9

The sound of something crashing in the living room was what first caught my attention. Rubbing my eyes and climbing out of bed, it didn't take long for me to notice that Milo was not by my side.

"Again?" I sighed groggily to myself and made my way to the door.

When I opened it, I was met with the sight of a grey wolf standing over a broken vase with his head tilted to the side. It was as if he couldn't believe that he had been the cause of the vase being shattered into pieces. Had this been the first time, I would've thought that there was a chance that he didn't do it, but this wasn't the first time. No, it was the third.

This was the third item Milo had broken since staying with me and strangely enough, they always seemed to take place at inconvenient times. The first being when I was showering, the second at midnight, and now the vase at five in the morning.

"Milo," I frowned. "You need to be more careful. This is the third thing you've broken."

Milo glanced at me. The expression on his face was a mixture of being offended and feigned innocence, but I wouldn't fall for it today.

With my hands crossed over my chest, I said, "Don't try to pretend that you didn't do this. There's nobody else in the house besides you and me. Plus the security cameras would've caught what happened."

Milo let out a huff, moving away from the remnants of the vase and to the couch. He sat there, staring at the T.V., waiting expectantly for me to turn it on. Ever since Stellan had done so for him, he's been obsessed with the device. But today would be different.

"No T.V. today. You and I are going to have a day out," I told the omega.

The only word that seemed to pass through Milo's ears though was no. He stared at me with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes as he used his paw to gesture toward the coffee table where the remote lay.

"Come on, it'll be fun," I encouraged.

Milo huffed. His head turned in an annoyed manner. I thought he wasn't going to move, but he slowly stood up and walked toward me. His eyes drifted back toward the T.V. and an expression almost similar to a pout fell onto his face.

At times like this, I desperately wanted him to shift. I wanted him to be able to voice his thoughts and to see his expressions, but on the flip side, I was also a little scared. Our wolf forms made it a little harder to see the physical effects of the abuse that the rescues had endured at the hands of Alfie. Milo didn't appear to have anything that required immediate attention wrong with him, but I was worried that when he shifted, those little things would become much clearer and, in some cases, be more harmful than they would've been had he stayed in his wolf form until fully healed.

Even if they did become more prominent, I would still love him, but I didn't want to take the risk of him shifting too early and causing more harm to himself.

Shaking my head, I moved to the kitchen and began to make a quick breakfast for Milo and me. I didn't want to take him out on an empty stomach because that meant we'd have to make a stop. I knew that I'd eventually have to introduce him to the pack — and the pack elders — but I wanted to give it more time. With Milo's temperament, it would be a recipe for disaster. There was a lot of talk about the rescues in the pack and many were curious, but I knew that neither Milo nor any of the others wanted to be ogled at. If anything he'd try to attack.

That known fact was exactly why I was so apprehensive about taking him out before now. I knew he'd want to get out of his house and it would do him some good after escaping from the tiny cage he was kept in, but I didn't want to risk ruining his reputation in the pack before he was able to even shift. I knew if that happened then it would significantly harm his chances of being able to adjust peacefully.

"Come on, Milo. Come eat," I called out to the wolf who was still staring at the blank screen longingly.

When he shifted we'd have to find him some hobbies.

Milo reluctantly made his way to me. I set a plate down beside the table and watched as his head tilted to the side with curiosity. Today was something simple: pancakes and sausage, but Milo looked at the food as if it were an unknown foreign object. I knew that he'd been in captivity for a long time and there was a lot that he didn't know about, but it still confused me about the severity of what he didn't know.

Milo was fifteen when he was taken, but was now twenty meaning that he had been in captivity for five years. However, this also meant that he'd been free for about fourteen years before being taken. It was strange to me that there was so much he didn't know about, knowing this.

Where had he been before he was captured?

The feeling of something touching me caused me to look down. Milo pushed the now empty plate toward me with his nose and his eyes met mine, telling me he wanted more. One thing was for sure: once he was all better, he was going to have a huge appetite.

I gave Milo another pancake and took a seat in a chair beside him and began to eat as well. My eyes remained glued on the grey wolf though. It was strange to me how someone could just...pop up and then they were already one of the most important people in your life. I'd known Alphas Emerson and Bowen since we were pups and even now, I still felt more like acquaintances or business partners with them than I did friends, and yet when Milo came crashing into my life, he just immediately clicked.

I knew that part of the reason was because of the mate bond, but even then that doesn't necessarily mean that you immediately start liking them. I'd heard cases of wolves who died just to get away from their mates, wolves who never felt comfortable around their mates, and many more sad stories. I was glad this wasn't the case for Milo and me, but I have to admit that I wasn't expecting us to get along as well as we did.

