23. Outside looking in

Angelina could no longer feel her fingers.

She stood at a thick branch of one of the taller trees in the forest, her conversation with Alpha Luke from two hours ago still fresh in mind.

"It's impossible that his pack is that small," He'd said after she'd told him the situation "It could be that the rest of their numbers are somewhere else entirely. The forest concerns me. Why would he need to have an additional wall within walls? Find an answer to that."

"Understood."

Angelina warmed her fingers from her breath. She'd never done spy work for Alpha Luke before, but somehow, they'd naturally fallen into those roles. She wondered why he even believed she was capable of figuring out the secrets Parks' territory seemed to hold.

The sound of laughter stilled her.

Angelina turned her head to the source, but stared at nothing. She still hadn't gotten used to her enhanced senses. The source was likely still far away.

A few minutes passed, and she saw Ethan, Vincent and Victoria walking through.

She was dead certain there was no one except her in this forest in the last two hours. She'd checked the entire parameter.

Then where did they come from?

Vincent stopped walking.

Angelina turned to the other side of the tree just in time.

"What's wrong?" Victoria's voice reached

"Don't know, but I felt like someone was watching." The gamma murmured

"Don't tell me you're already scared, Vincent." Ethan said, she could hear the sound of footsteps, he likely hadn't stopped walking

"Like hell," Vincent scoffed, and she hear the sound of his and Victoria's footsteps again "I haven't had dinner yet, that's probably it."

"You'd ruin our pack name if you ever fight on an empty stomach." Victoria snickered

Their voices drowned as they walked away, out of the forest. Angelina dropped back to the ground, wincing at the sound of leaves crunching under her feet.

As an Alpha, shouldn't Ethan have noticed another presence first?

Angelina would love to pretend her stealth had fooled his senses, but that couldn't be the case if Vincent noticed.

Not to mention she'd spotted Ethan wearing a silver ring, usually when he was leaving the pack borders. It should've been unbearable for him to wear, and there wasn't a mark on his finger either.

Angelina unconsciously brushed her own thumb where her ring used to be, over the scar that now decorated her finger.

The more she tried to understand this pack, the stranger it seemed.

Sighing, she started her trek back to the Alpha's house, her lodging for the time being. Breath clouded in front of her mouth, dead leaves crunching under her feet.

'They seem really close,' She thought without meaning to.

She'd heard Ethan's inner circle was tight-knit, but seeing as all of them were so young, she'd expected them to be a little… less intense.

She could understand Ethan's position was determined by his bloodline, and Tyler had the ruthlessness and skills required to be his right hand man.

Vincent was the Gamma, Victoria the Head healer. Given their military strength despite the small numbers, Vincent must be good at his job. And she'd heard Victoria was a medical genius.

But she still wondered, there must be people older and more experienced than them for those positions. Not to mention they were originally from another pack. What made Ethan trust them more than his own pack members?

A rueful smile tugged at her lips.

Tyler may say he wasn't alive, but she saw the way those four lived together. Like a family. He'd found a place to belong to, a pack to accept him.

Her feet stopped at the edge of the forest, looking out at the lights from houses that spread around.

But I, breath clouded her vision, I'm still looking at it from a distance.

Despite her loses, maybe she couldn't understand what he'd lost. She'd never truly had it.

Shaking those thoughts from her head, Angelina started forward again.

By the time she reached the house, Angelina could feel a headache forming. Morgan had called and told her specifically to start wearing warmer clothes, but she'd neglected the advice. Now she might just catch a cold.

'What sort of Lone Wolves catch colds?' Angelina frowned a little as she stepped inside the house, the door was left unlocked for her.

"Oh, you're back!" Victoria popped her head out from the kitchen doorway "We're having Chinese tonight."

"Um," Angelina didn't know how to answer that

They'd gone out for dinner yesterday, and she'd had today's breakfast and lunch after brought to her room by the nice omegas who'd come to clean up. She hadn't thought about dinner yet.

"Crap, you don't like Chinese?" Victoria walked over to her, seeing her uneasy expression

She turned to glare at the kitchen doorway, where Ethan's head was peeking out. He held his hands up in universal surrender at Victoria's glare.

"Everyone likes Chinese food!" He defended, and Angelina guessed he was the one who'd given the idea

She didn't know what to think about the fact that he remembered that small detail about her.

"That's not it!" Angelina quickly intervened "I like it. I was surprised, that's all."

"Thank goddess," Victoria put her hands on her hips and let out a relieved breath "I was looking for you before we ordered, but I couldn't find you, and I realized I don't have your number."

Angelina was probably busy prying into their pack's secrets at that time.

"I'll make sure to give you my contact," Angelina told the healer "Sorry for the trouble."

