RISK

3

Xander manages to avoid seeing Isabella for the next three days, and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't hard. If he picked up on her scent, he'd have to force himself to walk the other way, despite his wolf wanting the opposite. If he saw her from afar, he only gave himself a few seconds to admire her before walking off. If he stayed any longer he knows his feet would make their way to her. It helped that Isabella painted through lunch the last three days, as she wanted to finish her project so she has something to hand in for a grade this week.

But every time he sees her and doesn't go to her, he feels the frustration and want increasing in his wolf. Werewolves are not supposed to ignore their wolves. Their wolves are strong and determined and who knows what can happen if the ignoring goes on for too long. Especially an Alpha wolf: the strongest of all.

Sometimes Xander would just prefer to run in his wolf form, but when he has to go to a pack so far away, driving is what gets him there the quickest. He's meeting with a neighboring pack to discuss an alliance deal that was proposed to him. He doesn't mind meetings and such, as he was prepped for them before the Alpha title was even handed down. He remembers traveling with his father to meetings to understand how they work, and how he's supposed to act. Now he's smart enough to do it himself. His parents travel a lot, knowing Xander is responsible to handle things on his own. And if anything were to happen, they're only a mind link away. He figures traveling will also get his mind off Isabella.

<>

Isabella stares at the ceiling of Melissa's room, not being able to sleep. It's about 3:00 am and the other two girls fell asleep not too long ago. A movie, they hadn't really been watching, plays in the background of her thoughts. She's happy she accepted Melissa's invitation to sleepover her house. She really likes Kristin and Melissa, not only are they nice but they're outgoing and they help to bring that out in her. She learned a lot about them tonight, as they did her.

She really was going to say no to the sleepover, knowing she'd be way too nervous to be under the same roof as Xander the whole night, but when Melissa mentioned they would have the house to themselves, she accepted. Every time Melissa mentioned Xander, Isabella had to hide her interest. She's not supposed to like her friend's brother. Especially only after the short encounters they've had. But she remembers how warm her body felt when they were body to body, after they clumsily banged foreheads. Isabella likes that despite how he makes her nervous, he really is easy to talk to. She usually doesn't mention to anyone that her mom passed, so easily.

Isabella quietly gets up to leave the room. She's a little cold so she just wraps the blanket around herself, too lazy to put on her sweatshirt. She leaves the room, heading downstairs for a glass of water.

Xander frustratedly slams his car door shut. He wasn't supposed to be coming home tonight, he was supposed to be spending the night at the pack he had the meeting at, but things didn't go as planned. When Xander tried to respectfully deny the other Alpha's alliance proposition, the Alpha immediately became angry, insulting Xander's pack. Xander denied the offer because the pack is fairly too weak. There's no point of being an alliance with a pack if they aren't strong or have smart tactics. If they were to need each other's help, Xander's pack would not be benefitting, only their's would. The last thing Xander has time for is a petty Alpha who can't be professional and has to insult to feel some type of pride.

He usually doesn't let things like this get to him. But it was the things the Alpha was saying. Insulting his parents and saying they were incapable of raising a fit Alpha, that his father was the worst person for the Alpha role, when his dad is the best Alpha's the pack has ever had. What also got him pissed is the fact that he had the nerve to make comments about his mate. Saying that Xander probably found his mate but is too ashamed to tell anyone. That she must be unintelligent and unattractive, and that's when Xander had had enough. But instead of causing too much trouble, he simply left, and now here he is with the rage still built up.