Beyond the Pack’s Law: My stepsister or nobody else

Aiden’s POV

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring. It would have been like every other regular morning if not for the sour mood I was in. I got in the shower and proceeded to get ready for school.

My hands and legs were pretty much on autopilot because my mind was far from paying attention to the clothes I was putting on.

I couldn’t get Rachel off my mind, and not in a sexual way. I couldn’t get the look on her face from last night off my mind. When I left Hayley’s room like she told me to, I went back to my room feeling guilty for leaving Hayley to suffer the heat on her own.

Little did I know, Rachel was coming straight to my room when she was done with her. I was about to go to bed when I heard my door open and turned my head, only to find Rachel standing in front of me, looking very upset.

The next five minutes after that were just her threatening me to break things off with Hayley; she did even let me talk, and finally, when she was done, she left, just like that.

I would have been less bothered, but there was a part of the threat she made that showed how serious she was. That was what was currently plaguing my mind.

When I was done, I stopped by Hayley’s room so we could go together, but when I opened the door, she wasn’t there. Maybe she was eating breakfast; I was running a bit late after all.

I spotted my dad on the sofa, reading a newspaper.

“Good morning, Dad.”

“Morning.” He said it absentmindedly.

I stepped into the kitchen, hoping to find Hayley, but to my surprise, the only person there was Rachel, who just stared at me. I’m pretty sure if she could shoot laser beams out of her eye, I would have been long gone.

I knew it would only make things worse if I asked where Hayley was, so I just headed off to school without saying a word.

I was trying to scan for Hayley in the crowd in the hallway when my eyes locked with Alessa’s eyes instead.

I tried to look away before she noticed, but then it was too late; she was looking right back at me.

I’d never known Alessa to be too much of a social freak, but the way she was just standing alone by her locker, pulling out books, looked lonely.

I didn’t have time to worry about that right now; I just wanted to see Hayley and make sure she was okay. I had a feeling Rachel had spewed the same threats she tried to use on me with her as well.

I couldn’t spot Hayley or her friends anywhere, so I walked up to Alessa with hopes that she would have some idea about their whereabouts. She was on talking terms with Hayley now anyway, so there was no harm in asking.

It might have been in my head, but I could have sworn. Alessa gave me a nonchalant look when she realized it was her I was walking towards.

“Hey,” I said awkwardly.

“Hey.” There was no life or emotion in her voice.

“You okay?”

“Do you need something?” She shut the locker door and looked up into my eyes.

“Um, yeah.” I hadn’t been expecting that as a reaction. “I’ve been looking around for Hayley; do you have any idea where she is?”

“No, don’t you two live together? How am I supposed to know where she is?” Now her voice had emotion, pure irritation, and sass.

“I’m just asking if you’ve seen her today, that’s all.” What was she being all bitter about? I just asked a question; she didn’t have to be rude about it.

“No, I haven’t seen her. As you can see, I just got here, and the last thing on my mind is to be a human tracker for your sister.” She clenched her jaw and walked past me.

I understood Alessa might have been upset or jealous because of my relationship with Hayley, but the Alessa I knew wasn’t rude to me. She acted like we were glued to each other and made for each other, not like I was pestering her; she used to be so desperate for my attention. Did she hate me all of a sudden, or was there more to this?

The bell rang, and everyone scurried off to their classes.

“Well, today’s off to a really bad start.” I said to myself and headed to my class. I’d look for Hayley later during the lunch break.

The hours went by fast, and soon the bell for the lunch break went off. I went straight to the cafeteria, and luckily Hayley was seated at her regular table, with Mina and Mona seated by her sides. They were so engulfed in whatever they were talking about that they hadn’t even noticed me walk up to their table.

“Hayley,” I said, and their murmuring stopped abruptly.

“Aiden?” They all pretty much said it at the same time, like a couple of synchronized dolls.

“Where were you before classes? I couldn’t find you.”

“Oh, we were talking at the basketball court; why were you looking for me?” Hayley asked

“We should talk.”

“Sure.” She said and Mona shifted, creating space for me to have a seat.

“Maybe somewhere more private.” By now, a lot of eyes in the cafeteria were already fixed in our direction, and it was making me feel uneasy.

“Oh,” she said, looking around and finally noticing the prying eyes as well. “I’ll be right back.” She looked at her friends and followed me out of the cafeteria.

“I wonder what they’re up to now.” I heard someone whisper, but I decided to just ignore it and keep walking.

We stopped at the vacant hallway.

“So, what’s the emergency?” She asked when I came to a halt.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She asked, confused; maybe her mom hadn’t given her the same threats as me, and I was just worried for nothing.

“What did your mom say after I left?” I asked

“Oh that.” Her expression went grim. No, I was right. Rachel might not have threatened her, but she obviously did something.

“What happened?”

“Same as always, she tried getting me to stop loving you. I heard her go into your room; what did she say to you?”

“Just a bunch of threats.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “What is her problem?” She said under her breath.

“It’s fine; I’m not intimidated by her. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, babe.”

She smiled up and then frowned, like she remembered something.

“What is it?”

“I heard them talking this morning; I think it was about us.” She looked worried.

“Who? Your mom and my dad?”

“Yeah.”

I knew my dad; he hadn’t confronted me about my relationship with Hayley the way Rachel had, but I was pretty sure he felt the same way about it.

“What did they say?”

She looked worried as she recounted their conversation.

Take care of it. A man like my father, an Alpha, was known for being strict with his decisions. Once he made up his mind to do something, he wasn’t going to compromise.

If he made up his mind to split us up, even though I wouldn’t let it happen, it wouldn’t be easy to resist him.

“Don’t think about it; he probably just said that to make your mom calm down.” I lied; I didn’t think he said it to calm Rachel down, but I kissed her on the forehead and told her not to worry about it.

She went back to her table, and I now had one more thing on my mind.

It was half through lunch when I got a call from a teacher saying I was excused from school because my dad called in to say I was needed at home.

Being told that only made me more anxious. I didn’t get time to tell Hayley what happened, and a part of me didn’t want to tell her because I didn’t want her to worry.

I just had to deal with it on my own, or at least that’s what I told myself.

I drove home as fast as I could, and I noticed Rachel’s car wasn’t in the garage. I took that as a good sign; I wouldn’t have to deal with her stares and threats.

The house was dead silent when I stepped through the front door; it had this eerie feeling to it, and I could almost feel that something was wrong, or maybe I was just being paranoid.

“Dad?” I called out.

He stepped out of the kitchen with his phone to his ear, “Good, you’re here.”

“Thank you very much for sorting it out on such short notice.” He said to the person on the other end of the phone call and then turned back to me.

“Um, what’s going on?” I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, but I didn’t even know what I was so afraid was going to happen.

“Just hurry up and get changed.”

“Why do I need to get dressed?” I was more confused than ever.

“You’re going to Australia; hurry up; you have a plane to catch.” He said with a straight face, and my jaw dropped in disbelief.

This was his way of ‘taking care’ of things.