Without a word

Five Years Later

*Anna POV*

RING! I picked up my cell phone and said "Hi Jane". Jane is my best friend. We have been through a lot together.

"Anna, I need you to sit down," she said.

"Why?" I said.

"Just do it!" she said.

"OK, I'm sitting" I said.

"Adrian is back. I saw him in the Packhouse this morning."

I stopped breathing for a moment, unsure what to think. Adrian had returned after five years without a word. I had heard rumors about where he was and what he was doing but he never reached out. He never came back at the end of the summer like he said he would. Immediately, all the pain that I had closed off inside my heart ripped open. I had a boyfriend but hearing Adrian Knight was back, reopened wounds long believed to be closed and healed. Adrian was the love of my life, or so I thought at the time. We dated for nearly a year before he left for Warrior Training Camp. He was supposed to return to Lavendar Moon Pack but he left and never returned without a word. He promised to write but I never heard from him. I wasn't sure what to make of the lack of communication that summer. Why would he leave, promise to write, and then cut off all communication?

And what about our last date before he left? Everything was perfect that night on the dinner cruise. I asked myself a million times what I did wrong and spent the entire summer belching out Mariah Carey's "All by Myself" and listening to our song Chicago's "You're the Inspiration" over and over when my family were not around. I knew deep down that everyone knew I was hurting, despite my attempts to hide my pain and act like nothing was wrong.

"Are you OK?" Jane asked, concerned I didn't reply.

"Yes" I said. "It took me off guard. Why is he back after all these years?"

"I don't know. But, he was waiting to talk to Alpha Jake", Jane said.

"Alpha Jake? What could he want with Alpha Jake?", I said.

"Maybe he plans to return. If so, do you think Alpha Jake will allow him? He was so angry when Adrian dropped out of Warrior Training Camp nearly five years ago," Jane responded.

Alpha Jake was mad. Adrian was an Omega who only received acceptance into Warrior Traning Camp because Alpha Jake changed the rules when he became Alpha. Adrian and Alpha Jake grew up friends, almost like brothers. Despite the disparity in their ranks, they clicked. It was no secret in the pack that Alpha Blake was not happy about Adrian and Alpha Jake spending so much time together when they were children. He found every opportunity to split them up, but Alpha Jake's mother Luna Grace, understood the importance of their friendship and found ways to encourage it.

My parents were not happy when I started dating Adrian. I am the Beta's oldest daughter and my father was especially concerned with our relationship. He knew that it bothered Alpha Blake that Adrian was so close to Jake and wanted to avoid any appearance of impropriety. At the time, we all hung out together. Adrian, Jake, Jane, myself and a few others from school. That all changed when Adrian left for Warrior Training Camp and stopped communicating with me. Suddenly, Jake stopped hanging out when I was around and commanded that we refer to him as Alpha Jake.