"He got the whole world in the form of a person in front of him."

I spend too much time at the packhouse these days. I know the reason for that. It's obvious. It's because of her. I was fuming, marching into my office and immediately dialing Rieka's number for facetime. "Hello William, what do you want?" She answered right away. I sat down, grabbing a pen, and decided to put my anger to use.

"Why did Mr. Rowan had to tell me that you almost died in a rogue attack?" I spoke into the phone, distracted by the notes I was writing. It was good to hear her voice again.

Do I love her? Yes.

Am I in love with her? No.

I think the moment I saw Everest I was out of love but I didn't want to admit it because I loved Rieka for so long. Now, I'm happy because I don't want to be the horrible guy that's in love with another girl when he got the whole world in the form of a person in front of him.

"I'm not your concern, William. You made that very clear," she sighed and I finally looked at her. She was sitting on a sofa, her blonde hair in a messy bun and she looked comfortable and tired. "I know that. But I'm trying to be more human for Everest and I'm the bloody king, I deserve to know when one of my packs are under attack," I smirked, using her signature word bloody.

She glared at me," we had it under control. Ev made sure that the word didn't get out until we were sure of things. Everyone is fine now so you don't need to worry," she assured me. I already knew the GoldenCove pack was fine, Evander made sure of that.

"You call him Ev now," I huffed and she rolled her eyes. "Fuck off William. How's Everest? Can you give her my number? Please tell me you're being good to her and you magically changed into a good person," She changed the topic and wore a fake smile. I smiled slightly at the mention of Everest.

"I'm fucking things up," I sighed," as usual but I'm trying," I continued. Rieka shook her head in disappointment. "You need to really try. You can't expect to have a good life, to have accomplishments by just going with the flow or having others do your work. Besides that, Everest needs someone to...." she trailed off sincerely.

"She has someone. She made a friend and she's been spending time with Renee," I revealed, ignoring the first part. It's hard not to hate that Bradey hangs out with her so much but I'm happy that she still has a friend like that here. "How is Renee? I think she's upset with me or something because she isn't returning my calls," Rieka frowned. "A pain in the ass. You both are so similar because she's always giving me relationship advice," I groaned, making Rieka grin.

This was nice, speaking to her so normal but there was so much tension between us. It was hard not to fall for Rieka. She was perfect. When Alpha training started getting stressful and I focused on something else. It's only been downhill from there but my heart went high for her. Downhill because she'd never reciprocated those feelings and because she hated me.

That's my fault. I wanted her to hate me because falling for me would ended badly. So, in my logic, I focused on her flaws and insecurities, insulting her like the immature dick that I am at every opportunity.

"Take a hint then. You were an ass to me but please be good to her, be mature and let her know if this is a joke to you or not. Don't waste her time," she advised. I let out a frustrated sigh, raking my fingers through my hair. "Okay Rieka, I get it," I pointed out, not wanting to hear more but the moon goddess wasn't on my side.

"Look at that, you didn't call me a whore! You used my name!" She laughed, wiggling her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes, about to press the end call button. I hesitated, knowing I should take this time to apologize. "About that. I'm sorry for.. you know what. I know, if I apologize it wouldn't be close to how much I need to be sorry for but Rieka, I'm genuinely really sorry for everything. You didn't deserve that at all," I find let off my chest. Her eyes softened and she gave me a short nod.

"Maybe you can tell me why someday. I forgave you a long time ago because you never got to me," she truthfully said, taking the blocks off my chest. "Well thank you. I'm happy everyone is fine, I'll talk to you another time. Goodbye Rieka," I thanked her. "Oh wait. Can you go check on Jayden? He didn't take the news lightly and I want you to check up on him," she pleaded as if I wouldn't. Am I really that horrible? "I will," I assured her and she smiled. "Thank you, goodbye William," she dismissed and we ended the call.

I got back to work, finishing it up for the week ahead filled with training and practicing the new wolves and the already training wolves. It was nearing seven in the night when I finished up at the office and was about to go to Everest's room with two plates of food.

Passing the bar, I saw a familiar face drowning his sorrows in a bottle of bourbon. I mentally groaned, remembering my promise to Rieka that I would check on Jayden. By the looks of it, he wasn't doing fine. "What are you doing here?" I questioned, announcing my entrance and he scoffed. The bar was empty, no surprise.

"Well...I just found out my sister almost died and I can't even hug her," he mumbled to himself, taking another chug from the bottle. He's beyond drunk for sure. "Come on buddy, let's get you home...or maybe upstairs," I hoped since I wanted to see Everest and fulfill our deal. "If she had died though, would you feel bad? Would you regret it?" He ignored.

"Bad about what? Rieka is fine, she's safe," I pointed out. He took his final sip and dropped the bottle on the countertop from the air. It bounced to the ground and its shatters broke loose everywhere. "You don't deserve to know if she's alright or not, William! You fucking insulted her every day of her life," he shouted. I blankly stared at him, not this again. I got past this some hours ago but obviously, that wasn't good enough.

"Well...we're past it. I think, if Rieka can forgive me then so should you. I'm a different person now," I shrugged. He got off the stool, took one huge stride. I wasn't expecting him to draw his fist back and punch me in the jaw. I stumbled back, a wave of pain hitting my jaw hard.

"What the hell bro?" I snapped back, wiping off the drips of blood and he chuckled. "You deserve to burn in hell more than anyone here. You're horrible, selfish, rude-" he began to say before I cut him off. "I get it! I get it! I'm a horrible mate and I deserve to die for insulting Rieka every day! I get it!" I repeated, the anger and frustration got to me.

"No, you don't! You ever wondered if she was suicidal or something? You...you were always the unnecessary negativity in her life, you could have ruined her life!" He continued to defend her, screaming at me and I felt horrible. He's right. In every way. But no one never said anything when she lived in this pack. So why now? "Why now? Why are you saying all of this now? She lived here for twenty years," I questioned.

"Did- Did you say mate? You...you said you're a horrible mate," he recalled and I froze, now realizing that I let that slip. "It doesn't matter. Goodbye," I brushed off and was about to leave. Jayden grabbed me by the collar of my shirt just as his fist collided with my nose. Fuck, he broke my nose.

"Don't you fucking hurt another. You can't be going around treating women like shit," he demanded before I can say anything. Not holding back, he continued to punch me. If I fought back, I'll kill him and Rieka would then kill me. They have different fathers but that doesn't matter to them. "Stop!" I ordered, using my alpha voice and he froze. Finally, I got time to breathe. I felt the blood trickling down the back of my throat and the side of my forehead. "Son of a bitch," I mumbled below my breath, wiping my busted lip.

"Fuck you, Covet, he growled out, pushing me to the wall. I hit the side of my head and dropped to the ground with a harsh thud. That's it. "You're going to regret that," I already assumed the truth and hit him with the largest force I could muster. My busted knuckles screamed in pain as I hit him over and over three times total.

"Get yourself home," I scoffed and walked out of the bar covered in blood.

I need Everest.