It Was Always You (book 2)

5

Evan's p.o.v

I am currently on my way home from Lycan Academy. Training these years has been brutal, but they really do prepare you for everything. I have had fun. I have met a lot of people and made what I hope are life-long friends. My dad has been strategizing to get our kingdom back. Years ago, his own cousin screwed him over. We got attacked and my father had to get us out, so his cousin took over. We are finally strong enough and have enough allies to attack and get what is ours back. Maybe within the next year or two I will become king. I kind of want to tell my father that he needs to be king a little longer, since all of these years he hasn't. But we will see when the time comes. I am so excited to see everyone. I have been lonely these past few years, so I started partying with my friends. I met a girl. Her name is Layla and we decided to be f*ck buddies. We both agreed we didn't want to be anything more than s*x. We just scratch the itch when we need it. These past weeks I have noticed she has been clingy. My wolf doesn't speak to me for a day or two after I have s*x with her. He has never allowed me to get close to her, then again, I have never tried either. Layla, and my 2 other buddies, Daniel and Beau are coming home with me. They want to meet the amazing family I am always talking about. We kept stopping to eat and taking bathroom breaks, so the trip is taking longer than I hoped. I know Vivi is staying at my parents' house so I asked Santi if there were any extra rooms available for my friends to stay at. They are only staying until Monday. Luckily, there are rooms so they didn't have to rent a hotel. I will stay on the couch. I need to figure out where I am going to live. Maybe once my friends leave I will just use one of those rooms for myself so Vivi can stay in my room. Vivi. I try not to think of her and her dimples, those blue eyes, but more times than I will ever admit to anyone else I think about her, but she's too young though. I can't even think about going there. Lycans don't normally get a mate, but lately you do hear of more finding true mates. Most of the time a Lycan wolf will take on a chosen mate. My father was lucky to find my mother, his true mate, so I am hoping I do have a mate out there somewhere.

We finally pull up to the borders a little before midnight. They let us in and we drive up to my parents house. I park and go up to knock on the door. I mind-link my father and mother that I am here and 2 seconds later the door opens and they walk out. "Hey sorry we are here so late. We were just going to go sleep in the pack house, but I knew you would murder me if I didn't come say hi first." I tell my parents and hug them and give them a kiss. I introduce everyone. My mother asks us to come in and eat something, but we tell her we already ate and will just go to bed. "Go show them the packhouse and to their rooms and you come back okay. We can give them a tour tomorrow after breakfast." my father tells me. "Oh Evan, you can stay with me." Layla says and Daniel gives me a high five. My parents do not look impressed. "Dad, I will see you guys in the morning. Plus, we don't want to wake Vivi, right?" I ask them and my father just glares at me. "Son, just come back. I need you to walk in this house to see if my theory is correct." My father mind-links me. I chuckle. This man and his theories. Makes him sound older than he is with all his theories and planning. My parents look at eachother and I know they are having a private conversation. "Honey, come inside really fast" my mother says and I shake my head. "Whatever it is, just wait until tomorrow mom, okay I will see you guys later" I say and hug them both. "I hope you don't regret it." My mother says and I am frozen in place. I see my father shaking his head. Listen to them dumbass my Lycan wolf Ty tells me, but like always, I want to be a rebel and act like what they tell me doesn't get to me, so I walk away with my friends. I take them into the pack house. We all pile into one room and we decide to drink. After a couple of bottles, Layla and I go to the room next door. I grab a condom and we have s*x. For some reason, this just feels plain wrong right now. I am not into it. My wolf is angry. I can't help but think about what my mother said. "I hope you don't regret it." Layla cums and I have to fake it because my di*k is now going soft. She is drunk so I do not think she will notice. I quickly pump and pull out. I go throw the condom away and get dressed. I lay in bed next to her. She fell asleep after she came, but it takes me a while.

I wake up to a knock on the door. I see that it is 6:30am. "Get up honey" my mother's voice rings from the other side. I open the door. Good thing I got dressed last night after we had s*x. "Goodmorning" I say, I hear ruffling coming from behind me "Goodmorning Mrs. Stone" Layla greets my mother. She shakes her head. "Go on, get ready breakfast starts at 7:30 and I want you to be on time." My mother says, and turns around and walks away. "Woah, I do not think your mother likes me" Layla says and laughs. "Nah, she's just stressed out. She loves to spoil me and important people are coming today, so she just wants everything to be perfect." I tell her. I grab my clothes and jump in the shower. She comes in 2 minutes later and starts grabbing me. She crabs my c*ck, but it doesn't cooperate. She looks shocked. I move her hand away. "Um, let's just hurry, my mother will kill me if I am late. I rinse myself and jump out. I quickly get dressed and put my hair in a man bun. "Hey, I will meet you down there, okay?" I yell at Layla and run out of her room.

