New Neighbor – 1

Thea’s POV

It was a lazy day. Leo had gone to school, and I was relaxing at home, enjoying the rare moment of peace. The morning sun filtered through my kitchen window as I sipped my coffee, savoring the warmth and silence.

Since my mental breakdown, I’d decided to step back from work for a while. My students weren’t thrilled, but they understood I hadn’t been in the best shape these past few weeks. I planned to restart after the baby was born. For now, my focus was on my pups and the foundation.

I was still trying to process everything that had happened in the past few weeks, including everyone’s change of behavior. The only person who still maintained their consistent hatred toward me was Aurora. Everyone else seemed to have changed overnight.

I didn’t dwell on these thoughts for long. Instead, I picked up my phone and dialed Seraphina’s number. She answered almost immediately.

“Hi, Mom,” I greeted. Though I wasn’t fully used to calling her that yet, I was slowly adapting.

“Thea!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Maximus, darling, our baby girl is calling!”

I heard rustling on the other end, then a sort of echo. I knew she’d put me on speaker.

“Hi, Dad,” I greeted him too.

Their love fascinated me. They weren’t fated mates, but they’d been together since they were thirteen. Thirty-five years later, they were still in love, with nothing changing that. If I were still pursuing love, theirs would be the kind I’d want. But now, I’d accepted that love might not be for me. I was prepared to spend the rest of my life alone.

“Hi, sweetheart, how are you?” he asked.

“I’m good, nothing special. Just wanted to check in on you guys.”

I still hadn’t told them about my pregnancy. Though my belly was starting to show, I could easily hide it with loose t-shirts. I knew they were hurt deep down, even if they tried to hide it.

As for Kane, what he did to them was wrong, but I understood his feelings too. After what he’d done, he avoided them because he felt unworthy of their kindness and love.

I’d sent him my latest ultrasound. He responded with gratitude, constantly saying how much he longed to see his pup. He also agreed to wait until the day I gave birth to know the baby’s gender.

“Thea?” Mom’s voice pulled me back to reality.

“Sorry, I zoned out,” I mumbled awkwardly.

“That’s okay, dear. I was just asking if you’re still coming this weekend as planned, like we discussed.”

“Yes, though Leo won’t be joining me this time. It’s his weekend with his father, so it’ll just be me and you guys.” The Sterling and Ashworth families used to have monthly Pack gatherings. As the unwelcome wolfless, I was rarely invited. On those rare occasions when I was, I was treated like I didn’t exist, completely ignored, an outsider. The only person who would speak to me at those gatherings was Leo. Most times, I’d end up leaving early or crying in the bathroom.

There hadn’t been gatherings for months. I guessed now that their parents were back, they were starting to hold them again.

“Shame he can’t make it, but glad you can,” Dad said.

I was about to say something when a noise distracted me. I heard a bark, then scratching. At first, I thought I was hallucinating, until I heard it again.

“I’ll call you back later, Dad. I need to check what that is,” I said distractedly.

“Alright, sweetheart.”

I hung up and walked toward the sound. Reaching my backyard, I found a huge golden retriever digging in my garden. Nothing was left except a mess. It was odd since werewolves usually didn’t keep canine pets because their own wolves felt offended.

I stared at it in shock, my mouth hanging open.

“Do you know how fucking long it took me to plant those?” I said angrily.

It looked ashamed, lying on the ground, giving me puppy eyes, but I wasn’t going to be persuaded.

“I wanted organic food, which is why I started this damn garden, and let me tell you, it took a lot of time and effort.” It whimpered, but I was too angry to care.

“Oh, no, no, no. You’re not getting away with this by flashing those cute eyes.” I shook my head as I stared at it. At least I assumed it was male. “How are you going to make up for this, huh?”

As I looked at it, my heart began to melt. It was big and fluffy and absolutely adorable.