17 This Just In (1)

LUCAS

'Should I have gone after her?' Lucas thought before he shook his head. 'No, she'd have probably been scared if I did that... But she came to see me... So why did she leave? Wait, Parisa said Imani won't help me so why did she come? Or didn't she come to see me?'

Lucas shook his head to dispel his thoughts as he walked up to the two storey building he lived in with Imani's clutch purse in his hand. He didn't grab it when he grabbed the phones on the ground and she forgot about it in her rush to get away.

Parisa had repeatedly asked him why he was with Imani when he'd picked her call as he watched Imani's car leave Milos' parking lot. The woman didn't even wait for his reply before she told him to stay away from Imani and not to pull her into this mess. She then said she would call him about Jacob Peterson tomorrow and hung up. The call had left Lucas confused about the 'do not pull Imani into this mess' part and angry about the 'I'll call you about Jacob Peterson tomorrow' part.

'She's really beautiful up close,' he thought as he remembered the way Imani's mouth made an 'o' shape when she was on the ground and staring at him. 'Really, really beautiful.'

The two story building was painted a smooth, chocolatey brown and creamy white colour which had a soft, welcoming vibe. The windows were large and mullioned while the front door was made from oak. It had a short gravelled driveway and a well manicured lawn. It was also the only occupied house in the street.

This house didn't actually belong to Lucas. It belonged to Vinay but it had been empty for a couple of years because the beta now lived in a house next to Lucas' original house which was in the middle of their town, Wolfborn.

Lucas had moved here when guilt started eating at him because of the virus and because the werewolves regularly showed up at his house to ask about his plan to solve their dilemma. It all became overwhelming so Vinay had asked him to move here in order to have some much needed time to himself. The werewolves knew he currently lived here but they didn't show up regularly anymore because they now mostly bothered Vinay.

Lucas had already planned on moving back to his house on Monday because he couldn't stay away forever and he needed to address his people. He needed to let them know that they still have an Alpha.

Lucas walked up to the front door and was about to pull the key out of his pocket when he heard voices coming from inside.

"He's already at the door so don't laugh when he comes in. Pretend like you don't know anything," Lucas heard a voice whisper in the living room before someone snorted.

He recognized the voice as Vinay's and guessed the person he was talking to was Ella but he was quite confused because of what he just heard.

'Why would Ella laugh?' he thought before he instantly scowled. 'Is this about Kyle Stevens? He said she's the one that told him about the meeting I was supposed to have with Jacob Peterson so why would she be laughing?'

He let out an exasperated sigh as he remembered the message he received from Kyle and guessed that the council would have probably e-mailed him about it but he hadn't checked his phone after the call from Parisa.

He swung the door open and immediately saw Vinay and Ella sitting on a couch, their faces devoid of any emotion as they stared at him. He stood in the doorway for a couple of seconds and furrowed his brows at them before he slowly stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

The living room had bamboo flooring and contemporary modern couches which had a glass centre table in between them. Ceiling mounted light fixtures hung overhead and there was no TV in the room.

Vinay quickly nudged Ella with his elbow when she snorted and she pressed her lips together but had a glint of humour in her eyes. Lucas slowly walked over to the couch opposite both of them, while staring at them, before he sat on it with the clutch purse still in his hand.

"Do you think he knows?" came Ella's voice in Lucas' head.

She and Vinay were communicating through mind link, which only werewolves of the same pack could use to talk to each other with their minds, and they didn't know that Lucas had popped in.

"I don't think so. Look at his face, he looks oblivious."

"... He always looks like that... And why is he holding a clutch purse?"

Lucas cleared his throat and both of them stopped communicating through mind link before they glanced at each other.

"Should I know something?" Lucas asked as he saw the both of them trying to stifle a laugh and he tilted his head at them.

Vinay tightly pressed his lips together as he propped up his chin on his clasped hands after a couple of seconds. "You went to a hotel with Imani Tallerico?"

Lucas furrowed his brows at him in confusion. "Huh?"

Ella suddenly burst into laughter, burying her face in one of the pillows on the couch, and Lucas glanced at her as Vinay placed his phone on the centre table before he turned it on. An article popped out of the phone and Lucas' eyes darted to the headline that was at the top.

'HEADLINE: IMANI TALLERICO AND LUCAS HARRISON SPOTTED LEAVING HOTEL TOGETHER. Scroll down to see photos of the new power couple,' was what the headline said.

Lucas' eyes widened in surprise at what he just read and Ella laughed even louder at his reaction as she lifted her head from the pillow before Vinay scrolled down the article to the photos of Lucas holding Imani firmly against himself in Milos' parking lot.

"What the fuck?" Lucas muttered.

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