Klepto✔︎

22 ❀ Curvalicious

My eyes dart around suspiciously, avoiding the lycan table with exceptional success.

I'm not even tempted to glance over at my gorgeous mate.

Okay, that's a lie.

I turn my head, searching the large room for the only decent people in this whole pack, the one redeeming quality of this absolute hell hole.

Felix and Daniel.

The whole place is bustling with life. Everyone is talking and laughing, enjoying the peaceful morning hours before the day officially starts.

I smile as a group of pups run around rambunctiously. They squeal excitedly, trying to dodge their stern faced parents as they scramble to grab their escaping children.

Not spotting my brothers, I move on with my eyes, weaving through the tables. High and low, back and forth. They are nowhere in sight.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." It's Dr.Paullini, he raises his bushy eyebrows down at me.

I motion to the empty table with my arm.

"As you can see, I'm extremely busy, maybe you should come back later."

He laughs, giving me a grin before pulling out a chair and sitting down next to me, shaking his head.

"At least you still have your sense of humor. How's that optimism working for you?" He pushes his glasses up his face and stabs some lettuce with his fork.

I don't know where he got a salad at this early hour, or why he's eating one for breakfast in the first place, but I don't ask.

Shrugging my shoulders, I nonchalantly wave a hand in the air.

"It's really hard to stay positive when your whole life is ruined, but I'm trying." Paullini shoots me a look at my words, running a hand over his tired face.

"I know it seems that way, but there is always a bright side." He purses his lips and shifts his body forward, thinking to himself before opening his mouth.

"When I was a pup, my parents needed to flee Vietnam when a neighboring pack declared war." He sighs, continuing after a moment, "I was absolutely terrified. I didn't know what I was going to do or how I was going to fit in. I cried often, and my mother took me aside and told me a story.

"She told me about my father and her meeting for the first time. He was on a visit to her pack in Spain, and after they met he took her back home to Vietnam.

"She didn't speak a lick of Vietnamese, and he couldn't understand her fast paced Spanish. My mother described to me the confusion and the fear of being in a new place and not being able to understand anyone. In the end, she was happy despite her trials. My mother encouraged me, Klepto, as I am encouraging you. No matter what life throws at you, you have to keep going. You will find happiness, I know you will." He touched my shoulder in a kind gesture, but I want to shrug it off.

I hate the advice.

He is completely spot on, but it's not what I want to hear. All I feel like doing is sulking in my own self pity.

"Yeah, yeah. Optimism, right?" I ask. Paullini chuckles, shoving some salad in his mouth and winking at me.

"Optimism."

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After breakfast, I can't take it any longer. It has been over two weeks since I've seen my baby brothers and I need at least a few minutes with them.