PROWESS. (COMPLETED)

Chapter 47

Kellen POV;

The letters, the phone calls, the constant buzz of my phone were incessant, why couldn't she just leave me alone?! Jennifer's persistent harassment was relentless, at night I'd lay awake still hearing the ring of the phone in my ears; I'd changed my number twice and still she somehow got hold of the number. My only peace of mind came from making the Alpha visits and not taking a phone with me. Although even then, on one occasion, on a visit to Alpha Callan I could've sworn I saw her as I got out of the car! The woman now haunted every aspect of my daily life; my work, my home life and even my relationship with Ana! Since my first argument with Ana over a week ago, my mood only darkened with each passing day. My desperation to keep Ana out of this mess and well away from Jennifer's clutches had only caused us to argue – I'd tried shielding her and look where that had got me?

To make matters worse, the day after the argument, I'd received an envelope full of photos all dated recently and all of Ana and Alpha Chad Riggs together, some of them dressed smartly on pack business, some of Ana arriving and leaving his territory at different times of the day, and a couple showing she'd stayed the night on at least two occasions...a note attached read, 'Awfully close, aren't they? Did you know they've had a relationship outside of pack business?;)' This was a low blow, even for Jennifer, and having avoided all her attempts to make me paranoid, I struggled to not give her exactly the reaction she wanted for this one. The internal conflict tore at me; on the one hand, I knew Ana was right that I wasn't being honest with her and yet, on the other hand, here was an example of one of her own omissions!

Much to my own annoyance, this particular seed Jennifer had planted succeeded in starting to grow. My attempts to try and sort things out with Ana following our argument had not gone well, every time we tried to contact each other, one or the other of us were been busy – since the pictures, I had also begun wondering just how much time Ana spent visiting Alpha Riggs. A niggling urge to clear Ana in Jennifer's photo attack on her had me rounding up the dates on the photos and putting them together, but this is only proved that Ana had been spending more time with him than any of the policy changes really required. Surely Ana wouldn't become closer to the Alpha to spite me, would she? Were there still feelings between them? The photos suggested he might definitely still have some, but with Ana – in all the photos –she wore the unreadable expression, which I'd begun to recognize as one she wore for pack business...but if that was all it was then why would she stay the night more than once? Was it just for show?

For the last week and three days exactly, my new worries about Ana, as well as Jennifer's harassment had kept me awake every night. My irritability stuck out like a sore thumb; I'd started snapping at everyone, especially my family – Brody remained the only one to whom I could confide my concerns. I spent that afternoon with him, once again ranting out my frustrations and worries as I pace his office like a caged animal. "Kellen..." Began Brody with the tone of patience acquired through our close, long term friendship. I wasn't listening, I continued my growling. "Kellen!" He snarls.

I turn to him fiercely, "What!"

"Would you just listen to yourself?" He sighs, leaning back into his office chair exasperated. "You're not  thinking straight, or fairly. So what if Ana had a relationship with another Alpha? You say it looks like he's still got feelings right, well if that's true then it should tell you she was probably the one who ended it.  For Pete sake Kel, you're so paranoid; what's it gonna take for you to just be honest with her? You haven't exactly given her a reason to trust you, have you?"

"I don't want her involved in all this! Hell, if I can't resolve this and it gets out, it'll ruin me! I don't want that for her as well, I can't, I won't do that to her!" Brody obviously didn't agree with me but shrugged rather than call me out on it. "Besides, it's not like I haven't tried talking to her! Every time I try, she's busy or when she tries calling back, I'm busy." I huff, annoyed.