Page 3 of Protected Promise
I feared he’d press the issue and call me back. Alphas could do that, but I really hoped he wouldn’t. I needed him to understand, but I was failing at explaining my reasons. To an extent he got it, but he thought I needed to face my demons, when my survival instincts told me it was best to just stay far, far away.
Pushing all those thoughts and negativity aside, I got back to studying. If I didn’t pass this test, then none of it mattered anyway because I wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Landon
Chapter 2
“Did you call Jackson?” Connie asked.
“Not yet, but I told you I would.”
Connie was my best friend Tobi’s mother, and she would do just about anything to ensure her daughter was home for the summer. Last year Tobi met her mate, Jackson. Jackson surprised her with a trip home. They spent a few weeks with us, but to Connie, that simply wasn’t enough.
I’d been secretly working with Jackson and his Alpha, Kyle Westin, to get Tobi and Jackson home for the entire summer. The problem was that Jackson was supposed to start a new job in Seattle with Wilcott Designs. The good news was, that would put them much closer to my small Pack in British Columbia, than it did Westin Pack, so Kyle had charged me with overseeing them. Plus, there was a small chance that he’d be able to work remote designing a new gaming program along with some updates to the popular game, Chaos, that he had designed and sold to Wilcott.
I knew they probably wouldn’t be spending the entire summer with us, but I’d take what I could get. The truth was, Connie wasn’t the only one that wanted to see them home. I missed my friend.
A part of me had always assumed Tobi and I would be together forever. In a pack as small as mine there simply weren’t many options. Tobi and I were the same age, and we were best friends. I could have done a whole lot worse.
When she’d called and told me she’d met her one true mate, at a gaming convention in Seattle, and that she was going to stay at Archibald Reynolds College to be with him I had been shocked and a little sad. I’d been thrown into the role of Alpha at such a young age that I had never gotten to really experience life. I now lived vicariously through Tobi and Jackson.
He was a great guy and a strong mate for Tobi. I had no objections to their mating. I loved seeing my best friend so happy and in love, but I sometimes envied the bond they shared. I felt left out and even more alone at times.
She still called me once a week or more. I loved that we had managed to stay close despite the distance between us, but I also knew things would never truly be the same.
“But when are you going to talk to him?” Connie insisted.
I sighed. “Fine, he should be free now. I’ll call him.”
I knew she wasn’t going to let it go this time. Classes had ended a few days ago, and Tobi had called to tell me she had passed her finals, as if I had any doubts. She had always been independent, and hesitated when I told her I had enrolled her at the ARC and that the Pack was going to pay for it. To me it had been an investment in her, but also in the few of my Pack.
We were small and didn’t need a lot, but even the little things added up and stronger more employable people that could help channel revenue to the Pack was exactly what I needed. I’d been talking a lot with Kyle Westin, Alpha of the largest wolf pack in the world, about this stuff even before she mated Jackson. It was just my luck that he was from Kyle’s pack and their bond had helped strengthen an alliance between our packs.
“Landon!”
“Fine,” I said picking up my phone to call Jackson. I already knew there was a graduation this weekend and while Tobi wasn’t graduating for another year, apparently many of their friends were and they were sticking around to cheer them on.
I dialed Jackson’s number while Connie stood by waiting.
“Landon? What’s up man?”
“Hey, can you talk?” I asked really meaning, are you alone.
“Sure. Tobi’s having lunch with the ladies of the doghouse. I’m free to speak.”
“Great. You know that stuff we were talking about for this summer?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“I’m going to need a confirmation on that, like ASAP. Connie’s driving me nuts here.”
She smacked me.
“Ow. I am still your Alpha,” I reminded her.
“And not too big for a good swatting when you need it, either.”
Jackson laughed. “Sorry man. Hey look, Kyle will be coming up for graduation this week. Why don’t you come on down, too.”
