The Last Protector

Chapter 3

Zain Pov

“Are you going to come to eat lunch with me and my friends?” Carrie whined into the phone. I sighed, shaking my head as I pressed the mute button.

“Tony! Your form is off! Left leg in front!” I shouted at him. The Elite nodded at me, correcting his footing as he continued to fight with another Elite. I unmuted the phone and rubbed the bridge of my nose, already feeling a headache. “Carrie, I’m busy. I work now, I told you this. I can’t go to high school to eat lunch with you and your friends. Besides, you just want to show them you’re dating me.” I muttered to her as I paced. I was a Gamma now, the sole Gamma until I found a mate. Gamma’s specialized in training, battle strategies, leading missions, and so much more. It was a lot of work, but it kept me busy. Otherwise, I’d be following Grayson around forever. Speaking of Grayson, he was starting school today as well. I sighed, shaking my head. I needed to stop thinking about him, move on. Forget everything. I needed more work to do.

Carrie did a silly shriek on the other end of the phone, one I was getting used to meaning she was angry she wasn’t getting her way. “All you do is work! I don’t get to see where you work, or know exactly what you do, it’s like I’m dating a man from the FBI! You’re always too busy for me!” She whimpered.

I shook my head again, wondering why I was still with her. ‘Because she’s not that bad, when she’s not being whiny.’ Ryan said, shrugging. ‘Plus juggling a relationship with her and your Gamma responsibilities, you’ve been giving Grayson the space that you needed to give him.’ Ryan finished.

I sighed, nodding. He was right, even if I didn’t want to admit to it. Carrie was better than being alone. When I was alone, I was thinking about Grayson. When I wasn’t busy, I wanted to be by his side, but for what? To stare at him when he wasn’t looking like a shy little school girl? I needed to get past this, face up to the fact that he isn’t going to date me. I don’t deserve him anyway. Before I could reply to Carrie I got a text. Ignoring her voice as she kept on with the shrieking noise, I pulled the phone away from my ear and read the text. ‘Bro, Lexi had her baby! Come look, he’s a boy!’ I grinned, looking up at the Elites currently training in front of me.

“Hey! Lexi had her baby! It’s a boy!” They all cheered, stopping what they were doing as they laughed with excitement over the Alpha’s little sister. “You guys are dismissed for the day, I’m going to go visit,” I said. They nodded, shuffling away as I texted Jaiden back. ‘I’ll be there soon, I got a gift!’ I said with a grin. Suddenly I remembered Carrie was still on the line, putting the phone back to my ear.

“Are you ignoring me!? I’ve been screaming for five minutes now! If I’m late to class, it’ll be your fault, Zain Thomas!” She yelled. I sighed, rolling my eyes.

“I got to go, there’s an emergency with one of the employees,” I said, hanging up before she could complain more. I could feel my pocket vibrating as I ran into the packhouse, but I ignored it, knowing it was her cussing me out.

‘You should just dump her. There are other people willing to be with you to get your mind off of Grayson. Guys or girls, it doesn’t matter.’ Ryan said as I quickly jumped into the shower, washing off the dirt and sweat of training.

“That’s true, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not attracted to any of them, not even Carrie.” I said with a sigh. “So I might as well keep going with her, maybe I'll love her eventually. It’s annoying to switch around.” I finished as I turned off the water, drying myself off.

‘That’s incredibly sad, Zain. If you’re going to force yourself to try and love someone, it should be someone less annoying, for both of our sakes.’ Ryan huffed.

I pulled on new clothes, grunting at him as I grabbed the present for the baby chicken. “She’s not so annoying. Not always, I mean. There’s plenty of times when she’s quiet and sweet.” I replied to him, remembering the dinner I took her to on our last date. She was gorgeous, the way she styled her long black hair and her dark eyes accented with heavy makeup, a tight form-fitting silver dress on her body, and high heels that made her reach to the level of my chin. She was excited the whole time, pulling out her phone and taking selfies of us together, or even of just herself, or just her food, so many selfies. Okay, yeah that was strange but girls were strange in general and she was excited she got to brag to her friends about the fancy expensive date. At least she didn’t squeal once, no shrieking, and no whining. She had moments like that, when I bought her things or took her places, or just did whatever she wanted without question. So as long as I keep doing that, she’ll be fine. We’ll be fine, it’ll all be fine.

