The Pack Thief

23

Willow's POV

It was safe to say,

I had made a mistake. A huge, detrimental, life-altering mistake that went far beyond the initial limits of my own knowledge. What little knowledge and what little sanity I possessed, fled from me in uncontrollable heaps as I realized the error behind my ways.

What I once envisioned would be an easy feat, was anything but.

Running a pack, even one that was given to me out of unfiltered anger, was far beyond difficult. It was downright impossible-An absolute dumpster fire. The pack was in shambles. All because of me. And it had only been five hours. Five hours without Cyrus,

And I was in his office, up to my nose in stacks of papers. My feet were tucked beneath me, as papers after papers were passed through my trembling finger tips. I was searching for just one paper. One. And in my desperate attempt to find it, I had turned Cyrus's office upside down. His once neat office, was now the result of my frantic search.

There was not a thing left in place. Not a folder left untouched.

And yet I could not find the flyer for the pizza delivery service.

My stomach raged on with a relentless unease, stress was turning me into a hungry monster. If I didn't find something to chow down on-

-The phone suddenly rang. I flinched, reaching for the desk where it was supposed to be. But when my eyes landed upon the empty base that the phone was supposed to be on, panic rippled through me.

Where was that damn phone?

The papers that were scattered across the floor, were now being thrown into the air in an urgent frenzy. I crawled over the floor, searching and searching and searching for the ringing phone. But it was as if the thing had grown legs and ran from me, in an attempt to escape the mayhem that had ensued.

I didn't blame it,

Yet I needed to find it. Preferably before the ringing stopped.

Out of the corner of my eye, at the foot of a tall cabinet, there was a flashing blue light. My eyes were drawn to it, and at the realization that it was the ringing phone, I threw myself towards it.

"Hello?" I answered in a pant. My chest was rising and falling heavily.

There was a pause from the other end. And then,

"This is Parker Kane. May I speak to Alpha Cyrus Drenner?"

It was a man's voice. A very deep, very serious, and business-like voice. Someone presumably important. A shudder raced down my aching spine. I had been sitting on the hard floor for far too long, and my limbs were currently paying the price. Lovely.

"He's..." I swallowed hard, a trickle of sweat trailed down my face, "He's on a temporary leave. I'm taking his place."

There was an immaturity to my voice , one that I was sure wiped away any possible legitimacy from me. I sounded like a kid. I was a kid. A stupid one at that.

Again, there was another pause. A very long pause this time, one that left enough time for the anxiety to creep back in. The judgement, the concern, and the confusion from the other end seemed to reach through the phone to slap me.

"May I know whom I'm speaking with?" The man asked, and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted it.

The Domino's flyer.

My stomach growled. Loudly. My hands snatched the flyer towards me.

"Hello?"

The voice asked again. Shit.