Striving For Our Happiness (On Hold)

Chapter 1

Three years and six months later…

The breath tickling his under arm woke Phillip from his slumber. Blinking his eyes open he took in his surroundings. The light blue walls and miniscule pieces of furniture told him he was in his own bedroom. Everything was familiar, except the red head currently tucked in close to his side. For a breathless second hope filled him. Then his bed partner removed her sleeping face from his pit and disappointment descended. He was stupid to think he would wake up with his mate in his arms and not remember their night together. He had no doubt that encounter would be hot enough to light his roof on fire, or more specifically Siara’s roof on fire being that this was her former house.

Siara was his best friend and former Beta, now current Luna of his pack. The house he called his own used to be hers because of the position she held, but now it was his being he was the current Beta. Something that till this day still surprised him. Granted it was a new position, but he seemed to fill it alright. He hadn’t had to do much as of late other than learn the in’s and out’s of being a Beta and handling regular security protocol. His first real task in this position would be happening in a month’s time.

He would be meeting with other Beta’s around the world to discuss different defense strategies and compare rogue attacks or sightings in each territory. He was looking forward to this because it would help him to feel he was really contributing to his pack. There was an added bonus to the trip, his mate would be going along as well. 

Helena Fisher.

He had finally found her again after three years apart. She turned up in the Darkwood Pack just a town over from his own. The day they reunited wasn’t exactly his best, but only because he saw she had moved on. Siara, Mason (her fiance at the time, now husband), and himself were visiting Mason’s ex fiance, Chloe and her mate Darren. They had just finished a pretty nice barbeque when Helena and her boyfriend arrived.

The happiness Phillip felt at seeing her again was quickly doused at the sight of her intimacy with another male. A male that wasn’t him. She barely spared Phillip a glance, making a remark about wishing he stayed in her past, and stormed off leaving him broken once again. He refused to let it show this time and went on his womanizing way, secretly trying to fill the hole that only Helena could fill.

He was secretly hoping this trip would bring them closer together and give him a chance to explain once and for all why he mistakenly called her by her sister’s name. Movement at his side reminded him he really needed to stop hooking up with random females, because it wouldn’t help his case at all. 

He blamed his actions on the constant visual that played in his mind of his mate in the arms of the tall, dark haired male she was with at that barbeque. It turned out he was her boyfriend, and based on the body language he observed between the two at that very barbeque, Helena and he were very familiar with each other physically.

It hurt his heart every time he pictured the two of them together, and the only way to fix that was to bury himself in the nearest willing woman, which was never too hard to find. He wasn’t proud of this, but it’s what worked. At least until the morning after when he was filled with regret.

Phillip expertly untangled himself from the sleeping form next to him, and cursed his drunkeness for not sending her home last night. Sniffing the air and his body, he scrunched up his features not liking the smell of sex, alcohol, and cigarette smoke that covered him. That’s what he got for drowning his sorrows at a bar.