13

I stared at the number in front of me with a wide variety of emotions running through my mind. The number belonged to Milo's parents and yet, I hesitated to dial it. Part of me felt like I should; after doing some more digging, I'd managed to find the number of Milo's parents. If I dial their number, it could be the answer to a lot, if not all, of the questions I'd been struggling to find answers to. Milo could be reunited with his family.

But there was another part of me that hesitated.

What if these people weren't what I hoped they would be? What if they were the reason he had run away or worse, what if they had a hand in the whole situation? I knew that I was being slightly irrational, but I was still worried.

I closed my computer, stood from my spot on the couch, and headed back to the room. I expected to find Milo still asleep, but to my surprise, he was awake when I entered.

Brown eyes stared at me with an unreadable expression. I carefully approached with a smile on my face.

"Good morning, Milo," I greeted softly.

The brown-eyed male didn't respond; not that I expected him to. He, instead, continued to stare at me in a way that made me want to move closer to him. I wanted to pull him into my arms or at least hold his hand, but I held back the desire. The last thing I wanted to do was overwhelm him and have a repeat of when I found him in the bathroom.

"Why don't I get you some water?" I said to him as I turned to exit the room.

The silence was strange. In the short amount of time that Milo had been staying with me, I'd gotten used to his morning antics. I was used to the running sound; used to the sound of the TV in the background; used to his occasional growls. The silence was completely opposite of the loud omega I'd grown accustomed to and met on day one.

Once I reached the kitchen, I started to grab a water bottle, but I stopped myself. He hadn't been in his human form for a long time so maybe a cup would be easier? I grabbed a cup from the cabinet and filled it about halfway, taking the bottle just in case he wanted more and I had to refill the cup.

Once again, Milo's eyes found me once again when I entered the room. This time, however, he had a pillow in his arms as well. I approached him with the cup and almost immediately, his hand shot out to try and grab the cup. I helped him—well, as much as he'd let me that is—and waited patiently as he took a sip of the water.

The first few sips were slow, but after a while, he started to speed up and began taking big gulps of the water until I gently pulled the cup away from his lips.

"Slow down. I don't want you to choke," I told him.

Milo's chocolate eyes narrowed slightly in a way that reminded me of the small, stubborn, brown wolf who had a bad habit of not following directions. He lets out a huff before pulling the glass out of my hand and returns to gulping down the remnants of what was in the cup and as karma would have it, he did indeed begin to choke.

I shook my head and took the glass from his hand and put it on the dresser before lightly patting his back.

"I told you so," I scolded and shook my head.

Milo eventually stopped scoffing and his narrowed gaze landed on the glass as if it had a mind of his own and purposefully tried to choke him. Indecipherable grumbles left Milo's mouth and he abruptly turned to face me causing the blanket that had previously been covering him to fall and reveal his naked upper body.

My eyes immediately shifted in the opposite direction and I could feel the heat slowly begin to rise to my cheeks while Milo's head simply tilted as if he couldn't understand what the problem was.

What life had he lived before the fighting ring?

"We need to get you some clothes," I muttered, mostly to myself as I moved toward my dressers and began to dig through them. "I don't think I'll have anything that'll fit you, but anything is better than nothing right?"

After a few minutes of digging, I managed to find a few pairs of clothes that would hopefully be comfortable enough for him until I was able to get him clothing of his own. I took the clothes and returned to where Milo was sitting and the moment I saw his face, I knew that he wasn't going to make this easy for me.

"Can't we do this the easy way?" I asked, but it seemed as if my pleas fell on deaf ears.

Milo thrashed, kicked, bit, and growled whilst I fought to get the shirt over his head. It seemed with every moment he made, the two of us grew more and more tangled within the blanket and were slowly shifting closer and closer to the edge.

After a few kicks and a hand tangled in my now most likely knotted dark hair, I finally managed to trap Milo and a triumphant smile broke out on my face.

If looks could kill, the angry expression shining in Milo's chocolate eyes would've sent me six feet under. "Come on, it won't be that bad."

I started to pull the shirt over his head, but Milo abruptly jerked back which wouldn't have been much of a problem if we hadn't already been practically hanging over the edge.

Milo's eyes widened as he began to fall and I instantly let go of the shirt as I tried to grab him before he hit the floor. However, this proved to have the opposite effect and instead of saving him, the two of us painfully collided with the floor together.

"You're going to send me to an early grave, or at the very least a hospital," I muttered with a grown.

I glanced down at my stubborn mate and let out a snort when I saw the shirt was exactly where I left it—halfway on his head. Since I wasn't able to finish pulling it down, the shirt hung loosely and covered his face.

I sat up before reaching and pulling the shirt the rest of the way down, revealing the face of an unimpressed omega. Getting his arms inside proved to be significantly easier and when it finally came time to get the pair of briefs on him, Milo begrudgingly allowed me to help. The clothes practically dwarfed him, but seeing as he wouldn't be leaving the house anytime soon they'd work.

Plus, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like the way my scent clung to him. In my eyes, it was a bonus.

A knock on the door pulled me away from the pouting werewolf and I shot him a smile as I stood up and ruffled his hair before leaving the room. I wasn't expecting any visitors, but it wouldn't surprise me if Stellan, Indiana, or Emilia decided to stop by.

A second knock soon followed and I sped up slightly. "One second!"

Once I reached the door, I easily unlocked it, but the smile on my face quickly fell when I realized that the person at the door wasn't one of my friends, but rather, the person standing there was Elder Samuel and he did not look impressed.

His eyes examined me from my knotted hair to my wrinkled shirt and bunched-up pants before he finally met my eyes and I offered him a sheepish smile.

"Hello, Elder Samuel."

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