I sighed, looking at my phone, the text messages. There was over one hundred from Carrie unread, and under her was the one from Jaiden. I opened it, reading his text asking me what I could possibly have gotten his baby for a gift, and went back out without replying. He’ll see when I get there. I had a text thread with Lexi, the last text I sent her was asking if she was alright and her replying back saying it felt like the baby was exercising inside of her. Then there was an open thread of texts between me and Grayson. My heart unconsciously sped up a bit as I opened it, rereading the last text from him. It was normal texts, small, unimportant. They shouldn’t mean this much to me, the simple hey, and how are you, and it sucks balls not remembering anything texts. They shouldn’t mean this much to me, but I couldn’t help but reread them over and over again, as if they were my lifeline. If I concentrated enough, I could hear his voice as I read the words, and I’d close my eyes, imagining his dark eyes piercing into me, the intensity that he used to have before he forgot his past. I couldn’t help but wonder about the difference. Why was it before when he looked at me, the intensity was overpowering, stifling? Now, his dark eyes stared at me, but they weren’t intense like before, more like a sense of curiosity. I was sure he looked at everyone like this now, confused all the time, but it didn’t stop me from wondering all the same. Why was it he used to look at me like that? Did he secretly hate me? I shuddered, closing my eyes. I could believe it, the more I thought about it. He was always cooking for me, cleaning up after me, scolding me for being dirty, and leaving things for Lexi to clean. He was always scolding me for not doing my school work, making me do it before games, like a nanny. I was a burden, in so many ways, that I could believe how much he probably hated me. If that was true, then maybe it was a good thing he lost his memories. I contemplated texting him. It’s been a few weeks, I was really busy with training and proving to Colt I could handle being Gamma alone, and I hadn’t made time for him or Carrie. No wonder she was being a pain in my ass.

‘True, but no matter what you do, she’s a pain in the ass.’ Ryan joined in, interrupting my thoughts. I sighed, shaking my head as I gripped the phone. He was right, but he wasn’t at the same time. She had her nice moments. I just had to keep dwelling on those.

I quickly sent Grayson a text, just for the hell of it. What’s the worst thing that could happen? He won’t reply? ‘Hey, having fun at school? Lexi just had her baby, it’s a boy. I’ll send you pics when I get there.’ I said to him.

It took me to the time I walked to the car, sliding inside of it before I felt my phone vibrate. I pulled it out, almost too eagerly since it could have been f*****g Carrie again. My heart raced as I saw Grayson’s name on the screen, and I opened it, reading the text with a frown. ‘I know, she texted me. They named him Rhys, I got a pic, He’s cute,’ He replied.

I groaned, banging my head on the steering wheel. Why couldn’t I have done it? Why did Lexi have to go ahead and send it to him already? Frustrating, I swear. That woman needs to understand...but...no. There was no reason for her to let me text Grayson first. I was being silly, I needed to calm down, I needed to stop. It was never going to happen, and I needed to stop thinking about him like that.

I reread the text, brushing my fingers through my hair as I placed the gift in the passenger seat. I kept rereading the part where Grayson said cute. The baby is cute, he’s cute. Yeah, it probably was, Grayson, for a chicken. But it can’t be any cuter than you are. ‘Sweet. Want me to pick you up after school so you can come to see the baby?’ I texted him.

Anticipation was flowing through me as I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, driving to Jaiden and Lexi’s house. I had to go around the long way, going through the main road to the gate and then around the side of the Shifters pack to the house, since they didn’t finish the roads yet. Suddenly my phone vibrated and I slammed on the brakes, my heart pounding as I looked at it. ‘Yeah, that’s cool. I’ll tell Florin.’ He replied. I grinned, the biggest grin ever as I replied a simple little ‘cool’ back to him. I hadn’t seen him in weeks, and I was trying my best to calm my heart from attacking my chest.