Victoria looked surprised "Of course not. You're our guest."

Right. Angelina had gotten used to the casual treatment she received in Winters' territory, how easy it was to go invisible in the packed Omega quarters.

"Come on, the food's getting cold." Victoria gestured for her to follow

Angelina nodded, snapping out of her thoughts. She followed Victoria to the kitchen, only to stop at the threshold. Jittery anxiety snaked over her stomach.

Was she just going to sit down at the table and eat with them? With people she was spying on, an old comrade who had every reason to loathe her, and the Alpha she had a shaky history with?

"Angelina?" Victoria called

Angelina could feel Tyler's glare on her without looking, with the addition of Vincent's curious look and Ethan's contemplating gaze. Her throat was drying up.

"C-Can I just eat in my room?" She was horrified to find this quiet voice belonged to her

"Oh, sure." Victoria said, a little put-out "Is there anything you'd like specifically—

"Anything is fine."

Angelina basically ran away as soon as Victoria handed her a tray.

Her breath was fast with both shame and horror.

To think the hard part for her was to act normal around people.

Had she pretended to be meek for so long that she'd truly become timid? Had the ring infused permanent anxiety in her bones?

Or was it because she'd forgotten how to sit down and have a meal with new people?

Angelina dragged a hand down her face, calming her heartbeat.

It was fine, she told herself. It was only her second day here. She just needed a little time.

And if a part of her didn't believe that, she ignored it.

…

Angelina woke up to the sound of screaming.

Before she knew it, she'd stripped off her blankets and slammed the door of her room open, heart in her throat.

Her legs moved on their own, down the stairs, to the sound of the agonized sound.

Angelina stopped dead on the threshold of Victoria's room.

The healer was currently hunched over the floor near her bed, one hand clutching her chest and the other holding her twin's hands. Ethan was frantically talking to someone over the phone.

"What happened?" Someone rushed past her

Tyler was kneeling down next to Victoria the next moment, hands moving to her shoulders. She screamed out when they reached her, and Vincent pulled Tyler back harshly

"Tory," His voice was drowned in her groans, frantic, he looked at Vincent "What's wrong with her?"

Vincent's jaw was tight "It's full moon tomorrow."

Angelina's mind clicked into place.

'She's in heat.'

"Get away from her," She was pulling Vincent back before she knew it "It's only hurting her."

She replaced him beside Victoria, and grabbed her hand. It was ice cold. Angelina started rubbing it with both of her own. The healer sobbed, curling into herself.

Angelina pulled her in a sort of embrace, trying to rub some warmth into her shoulders to ease her shivering.

"Where's her mate?" Angelina looked at the others, eyes wide with horror

She couldn't even imagine the pain Victoria was in right now.

"In hell," Vincent growled "Or he will be by the time I'm done with him."

"We're going to the healer's compound," Ethan said over him, grabbed a blanket from Victoria's bed

Angelina draped it around a sobbing Victoria, bundling her up in it. Vincent moved to pick her up, but Angelina pushed his arms back.

"Let me," Angelina said quickly "It'll hurt less if no guy is close."

Vincent looked at his sobbing sister, than at Ethan, torn between some sort of turmoil.

"We'll handle it," Ethan's face was dead of emotion, tone cold "Get the car out."

After a breath of hesitance, Vincent raced out to get the car.

"Are you mad?" Angelina snapped at him, holding Victoria tighter "You should be taking any means to—

"I can't let you come with us." Ethan's voice cut through hers, expression fierce

She stared at him, stunned.

At the back of her mind, she could understand every reason he was saying that for. But the sound of sobs and hiccups was all she could hear at the moment.

Her hand moved on its own, and she delivered a heavy blow at the base of Victoria's neck. The hands clutching her nightshirt lost their tight grip as her eyes fell shut.

"What are you doing?" Her world shook when someone harshly hauled her to her feet

Tyler's face was twisted in a snarl, talons digging into her arm.

"Anderson," Ethan snapped at him, now holding an unconscious Victoria in his arms "Get a hold of yourself."

Vincent skidded to a halt in the doorway "Let's go."

In moments, they were all out, the front door hanging open, the sound of tiers screeching echoed, and dissolved.

For a moment, Angelina stood still in the hallway. Numbly, she went over and closed the door.

'I can't let you come with us.'

Her fingers tightened over the doorknob.

'It'll break,' Angelina thought distantly, and made herself let go.

She was shaken, and worried, and so, so angry but there was no one to direct it at. She wouldn't trust herself either.

She leaned her forehead against the door, needing something solid around.

If a tear or two fell, no one saw.

And how much of what no one saw was real anyways?

…