Chapter 4 Friends from The Past, Enemies From the present

Hailey's POV

At this moment, I feel like I hate myself, or rather, I hate the weakness that surrounds me when I am with him. I know well that this was not meant to be, and in my head, as I walk quickly across the sand, I keep replaying over and over the scenario I had laid out and rehashed in my thoughts.

I keep telling myself that I was going to confront him, to tell him things up front. I wasn't going to let him touch me, I was going to tell him what I thought of him, of everything we had been through, and....

And now I find myself confused and disoriented, and worse than I was before. I know that allowing him to get so close was wrong of me, but somehow, I couldn't help it. His attraction in me is strong, but there was something else, something... Different. It felt like a nexus, like something inside me was calling out to him.

"Hey, hey, wait!"

Behind me a voice calls, but I don't want to turn around. I don't want to check that it's him, that he's following me to finish whatever he was going to tell me on the beach. Something about his Luna no longer being a problem, because....

"Hailey, wait, Hale!"

That's when I turn around, aware that Owen doesn't usually call me that, and I see the guy, the man who interrupted us a moment ago. For a moment I find it hard to recognize him, because his face has changed over time. He is older than me and has long dark hair. He wears it around his shoulders, loose, but it could easily be pulled back; he has a bushy but well-kept beard and dark, black eyes that look like abysses. His skin is tanned from the sun, like most of us, which leads me to believe that he probably spends a lot of time at the beach. He wears a leather jacket and under it, an olive green t-shirt.

"Hey. I didn't know you were back in town. Good to see you, Hailey."

That's when I see him, and just by watching him closely, I remember who he is. And sure enough, Owen has just said his name, when his raspy, deep voice found us in the middle of the night.

"Angus." I remember then, and nod to myself, as he smiles.

Angus doesn't belong to our pack, he is the son of another Alpha, but his father and Owen's father were friends, so we all grew up together. He always came to visit the house, and even though he's a few years older than all of us, we used to play together.

"I didn't recognize you. I'm sorry... You've changed so much," I say, as he looks at me with a twinkle I don't know how to interpret in his eyes.

"You've changed too," he says, and I could swear that his eyes have lowered for a moment, fleetingly sweeping over me. "You've grown."

"Don't we all?" I joke, as I bring a hand to my hair to push it away from my face, and feeling slightly embarrassed at what I swear I've noticed in his eyes.

"I suppose so." He laughs and starts walking with me. Or rather, he keeps pace with me as I try to run towards the stairs we walked down to the beach. At what point did we get so far away? I wonder, wanting to find the shelter of light and people to get as far away from Owen as possible and try to get my thoughts in order.

"Hey, I wanted to ask, did everything go well with you and Bullock? Not to pry, but it seemed like you were having a certain... Well, you looked a little uncomfortable there."

"Was it that obvious?" I say forcing a smile.

"It's easy to smell discomfort when your senses are more developed than everyone else's. You know what I mean." He taps his nose twice as if to emphasize his point, and I feel like I detest everyone around me right now who already has their wolves.

"And that's why you interrupted? Well, in that case, I must thank you."

"There's no need." He shrugs his shoulders. "I don't like the idea of a girl being forced."

"Owen wasn't forcing anything on me," I contradict him, frowning and unable to help the desire to protect him.

"It didn't seem that way," he assures me.

The tricky thing is, however, to explain to him that he's wrong, because the truth is that, although Owen wasn't forcing me into anything, I wasn't exactly in the most ideal situation either. Maybe a few years ago I would have been, and maybe a part of me wishes it could be that way again. But the truth is, I know I can't be with him. There is too much pain between us for that to be the case.

"Hals." That's when Owen catches up with us.

"I'm sorry, Owen, but I think it's better to leave things here for today," I tell him, as I bring a hand to my hair in a nervous gesture of a lifetime. He, however, changes his expression slightly when he sees me, and I swear there's something else in his eyes. Protection, and maybe a hidden plea amidst the blue of his irises.

"Please, Hals... I need to tell you something important," he asks me.

"I don't think she feels comfortable around you right now, Bullock," Angus tells him, and immediately, the expression on his face changes.

"Stay out of this, Angus," he challenges him, and I notice the tension between the two of them. I don't have to have the developed senses of a wolf to understand that there is anger between these two.

What's going on here and how much have I missed in this year of absence?

"You don't have to treat Angus this way. But the truth is that I don't feel like talking to you right now" I affirm, with my arms crossed.

"Fine," he says, chewing on the words. "Let me take you back to the party and we'll talk later, but I don't want you near him."

His eyes drift to Angus, and Owen takes a step towards me, but then, Angus steps in the middle of the road, blinding my vision slightly as he stands in front of me. He shoves his hands in his pockets and lifts his chin as he says to Owen, in a voice laden with sarcasm.

"What's the matter, wolfie? Afraid of the competition?"

"You couldn't compete with me in this," Owen spits.

"You bet I couldn't?" Angus refutes, and I step in between them.

"That's enough of that. I don't know what's going on here, and I don't care." I look at both of them, one by one, and then say to both of them, "I'm not a trophy to compete for, and whatever is going on between you, don't drag me into your Alpha wolf messes. And you." I gaze hurt at Owen, but at the same time, trying to gather what little strength I have left. "You don't own me, and you can't forbid me to be around anyone."

"That's not what this is about, Hailey..." he starts to say, changing his tone completely, but I stop him.

"I don't care what it's about. You can't boss me around. Period." I then look at them both once again, and without another word, I walk away, silently wishing they wouldn't take their silly wolf showdown to another level.

Luckily, my feet then get the steps, and before I think about it I grab my boots and start to climb two at a time up the stairs. Only when I get to the top do I take the time to put them on, in a hurry and feeling like my heart is going to burst out of my mouth from nerves.

"Hailey. For the Goddess' sake, you had me worried." Sabrina rushes up to me and grabs me by the arm. Her eyes are wide open and full of nervousness. "You look pale. What happened? I thought about going to look for you when I saw you were taking forever to come back, but then Angus came and went after you."

"Brina, can you get me out of here?" I ask, and she nods.

"Of course I can, honey. Is something wrong?"

I deny with my face and try to speak, but my throat is dry.

"Just please, let's go. I'll explain everything when we get home."

She doesn't need me to say anything else. In an instant, her hand is on my arm and she pulls me protectively away, all the while looking at everyone like a mama bear protecting her cubs. I don't know how much has changed around here in my absence, or what Owen and Angus' bad blood is, but, if nothing else, I'm glad that my best friend hasn't changed, and that no matter what, I can still count on her.