Claimed By My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Two: Family

I rushed through making the Packhouse breakfast, setting the table for the Luna and soon-to-be Alpha and pouring coffees as William stepped into the room, his nose buried in a book of some kind - probably a spy novel he loves so much.

Like Dom, William was tall and lean, but that was where their similarities ended. William had golden hair, big chocolate brown eyes and a sweet smile, a heartthrob in his own right.

He sat down at the table, picking food from the trays absently while his eyes stayed pinned on his book.

For a man about to take over our Pack, he sure didn't read a lot of Pack-related writing.

Or pay attention to his surroundings.

I placed a hand on the back of the chair across from him, crossing my ankles and raising a brow, an amused smirk on my face.

"Hey, Alpha...." I called, his head snapping up to look at me confused while I blinked at his hand. "You're about to scramble the sunny-side-up eggs." I chuckled, his hand poised and ready to dig into a pile of soft yolk eggs.

He looked, blinking and pulled his hand away, colour flooding his cheeks. "Oh...whoops." He muttered, finding the tray of bacon and sausages he was aiming for.

"Good book, huh?" I asked, continuing to set the table and place food out.

He shrugged, biting into a piece of bacon. "I only started last night," he mumbled around his food.

"So...what? Three pages left?" I guessed, leaning forward and teasingly counting the sparse pages left.

He pulled his book away, scowling at me. "Are you disrespecting your Alpha?" He asked, his voice flat.

I smiled brightly at him, grabbed a handful of bacon and danced past him. "Of course not, Alpha! I have nothing but love and respect for you," I mused, ducking to peck his cheek and spinning away before he could grab me, snarling at me as I hid behind his high-backed chair. "But, my favourite cousin?" I peeked around the other side of the chair, grabbing his cheek and pinching it. "I'll give s**t to everyday."

William growled at me, slapping my hand away, only for me to start dodging his swipes and flicking him instead.

He started to get annoyed, unable to outmatch my speed, the room filling with his growling and my laughing.

Another laugh joined ours, making me jump and step away from William.

"Gabriella, leave him alone." Luna Diana scolded, a smile pulling at her lips she tried to hide with her hand.

I bowed my head in respect. "Sorry, Luna, thought the future Alpha could use some reflex training." I lied smoothly, a grin on my face as I met Diana's brown eyes against my green.

She smiled, falling into the chair across from Will, glancing at him and his book with a raised brow of authority and motherly scolding.

Will cleared his throat, closed his book and put it on his lap under the table. Diana nodded, smiling and then looked at me as I poured her a cup of herbal tea.

The look on her face, I wanted to bolt, knowing exactly why she was ten minutes earlier than normal. She sipped her tea with elegance, while I narrowed my eyes at her in suspicion, taking a brutish bite out of my bacon.

We both spoke at the same time. She put down her cup, I put down my bacon and we both pointed at each other.

Her voice was louder than mine. "You're going to the ball,"

Mine was easily more demanding. "I am not going to the ball."

Will looked between us, lifting his coffee to cover the smile on his face as his mother and I stared each other down, our fingers still firmly pointed at each other.

She set me a Luna's look.

I scowled. "That's cheating!"

She continued as if I never said anything. "You are to attend the ball as a guest," she said pointedly, knowing I'd try to use an excuse to get out of going, even working...like give myself food poisoning as I did last year when I was meant to.

The taste of that nasty rabbit is still something Caly uses against me.

Rightfully so, that thing was awful. She shook her head in disgust.

I scoffed. At least you didn't have to throw it back up for two days.

She chuckled. You deserved it.

I rolled my eyes at her, but kind of agreed.

The ball was held every year for Wolves to take the elixir and hopefully find our mate.

Caly wanted desperately to find him.

I didn't want him to be someone I didn't want.

Aunt Diana continued, lowering her hand finally and turned to start serving herself.

"Alyssa already agreed to take you shopping,"

My mouth fell open, my hand going to my heart. "You got my best friend to side against me?" I asked with feigned hurt.

Diana rolled her eyes, "It wasn't hard," she muttered.

William chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "The girl loves to shop," he shrugged, a slight glint of admiration in his eyes, he pointed at me the same way his mother did. "But, you should come this year, get a dress, get drunk, maybe get fuc-"

A dinner roll smacked him perfectly in the mouth, Diana's hand still poised from the toss and a glare on her face. "Language," she scolded.

Will ducked his eyes, rising from his chair. "I'm late for training," he nudged me. "You coming?"

I nodded, looking at Diana for a second. "We good? Can I have the motherly lecture when I'm done for the day?"