I walk into the dining hall where my mother has set up an elegant breakfast. I see her running around. My father is talking to Santiago and the werewolf king Kian and his father in law. When I was younger I hated that they had the same name. I walk over to them and greet them. Daniel and Beau come out 30 minutes later. I start seeing a lot of people coming in. Everyone greets me and looks genuinely happy to see me. I missed this. This is home. Being surrounded by amazing people. My eyes keep roaming the room looking for that pair of eyes, but I do not see them. "You okay?" My father links me. I think he has noticed. I nod. "So any lucky lady?" King Kian asks me and I shake my head. "No, not yet." I say and I realize I am sweeping the room again. "Looking for someone?" Santiago asks and I shake my head. "Probably his f*ck buddy Layla. You must have f*cked her good last night if she hasn't come out. She is probably still asleep." Daniel answers, laughing and I cringe. All of the men look surprised. I notice Santiago looks over at my dad and smirks. "So you were wrong?" He asks my dad. "No they haven't seen each other." My dad replies. "Excuse me" he says and walks over to my mother and I notice they are whispering to each other. Santiago looks pissed off. "Is everything good?" I ask and he stares at me and walks away. "Well, that was awkward, what's going on?' I ask the rest of the men and they all just shrug. "Who knows, old people sh*t." King Kian answers and walks away laughing. "Damn, there are some sexy females here bro. We were outside and there's one with long hair and cute dimples. She has blue eyes that I could get lost in forever." Daniel says, and My Lycan wolf growls, clearly upset. "Did you get her name?" I ask, not ready to hear his reply. "No, but I have named her Angel and I call dibs." he quickly adds. My mother walks over to us and says hi to the guys. "There are place cards so everyone knows where to sit. The tables are long, so a lot of people will be around, so there will be many people to talk to and get to know. Who knows you might find your fated mate or your chosen mate here." she says and winks. "I already found mine. It was love at first sight." Daniel says, and we scoff. So dramatic. We walk around looking at where we are seated. My mom has her, dad , Vivi, Jesse someone named Sam, Beau, Daniel and Layla on the right side of the table and Santiago, Nicole, Ruebella, Liam, Alpha Victor, Alpha Zach, Gunner and Amy on the left side of the table. Vivi will be on one side of me and my mother on the other. My eyes keep looking around, but I do not find those blue eyes I am looking for. Layla walks over to us. "Hey guys, how do I look?" She asks, but I do not even look at her. I keep staring at the door. "Evan, Evan" I hear someone say. "Huh?" I say "Nevermind. let's go sit." Layla says and we walk to our seats. "I do not want to be all the way over here" Layla says and pouts. I have no idea what she is talking about. My wolf is a little stressed right now and he is so annoyed by the sight of her. What is wrong with me? "I placed her next to an Alpha. Maybe your mother wanted her next to someone with power" she says and laughs. I do not even know who she is talking about and I do not have time to think about anything because my mother says breakfast is starting and instructs everyone to sit down.

