Josephine's Secret

40. You're Not You When You're Hungry

40. You're Not You When You're Hungry: Josephine's Pov

Chapter Goal: 300 votes, 60 comments (for Anna, Keaton, and Archer's perspectives in the SAME chapter)

QOTC- do you think Archer and Josephine are going to have a boy or girl? what about twins? triplets? names??

*10,518 words

"Get out." I hear Archer growl from his office, the sound of something hitting a wall and falling to the ground following it. From where I am down the hall, I'm able to see three wolves scurry out of his office, everyone in the building on edge sensing their Alpha's agitation. I can't help but flinch when he slams the door, feeling as if he just shook the whole building with that one action.

I make a quick detour to the vending machine in the lobby and buy a Snicker's bar before continuing my trek to the end of the hallway. "It's me," I knock on the door to his office when I realize he locked it. He recognizes both my voice and my scent, opening the door in just a couple seconds for me to come in.

He looks at me from where he sits by his desk, watching as I walk across the room to pick up the desk items he flung at the wall in frustration. I take my time as I place everything back on his desk where they belong, wanting to give him some time to calm down and collect his thoughts. Scooting his chair back a little, I take a seat on his lap and face him, holding the Snickers bar between us, "You're not you when you're hungry."

This gets him to crack a smile, shaking his head as I giggle at my own joke, feeling like a freaking comedian. "It wasn't that funny." he says, softly kissing me on the lips, seeming both tired and ready to go home. "Did you come here alone?"

"Roland dropped me off."

"Tell me about your day, darling," he opens the Snickers bar I gave him and takes a bite. "I can't deal with anymore pack work today."

"Pilates was fun; the instructor is one of Roland and I's friends. She teaches pilates, yoga, kick-boxing, and tumbling classes full-time now since we're out of high school." I tell him. "Afterwards, we met up Courtney, Alan, and some other people from our group since no one's really got a chance to hang out in a while. It was nice.. to be able to just hang out together again. After graduation, everyone went straight into working full-time for the pack. Pretty much everyone in my social circle are guards, warriors, or trainers now."

"This is gonna sound weird, but it was the first time in years that everyone was completely sober together. Since we all have responsibilities now, we can't walk around zooted. Everyone felt the difference.. but it was a good type of different." I can't help myself from rambling, just feeling like I need to say it out loud. I'm proud that my friends and I have matured as people; a lot of people in the back thought we would all throw our lives away after graduation and spiral into underground things everyone experimented with during high school. "I feel like we all needed today to reconnect."

He nods and says something that I can't understand with a mouthful of chocolate, but I don't bother making him repeat himself, knowing he'll just get messy with his snack. "That bar good?" I chuckle, scrunching my nose in disgust and leaning away when he tries to kiss my cheek with chocolate all over his mouth.

"Delicious." I'm able to make out his words this time. He finishes the rest of it in one bite, leaning back in the chair after he's done and tossing the wrapper in the trash.

I don't feel the need to make more conversation, feeling as though I've already spoken so much throughout the day that I don't have to do much of it for the remainder of the night. There was definitely a change in my personality that I noticed, and it's exhausting now that I'm home again. I naturally put up my walls back up when I'm with friends, no matter how close they are. Overall, I force myself to be more extroverted and become a little more aggressive in both my speaking and body language too. I'm still being true to myself, but it's just a guarding mechanism that I've forgotten about these past couple months.