Chapter 5: Welcome to Hell

Michael's POV

I waited until Havana was out of eyesight before I started walking back to the manor. Simon, who had walked me here was long gone either requested by someone else as a messenger or simply tired of eavesdropping. The reason he left wasn't important to me. What mattered was that Havana came to see me.

The vibration in my pocket startled me slightly. The newly saved number appears on my phone screen -- Havana. I answer eagerly, sliding the green phone icon across the screen. I bring the phone to my ear unable to remove the boyish grin from my face.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" I answer, trying my best to maintain a calm and collected voice. I knew this phone call made my day, but I didn't want her to know. I promised her a friendship and I couldn't allow my excitement to ruin everything.

"You're the one who asked me to call when I got to my car," Havana's soft voice replied. I give off a low chuckle to match hers. Her voice sounded more angelic over the phone as if that were possible.

"Can you blame me for being concerned?” I knew that this was a new friendship for the both of us, but that didn't mean I wouldn't care. The question though rhetorical seemed to hold the weight as one that should have been answered.

"Goodnight, Michael," she replies. The once boyish grin turned into a small smile. I couldn't be certain if it were due to her phone call or having her number.

"Goodnight, Havana,” I whisper.

The call ends and I stop walking, the double mahogany doors greeting me with solitude. I placed the phone in my pocket and pushed the doors open. "I have to focus. No more distractions," I muttered to myself.

The visit from Havana was the most pleasant visit of all, but with her returning to her human life I had to get back to my duties. I shut the doors behind me trying to mentally prepare myself for work, and stop thinking of Havana just to get it done.

"Took you long enough hubby. I feel like I've been waiting forever." The familiar voice filled my veins in what I could only describe as poison. The smile that was plastered on my face had dropped, and taken on a more serious expression. The slender legs sat crossed on the counter of my deep brown desk.

"Jane, what are you doing here?" I ask. The question was not intended to come off rude. I was genuinely confused by her presence. The last we spoke of her return consisted of unknown responses.

“Your father called and said you needed some motivation. Something about you losing focus," she explains while playing with the stapler that was on my desk.

Losing focus? How was I losing focus? Everything he asked of me I obliged despite my personal feelings. "Anyway, he told me you'd be in here. I made those idiot pack members of yours let me in.”

What did she just say? This was the main reason she hadn't been allowed to stay when she first came to visit. Her family assumed that being Alpha's made them above everyone else, but the truth was it didn't. The Alpha title didn't make us better than the others, but it made us responsible for the others.

“What did you just say?" I ask.

Her response didn't help the mood of the conversation as she sucked her teeth and groaned. She hopped off the desk and stepped towards me, slowly. To any other man, it would have been seen as sexy and seductive but to me, it was desperate and sloppy.

The first night we met she explained that she was here for her father's request. That he all but forced her into accepting this proposal which means this wasn't her coming onto me. This was another act of Jane being coerced. I couldn't tell if it were by her father or my own. I almost felt sorry if she hadn't disrespected my pack. Now I was just annoyed.

"Don't get your boxers in a bunch. It wasn't like I called them idiots to their faces, but they do lack intelligence. That's why we're at the top of the food chain, baby." Could my future wife be any more childish? The worst part about her entire sentence was that she believed it.

"That may be true in your pack, but here we are all equal. No one is an idiot or above others. As Alpha's, we take care of our pack, not degrade them. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do."

The conversation with her was finished and so was my tolerance for someone so ignorant and biased toward her kind. I remove her hands from the grip she had maintained on my jacket as I walk to my desk and sit. Was I in hell? Is this punishment for falling for a girl I hardly know?

"You know the way out." Jane's face had fallen at the failed advance she tried to make on me.

"Can I stay?" She asks nervously. I raise an eyebrow at her request. Why in the hell would I let her stay here? Those with her mindset were the ones I always chose to avoid. " You're the only one I know here. Please."

"Fine, but no more talking." I was serious in my statement as I point to an empty leather seat opposite mine.

She nods and sits, putting her feet across the side of the chair. Jane was beautiful and her beauty was powerful. She was the type of woman who wanted everyone to swoon over her but lacked the compassion to connect to anyone other than herself. Based on her mood change she wasn't used to rejection either. I wonder if Havana is in any way like Jane. The two seemed impossible to compare, and with that only thoughts of Havana filled my mind.

A few moments later, soft snores filled the large office space. I remove my jacket and walk toward her curled body. I placed the jacket gently over her to protect her from the slight chill emitting from the cracked windows.

Despite my better judgment of letting her stay, I wasn't heartless. I didn't agree with her, but my mother didn't raise me to abandon others either. I was a leader by nature and birth and hopefully, I could lead Jane to become the Alpha female that both of our packs deserved.

While Jane slept comfortably in the office chair, I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Havana. Three in the morning was early, but I was also optimistic. Even if she weren't awake now when she did my message, it would be the first to greet her.

To my surprise, she responded hastily and even accepted my proposal to visit her. Within the same message, she included her address for me to follow. Should I go? Should I leave Jane here alone? A follow-up message from Havana had sealed the fate of my decision. I would go, but I would return before Jane ever realized she was alone.

Deciding to run rather than drive seemed logical at the time. If we lived in a time where my kind had still been a secret, then this obviously would have been a mistake. Imagine werewolves are secret and all you see at three in the morning was one casually running through town. It would start a riot. The wind brushed through golden brown fur that covered my previously human body. I stopped running, the faded red apartment building before me. Shifting back I stretch, getting myself accustomed to my human form. I sent a quick message to Havana and tried to clear out the leaves that gathered in my hair.

Moments later the white door opened slightly, and the shadows covered her beautiful face. "Havana," I breathed happily, but just as the joy came it left swiftly. Havana stood before me with her delicate face tainted by bruises and cuts.

This indeed was hell.