His Guardian (MxM)

Chapter 5

Jackson

"You fucking kidding me? This shit again? You'd think it's in the fucking water or something," I heard my father grumble in his office from the next room over. I could hear Vincent's voice on the other end of his phone, but couldn't make out exactly what he was saying.

"No, we've been over this, Vince. I won't allow this fucking shit in my pack. You know what? Just stay there, I'll come deal with it myself." His phone was slammed down onto a hard surface.

He's distracted with something right now. He won't question it too much if I tell him now. I walked toward his office, to see the door slightly ajar. I pushed it open slightly and saw my father. The dark, brooding, massive figure that he is. Physically, the only things I inherited from him were my height, build, and eye color. I inherited basically everything else from my mother, and for that, I was grateful.

 It was almost as if a dark cloud followed my father everywhere he went. He was the type that children would tell each other scary stories about over a campfire, I assumed. When I am Alpha, I don't want to be so cold. So unapproachable. 

I don't want my pack to fear me.

"Father," I spoke.

"What is it?" he snapped. He didn't even look up when he responded to me as he was putting papers away in his desk.

"I'm going to stay with Liam tonight. We'll be training together tomorrow," I lied to him.

"I suppose it isn't a bad idea to spend time training with your Beta," he sighed.

My father slowly walked around his desk and made his way to me in the doorway.

"You have responsibilities. Don't forget them," he told me, inches from my face. I could feel him taking advantage of his advanced abilities as an Alpha. A pheromone was rolling off of him, making me feel weak, though I knew this was very minor compared to what he was fully capable of. He was reminding me of my place. Reminding me not to step out of line.

My vision foggy and my breaths slightly labored, I responded.

"Yes, father."

And with that, it was over as quickly as it started. With a huff, he walked around me, made his way downstairs, and out the front door.

I sighed with relief once he was gone.

I have things to do.

I walked into my room, grabbed a hiking pack out of my closet, and stuffed it with clothes and other necessities. Time to go see my Ben.

~~~~

"Ben!" I greeted my mate as I walked into our clearing. Our meeting place. 

"Jackson!" he squealed with excitement as soon as he saw me. Ben ran toward me and slammed into me with a hug. "I've missed you," his voice was muffled as his face was buried in my chest. He's so cute.

I noticed he was wearing a backpack, as I was. I had told him ahead of time to bring whatever he would need to stay the night with me, if he was okay with that. He was delighted at the idea,  but I was keeping the details of our outing a surprise.

"I've missed you too," I kissed the curls on top of his head. "So, did you make arrangements for the night?"

"Yeah, I told Ms. Tallie I'm staying at a friend's," he smiled up at me. "Did you tell...?" his voice trailed off. I chuckled.

"Yeah, I told him I'm staying with a friend too," I said.

"Good," he sighed. "So, where are we going?"