Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
My name is Wesley. I am twelve years old, and I am in sixth grade at Crescent Lake Elementary in Northern California.
I’ll be honest, I am only writing this letter because my teacher said we have to. She said if we don’t, we’ll get an F—‘”
“Let’s skip that one,” Wesley grumbled, grabbing it out of my hand and tossing it behind the couch. “Fuck, Haven, why did you even keep that one?” he groaned, leaning his head back and rubbing his hand over his face.
“For proof.”
“Proof of what?” he mumbled into his hand.
“That assholes can turn out to be nice guys sometimes,” I said, getting up and grabbing the paper from the floor behind us. “And because of this.”
I turned it over and handed it to him, showing him my original response. The one I wrote in the heat of the moment, the one I never sent to him.
The one where I called him a big, ugly, meanie.
His eyes scanned over the words written in red crayon, his lips pursing as he held in a laugh. “Big, ugly meanie, huh?” I nodded, and he shook his head and handed the letter back to me. “You should have sent me that one. Not that your other response wasn’t effective. This one just hits differently.”
I put the letter back in the folder and tossed it on the coffee table as I sat back down next to him. “I didn’t want to get in trouble. Troublemakers got moved around more often. I was just starting to feel at home with Jack and Shirley, and I was afraid of losing that.”
“Why didn’t you tell them? About your adopted parents flaking on you? Or any of the other things you told me about?” Wesley asked.
I curled my legs up into my body as I thought about my response. I was so close to telling them, to spilling everything to Jack and Shirley, but at the last second, I changed my mind. Instead of being honest, I opted to tell a little white lie, not mentioning the actual reason I had those extra tickets.
They probably knew I was lying, but it didn’t matter. The point was to keep it from them. I didn’t want them to find out.
“I was protecting them,” I admitted as I looked up at him.
His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. His breathing deepened, and I felt his heart pounding faster. He held me more firmly as he growled out, “Haven—“”Not Matthew and Melissa,” I said, bringing my hand up to his heaving chest.
We both glanced down at where I touched him, where underneath my palm, his heart rate returned to normal, and his breathing slowed, just as it had in my dressing room earlier. His hand came up to cover mine, keeping it in place over his heart, his thumb stroking small circles into my skin.
“I couldn’t care less about protecting them. I’m not giving any more energy to them. They’re not worth it. But, Jack and Shirley,” I clarified, looking back into his eyes, watching as his darkened, almost black gaze returned to his normal chocolate brown. “I know… I’m sure they already feel—” I pressed my lips together and gripped his shirt in my hand. “They don’t need to know…”
I shook my head. The words I tried to say to him wouldn’t come out. I just hoped he would understand what I was trying to say. That I didn’t need to add to the guilt I knew they already felt for how everything happened.
He pulled me closer to his body, letting go of my hand so both arms held me. I pressed my forehead into his chest to hide the glistening in my eyes.
I knew we needed to talk about it. Jack and Shirley and me. And Scott. I knew that needed to happen at some point. But I wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t ready to open up those old wounds. I wasn’t ready to confront those emotions or deal with any of that. I was content just being happy and reconnecting with them. It would happen eventually, when I was ready.
His hands rubbed my back, and he held me, waiting for me to speak again, and my cheeks heated as I realized how often this seemed to happen when I talked with him.
“I’m sorry!” I groaned into his shirt. “This is ridiculous. It seems like every time we’re together, I end up confessing something super emotional to you, and you end up comforting me when I’m crying.”
“I don’t mind,” he said. “That’s what a boyfriend does.”
I jerked back and stared at him, my mouth gaping open, an incredulous laugh spilling from my mouth. “Pretty presumptuous of you to think—“He cut my words off by pressing his lips to mine, his hand moving to the back of my neck to hold me in place. I melted into his body and into his kiss. It was both strange and yet natural how comfortable we were together, how instinctively my body responded to him. My hands moved to his face, trying to pull him closer, my fingers scratching through his beard to hold on tighter.
The kiss after our dinner had been tender and sweet and was the culmination of not only our date but the buildup of the connection we had forged as kids. But this kiss had a hint of heat behind it and a touch of possessiveness in it that did delicious things to my insides.
“Wesley,” I breathed as he broke away from my mouth and trailed light kisses along my jaw.
“Haven…” he replied, my name on his lips like a prayer.
His voice was low and gravelly, and his mouth moved against my skin as he spoke, sending shockwaves of pleasure through my whole body.
“I-I…”
I forgot what I had wanted to say to him. The capability of forming coherent words had left me. All I knew was him and his touch and his kisses on my neck and jaw. His breath tickled over the trail of kisses his mouth made, and I whimpered, the noise escaping me before I could even stop it. Then his mouth was back on mine, our lips tangling together in desperation.
I scrambled to get closer to him, almost climbing into his lap to close the distance between our bodies. The heady combination of his kisses, his touch, his sexy voice, and his sweet, spicy, woodsy scent had me in a haze. I was ready to give in, to let it envelop me and let my desires take the lead. But before I could act on it further, he pulled back from me, moving me so I was no longer attached to his body, holding me at arm’s length.
The same lust swirled in his eyes, and I could sense his reluctance as he put distance between us. He cupped my cheek and stood up from the couch, moving until I was sitting, and he stood in front of me.
“I should go,” he muttered, even as he stayed in place and stared down at me, his other hand mirroring his first on my face. “You need to rest. You have an important night coming up,” he added.
I nodded, even though I didn’t want him to leave. I wanted him to stay, even though I knew it was much too soon for us to take that step together, no matter how strong our connection was or how deep my feelings for him ran. But I wouldn’t deny I wanted it. I wanted him so badly it hurt. I wanted to be his in every way.
He bent down and kissed my forehead. “Good night, Twinkle Toes,” he said, then he walked around the couch and showed himself out.
WESLEY
I looked out at the rest of the members of the audience as I sat in the theater the night of Haven’s and the company’s premiere of
The Sleeping Beauty. The excitement in the air was palpable. I could scent it on everyone in attendance. I didn’t realize ballet would be so popular in the city near our pack, but almost every seat at the performance was sold out.
Reid sat between Nolan and me, but I wasn’t sure where Seb was. I’d thought I had scented him entering the theater, but then his scent faded and disappeared.
A hand waving caught my eye, and I looked down towards the front of the theater to see Shirley waving at me, a huge smile on her face and Jack sitting next to her, an almost identical smile on his face. I waved back at them, happy to see them supporting Haven.
They had become like family to us since they moved here, and I knew just how much they missed Haven, and how much they regretted the way everything went down when Jack had his stroke. For them to find her again after so many years was a help in healing those wounds.
Seb finally showed up, dressed in a white button-up with suspenders, carrying a bouquet of wildflowers tied together with a piece of twine I was ninety-nine percent certain he got from the back of his truck.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?