~Avery's POV~
I went into the house and saw several of the pack's warriors and members walking around, but as soon as I entered many of them turned their eyes on me and started whispering to each other. Did they know?
"Hey, Avery!" I looked to my left and saw Chase jogging towards me with a big goofy smile on his face. When he reached me he wrapped his arms around me and I reciprocated the hug.
"Hi, Chase," I said with a smile as well. His happiness easily rubs off on you.
"How are you?" He asked. His eyes lingered a little too long. I saw pity in them, and I didn't know why, but seeing someone pitying me made me frustrated.
"I'm good, thank you, but Chase, please stop looking at me like I'm some broken little girl." I said with a smug smile on my face. I didn't want him to think that I was mad at him so I tried to be funny. Can't say I succeeded though.
"Sorry." He said as he cleared his throat.
"Does everybody know?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer, but not knowing felt just as bad. Chase looked around the hall at everybody whispering and watching sneakily.
"Yeah, umm, unfortunately there has been some talk about you around the pack, but Amber has made it clear to everyone that it's forbidden. Unfortunately, they can't be around to keep tabs on everyone all the time, sorry."
"Don't be, it's okay, honestly they can't possibly know everything that's going on with me, because even I don't." I said and jokingly slapped his arm.
"Do you wanna grab something to eat?" Chase asked me and pointed towards the kitchen.
"I actually had lunch with Amber earlier, but thank you. Have you seen Alex? I really need to talk to him."
"Of course, the Beta is with the Alpha in his office." He answered and put his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt.
"Thank you, Chase, for everything." I hugged him one more time, really appreciative of everything he had done for me since I came here. He was my first friend here that wasn't part of James's family.
I made my way up the stairs and headed towards James' office. As I reached closer I started hearing a familiar voice. The door was slightly opened.
I pushed the door open further, not wanting to sneak up on them in case they were having a private conversation. There was an unfamiliar man standing on the carpet, bloody and bruised, but why did he sound so familiar?
"Avery!" James called with a big smile on his face. My hands were clasped in front of me and I smiled at them all.
"Sebastian, this is Avery," James said, but his eyes darkened at the mention of my name when he looked at Sebastian. James came over and put his hand on the small of my back, urging me to walk towards the unknown man. There was something about him, like I had seen him before. Sebastian bowed his head in acknowledgment and when I saw why he didn't give me his hand my hand flew to my mouth and my eyes grew three times the size.
"Shit, sorry babe," James shouted as he stepped in front of me, covering the horrific sight that had been burned into my skull.
"What happened?" I squealed, however, the words came out muffled because my hand was still covering my mouth. I was afraid I might throw up if it wasn't.
"I got a little too handsy with a certain female warrior." He said and suddenly any urge to throw up disappeared, and in its place was a desire to do to his other arm what the warrior had done to this one.
James carefully steps aside leaving the man on full display.
"Hello, Sebastian," I said as I looked him dead in the eyes. I had seen those eyes before, I was sure of it.