"You ready?" I turned to Milo when I was finished. Unsurprisingly, his plate was empty. I smiled and stood before taking both our plates and placing them in the sink. "Come on, let me wipe your face and shower then we can go."

Milo stared at me and then slowly began to follow. Ever since his bath, he's made it abundantly clear that he dislikes baths, but they were a necessity — especially if he was dead set on sleeping in my bed. I'd be damned if I let a dirty wolf get on top of where I sleep. I learned it was easier to get him to take a bath when it was closer to bedtime, but he clearly didn't trust me to not try and give him one during the day.

"You don't have to get a bath right now," I told him, but I was already preparing for the fight that would take place when we got back.

I was taking Milo to the woods. Not close to the border, but not that close to the pack grounds either. I wanted this trip to be calm and just for fun, but I knew there was going to be a lot of running around and when we came back, we'd both need baths. But that was a fight for another time.

I quickly wipe down Milo's face and move toward the shower. Before I enter the bathroom though, I stop and give Milo a pointed stare.

"Don't break anything else. I'll be right back," The expression on his face did nothing to soothe my nerves, so I added, "If you break something else then I guess you just won't be watching the T.V. anymore."

I knew that Milo understood the things I said for the most part. There may have been some times when he didn't, but the look on his face told me that this wasn't one of those times. He stared at me like a kicked puppy and I had to fight the urge to shake my head. I couldn't and wouldn't understand his newfound passion for the device.

With that being said, I quickly walked into the bathroom and shut the door before stripping and moving to the shower. If everything went well today, I would start taking Milo out more after this. These little trips could be a good way to help socialize him more and slowly adjust to the pack life.

Thinking about packs made me wonder if Milo had ever been a part of one. I doubted it, but he had to have come from somewhere before Alfie found him. I wanted to know more about him; I wanted to know more about where he came from, what his life was like, and whether was there anyone out there he missed and wanted to see again. There were so many questions I had for him. Questions probably wouldn't get answered until he shifted or not at all.

When I stepped out of the shower and finished getting dressed, I was surprised to find Milo sitting exactly where I had left him for once. Another thing I learned was that Milo was a curious wolf. He never stayed in one place for too long and while I enjoyed his curiosity, it was also hard to keep up with.

"You ready to go?" I asked, knowing I wouldn't get an answer back. "Come on."

Milo followed behind me as I made my way to the door. I stopped and quickly checked outside to make sure that there wasn't a large number of wolves out before leading Milo to the car. Under normal circumstances, I would just walk or shift rather than take the car, but I wanted to limit the interaction between Milo and the other pack members for now.

Milo eyed the car as I opened the door. I knew he wouldn't get in on his own, so I quickly moved and waited until he calmed down slightly before carefully lifting him into the vehicle. I closed the door, made my way to my side, and took a seat. Milo didn't get the memo though. He moved around the car, eyeing everything with a curious but hesitant expression.

"Milo, you need to calm down—" I tried to say, but the words died in my mouth when he moved from his seat and into mine.

Milo wasn't watching where he was going. Or rather, where he was stepping and I had to feel the consequences of that when his foot landed where it wasn't supposed to. My body instantly tensed and Milo noticed too. He turned his attention away from the car and stared at me with a tilted head. My hands quickly went to his sides and moved him back to his seat.

"Milo," I said after a few minutes and a deep breath. I wasn't going to lose my temper. "You need to sit in your seat or we can't go anywhere."

Milo, thankfully, seemed to understand and took a seat so I could start driving. Still, out of the corner of my eye, I could see the way he watched everything we passed by with fascination. Just watching the way his expression changed made me want to take him out more and I didn't mean just around the pack. I wanted to show him things in the world that he'd never seen before and to just explore more.

By the time we arrived at the woods, Milo was ready to get out. I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt before stepping out of the car and making my way to Milo's side. The moment the door opened, the wolf was ready to get out. He quickly escaped from the car and began to run around. I shut the door and watched him amusedly. This was exactly what he needed to get rid of the excess energy he had stored up.

After a few minutes of just watching, I stripped from my clothes and also shifted before joining him in running around. Milo's eyes lit up when he saw my wolf. Part of me was worried about how'd he react, but he was once again proving me wrong.

I was just glad that he was having fun. I followed behind him as he darted around excitedly and inside, I was smiling. We were definitely going to have to come back at some point in the future—that was a must.

Everything was going well.

Until I heard the growls.

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