Josephine's Secret

11. There's Always More

11. There's Always More: Archer's Pov

Chapter Goal (for some more info about Josephine's past)- 400 votes, 100 comments

QOTC- who read the "Before the Secret" in the last chapter? Thoughts?

"Stop looking at her like that." I growl at Derrick not liking the look in his eyes as he stares at my mate. No one besides me gets to check her out. "Why are you even staring at my mate?"

"I'm not checking her out." he shakes his head, still not taking his eyes off of Josephine. "She's just so... different now."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"I knew Sophie for nearly ten years, I actually met her before I met you. Her older siblings and I were friends." he explains, the name 'Sophie' grabbing my attention. Josephine always corrects people when she's called that. I don't know the story behind it, but I'm assuming that it's just a childhood nickname that she doesn't like anymore. "She's so grown."

"Stop looking at her." I warn when I start counting the seconds. "I called you here to work, not stare at my mate."

"I am working." he rolls his eyes, looking back at the computer. "Why exactly are we tracking this person?"

"It's the guy who led the attack on Josephine's house." I tell him, my wolf growling at the stories that our mate told us about him. "I found out yesterday that he's been messing with her for a while now, getting her into some fighting business and stuff like that."

"So this has been happening for a while?" Derrick raises his head and looks at me, briefly glancing at my mate one more time. "Do you know how old the guy is? Or if he went to school with Sophie?"

"No, why?" I look at him suspiciously. "What do you know?"

"Nothing." he raises his hands up in surrender. "I was just wondering."

"What do you know?" I repeat my question, using a more assertive tone this time. Derrick's questions were pretty specific, that must mean that he knows something. Or at least has an idea on who it might be.

"I don't know anything. I just asked because I thought some more things were happening at school." Before I can ask what he's talking about, I feel Josephine stir in her sleep. Her grip on my arm tightens a little at first, but she soon pushes away from me completely when she comprehends what she's doing.

I watch as she lazily sits up straight, the blanket that I draped over her still wrapped around her shoulders. "Derrick?" she calls out, her eyes landing on my friend across the room. "What are you doing here?"

"Working on stuff." he answers, giving me a weird look when he notices me glaring at him. Josephine spoke to him before she even acknowledged me. "You know, Beta duties."

Feeling like I need to need to one-up him, I blurt out, "I'm an Alpha." My words cause both of them to snap out of their trances and pay attention to me, but it takes a while before either of them says anything. "What are you two working on?" Josephine asks, looking back at Derrick.

Look at me. Not him.

"Pack stuff, nothing you need to worry about yet." Derrick covers up, knowing that I don't want my mate to know that I'm tracking her attacker. "Everything going alright at school?" Once again, he mentions her school-life.

"School's going a lot better." Josephine smiles. It's one of her genuine ones; something that I don't get to see very often. "I don't have those problems anymore."

"That's great." Derrick returns her smile, obviously knowing what she meant by 'those problems'. "What problems?" I ask, tugging on Josephine's blanket to get her attention.