‘You’re supposed to be getting over Grayson, remember?’ Ryan teased me. I frowned, sighing as I dropped the phone, driving again. f**k, he was right. Stupid excited heart. It wasn’t a long drive, going all the way to the main gate and around. Sure it would have been shorter if they got around to finishing the roads, but for now, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I pulled up in front of Lexi and Jaiden’s house, ignoring the big overbearing bears glaring at me from the front yard as I pulled out the present, walking into the house. They knew who I was, so they didn’t stop me, but that didn’t mean they were happy about it. The shifters were getting more use to us, but slowly. I think it was more because Jaiden was a flaming chicken from above, but besides that they really respected him. Every day he was out here building with them, and sometimes when I wasn’t busy I was helping too. I noticed they were slowly getting used to us as they worked beside us, and seeing me and Jaiden messing around without a care of our species made them more comfortable as well. Hell, just the other day Jaiden threw a boulder at me, and they all watched to see if I would get angry or shift and try to attack him, but I just ended up jumping on him and wrestling him instead. They were slowly coming to the conclusion that we weren’t bad, just because we were different.

“Zain! Did Jaiden call you?” I looked up in surprise, seeing Colt standing there with a grin on his face. Of course, he was here, but I didn’t know he got here before me.

“Yes, he texted me and let me know. Have you seen the baby yet? I was told his name is Rhys,” I said with a grin.

“Yes, And there’s something else too. A surprise. I’ll let Lexi tell you.” He said with a grin. I frowned, confused. What could it be now?

Just then Jaiden came out, a giant grin on his face as he greeted me. “Hey, bro, what’s up? Adaline, Axel, and Colette are with Lexi and Rhys, they’re examining him and such.” He said with a shrug. “What’s that?” He asked.

Ryan was grinning in my head and I chuckled with him. ‘He’s gonna be pissed,’ Ryan snickered.

I nodded at Jaiden, trying to be understanding as I ignored Ryan. The true healers would want to make sure the baby was fine. I could hear Jade talking on the phone from the kitchen and grinned, smiling over the fact that even though this was a smaller house, all of our friends and family were already comfortable here. It didn’t matter where people went, or where they lived. A home was a home because of the people in it, not where it was. I held up the bag and grinned at him, staring at it. It was just a grocery bag, no special wrapping, but it was a present anyway. I sucked at wrapping things. Lexi used to call it ‘dude wrapping’ when I gave her presents, but she never complained because she was just excited that I remembered a special day. “It’s a present,” I said to him with a grin.

Jaiden held up his hands, backing up a step as he shared a look with Colt. “What do you think it is? A bomb?” Jaiden asked Colt.

Colt snickered as I rolled my eyes. “Why the hell would it be a bomb, I swear Jaiden.’ I muttered, ignoring their laughter as I opened the bag. I reached my hand in and pulled out a tiny grill and spatula set, handing it to Jaiden with a grin. “Well? What do you think?” I asked him, chuckling over his puzzled expression.

Jaiden stared at it, then at me, a confused look in his brown eyes. “It’s a Barbie accessory toy? A grill and spatula set? Rhys is a boy, Zain. Not that I’m against him playing with barbies, but still...he’s a newborn. You can’t give this to a newborn.” he said, staring at it. Finally, he looked at me, confused. “Just why?” he asked.

‘He’s going to kill you,’ Ryan snickered at me.

I tried to hide my smile as I stared at Jaiden. ‘Yeah, probably. But it’ll be hilarious.’ I said to him.

“You know, because he’s a baby chicken. He can cook himself, or his future little siblings, or his dad, whatever works. I got bbq sauce too,” I said, pulling a set of barbie sauces out of the bag and pointing at them.

The pause was longer than I thought it was, before Jaiden and Colt both started laughing at once. “Are you serious!?” Jaiden asked, tears in his eyes as he wiped at his face. “Like really!?” He choked out, clutching his stomach. I couldn’t help laughing with him, watching his face redden as Colt sat down on the couch, pulling out his phone to call Emmett. He probably was giving him a play-by-play, knowing him. “Oh my Goddess, Zain. You’re just begging for Lexi to kill you,” He said with a grin.

I laughed, slapping him on the back as he started to calm down. “What? I thought it was a fitting present for a baby chicken.” I replied to him.

He shook his head, his eyes dancing. “We’re not even sure what he is at this point.” He replied with a grin. I frowned, staring at him with confusion. He grinned, slapping my back and pushing me towards the bedroom. “Come on, I’ll show you.” He said as he led me into the room.