Come and gone (#3 of the Grey pack)

the note

Sami’s P.O.V.

***One week later***

“Sami!” Adam grumbled as soon as I heard the front door opening. I rolled my eyes but tried my best to ignore him as I heard his feet stumping on the wooden floor. I tried to keep my focus on the cupcakes standing right in front of me and the tube of frosting I was holding in both my hands. It was so much easier to be in the kitchen all day and not talk to anyone, or in this case, being yelled at by my brother. I already knew what Adam was about to say, and I was in no mood to hear him right now. And as soon as he marched inside the kitchen and saw me standing there, I knew I was right, because he looked pissed as hell.

“Why the hell are you still inside? It's gorgeous outside. You promised you would try to make some friends here.” He asked me, stretching out his hands next to his body as he waved around the kitchen. I simply shrugged, as if the answer was so simple. Because to me, it was.

“Because I cannot bake cupcakes outside.” I answered him, seeing how he now was the one to roll his eyes at me, and I had to force myself not to smile because he could very well be my twin doing that. But I knew what I was trying to pull here, change his mind, make him forget why he probably came back home in the first place.

Home

Yes, Home.

Because that was where I was standing at that very moment. Our home, my home! The home where we had both grown up in. When we had moved over to the Grey pack two days ago, Alpha Archer -much to our surprise- had been waiting for us to arrive. Adam and I had both been in a bit of shock as we were greeted by a young Alpha, who not only seemed to be genuinely concerned about our well-being, but he was also genuinely nice as a person all together. Telling us that no matter what, when we had a question or needed something, we needed to ask him for it. When he had talked about our living arrangements now that we were back inside the Grey pack, he had told us that there were two options depending on what we both wanted. Option number one was for us to go and live inside a home that was still standing empty. It was pretty new, since this pack was still very much growing, and a lot of homes were being added onto the pack lands. Or option number two, our little white house, the one that we had grown up in, the one that we had lived in as kids, was also standing empty, and if we wanted it, we could move back into our old home.

God,

that had felt as if angels had started to sing to my ears!

I didn’t even ask Adam for what he wanted, I had jumped on the Alpha’s offer to move back into our old home, faster than he could have taken a breath. And sure enough, here we were, living back at the house where we both had cried as babies, the house where we both had learned to walk in, learned to talk in. The place that still had pencil stripes on the door, from where our father would measure our heights every single birthday.

The second I had walked back inside this place, it had felt as if time had stood still here and we actually had never left in the first place. Every single inch reminded me of my mother. At some times, I even believed that she could walk into the kitchen at any given moment to ask me about my day. God… I even believed I could still smell her here at times. Because being in this house, it sure made me feel that much closer to her, as if her spirit was still somewhere around here, guiding me, protecting me, comforting me. Adam had not taken too long to start his new life here, as he had stepped outside and immediately had reconnected with some old friends of his. In contrast to living inside the Moane pack, my brother did have friends inside the Grey pack. So did I, but I already found out that most of them had moved out after finding their mates, who were living in other packs, and since the previous Alpha ruling the Grey pack had been an ass, getting a mate somewhere else, mostly felt like a golden ticket being able to finally leave. Which was simply the life of a wolf. Which was not who I was, nor ever would be. And so, I had found my comfort doing what I always did when I felt alone or I needed to clear my head, I would start to bake. Needing to use my brain in order to get these cupcakes right, instead of losing my mind to crazy thoughts. One in particular, I did not want to think about at all.

And yet, here I was, waiting for my brother to start giving me a piece of his mind over me locking myself up in our house again. But instead of standing still and looking up at him, I leaned over my new batch of cupcakes and squeezed the piping bag in my hands as I swirled the vanilla frosting onto the cupcakes.

“Sami.”

Now, I did look up, since the change of his tone had me worrying about him. He was standing at the door, hands on his hips as he was looking at me. The look in his brown eyes was what I believed to be both concern and anger, and there was something in his hands that I couldn’t see very clearly.

Shit

What did I do this time?

“Did you seriously leave the Moane pack without saying anything to Cody? The Alpha received a message from him, today.” He told me, lifting a piece of paper. I just pressed my lips into a thin line and I shrugged at my brother's statement.

“He knows that we are done, Adam. He is dumb, but he is not blind.” I answered him as I placed the piping bag on the kitchen counter where our mother had made more meals than I could count. I leaned both my hands on the counter as I watched my brother, not wanting to back down now either. I could be a hardhead, but I also would not back down on a matter I knew I was right in.

“Sami…” Adam sighed heavily, to which I shook my head.

“Claiming to a girl that you want her to be your chosen mate, only to cheat on her behind her back, does not make me want to run back home and jump back into his arms, Adam. He cheated. Therefore, I ended the relationship. It's as simple as that.” I stated, seeing how my brother nodded, knowing every detail about that story, especially when it had ended up with his first against Cody’s nose.

Yup, that was my big brother.

I did believe I loved him just a little bit more that day...

“You didn’t tell him you were leaving, though?” Adam spoke again, to which I shrugged.

“And why should I have told him in the first place? It’s not like it is any of his business anyway, now is it?” I fired back, seeing my brother sigh as he stared back at me.

“The note says that he will take Serena as his chosen mate, if you do not get back home to him.” Adam spoke, pulling the air out of my lungs with his statement.

