Hidden Wolf

50 Lost

Chris POV

"Leaving so soon?" Silas asked as we picked up our takeaway pack.

I had Jace with me, but everyone else was supposed to be packing, I want to be on the road the moment we can. I left Claire and Jude to keep an eye on Jess but she should sleep for hours yet. Sara is wrapping up her own business; it's better for her to not be by Jess to trigger her right now. Just a few hours more and we can head home.

"It's been a long week, everyone's anxious to get home and sleep in their own beds," I dismiss.

"Understandable, it's been a rather... eventful week," he replies with a sinister grin.

"Never a dull moment at these things," I reply with a shrug.

"You will of course be at the wrap up dinner right?" He asks, raising a brow.

"Actually, we were planning to head out as soon as we wrap this up," I say, showing him the paperwork. 

"But the dinner?" Silias asks, slightly annoyed.

"It's never been mandatory before? Many have already left," I deflect.

"None are a principal alpha," he grits out.

'He seem strangely invested in keeping us here to you?' Jace asks.

'Yeah,' I admit.

"Well at this point we're still tying up loose ends, we may very well still be here," I say with a chuckle.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," he says with a frown.

'The sooner we get out of here the better,' Jace warns.

'Agreed.'

"Seriously?! Are we rewriting the bible?" Jace asks as we start to divy up the paperwork. "This is three times worse than last year."

"This seems super trivial," I admit.

'Um, how long is Jess supposed to be out for?' Claire asks.

I look at my cell and frown, ten am. 'At Least a couple more hours, why?'

'I think she's up.'

'Fuck, I'll be there-'

'No, finish up there, I'll link you if anything changes,' she links back.

"Something wrong?" Jace asks.

"Jess is up already."

'She wasn't supposed to be up for hours,' he says, switching to link.

'Well aware, Jace!'

'If she's metabolizing this fast she's going to shift, and not in a matter of weeks, more like days at best,' he trails off.

'Let's just get this shit done, one thing at a time.'

A couple hours into the paperwork and it's barely dented. This is busywork, it literally just feels like my day is wasting away.

'So she's up and has already gotten ready, everythings packed and ready to go,' Claire links, updating me on Jess. 

'How is she?' I ask as the guilt gnaws at me.

'Guarded.'

'What else?' I prompt.

'She's torn. I think she understands why we did it, but it still hurts. Ethan asked her to go shoot with him. Don't worry, she's already told him she's grounded.'