cloud

"Are you sure you have to go already?" Layne asks me for the hundredth time.

We had chosen to stay for one more day before leaving and in that short amount of time, it felt better to be here than it had ever been before. It wasn't just being around Layne, Quinn, and Gray that felt nicer, but the pack itself felt better. It was calmer and didn't feel so antagonizing to be in anymore.

"I'm sure, Layne. Beta Reo really misses his home, but I'll call you when I get back and visit again soon!" I promise her.

Layne's blue eyes flood with tears and she turns to Beta Reo. "Mr. Reo, are you really really really sure you have to go?" She pauses. "Like really sure?"

Beta Reo stares blankly at her and says, "I'm really sure."

Layne opens her mouth, likely to ask if he was really really sure, but Gray places an arm on her shoulder.

"Layne, they have to go, sweetheart. Uncle Cloud will come back to visit again, right Cloud?" He glances at me.

Though the question was made to appear as if it was to calm Layne down, Gray stares at me with a hint of hesitancy hidden in his eyes. He doesn't say it, but I know he's worried that if he lets me leave then he won't see me again.

"I'll be back," I tell them both as I stare into Gray's eyes, silently promising that I will come back.

Gray nods and Layne sniffles before wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You'll come back too right, Rai?" She asks and Raiden smiles and nods at her. "You too Mr. Reo?"

The question seems to make the beta uncomfortable, but because of all the pointed glances given his way, he lets out a sigh and nods.

Layne quickly walks up to him. "You pinky promise?"

Beta Reo looks down at Layne before he crouches down and wraps his pinky around her. Layne smiles and backs away from him and moves back to Gray's side.

Quinn emerges and her arms wrap around my neck. "It was good to see you again, Cloud," she tells me warmly. When she pulls away she turns to Raiden and Beta Reo with a smile on her face. "It was nice to meet you both as well."

Quinn and Raiden also share a hug and Beta Reo nods at her. His face remains in its same resting bitch expression, but his eyes seem to soften ever-so-slightly.

Maybe the big bad beta is capable of emotions other than anger. Who would've thought?

"Let me know when you get back," Gray tells me seriously. I nod my head and he continues to stare at me before he approaches me and pulls me into an embrace. "Be safe, Cloud."

"You too," I tell him and return his hug.

With one last goodbye, we make our way back to the car and we get situated. Layne gives us a big wave as we start to pull off causing me to smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Raiden also smiling as he stares out the window.

"That went better than I thought it would," I admit.

Raiden nods in agreement. "I was worried at first but it wasn't so bad."

"You say that, but you're forgetting the whole reason we came," Beta Reo says. "Don't get too comfortable and forget about Demos."

My smile drops slightly, but I nod nonetheless. He was right, we needed to focus on the issue at hand.

"Still," Raiden shot the beta a pointed look. "I'm happy that you got to see their family, Cloud. You seemed happy."

Rather than reply, I just rest my head against the window as we drive back to the pack.

"Let's just hurry up," The beta sighed.

"We know that you miss your secluded lifestyle, just be patient."

Beta Reo rolls his eyes at my comment, but Raiden frowns ever-so-slightly. Gray's comment about talking to Raiden about leaving the pack crosses my mind.

Maybe I should talk to him. It wouldn't be too out of the blue to bring it up seeing as he has opened up about enjoying being away from his pack in the past.

"When I left home to search for my mate, it was probably one of the most liberating experiences but when I returned home I was reminded of all those back here who expected things from me, all my friends who would be sad if I left and I guess I just gave up on the idea."

The question wouldn't be out of the blue, seeing as it's definitely something he had thought about. But I didn't want to create more problems for him either.

"What has you in such deep thought?" Raiden glances over at me, a curious expression on his face.

You.

"Nothing specifically. A lot's happened recently," I shrug and Raiden nods in agreement.

"'A lot' is an understatement," he says. "I can't wait for the day when we can just lock ourselves away in the house and have a movie marathon with nothing to do."

"You'd go crazy," I snort.

"What? No, I wouldn't," he denies.

"You barely sit still when we're at home as is."

Raiden smiles sheepishly. "Maybe you're right, but what can I say? I wasn't made to sit down. Maybe we can go on an adventure instead — like a hike or something."