“Excuse me?” I asked him in surprise, to which Adam handed me over the note in his hands and I read the words on there, the same ones as Adam had just spoken out loud to me.

That little piece of shit

that fucker!

that...imbecile!!

My smile was tight as I pretended to be fine with getting this piece of information. It was much easier to pretend than to show how this was, in fact, burning holes inside of my chest. And besides feeling angry, I also felt betrayed, so easily replaced. As if I had never mattered in the first place, because another woman was already standing in the shadows, waiting to take my place. When I looked back up into Adam’s eyes, I could see the stress and the worry there, even though none of this was his fault to even begin with. I had been the dumb one, who believed that she could have a nice life, when being taken as a chosen mate by a wolf. That my life would have been better for having a man in it.

Clearly,

I had been very foolish and naive.

“So, let him.” I murmured, as I threw the note in the trash bin and turned myself back with every intention of going on with my day as if nothing had happened just now, but I was surprised by the anger in my brother’s voice as he spoke again.

“Let him? Did that fucker just think you would run back to him after a message like that? Does that little prick actually think that…”

“I left him.” I spoke to my brother in a small voice.

“I left him, and obviously, he is hurt over getting dumped by me. Doing this will make him feel a couple of inches taller or will make him feel more of a man. So, let him. I won’t lose any sleep over it.” I lied, knowing that being replaced so easily and so fast, even after I knew that I was completely done with him forever, would haunt my dreams at night.

nothing

You meant nothing to him.

He didn’t even wait a month…

Because you meant absolutely nothing to him.

“You left him for a good reason, Sami. You would have been dumb to have spent your life with a man like that.” My brother answered me, to which I smiled softly at him. Thanking him, for having my back as always.

“Good thing we can both agree on that one.” I smiled back at him.

“Look, I am sorry. I know that because of my broken relationship, you also lost your life back there. If it wasn’t for me, you would still be living inside the Moane pack.” I excused myself to my brother, seeing how he frowned as he kept looking at me.

“Don’t you dare feel sorry for being a strong woman, Sami.” He told me, taking a step closer towards the kitchen island.

“What does he even want as an answer to this f*****g note?” Adam asked himself out loud, to which I sighed, picking back up my piping bag to finish what I had started.

“None.” I answered as I leaned back over the cupcakes and started piping again.

“Maybe it was the new girlfriend who sent the message to us? Maybe he sent it to make me feel awful? I don’t know? Who cares anyway?” I answered him, seeing how Adam picked up one of the finished cupcakes, taking a bite out of it.

“Whoever sent it to you, they probably just wanted to rub your nose in it. Cody is arrogant enough to pull that off, thinking he is such a prize to be won. As if he just wanted you to know that he moved on so easily? The f*****g little dipshit.” Adam growled. And I smiled back at him as he came to the same conclusion as I had since hearing him say the note out loud.

“True.” I smiled back at him.

“If you would have been him, how would you have handled this situation?” I asked my brother, seeing how he seemed to think about my question for a while.

“Me? Well, for starters, I would never cheat on my girlfriend, period.” Adam shrugged, as he took a second bite of the vanilla cupcake in his hand.

“Secondly, if I cared so much about my girlfriend, as f*****g Cody wanted everyone to believe he cared about you, I would have made sure that you would have at least talked to me after finding out about the cheating. I would have stalked you, kicked down your door if I had to, I would have found a way to make you at least listen to me, in order to change your mind. And if not, I probably would have gone out with some friends, gotten really drunk, and I would have slept with some girl as a rebound to try and forget you.” Adam grinned at me in a sheepish way, making me giggle.

“That last part summed Cody up pretty good.” I answered him, shaking my head in disgust.

“Sami, he asked you to become his chosen mate. That is a serious question to ask. If I would not be able to find my mate and choose one, that would be a life decision for me. I would never sleep around, knowing my chosen mate was waiting back home for me.” Adam spoke softly, to which I nodded. My brother was a good man. I knew that the girl that someday could have his heart was one lucky girl all right. As for me, I just felt as if I had wasted all of my time on some man who couldn’t keep it in his pants. I was f*****g pissed, and I was desperate to find a way to make myself feel better again. So, moving out and coming back to the place where my parents had lived and had gotten their babies, seemed like a good way to start. The fact that this was far away from Cody, my cheating ex, only made it ten times better.

An added bonus if you will.

“Sami?” my brother’s voice was filled with empathy, and still I could not make myself look at him right at that moment. Not when I had been trying so hard to keep everything together. My life, my emotions, my sanity, all just to prove to everyone -including my big brother- that I made the best decision by moving back into the Grey pack. So instead, I hung my head and forced myself to take a deep breath, in order to get my s**t back together.

not one tear over that fucker

He isn't even worth it.

“I’m OK.” I told my brother, knowing that one day, I actually would be.

“And for the record, you did not make the wrong choice by leaving both Cody or the Moane pack. I would not have followed you back here, if I believed you had made the wrong one.” My brother told me, making me look back up at him, his head tilted as he was looking back at me. And I appreciated the support he was giving me right now.

“Can we just forget about all of this?” I asked him, feeling how the tears were threatening to spill again.

“Sure.” Adam smiled back at me, grabbing a second cupcake before he left the kitchen, leaving me by myself and my own thoughts as I finally got back into my own groove of silence and baking. Into my own safety blanket, where nobody would ever be able to hurt me, ever again.