The Wolf's Den

Stryker

 There was a lot more food in the kitchen than I'd thought there would be considering Bee didn't know when we'd stop by again. According to the reports I'd received from pack members tasked with keeping an eye on her she didn't have anyone else staying with her. Had no one over often and hardly ever dated around within the past year.

It was possible she'd been expecting us, but I somehow doubted that. My fiery spitball loved her brothers enough but she had been let down a lot over the years.

I knew it and so did they.

I remembered one time she'd insisted on cooking dinner for us all to eat together before we had to leave on business again. She had been angry enough at something Ansel said to mix something into the food and next thing we knew, we'd all been fighting over the bathrooms. Except for her.

My angel from hell had quite the vindictive side.

''Has Bee come down to eat at all? I haven't seen a single glimpse of her since we got back in town,'' Ansel said, slamming the fridge door with a frown on his face.

''She does know we're back in town right?" Kal asked around his mouth-full of sandwich. ''I texted her this morning but she never responded.''

I glanced to the doorway of the kitchen, where I'd seen a glimpse of red hair, a black leather jacket, and jean shorts made to kill a man pass only a few hours earlier. She was surprisingly quiet in those black boots. ''She came in earlier and then left again.''

We were all three quiet for a long moment.

Both of my best friends glanced at me almost nervously.

Everyone knew Bee was no-touch subject most of the time. Even my parents, who loved Bee and her brothers, hadn't brought her up. Their pitying glances had said enough.

While we'd been in town for about two days now, she hadn't come home until today. She had been staying somewhere else clearly. But the latest report had informed me she had no boyfriend and she usually was at home when not at work.

We should've seen her more than this if that was truly accurate though.

''How you wanna go about this?" Ansel broke the ice first.

''Go about what?"

He shot me a deadpan look that told me I should know exactly what he meant.

It was unnerving how much he was like his sister sometimes. Ansel had a darker shade of red hair than Bee did but they both had the same sky blue eyes and freckles bridging the nose and cheeks. While Bee's hair was much longer and tangly, Ansel wore his to his shoulders and in a man-bun. Kal was the only one in their family to get darker hair and brown eyes from their mom's side, along with a pair of glasses he couldn't go without. Both of them were notorious with the ladies for reasons I would never understand as their best friend. But as the Alpha of the pack I could see some she-wolves trying their chances to be the mates of my chosen Beta and Gamma.

Crud, did the she-wolves try to sink their claws into them any chance they saw.

''I think Ansel means 'go about letting her know shit's changed this time around','' Kal commented dryly as he opened a cabinet to hunt for more food and bringing my mind back to the topic of conversation.

''It's not that simple,'' I grumbled, making my way to the fridge that was now up for grabs.

''You broke up with her to protect her, you left same as we did to try to make it possible for her to be in our world Stryker,'' Ansel said as if to remind me what of what I'm pretty sure was printed on my fucking heart.