Hiking wasn't what I had in mind, but it was so...Raiden to suggest it.

"Hiking? Maybe we could do that," I reply, deciding to entertain him.

Raiden's eyes light up and he begins to name different hiking spots around and ones that he's visited in the past. As he does so, I rest my head against the window, replying when necessary and listening to him talk.

When we arrived back at the pack, we would deal with Alpha Demos, but for now, I just wanted to focus on my mate.

...

One of the things I was thankful for was the fact that the Dark Moon Pack was only a few hours away from the Howling Night Pack. After the first two, I was ready to get out of the car and away from both the beta and Raiden alike.

As much as I like him, Raiden never stops talking and I needed a break. The beta wasn't much help; if Raiden wasn't talking to me then the two of them were arguing over something trivial and driving me insane. So when the Howling Night territory came into view, I couldn't have been more relieved.

"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be excited to see this place," Raiden says to me.

"I'm excited to get out of this damn car," I tell him, "let's hurry and get home."

"You can drop me off right here," Beta Reo says once we pass into the pack lands and unhooks his seatbelt.

"You sure? It's still a little ways away until you reach the center of the pack."

The beta eyes Raiden up and down. "The sooner I can get away from you, the better. The added run is just a bonus."

Any reluctance Raiden had about letting him out disappears and instead, he rolls his eyes and unlocks the back door. In an instant, the beta is out of the car and vanishes behind a tree. When he finally emerges, his dark grey wolf quickly darts past us without glancing back once.

Raiden rolls his eyes again before he continues to drive back to our home. The drive is slow and when we finally pull in, I let out a sigh.

"Thank Goddess," I say and quickly exit the car.

Raiden follows behind me. "Tired of me already?"

I glance at him. "I'd say no, but then I'd be lying."

My words only cause Raiden's smile to grow. "Your words mean nothing to me. I know you secretly love my company."

"Love is a stretch."

"Love is an understatement. You're just too shy to tell me how you actually feel."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "You just keep telling yourself that."

The front door opens and I step inside and beeline for the bathroom.

"I'll be back!" I call out.

"Alright, I'm gonna make something quick to eat, you hungry?"

"No, I'm good," I tell Raiden.

It was crazy how comfortable I felt after only being here for a short amount of time. Despite the amount of time I had spent at Gray and Quinn's home, I still felt out of place when staying there, but I didn't get that feeling when staying here with Raiden. I enjoyed this house even if the pack didn't feel like a home. Maybe it was because it was smaller than Gray and Quinns and it was only Raiden and me.

Once I exit the bathroom, I can hear Raiden's humming coming from the kitchen, but it comes to an abrupt stop. I walk down the hallway and around the corner. Raiden stands in the kitchen with his brows furrowed and he slowly lifts his head to turn to me.

"Cloud, what's this?" His hand rises, but I don't need to see the item in his hand to know what he's found.

My bag.

His eyes search mine as he waits for an answer, but no words leave my mouth.

"Cloud?" He repeats. "Why is there a bag in the kitchen cabinet full of items? Items that make it seem like you were going on some kind of long trip?"

"Raiden..." my words trail off.

I watch his eyes drop and his jaw clenches. The bag hits the counter and he turns away from me.

"Raiden," I move to him.

"When did you put this together?" He asks quietly. "Be honest with me."

I bite my lip. "It's been a while now," I admit and he exhales. "But I stopped. I'm not going—"

"How long had it been since you stopped? Were you still thinking about this when you kissed me?" His words break. "Were you just going to disappear like you did at your last pack? Were you just not going to say anything and run away in the middle of the night, leaving only a fucking missing persons report behind?"

His jaw is clenched tightly and I go to reach for him, but my hand comes to a stop.

"Missing persons report?" My brows furrow. "What do you mean by missing person report?"

I can't see his face, but Raiden goes still causing my confusion to grow even more.

"Don't go quiet now, Raiden. What are you talking about? What report?" I move around until I can see his face and even though he says nothing, his eyes give him away. "How much do you know about me?"

Silence.

My jaw clenches. "Answer me, Raiden!"

