No Love Like Ours.

Chapter 3.

Ryleigh

That day has haunted me ever since Levi walked out that door. It's one of my biggest regrets. Not so much the leaving but the way I handled it. I should have made sure he knew that nothing about him or (us) was ever a mistake.

I never heard from him again after that day but I still followed his career. I was right. The tour and album blew him up. After that he was on the cover of every magazine with a different blonde. I often wondered what would have happened if I hadn't left but I think by now both him and I knew that it wouldn't have worked out. We were both different now. It hurt seeing him move on but I was truly happy for him. No one in this world deserved the success or to be happy more than Levi Jennings did.

I swing my legs over the edge of my bed and head into the Kitchen to put on the coffee pot. A loud knocking on my front door causes me to drop the cup down on the counter and saunter over to answer, confusion etched across my features when I see Layla Jennings standing on the other side of the door. A book clutched under her arm. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. Instantly, I pulled open the door in confusion and concern.

"Lays .. What's going on? Everything okay?"

Before she could even answer me, Layla flew into the house and wrapped her arms around my waist.

"I know you hate him but please go talk to him. You're the only one who he has ever loved. I know you think I'm just a stupid kid who doesn't know the first thing about love. But you can't let him marry /her/"

Freezing at that moment. I knew that Levi's family had taken our break up as bad as mine had. Ever since we were kids they had been predicting that we'd get married one day and even now, everyone assumed that we'd bump into each other again one day and take off from where we left it. My brows furrowed in confusion about what had Levi's baby sister so upset.

"Talk to me, Layla. What's going on?"

She pulled away quickly and didn't say anything. Instead she just shoved the book that had contained various photos of her brother and his Hollywood "Sweetheart" at me.

"Look .. He's marrying .. her"

As my eyes scanned the different pictures; one of Levi on his knee and another of him and Charlotte making out. I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach. I know I was the one to end things and it had been 5 years. He deserved to be happy but my inner teenager wanted to throw the biggest fit.

However, he wasn't the same Levi that was /mine/ to be possessive over. This was the Rock God Levi Jennings. The one that had every girl around the world swooning over him. I didn't know him or what or who would make him happy.

Sucking in a breath because I didn't want Layla to see me cry. Everyone needed to get over this idea they had that things would work out. Sometimes .. We didn't get the things we wanted and this was the case with Levi and I.

Handing the photo's back to her as I pulled her in for a massive hug.

"You don't need Levi and I to be married for me to consider you my sister. I've known you since you were born. I'll always be here for you. Levi or not. Maybe you'll love Charlotte. Aren't you already in love with her brother? .. Play nice and maybe she'll introduce you"

Pretending to be okay with this was almost as hard as watching Levi walk out of the door in LA. I wanted to be petty and stop Layla from having any relationship with Charlotte. In fact, I wanted her to hate Charlotte as much as I did. But that wasn't fair to Levi.

"I can't believe he didn't even tell us. We just had to find out like everyone else. I bet it was /her/ fault. She probably hates us."

Shifting from one foot to the other so I could wrap Layla up in a big hug. She really was the little sister I never got to have. I guess that's one of the things I loved so much about Neah Bay. Even though I was technically an only child, I never felt that way. I had Aiden, Hiram, Orion and Avery for brothers and Layla and Jayde were the sister's I never had. We were all a family despite not sharing the same DNA.

"We don't always understand why things happen the way they do, Lays. And oftentimes it sucks a lot. I'm sure your brother has a good reason for not telling you! You know that Levi would burn the world to the ground to keep you safe, that's not going to change just because he's marrying someone in Hollywood. And it's not going to chase me away either.

However, as much as you don't like it. If Charlotte is this important to him, you have to give her a fair chance. Even if it's just for Levi's sake."

Teenage me would be so impressed with me right now; despite not believing a single thing I'd just said, I knew it wasn't fair to anyone to convince the town to hate Charlotte before even meeting her.

Layla still looked super sad as she left my house. It was getting late and I was due on patrol in ten minutes. I hated that there was a part of me I couldn't share with her or my family. But Aiden had made it clear that no one aside from the pack could know about our secret.

Another reason why I knew leaving Los Angeles had been the right thing to do, not very long after arriving home, I found myself on four legs and full of fur.

Being the only female in a pack of Wolves had its ups and downs. The downs being that it was near impossible to lie to the guys about how I felt about Levi.

Unfortunately for me, Avery was already on patrol when I shifted and before I was able to sort through my thoughts he'd picked up on them already.

"What. The. Fuck .. Ry, do you want me to go fight him? I will for you."

Snorting out a wolf-like laugh as I'm bombarded by Avery's thoughts.

"Ave, You can't even fight me. How are you going to fight someone like Levi?"

Avery wasn't exactly the fighting type. Though I'd be really amused to see him and Hiram play one of their pranks on Levi.

"No one's pranking anyone. Stop giving him idea's Ryleigh."

The booming voice of our Alpha has both Avery and I shutting up instantly. It was funny to think how far Aiden and I had come since high school. Neither of us expected our lives to be what they had turned out; but I guess that's life.

It was Aiden's next thoughts that had me so consumed I almost ran into a tree.

His phone call with Levi and the news that not only was Levi finally coming home but … Charlotte was coming back with him to meet everyone

… Tomorrow.

Fuck