preparing his breakfast and redo mine. I placed everything on top of the counter and worked on it for a while before Max cleared his throat.

"Rie," I hummed, letting him know I was listening while I started frying the meat, "I was thinking it is time to empty the office of dad's things. It is weird having a phantom room where no one wants to enter."

"Sounds good." I really did think getting rid of father's things was a positive step to take. "I would really appreciate if you could take your late night work home, where I can make sure you are fed properly and force you to rest if needed." I faced him and gave him a pointed look.

Since he had become the alpha, he had established his office in the pack house. He liked to be in contact and always available to all of the pack members, but that meant he had skipped many meals and slept in the couch too many times already.

He rolled his eyes and reached for the plate with eggs and bacon I was offering him, but I dodged his hand, tilting my head when he gave me a confused look. He groaned and lifted both of his hands in a defeated posture.

"Okay, okay! I'll try to come back more often." He threw at me a 'Are you happy now?' look and extended his hand, demanding the rest of his breakfast.

"And earlier." I felt like a housewife giving an ultimatum to my workaholic husband. He rolled his eyes once again and nodded, conceding to my request. I grinned, proud of my recently acquired negotiation skills, and gave him the plate. "When do we get on with it?"

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

Max was not my husband, but he was definitely a workaholic.

It didn't take me long to regret offering my help. What looked like the first afternoons with a couple of hours off since forever, had turned into a massive process of picking, appraising and, depending on the result, throwing or storing the item.

We had begun on that same day and finally, by Thursday evening, we had started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"I'll go and leave this box in the attic." I felt my arms ache by the weight, but I was glad to see this one was nearly the last one.

Max responded with a grunt, his gaze stuck in the file between his hands.

I had a last look around before leaving the room. There were just a couple boxes more to stash, the rest we were getting rid of. We had discarded most of father's stuff, as nothing held especially fond memories for us. Whatever could still be used was going to be offered to people that might need it and the other things would go directly to recycling or incineration.

I rearranged my grip on the heavy box and headed to the attic. It was the hundredth time I was entering the top floor during the week and not a single time did I fail to think that was another room that needed some clean up.

I pushed the bulky door with the shoulder and entered the room eager to drop the box anywhere and go back for the last ones. And yet, Riley from the near past had thought the same every single time. I had been too lazy to enter the room and place the boxes in an orderly manner in a corner, so getting inside to find an empty spot was a real gymkhana by this point.

To make things easier, the box I was carrying, besides weighing heavily, was too big for me to see the floor before me. I dodged a couple of boxes I remembered I had placed in the last trips but, after those, I was basically blind. I felt around with my feet until I reached an empty spot and placed the heavy thing on the floor. I looked at the panorama and sighed, rubbing my hands to get rid of the numbness in my fingers forcing some blood circulation.

Decided to finish in one more trip, I turned around in a brisk movement and bolted towards the door. Before I could register it, I was falling head first directly to the door edge. I did the only thing I could do: flapping my arms around hoping to awaken the hidden ability of flying.

Not a chance.

Still, I managed to grab the door and use the spur of the fall to open it further, moving it away from my path. The next seconds developed at slow motion, like every time you know it is going to hurt. I could perfectly see the chain reaction while I waited for my collision with the floor. The door hit a tower of old boxes that wobbled a bit before initiating its own fall.

I focused my attention back on the approaching floor and I somehow managed to cover my face with my arms before my body slammed against the floor. The stabbing pain that ran through my body and my muffled groan were the starting shot for everything to return to normal speed.

I didn't have time to try and stand up when a couple of boxes fell on top of me, stabbing my back and legs with its sharp corners. I would be remembering this afternoon for at least another week, which was more or less how long my bruises would take to heal completely.

I turned around and whined, looking around to see if anything else was going to attack me. In front of me I could see the culprit of my downfall. The carpet was flipped over in a corner, as if it was sticking the tongue, laughing at my clumsiness.

I sighed and focused my attention on the old boxes scattered on the floor and on top of me. The one that was now on top of the original pile looked like it wanted to follow its long time neighbors. I removed the boxes that were still resting on top of me, and headed to the box. I had to fix the mess before going back for the rest.

I relocated the box to a stable position and, after being sure it was not going to fall, I turned to pick up another box from the floor. It was heavier than I expected, so I yanked it upwards and regretted it instantly. The whole contents spilled around: small decorations, pictures and a couple of notebooks.

"Perfect, Rie. Exactly what you needed, more and more work." I told myself off, crunching and starting to gather the objects.

I took first the notebook and a couple of pictures and was about to put them back into the box when I saw familiar faces in the old image. I furrowed my brow and lifted the picture to see it clearer.

There was three young people, two boys and a girl, smiling without worries. Two of them, the boy to the left and the girl, were looking at each other while the tallest one, in the right side, directed his gaze to the camera.

I was pretty sure the young guy looking with loving eyes to the girl was Gamma Josh. His handsome features hadn't changed much during the years. Up till there, everything was fine. Indeed, I would have stomped all the way to Gamma Josh to ask for information about the young lady if it weren't because I already knew who the two other people in the picture were.

They were my own parents.

A/N

Hello everyone! I'm still not very sure about this chapter, but here it goes! I rewrote it many times and I have started to lose the ability to see if I really like the result or not, so you tell me, lol.
If you liked it, do not forget to vote + comment, I love to read your reactions =P
Next chapter coming soon ;)
Love, Koe