"What do you want me to say, Cloud?" He says, frustratedly. "I'll admit it, I know a lot more about you than you've told me. I know there was not one but two missing wolf reports filed about you. One older and one newer. I know that—"

"Are you serious?" I can't help but scoff. "You're getting mad at me like you're some fucking saint—"

"You choke up at any mention of your life outside the pack and you were literally going to sneak away—"

"Because you digging around in my life definitely makes me want to stay with you," I say and Raiden frowns.

He begins to say something else, but I don't want to listen to it. Thankfully I didn't bother to change yet. Turning around, I exit the kitchen and ignore Raiden's calls as I open the front door and leave the house.

The front door slams shut. I don't know where I'm going and I don't care. The only thing I want is to get away from him.

The more I walk, the more my anger grows. Clearly, I was scared for nothing. While I've been worrying, he's already known practically everything about me.

The more consumed I am by my anger, the more distracted I become from my surroundings. So much so that I don't realize I had made it to the heart of the pack. So much that the calls from pack members are drowned out as I stomp through the land, unaware of the fast-approaching soccer ball until it hits me straight in the face and connects with my nose.

...

When I wake up, I'm no longer outside but instead, I'm lying in a white room surrounded by the sound of beeping. Instantly, my heart beings to pound, and I force myself up. Instantly, I regret the decision when my head explodes with pain. I grip it and let out a groan.

"What the hell..?" I mumble.

"You were hit in the face with a soccer ball and hit your head when you fell," a voice says from the corner of the room causing me to jump. When I turn around, there was a woman standing in the corner. She looks amused by my reaction. "My name is Doctor Fullman, but you can refer to me as Harmony if you wish. After your fall you were brought to the hospital. Now that you're awake, we'll run a few tests and link your mate to come—"

A scowl takes over my face. Even injured, Raiden was the last person I wanted to see right now.

"That won't be necessary, I feel fine. I can leave on my own."

Doctor Fullman raises an eyebrow at me. "Even so, we'd prefer to be safer than sorry."

The more she stares at me, the more I begin to realize that this isn't a battle I'll win so I sigh and nod. Doctor Fullman smiles at me before she leaves the room. Once she's gone, I wait a few minutes before climbing off the bed and slowly opening the door.

I wasn't going to stay here.

The hall is busy as ever, but nobody questions me ad I walk out. My eyes scan across the hall, trying to watch out for the doctor, but instead, my feet stop when I see Alpha Tatum. He sits in a big room, a frown on his face as he holds the hand of a young man whose eyes are closed.

As if feeling my eyes on him, the alpha's head turns around and I'm met with his gaze. Only, it's not the same stoic one I'm used to, there's an overwhelming amount of sadness buried inside of them.

Quickly, I look away and race out of the hospital. I can hear the man at the front desk call out to me, but I don't bother turning back.

Who was that just now?

Why did he look so sad?

Questions race through my mind, but just as quickly as they appear, they're replaced with annoyance when I bump into someone. That someone being Nara.

There are pack members around, but none of them seem to pay us any mind or notice the way my mood begins to darken even more as I stare at the raven-haired woman.

Her hands fiddle and she drops her gaze to the floor. "Hi, Cloud," she says quietly.

I want to lash out at her, I want to tell her to go to hell along with her father, I want to yell at her, but instead, I just shake my head and walk past her. My head and nose were already hurting, not to mention my situation with Raiden. I didn't need to add more problems onto my plate b

As I walk past, I hear her quiet voice once again.

"I'm sorry."

My feet come to a stop. The few pack members that were here are mostly gone now and I can't help but scoff.

"You're sorry? For what exactly? For your crazy ass father? For trying to steal my mate? For what exactly, Nara?" I know that it isn't fair to take my anger out on her, but I can't help but do so. She isn't her father, but she's part of the reason why he's doing all this.

Nara flinches at my tone. "I-I'm sorry for how he's acting."

I roll my eyes. "If you were sorry then you'd tell him to stop. If you were sorry, you'd tell him you aren't interested in Raiden. If you were sorry then you wouldn't be here right now," I tell her and slowly turn to face her. "How do you ever plan to be an alpha if you just let people walk all over you?"

With that, I begin to turn to leave, but Nara calls out to me once again.

"I...I can't control his actions, but I can show you that I don't want to be your enemy."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" I scoff.

Nara inhales a shaky breath before saying, "By telling you what I know about your friend's trial."