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Chapter 3

Elena

As I open all the windows in the house to air out, there's a knock on the front door, but before I have time to answer I hear the door open.

"Elena, it's me. Silas."

I walk into the hallway and see our neighbor Silas, his same short salt and pepper hair and Magnum mustache.

"Hello, Silas. How have you been lately?"

"I'm fine kiddo. Wow you look as good as your mom you look more and more like her."

"Thanks," I reply, looking down at him.

He has a coughing fit, so I suggest we go out back and talk.

"I've kept up the lawn as much as I could but gardening was never my thing." He tells me with a soft laugh. "And even if I had done something it would never look like your mom's."

"Thanks, Silas, you didn't have..."

"I know. But I knew one day you'd come back." He pauses, looking around. "If you tell anyone what I'm about to tell you I will deny it."

I nod and he continues. "I never believed that story about a rogue breaking into your house. We live in a safe pack and he would have broken into one house, stolen some trinkets and killed your parents with a silver bullet each in the head? I don't believe that for a second."

"You have a theory?" I ask him curiously.

"No kiddo." He shoves his hands in his pockets uncomfortably. "You know I went to Alpha Eric when we saw those horrible pictures and then Gemma told me what those three kids were doing to you. I swear I wanted to protect you, I thought to your parents that they couldn't do it anymore but he used his Alpha tone to keep me out of it. So I can tell you I was relieved when your Uncle Arthur came to get you."

"Thanks for trying," I tell him sincerely. I know there was nothing he could have done because I know Alpha Eric is connected to all of this but at least he tried to stop it and he didn't do what everyone else did and close his eyes to me.

"I'm glad to see you here. I saw your car outside, things worked out pretty well for you it seems."

"Yeah, I was lucky to have Uncle Arthur, he taught me everything. I'm running my business and it's doing much better than I expected."

"What kind of business it is?"

"Security. Of people, places, data."

He sniffs next to me and I know he must find that rather ironic, given the situation I've found myself in.

"So are you going back to New York or are you going to stay here?"

"I don't know how much longer I'm going to stay here. I don't need to be physically in New York to work and I have someone I trust running my business."

"Well anyway, I take my hat off to you beautiful. At 23 you have accomplished more than some people do in their entire lives." He turns to go back to his house. "Get ready for a visit from Gemma soon, Jensen has a sharp tongue. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole town already knows about your return as we speak."


After spending several days trying to dust this house, I'm about to accept Matt's offer and call in a cleaning crew. It's going to take weeks to get this house back in shape and even though Griffin told me he had no problem with it, I don't want to overstay my welcome.

**Theo **

Since Friday night, I can't stop thinking about Elena, which I will never admit to the other two. I still feel guilty about everything we did to her. We made fun of her because of her weight, and her clothes, we hid her clothes when she got out of the gym, and we locked her in the bathroom for hours. But the final straw was what we did last. After her parents died, she moved in with Caleb and his parents, he found a way to install cameras in her bedroom and bathroom. We took naked pictures of her and put them up around town and at the school. I don't think there was a single person in town who didn't get it. Caleb was so angry at her and we just went along, no questions asked. I hid by the house when she left with her uncle and I'll never forget the look on her face when she saw me. Sadness, disappointment, disgust, I saw all these things in her eyes and I felt even more guilty.

On my morning jog, I passed the Romanos' house several times and she was already there. I couldn't find the courage to go talk to her, so I kept running towards the clearing. As I was about to take off my clothes to run in my wolf form, I heard movement and followed the noise. Elena is tying her sneakers, she must have gone running too. I step on a twig and she quickly turns her head and gets into a fighting stance. I slowly come out of my hiding place and read the surprise on her face.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you. I just heard some noise and came to see, that's all."

She doesn't bother to answer me and starts walking towards her house.

"Wait!" I call out to her, deciding to take my courage in both hands. She stops but doesn't turn to look at me. "I wanted to apologize."

She snorts and turns around, rage evident in her piercing blue eyes. "Apologize for what, Theo?" She pronounces my first name bitterly. "For anything you did to me or for making me think you were my friend? You want me to tell you. You are the worst of the three. Because at least with Caleb and Finn I always knew what to expect but with you. Fuck!" She runs her hand through her hair. Even in anger, she looks beautiful. "You fucked with me even more. If you want to ease your conscience, count me out."

She leaves without giving me time to answer her but I sincerely think I deserve it. She's right, I blew hot and cold with her, I apologized but that didn't stop me from following others and doing it again. Fuck when her parents died, I went and hugged her to release those fucking pictures two weeks later. She's right I don't deserve her forgiveness.

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