We sit down and that's when I realize that Layla moved Vivi's card so she wouldn't sit next to me. Layla is being childish. My mother just glares at me from where she stands. "Really Evan." She mind-links me and I just shrug. "Sorry mom" I link her back. Everyone starts sitting in their seats, but there's a couple of seats empty. "Where's Vivi?" Some guy asks. "Vivi is none of your concern anymore Liam, me and this baby are, so do not even mention her name." I hear Rue tell Liam. Is that the problem my father was talking about? He told me there was an altercation with Vivi and Rue, but he never went into details about it. "Hey, Vivi is showing Alpha Zack around, we can start without them. They can eat later." Santiago says to my parents and smirks at my dad. He goes to sit next to his mate. Breakfast is served and I am suddenly not hungry. I force myself to talk to everyone since they all want to talk to me. I see all of of Vivi's cousins from White Claw walk start walking in from the other side of the dining hall. Jesse comes in too and as more people walk in I smell the most delicious scent I have ever smelled. I smell it and then feel it. Her, I feel her. I feel something quickly go down my spine and I feel like I am suddenly wide awake. That's when I see her walk in. Mate Mate Mate Ty chants in my head. My mate is Vivi. Goddess I could cry right now. I am blessed to have a mate and Vivi is so perfect. I then see her bright smile, those dimples, but her smile isn't being directed at me. She's smiling and laughing with some male I have never seen. That's when my bubble bursts and it feels like someone poured a bucket of ice cold water on me. I stand up and just stare at her, but I think to everyone else it looks like I am staring that way to where everyone is walking in from. "What are you doing son?" My father links me. "Vivi is my mate dad." I say and he sighs. "I knew it, sit down she isn't 18 yet." He says. I quickly look over at him. He's right. She still has a bit to go. F*ck. Oh well, I can wait. I sit down and breathe in and out. "Are you okay bro, you look like you have seen a ghost." Beau tells me. "Oh look, my future mate, here she comes with that as*hole that won't leave her alone." Daniel says. He was talking about my Vivi. I had a feeling. I look up and Santiago is glaring at me. I see Nicole smiling and Ruebella looks at me and smirks. What the he*l is her problem? Vivi and the guy walk over to our table and her eyes meet mine. She smiles at me. "Hey Evan" she says shyly. I stand back up. "Aren't you going to come say hi to me properly?" I tell her and walk over to her. "Hi" she whispers and hugs me and I feel tingles all over my body. Everywhere she touches me. I reluctantly let go of her and she turns around and goes to sit down. I walk back to my seat and sit down. I can't keep my eyes off her. She's so beautiful and perfect. Her eyes keep drifting to me. It's like we are two magnets connecting together. My parents ask me questions about the Academy. They ask my friends as well. I notice Vivi looks at me, then looks over at Layla, then back at me. I see something in her eyes change. Like they hardened and I do not like it. Then I feel Layla's hand on my arm and I shake it off. Everyone is having a conversation. "So, I know Evan won't mind and since everyone is gathered here today, I just want to announce that Liam and I are getting married", Rue announces to us all. I also want to ask my dearest sister if she will be my maid of honor." She says and I hear some people gasp. "Rue" her mother says. "What mom, Vivi is my only sister, so it is only right for her to be my maid of honor." she replies. This whole time Vivi is just looking down at her plate. She looks more annoyed than anything. I see her pick her phone up and she looks over at Jesse and nods. "So Vivi, what do you say?" she asks her and smirks. "Of course I will be your maid of honor" Vivi replies. and Rue looks shocked at first, but tries to play it off by clapping her hands and grinning. It at seems fake to me, but I have no idea what is even going on. The conversation then shifts, and then Rue has to open her mouth again. She is quickly becoming my least liked person here. "So you two make a lovely couple. When is your mating ceremony? I am sure you will have a lot of strong Lycan babies", Rue tells Layla and me. I didn't even realize she was talking to me though, that is until Layla answered. "I don't know we are seeing where our relationship goes." Layla answers, knowing it isn't going anywhere. Vivi looks at me and she looks hurt. I know she doesn't feel the mate bond though, so maybe it is just my imagination. "How long have you two been together? "Well, look at the time, we have to go get to work. Thank you for inviting us to this delicious breakfast. We will see ourselves out. Lets go Vivi", Jesse says and glares at me. What the he*l is wrong with this family? "I will head out with them as well. Vivi is showing me some places out in town." The male she walked in with says, and they all walk out. "He's such a good kid" Santiago says and I already know I instantly hate that guy. "Excuse me, Everett can I have a word with you." Santiago says and he and my father walk out. "Wow, breakfast here is intense. Why do I feel like my chosen mate has issues with some people here?" Daniel asks. "She is not your chosen mate" I snap, and turn to Layla. "What the he*l Layla, you know we are not in a relationship. Why would you make it seem like we are?" I ask her and make sure I say it lo5ud enough for everyone to hear. I am a single man and Vivi has to know this. I walk away from the table. I should have walked into my parents' house last night. I just need Vivi to never find out that I had s*x with Layla here in the packhouse. What if she rejects me because of this? No, she can't. This happened when I didn't know we were mates. I breathe easier and walk over to where my father and father in law are at. As I walk I take in some of their conversation. "His eyes changed colors when he saw her. That was his Lycan coming forward. You knew already." Santiago tells my father. "I have been telling you since they were kids Santi, you never believed me." He says. "Because they are basically siblings." Santiago says, getting loud. "They are not Santiago. They are just two kids who grew up together in the same packhouse." My father tells him calmly. "Well, I do not approve. Then your son brings his f*ck buddy or girlfriend, whatever she is to him here. Did you see my daughter's face? She can clearly feel their mate bond. This is not how one treats their mate. I am not having it. I am pushing her to accept Alpha Zach as her mate. He is very interested in her." Santiago tells my father. "Santi, calm down. Do not do this. My son is your daughter's mate and nothing or no one will separate them. Once Vivi turns 18 she will feel the full effects of the bond and my son is a Lycan and when a Lycan is blessed with a mate there's no-one else. That bond is stronger than even a wolf's bond. He barely found out they were mates today. He will be faithful to Vivi." My father says. Of course I will. Vivi is my mate and my everything. I will ask Layla to leave earlier so Vivi won't feel uncomfortable if I have to. "No, I have 6 months to get her to fall in love and accept Alpha Zach, they can have their mating ceremony and on her 18th birthday he can mark her and your son will be a thing of the past." Santiago says and walks away past me. He doesn't even acknowledge me. I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. Why doesn't he accept me? Does he think I am not good enough? This Layla thing made it worse, but I will prove to him that I am worthy of being Vivi's mate and I will treat her right. She is my mate, my queen.