The sheets were cold on my skin as I climbed into bed, but instead of feeling refreshing like it normally would it just felt uncomfortable. Jonathan had escorted me to my room, leaving me with a small peck on the forehead and a promise to return in the morning. It was clear what he was trying to do, stop me from spiraling into the dark place I'd been in after my father's death. I knew that he was trying to be discrete about it though, so I didn't mention how obvious he was being.
After changing out of my clothes, I scrubbed my skin until it was raw in a scorching shower. I had gotten out only after the air had turned too humid to breathe in the bathroom. The skin sensitivity that resulted from the assault on myself was only magnified underneath the stark temperature change of my blankets.
Frustrated, I kicked them off of me and swung my legs off of the bed so that they were dangling inches from the floor. "If I'm going to be awake, I might as well sort through things in my office," I thought to myself before pushing myself up and walking towards my bedroom door.
I kept my gaze on the ground after opening the door and was surprised to see two feet in front of me. With furrowed eyebrows, I raised my head and found Leila standing before me. Her hand was raised in the air as if she was just about to knock on my door, and the look on her face caused my heart to shatter into a million more little pieces.
Leila closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly as if she was ashamed to have been caught, "I've been standing here for five minutes trying to work up the courage to actually knock on the damn door."
The hushed tone of her voice was jarring as if she was the one who should be embarrassed to stand in front of me instead of the other way around. I grabbed her hand in mine and pulled her into the room, shutting the door behind me, "This room is open ground for you, never be worried about bothering me. What do you need?"
She pursed her lips and clenched her fist, obviously struggling to find the words she was looking for. Finally, she met my eyes with a distracted look, "I can't sleep in that room, Harley. I know that probably sounds crazy since you spent so much time in your dad's room after he died, but I just can't handle-"
"Leila, you don't have to explain anything to me," I held both of her hands in mine, trying to still their shaking. "Stay here with me, my bed is big enough for the both of us."
She pulled me into a tight embrace. I felt her shutter as she let out a deep breath, "I'm trying to be strong, but it hurts so much." When she rested her head into the crook of my neck I felt the tears that were making their way down her face and my chest tightened.
"We're going to lean on each other to get through this," I rubbed her back with the palm of my hand. "Come on, let's lay down. That pup needs rest, too."I guided her to the bed and watched as she robotically wrapped the blankets around her and closed her eyes. Moments later, her breathing slowed and I realized that she had already fallen asleep.
As I walked back around to my side, a feeling of determination crept into my body. There was no limit to the amount of time I could spend mourning the loss of Rowan, it was something that I could spend the rest of my life doing. None of that mattered though because my pack had lost a strong Beta, someone that they could depend on. Even more than that, the woman laying in my bed had lost more than all the pack members and myself combined.
I didn't have time to feel drown in my misery like I had following my father's death, and as I tried my best to quietly slip back into my bed I made the decision that this would be the last night that I would mourn Rowan until I had gotten revenge for his death.
~
I turned the knob and slowly closed my bedroom door behind me. Leila had seemed so peaceful that I hadn't wanted to disturb her. So instead of waiting for Jonathan to come and check in on me, I had told him through our mind link to meet me in my office. There we would discuss where our pack would go from here before being joined by Jackson, and presumably Wyatt.
He was waiting for me when I entered my office but looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep. Jonathan stood up out of respect as I walked toward him, but I shooed him with a toss of my hand and pulled him in for a hug instead.
"When you do that it makes me feel older than I am," I chastised him as we pulled away from one another.
The comment did its job, and a small chuckle escaped from his mouth, "Maybe it's just that I'm trying to feel younger." Offering him a small smile in response, I pointed my head toward his chair, indicating that I wanted him to take his seat. He obliged while looking at me with an expectant expression.
The reasoning for having Jonathan meet me in my office hadn't completely been to avoid waking Leila, and he knew that there was something I was keeping from him. As I took my place behind the desk I fiddled with the papers resting on the workplace in front of me.
After straightening them, I looked at him with a serious expression, "I'm going to cut straight to the chase, I want you to be my Beta. Right now there are two people that I trust, and one of them is pregnant. That leaves you, and honestly, there isn't someone better suited for the position since you've served in the role before."
He rubbed the palm of his hand against the back of his neck, "I'll be honest, I had a feeling that you would do this, and although I want to argue that a younger pack member should hold the position, I can't force myself to do it."
We locked eyes and he reached he hand over the desktop, "It would be my honor, and I know we'll make a good pair." Wrapping my hand around his, I gave it a gently squeeze while trying to block the sadness threatening to spread through my body.
I pulled away and placed my hands on the top of my desk, centering myself, "Now that that's taken care of, I would like to catch you up on some things before the others join us."
"I assumed as much," his face was now focused on the task at hand, no room for outside distractions. It was a trait that I was striving to emulate, but one that I also knew I didn't have mastered as well as he did.
"Thomas and Malcolm are not happy that Lincoln came back without a promise of my territory, but they do seem to believe that he came to the realization that his father was right all along," I started with a steady voice, but had to stop as I felt my hands begin to shake in anger. Clenching my fist tightly, I continued on, "Malcolm planned on poisoning me yesterday. I'm not sure of the specific details, but Lincoln was somehow involved with the whole thing. The only thing I know for sure is that he is responsible for Rowan being poisoned instead of me."
Jonathan's jaw was clenched in anger, "That son of a-"
I held my hand up cutting him off, "He's dead to me, so I'd rather not waste time discussing his poor decisions. Let's discuss a plan for dealing with Malcolm and Thomas."
------
What do you think of Harley's new mindset? Her new Beta?
I'm so blown away by all the support you've all been giving me lately, and wanted to remind you how much it means to me. There are no words to explain how amazed I am by you guys on a daily basis, thank you so much for continuing to love these characters as much as I do.
Who do you think is going to be the most dynamic duo in Broken? Why?
Much love <3
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Broken
Werewolf| Book Two in Bonded Series | My father had always urged me to remember that trust, although easy to give, should be handed out with great caution. People in powerful positions made it to where they were by being convincing and charismatic, but when...
