The light breeze of the early summer wind made the leaves of the trees dance, and a few birds flew away. She followed them with her eyes until none of the animals were visible anymore. It had always been nice to listen to them while she was working.
Standing in front of the window, Helena sighed and moved back to her chair.
"What's up with you today?" Shawn asked, munching on his food. He, unlike her, was in a great mood.
"I don't know. I feel kind of stressed." Helena shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She had so much work to do. She had never thought deciding if there should be a new hypermarket in town would be so hard and tedious. There were so many papers and people to talk to. And the worst part was, it was going to be run by humans. More humans in the wolves' den.
Clearing her mind from her obtrusive thoughts, she looked at her loyal Beta. "I told you not to bring food in my office!" she hissed, shooting him a glare.
He stretched his arms, leaning back on the couch, and shrugged. His blond hair shone in the sunlight from the window. Helena was his Alpha, and yet, he never showed fear or obedience in front of her. Cloudbridge's infamous Beta and his antics. No wonder other Alphas always eyed him with suspicion and prejudice. He was a ticking bomb for them.
"I brought you a hamburger and decided to keep you company for lunch. But if you don't want me here... Then I should just go." He grabbed the packaged food and started to leave, but Helena noticed the mischievous glint in his eyes. Of course, how could he just go like that?
"You know that's not what I meant." Helena sighed and crossed her arms.
"What?" He blinked in full innocence, but the small smirk fighting to appear on his lips made Helena inwardly groan. Typical. But no matter what, she really considered him her equal. He had been her best friend for twenty years. Ever since she took her first breath on Earth.
"Get back here," she commanded and rolled her eyes. Still, it was time for payback. "I wonder what my parents would've said if they were here..." She played with a folder on the desk, pretending to be interested in it.
"Scary..." Shawn drawled, widening his eyes. "But they're not, right?" He plopped back on the sofa and, slightly bouncing on it, grinned.
"Wow, when did you become so brave?" She lifted her brows with a laugh. "Or should I say shameless? Only if you were that brave when dad was here too..."
"Oh, don't make me shudder! I'm eating!" Shawn grimaced and dug into his food.
"Maybe I should call him. I haven't heard my parents in so long, anyway." She also sat in her chair and glanced at the phone. She did have to call him. Her parents hadn't remembered to call in what felt like ages.
Shawn shook his head, and food flew out of his mouth as he spoke. "Don't bother your parents while they are on their vacation! If you're that bored, why don't we check the land the hypermarket is going to be built on? Just to make sure it's not one of our hunting grounds."
"Ew, mind your manners, please." She threw him the box of napkins from the desk. Shawn grabbed them without a problem and bit into his hamburger. "You were supposed to do this alone", she scolded, but he lifted his shoulders. There was so much red sauce around his lips and cheeks red that she had to hold back a laugh.
Helena stood up from her chair. Staying in her office had started to suffocate her. She needed some air. Besides, Shawn's presence was gold in moments like this. He always made her laugh.
"So, this one's for me?" She pointed at the second burger on the table, and Shawn nodded with wide eyes.
"Yes, I took it just as—"
"No talking, please!" She lifted her hand and leaned forward to take the food. "Oh, I should totally take a photo of you eating like this. Dad would love it!" she teased and put her hand over her jeans' pocket where her phone was tucked in.
Shawn's eyes nearly popped out, and he used a few napkins to wipe the dirt off his face. Helena snorted and headed to the door. Shawn, that fool, was like a brother to her. He was good at replacing the loneliness. Ever since her parents had left her to take care of the pack by herself, she often felt alone. She knew this was her trial period to see if she could handle the responsibility alone, but there were so many things to be done. There were so many problems she had never thought she'd have to face. So many werewolves to help. And they all had their needs. There were pack members who wanted their ranks to be raised, others wanted support with their family businesses, and some needed help to remain hidden from the human world. Especially during their first shifts as teenagers. They never knew when it could happen, and the pain was so excruciating that they became helpless and vulnerable. It was a huge risk, especially with humans in the town.
She had no idea why, but her head had been a mess for the past two weeks. Her guts kept screaming at her something was going to happen. But what and why? Helena had never believed werewolves had any special abilities other than shifting, heightened senses, and quick healing, but she was starting to wonder if she had them. There was a weight on her chest, and its presence kept bothering her every part of the second. Was she going crazy, or was her personal apocalypse coming? There was no other explanation. She was an adult now, so her parents' excursion and trial retirement shouldn't bother her. Not that much at least.
No matter what it was, she wanted it gone. It had to come to its end because she couldn't stand it anymore.
...
The sun had set behind the horizon far too soon. It had felt like only a few minutes, instead of hours, since she had ended work for the day and shifted into her brown wolf. Running usually helped her concentrate and remove all the unnecessary thoughts from her head, but now, it was almost hindering her. She tripped over every small thing on the grassy floor, and every rabbit she chased escaped her clutches.
She slammed the door of her house and stormed up the stairs. Her calm attitude was gone and replaced by a rarely seen grumpy side of her. Gritting her teeth, she hopped in the shower. Perhaps the hot water would make her calm down. What was causing her sourness? Meeting one of her former high school friends during the day? The realization more humans would settle into her town, as it was becoming more and more popular each day?
Helena sighed and closed her eyes. The hot drops of water hit her skin and made it flush. She put a hand over her chest and felt the way her heart was slamming against her ribcage. Her thoughts started drifting off again. How had her parents managed to do all that? They had grown the pack from around fifty people to almost one hundred and fifty. They had let new wolves join and had established rules. And here Helena was, only two years after her family had left town for their so—called vacation, the human population had tremendously started increasing. How was she going to explain that to them? Werewolves were supposed to join her territory, not more humans. Helena knew living with the humankind was not a bad thing, not at all, but it just added more rules to the already full werewolf rule book. One more thing to abide by.
She took a deep breath and sighed. She couldn't, and didn't, want to do all this alone. Werewolves were pack creatures, and they needed their other halves. Their mates. And Helena was still as alone as ever. Even Shawn's company wasn't enough, no matter how much he tried to take care of her and support her. It was kind of sad because the werewolves with Alpha blood needed their mates more than the lower—ranked ones.
After a minute of just letting the water hit her skin, Helena weaved her hands through her golden—brown hair and pulled it to the side. It was still not enough. She couldn't understand why, but her tension had almost reached a boiling point, and she felt like screaming. She wanted to explode, and it still wasn't going to be enough.
A big thud somewhere in the house pulled her out of her thoughts, and she narrowed her hazel eyes. Was it an intruder? Or was Shawn doing something stupid again? Maybe this was going to be an opportunity to vent out and kick some ass.
She hurriedly left the shower and wrapped a towel around her frame. Following the slight shuffling sounds, she held her breath and tried to remain as quiet as possible. This wasn't the first time someone had broken into their home and she had to protect herself, but she still wondered why. Her pack's relations to the neighboring werewolves were all positive. Was the intruder a human? But if that was true, then why hadn't the security informed her?
