Truly

Chapter 16

~Toni

In the days that I had been back at the Shadow Pack, Josh, Roxy and I had resumed our usual positions when sat in pack meetings. We sat on a black leather sofa at the back of the room where we could hear everything and see nothing. Roxy and Josh liked it that way as they would kiss every so often while I played on my phone. At one such meeting, I was playing with my phone instead of on it. Max hadn't answered my call the night before or the morning as I got up. Roxy reassured me that he was just busy as we all knew he was taking on Alpha duties while his father was sick. I worried it was something worse but had to put it to the back of my mind as we went into the pack meeting. Even if Caleb couldn't see us, he still wanted our attention.

The hall the meetings were held in filled up pretty quickly. My dad stood up front with Caleb while I lost my family in the mass sea of pack members. I rarely needed them in these meetings but if they needed me, they all knew where to find me. At the back, with my friends.

At this meeting, I would've known something was wrong if I had been closer. Apparently, Caleb's face held the look of grief and sadness. But I couldn't see him to know.

Josh was trying to mess Roxy's hair up and Roxy in turn was swatting his hand away. I just had my feet up on Josh's lap, twirling my phone in my hand. A couple of people who were in front of us, turned around and gave us disapproving glances. We even earned ourselves a few tuts from some old she-wolves. But we couldn't care less what they thought. You could join the meetings from the age of seventeen, which is when you shift for the first time. Most wolves with ages ranging from 17 to 20, didn't really pay attention at these meetings however, it was our obligations to go.

We could tell from hushed whispers, that Caleb was up on the stage but he hadn't yet started the meeting. Someone shouted from the ground to hurry him along but was shushed by many. Roxy, probably the most mature and patient out of our trio, was even starting to consider leaving. Suddenly, Caleb broke the silence with a simple 'a-hem'. I really wished that the meeting had never started.

"This meeting will not be about our pack today. If any one wants to bring any problems forward, can stay behind to talk to the beta. I don't want this to drag out and just want to get this over with. What I am about to say, is probably the worst thing that I have had to talk about in a meeting. Alpha Thomas of the Regal Pack was a good friend of mine, as you know, and I am saddened to say that he passed away in the early hours of yesterday morning. All the Alpha's of the packs are telling their pack members now. The family do not wish to have visitors and we have not had word yet from the pack about how they are doing and when their new Alpha will be reinstated. As a pack, we will be holding a service for Alpha Thomas on the day of his funeral, as are the other packs, but of course, we are yet to know the date of the service. This is obviously shocking news so I will let that sink in. Sorry that this is a small meeting, but I wish to go now and you can leave as you will. Thank you."

Caleb got down and people around me erupted into talk. I was shocked into silence. That had to be the reason why Max wasn't answering my calls but I wanted to know why he hadn't told me. Walking out, I could sense someone following me. Turning behind, I saw my brother Ricky. I fell into his open arms and cried, as I felt his hand soothe down my hair.

"Why didn't he tell me, Ricky?" I sobbed into his shoulder. "I should be there for my mate right now,"

"Different people react in different ways. Maybe if he said it out loud to you, it made it so much more real. He might talk to you now he knows that you know."

I looked up at my brother. I remembered the years when he was out drinking late and my mum was pacing downstairs, not realising I wast sat at the top of the stairs watching. This was only a couple of years ago and I was worried for my brother. I had grown up with Ricky being the rebellious brother. Then, as I looked into his eyes, I had realised how much my brother had matured. He was engaged to get married and that was something I never thought I would see either of my brothers do.

"Thank you, Ricky. I'm going to go phone him so if anyone looks for me, just tell them I want some privacy." Ricky nodded as I said this. He was the only one who knew where my private place was in the pack. We found it when we were younger together and if either of us want to get away from drama or just wanted some quiet time, we would go there.

I headed off thinking of on thing and one thing only. 

Please answer Max.

**********

~Max

Sitting with my back against the wall of my bedroom, I closed my eyes and listened to the rhythm of the ball my brother was chucking at the ceiling. Jace was sat in my bed with my as we 'hid'. Earlier, we had sent out the message to the packs, distributing the message of my father's passing. The phone would ring every so often offering our family people's condolences and Jace and I didn't want that. Lizzie was taking the news badly and had locked herself in her room, only letting her mate see her. Jace and I were hiding out in my room. Ruby was helping mum answer calls and calming the pack. That should've been my job as I would be taking over my dad's place as Alpha of the Regal Pack. I couldn't face the pack though without a certain person by my side and I couldn't face telling her. As the phone kept on ringing downstairs, I braced myself. I knew i would be getting a call from her......

The club isn't the best place to find a lover
So the bar is where I go
Me and my friends at the table doing shots.....

That was the ringtone I had set for Toni. It was cheesy but I didn't care.

Jace had my phone on my bed with him as we had been listening to some music. I opened my eyes to see him picking it up.

"Jace leave it." I glared at him.

"But it's-" I growled to stop him speaking. "Ok, do you want me to just let it ring out?"

"Yes. She always leaves a voice message. I don't want to talk to her right now but I want to hear her voice."

"Yeah, but won't she want to hear your voice bro?"

"Please Jace, shut up."

That was when the phone asked Toni to leave a message. As the tiny beep sounded, I leaned forward and propped my arms up on my knees.

"Max, please answer me. I have just been told by Caleb what has happened. Why didn't you phone me to tell me? I want to know you are ok. I want to help you through this. I want to hear your voice. Even if it was a simple voice recording just with you saying hello would work, i jut want to hear your voice. Please just get back to me. I love you, Max."

The voice message finished and I sighed, leaning back against the wall. I could hear in her voice that this was hurting her. That she hated the fact that I kept this from her. Toni was strong and she wanted to protect me but she is the she-wolf in this relationship. Shouldn't I be the one wanting to protect her? I was truly sorry to Toni, but I wanted to go through this alone.

A/N- Wow! This is all I can say. I went on my laptop this morning to see that this book has got to 1K reads and then when I got home half an hour ago, I saw the reads were at 1.1K. I was shocked so much. All I can say is thank you.