A small smirk twisted the corner of her lips. "I'll make us cocoa," she promised.

I grinned. "We can watch Pride and Prejudice after."

She grinned back and nodded.

Will looped his arm through mine and tugged me out of the dining room, both of us grabbing a handful of bacon each and waving to Diana.

"Bye Luna!" I called

"Bye Mum!" Will said around his food.

"Have a good day, kids!" She called back.

Will and I got to the front door, devouring our bacon before we looked at each other, a sudden glare being shared between us as we lowered our bodies to a crouch in front of the front steps.

We extended a leg each, twisting to face the curved dirt driveway.

"Ready," Wil started.

"Go!" I shouted quickly, Will instantly taking off like a blur.

I giggled, straightening and strolled behind him, looking at my watch until thirty seconds had passed before I took off running.

I blew past him, laughing and calling him a slowpoke as I reached the training fields first.

I slowed to a jog by the bleachers and pulled off my track pants, standing in biker shorts and a sports bra, I bound my copper curls into a tight bun and turned to start my first set of laps.

Only to slam into a hard body, falling back onto my ass and elbows with a grunt.

"Watch it, pup!" Xavier, a Gamma of my Pack, snapped, glaring down at me.

I glared back, but stayed on the ground, knowing he'd be a d**k if I attempted to get up.

Last time he shoved me into the dirt and held me there until I almost suffocated.

"Sorry," I bit out, seeing his cocky smirk as he stayed looming over me, tugging off his shirt and tossed it at my face.

I growled, snatching his nasty scent off my face and threw the shirt into a pile of mud as I got to my feet.

Even Calypso sighed. Whoops.

I groaned, my head lulling back in annoyance at myself. "Daaamnit," Xavier grabbed the straps of my sports bra, yanking me against his chest and snarled at me, baring his teeth.

"That was an eighty dollar shirt, you little runt." His breath was hot on my face, making me feel sick.

A fist suddenly slammed into the side of Xavier's nose, shattering and displacing it badly, another hand wrapped my waist and pulled me away, making me squeak as I was tugged against a strong chest I knew all too well.

Did he have to smell so good, even sweaty?

"Now, it's a four thousand dollar nose job, you prick." Dominique spat, his large hand practically covering my entire waist with a protective hold as he glared at Xavier. "f**k off, now." He growled.

Xavier held his nose, feeling the damage and the need for it to be professionally reset.

I bit back laughter as he barely got to his feet, keeping his head low and backed away without looking at us.

I smiled up at Dom, only for it to vanish when I saw the deadly look of pure rage on his face, his eyes black and his lips puckered from his canines baring as he stared after Xavier.

"H-hey," I said softly, my voice dipping with submission.

Dom's eyes snapped to me, making me flinch and then his eyes went to my chest, the rage intensifying. The hunger I'd seen earlier, returned

I followed his gaze, realising and my face heated bright red, my hands quickly covering my bare chest.

Xavier had torn my f*****g sports bra off!

I didn't notice because of Dom's stupid wonderful touch! Now I was having to hide against his half-naked body!

His arms wrapped me, not helping the whirlwind of emotions I was going through and he lifted me in a partial swing towards the bleachers, snatching up a jumper from them and pulled it over my head quickly.

Thank f**k I took early morning training so there wasn't anyone else around and Will was probably reading his book under a tree somewhere instead of training, but great...Dom had just seen my t**s.

Bad enough I was fantasising about him, now I had to go and just whoopsie-daisy, here's my ta-tas!

Fuck!

I muttered a thank you to him as I pulled my arms through the sleeves, keeping my eyes low as I backed up. "Sorry about that," I mumbled, blushing.

His finger curled under my chin, the action causing my heart to falter as he titled my head to look at him.

Dom's expression softened, a dimpled smirk on his gorgeous face. "You still owe me five laps,"

My expression fell to deadpan and he chuckled, letting my face go and leaned back, those stupid dimples stuttering my heart.

He turned and fell into a run, calling over his shoulder. "Thanks for the mornings view though," he was lucky he was the only one faster than me, else I'd have tackled him and....

Calypso! I snapped at the thoughts she sent me of our bodies entwined.

She snickered, going for a nap while I spent the next two hours not thinking about the incredibly hot guy grabbing and throwing me around like a ragdoll.

I can do that, I've done it everyday since I was 11 when my parents died and I moved to this Pack. I got this.

Oh....he poured a bottle of water on himself to cool down...

Yeah...I don't got this.

I can take him-

Calypso! Geez!