Mask | ✓

22

"How's Celia doing?"

"She's doing good—really good, even," Maia said. "The pack seems to have taken a liking to her. You should go and see her at some point. She might be a perfect fit for the pack."

I nodded. Maia and I were currently sitting and going over pack updates. After waking up this morning, I needed to get out of the house. To keep busy so I had her meet me at the office. I wanted to distract myself, but it wasn't working. Instead, it was making me wonder more things. We had been here for a little over five hours, and one of the questions that kept running through my head was, did she know?

"What?" Maia asked me curiously. "You keep staring."

"Did you know?" I asked her.

Maia raised an eyebrow. "Know what?"

"About Reo," I said. Maia didn't reply to me, and I scoffed. "So you did. You knew he was planning o—"

"I didn't," she cut me off. Her brown eyes met mine. "I didn't know for sure, but I expected it."

"You expected it?"

She nodded and sighed. "Come on, Tate. From the day he came in here looking pale and like he was going to pass out, I knew. And I know deep down you did too. He wasn't doing okay, Archer wasn't doing okay, and neither was Boston. They're wolves needed each other."

"He said he was going to come back. He promised—"

"I know," she sighed. "And I'm sure when he said that, he truly meant it, but they're his mates. Whether or not he wants to admit it to himself, they are. Staying was never a possibility for him. Their bond would only continue to strain, and they would only get worse until they eventually..." she trailed off and shook her head. "What I'm saying is, this couldn't have been an easy decision for him to make. You're his family, and you know he would never want to leave, but life forces us to make hard choices. You know that."

I did know that, and it fucking hurt. I knew that they weren't easy, but it felt like they were only attacking me. It felt like I was taking punch after punch and expected just to get back up. Maybe a little bruised, but I had to walk it off and be fine — I had to be ready to take the next one. It was a never-ending cycle, but I was tired. I was tired of getting hit. I was tired of losing people close to me.

I was just so over it all.

"So, what's our next step?" I asked because, honestly, I didn't know where to go from here.

It felt like we were making progress. Like there was a real chance that our pack could feel whole again. Now it felt like we had just taken a hundred steps back, and I wasn't sure I could walk the path all over again. I couldn't just find a new beta and replace Reo. It wouldn't be the same. Looking through more papers to figure out who would be the best fit because nobody would. Nobody would have the same connection that I had with him.

"Right now, we focus on what we have, what we've already accomplished. We found a head warrior, so let's start there. We introduce her officially to the pack. Make it known that the Howling Night isn't going to fall," she told me before her brown eyes softened. "And then you need to focus on yourself, Tatum. You need a break. You haven't been okay in months, and it can just be overlooked anymore."

A break? A break wasn't even a possibility right now. Not when there was still so much we needed to do.

"I—"

"Don't tell me you can't," she said sternly. "Can you really say that you're going to want to work, want to get anything done like this? You need this."

"What about the pack?" I argued. "I can't exactly just pack up and leave."

"You'll be back," she retorted. "Until then, I can handle it. It'll also give Celia a chance to prove herself. We can manage while you focus on yourself."

I couldn't leave. Not now, especially not with Nixon staying here. It just wasn't an option.

"Look, just think about it, okay? I think it could really help if you got a change of scenery," Maia said with a small smile before standing up. "We've been here for a while. Go home, get some rest, and breathe, Tatum. Everything's going to work itself out."

With that, Maia was gone, leaving me there with my thoughts. I took out my phone and stared down at the screen where I had multiple missed calls from Reo. Maybe it wasn't fair to ignore him, especially after what Maia had said, but I couldn't help it.

I knew why he had left. I knew that his staying here would only cause more harm. Maybe it was selfish to want him to stay. Perhaps I was a selfish person.

I shook my head, stood up, and left the building to return home. It was almost funny how opposite Nixon and I were in that sense. He wanted nothing more than to leave the house, and yet, here I was, running back to mine. He couldn't leave while I could but refused to.

It was times like this when I wanted to turn and ask him how he did it. The man had clearly gone through his own fair amount of shit, so how the hell did he keep getting back up? Someone had attempted to kill him, which was the furthest thing from his mind. Instead, he was too busy worrying about me. How did he do it?

When I reached home and unlocked the door, I was expecting to find Nixon downstairs, but he wasn't there. With furrowed brows, I entered the house and locked the door before going upstairs. I searched, but there was no Nixon. His bedroom door was wide open; he wasn't in his bathroom, and he wasn't in my room or bathroom, so just where the hell was he?

I quickly walked back downstairs and double-checked, but the more I searched, the more apparent it became.

Nixon was gone.

I turned to the door, ready to go and search for him but stopped when my phone went off. I took it out of my pocket, expecting it to be Reo again. I was about to hit the end call button and toss it on the couch, but the caller wasn't Reo. It was Nolan.

I quickly answered it.

"Hello, Alpha Tatum!" Nolan spoke cheerfully while I, on the other hand, was freaking out because I'd lost his brother.

"Hello, Alpha Nolan. Did you need something?" I asked, wanting to end the call as quickly as possible.

"Well, I couldn't get a hold of Nixon, so I figured I'd call you and let you know the good news. We were able to catch and detain those responsible for Nixon's attack."

"Meaning?" I asked quietly, but I already knew the answer.

"Meaning he can come home!"