He Found Me

Chapter 9: One Week

Him

The car ride back to the pack felt excruciatingly long, much longer than it had felt on the way into Carlton. I was speeding the entire way there, trying to get there as soon as possible. I debated on pulling over, shifting, and then running back but knew that then I would be exhausted and I wanted to have as much energy as possible for when I got back to Everly.

When I finally got back to my house, I began running around like a madman. I first went to my room where I pulled out a suitcase and started stuffing it full of clothes. I didn't know how long I would be staying in Carlton, I just knew that I would need a lot of clothes.

As I packed, I felt a presence behind me, standing in the doorway. Carly.

"You're home," she said.

"Yeah," I said, looking around the room for anything else that I would need.

"What are you doing?"

I looked at her. She was in her pajamas, ready to go to sleep. She looked exhausted. She must've stayed up waiting for me.

"I'm staying in Carlton for a little while. With Margaret." I walked past her and went into the bathroom.

"What? Why?" Carly asked, following behind me.

I debated on whether or not I should tell her about finding Everly. My only worry was that she would try to convince me that it wasn't true, that Everly wasn't really alive. I understood that it sounded crazy and almost too good to be true, but I just didn't want to face that fact right now. I didn't think that my wolf and I could handle it right now.

"I can't talk about it right now. I have to get back to Carlton." I quickly shoved a toothbrush and razor and anything else that I saw into my bag.

"Jace, tell me what's going on. You're freaking me out," Carly said. I ignored her and walked towards the door but she blocked me. "No. You're not leaving until you tell me what's going on."

I didn't have time for this. "Carly, move."

She shook her head. "No. Tell me what happened."

I stepped forward until I was standing right in front of her looking down on her. "Carly, I am your alpha. You will move or I will move you myself."

Her eyes widened, but she stood her ground. She was really starting to get on my nerves. "No. Nuh-uh. That's not gonna work, not this time. I'm not gonna move until you tell me. Please just tell me."

My wolf growled and it came through my lips. He didn't appreciate her insubordination especially because this was messing with the safety of his mate. His hair bristled and he came forward to look at Carly through my eyes.

Carly swallowed hard but, surprisingly, didn't move. Rather, she straightened her shoulders and let out a huff of defiance, her eyes darkening showing that her wolf was now present as well and ready to fight if need be.

This shocked me. I didn't think that Carly was stupid enough to challenge an alpha wolf, but I guess I was wrong. I sighed and pushed my wolf back, telling him that the sooner we dealt with Carly and just told her what happened, the sooner we could get back to Everly. And we weren't going to fight my sister.

I leaned against the wall and dragged a hand down my face. "Everly is alive," I said.

Carly's eyebrows knitted together as she stared at me. "What?"

"Everly is alive," I repeated. "I found her and now I have to get back to her." I shoved past Carly, making my way downstairs to the kitchen.

"Wait, what?" Carly asked, quickly following behind me. "Jace, what do you mean Everly is alive?"

"I mean, she's alive. Everly is alive and she lives in Carlton and I need to get back to her," I said as I quickly shoved some granola bars in my bag.

"That doesn't make any sense." Carly came and stood next to me.

I looked around for anything else that I needed. My wallet. I needed money. I started to walk back to the stairs.

Carly grabbed my arm as I walked past her. Her eyes connected with mine. "Hey, talk to me. How is Everly alive?"

My wolf growled, on the verge of attempting to take over my body but I just shook my head. I didn't really see the point in keeping it a secret anymore, especially from Carly. Carly was the one person in this world that I trusted. Besides Everly that is.

"Okay, but don't tell anyone, okay?" I said.

Carly nodded.

I sighed and began telling her the story about how I had found Everly and had spent time with her and then followed her to the clinic. Carly kept a straight face during all of it, not showing a bit of emotion. I explained that she didn't know who she was or who I was and that was why she never made her way back to the pack after the attack.

When I finished talking, she didn't say anything. Instead, her eyes just searched my face.

"Well?" I asked, almost desperate for her to validate me in some way.

She nodded once. "I'm coming with you," she stated and began moving.

I quickly grabbed her arm. "No. That's not happening."

She looked at me. "Why not?"

"Because I've already confused her enough. I need to get her to trust me before anyone else from her old life comes and messes things up."

Carly scoffed. "I'm not going to mess anything up! I just want to talk to her. She won't even know that you and I know each other."

"Oh yeah? And how am I going to explain that to her when I bring her home and she finds out that you are my sister?"

She yanked her arm out of my grip. "You won't be there! If she comes back to the pack I'll tell her that I was there visiting you and Margaret and it was a coincidence that we met. It'll be fine." I was going to say something but she quickly cut me off. "Jace, Everly was my best friend. You can't just tell me that my best friend is alive and not expect me to want to see her. Plus, I hate to say it, but you haven't been the most dependable lately. I don't even know if you're telling me the truth or if you're making all of this up in your grief stricken mind! I have to see her."

I rolled my eyes. I knew she was going to say something like that. "I'm not making it up," I gritted out.

She just shrugged. "Prove it," she stated, boldly.

I groaned. "Look, I just need one week. Give me one week to get her to trust me and then you can come to Carlton to see her if I haven't brought her to the pack yet. I need to figure some things out before I throw any more curveballs from her old life at her. You may be her best friend, but I'm her mate. Please."

She stared at me for a few more seconds, her eyes again just searching my face. "One week?" She asked.

"One week," I agreed.

She ran her hand through her hair. "Okay," she said after a few seconds. I let out a breath of air. "But under one condition." I nodded. "You have to answer all of my texts and keep me updated. I want to know what's happening."

"Deal," I said quickly. I moved past her and ran upstairs to grab my wallet and then made my way back downstairs and grabbed my keys.

Carly was facing the kitchen counter with her head in her hands. I stood next to her. "Everything is going to be okay. Don't worry too much," I said. She slowly looked up and gave me a small smile. I looked at the clock above the oven. "I gotta go. I'll see you in a week, okay?" I said. She nodded. I walked over to the door.

I was gripping the doorknob to the garage when I heard her say, "Hey, Jace? You know I love you, right?"

I looked back at her and sighed. I walked back to her and hugged her. "I love you too, baby sis. Everything is going to be fine. I promise." I gave her one last smile, kissed her forehead lightly, and then made my way out the door.