I'll Be Loving You

Chapter 1: Adjusting

   Louis was twisting his hands together, small beads of sweat sliding down the back of his neck. The car had just slowed to a stop in front of the pack house hidden in between the trees. It was a massive structure of stone with long vines creeping up the sides of the building. Series of flower beds wrapped around the edges of the house and a looming willow tree swayed to the side. An old tire swing was hung from one of the highest branches and a few bikes were propped up against the trunk. It looked like it could have popped out of a fairly tale once, even if the willow tree made it seem a tad more haunted than enchanted.

Louis had been dreading relocating to a different pack house, but his sister Lottie had managed to convince him that it wouldn't be so bad. After all, they were part of the same pack, so they had something in common by default. After he'd shoved the last of his bags in the trunk, he'd been excited about the move. It had almost managed to subside the feeling of guilt in his gut for being the reason they had to relocate in the first place.

But now that he was actually standing in front of the house, all he wanted to do was turn around and run.

"Alright, what do you think?" Jay seemed completely enamored by the house, and she clapped her hands together before turning back to face the kids.

Fizzy pulled her headphones off her ears and snuck a glance over her shoulder. "It's definitely... different."

Lottie frowned and gave her a playful nudge. "I think it's right out of a children's book. Dais and Phee certainly seem to love it."

The twins had their faces pressed against the window, both of them already arguing about who would sit on the tire swing first.

Jay grinned and turned to Louis. "And you honey?"

He forced a smile and tried to quell the nerves at the pit of his stomach. This was all because of him, and he owed it to her to at the very least try to feel at home. "Yeah, it's great."

He knew he'd done the right thing when he saw her beam. "Perfect! Let's go get settled. I have yet to meet their Alpha."

Louis' stomach flipped at the idea of meeting all of those strangers. Most people rarely left the pack house they grew up in, so everyone would already have their established friendships and weird social hierarchies. They'd only made an exception for Louis' family because of their special circumstances. Someone inside was probably flipping out about having to share their room with a total stranger.

They all stepped out of the car and went to pull the bags out of the van. Lottie, being the only alpha, took the heaviest of them all. Louis, an omega, and Fizzy, a beta, tried to help with the rest, leaving only the lightest ones for Jay and the twins.

When they stepped through the door, the first thought to hit them was one word: chaos.

There were pups wrestling on the floor-- clearly still too young to have learned how to shift out of their wolf forms --, groups of teenagers sprawled out on the various couches dotting the room, and adults leaning against the wall with glasses of wine in their hands. For a few seconds, everything was incredibly loud. Louis was overwhelmed by the little snippets of conversations he couldn't block out and the playful growls of the little pups rolling around at his feet.

But then all of it stopped. Everyone seemed to collectively notice the family standing at the entrance, the front door still wide open. Louis tried to fight the urge to hide, settling for tightening his grip on the bags. He felt Daisy inch behind him so she was mostly hidden behind his legs. Phoebe soon followed and hid her face in the fabric of his jeans.

A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed until someone emerged from the hall. She had a kind face and seemed welcoming enough, so Louis felt a part of him relax a little bit. Still, he was wondering why everyone seemed to make space for her. He could tell she was an Omega, but everyone still seemed to treat her with the respect of their pack's Alpha.