Suzy's intervention

Suzy was worried about Archer and I and I didn't really blame her. But it was quite amusing to see her scold him about how busy he always was with the pack and other matters and had little time to spend with me and I again, I had to agree with her.

One of the things that I had learned about my mate was that he was a bit much of an alcoholic, but it's not like I don't understand. He was managing the biggest and strongest pack of the West alone.

Moreover, I am an Alpha's daughter and I saw how much work must be put into maintaining a pack and so I don't hold it against him I just... ugh, never mind.

Ever since the conversation we had at the Luna Flumine river, I could see the noticeable changes in Archer. Although most of the time it was a bit awkward and I found myself laughing at his attempts to get closer.

Every morning, he tried cooking for me but like the first he tried doing that, he failed and I found myself having to salvage whatever I could to have something edible at the table. Whenever that happened, he'd just stand like a lost puppy beside me and tried to help, but I didn't let him.

Other times, he would pick me up at the nursery, where I stayed at most of the times, and we would just spend time together, something we never really did before.

He was definitely talking more and I was so happy when he would tell me stories about him every here and there.

"So what can you say about the rumours about you being cruel and whatnot? I never really believed them." I say and laughed. Whatever did they see in Archer to make him a cruel Alpha?

Archer's lips tugged into a smile and shook his head. The way the sun hit his hazel eyes and with that damned smile, it caught my breath away and I had to quickly look down so he wouldn't notice me fawning over him.

He brushed his thumb over his chin and looked at me.

"Of course you wouldn't. And even if you did, I doubt you would have been very afraid of me." he answers.

I thought about it for a moment and nodded. It was true, I wasn't really afraid of anybody in particular no matter how high their rank was or how powerful they are. It must be because I was born with special abilities or because I was an Alpha's kid, I don't really know.

I've always been aware of the privileges that I was born into, but I believe that no one should abuse the power they have no matter what the reason.

Anyways, although in my humble opinion, I was doing good progress with Archer, Suzy did not seem to think so.

And so, she insisted that she was going to help me.

That's how I found myself sitting on the sand watching the waves crash one onto the other while there were hundreds of people around me, a mix of humans and werewolves, either swimming, sunbathing or just playing around.

I don't really understand how this was going to help my relationship with Archer, I simply went along with her and we arrived her.

She said that we were staying here for five days and four nights and so far, it had only been a night and I was already missing Archer so much. I missed having him around.

"Hazel, look here!" Suzy beamed and placed a phone in front of me to take a picture, I smiled brightly as she captured the moment.

She looked excited and quickly walked towards me and at that time, I saw Frances as well as Polly, a pack nurse, walking out from the showers towards us.

Suzy showed me the picture. I was wearing a yellow two piece that matched my tanned skin, but I was wearing a white beach cardigan over it. I smiled at the beautifully taken photo.

"That's a great photo!" I commented.

"Yes, now all that's left is sending it to Archer." Suzy said devilishly as she tapped away.

I stood up, suddenly alert and tried to snatch the phone away. Suddenly, I was conscious of how I looked in the photo. How did my hair look like? Did I smile ugly?

"No-- don't send that to him! Send a better one!" I say as I chased after her to prevent the disaster from happening, but by the time I got to her and got a hold of the phone, the photo was sent.

I quickly tried to unsend it, but a bubble showed up with the three dots, indicating that Archer already saw it and he was about to respond.

My heart dropped, oh goodness.

I dropped the phone, but I quickly picked it back up to see what he would say.

The bubble was there for a while, I don't know exactly how long, but it felt like a year. I was expecting the response and so I waited, but only for it to disappear.

I thought it was because he already replied, but there was nothing.

Why was there nothing? Did he delete what he was typing?

"Wh-what happened? Why is he not responding?" I turn to Suzy for answers.

Instead of wondering with me, she started laughing.

"Who knows the ways of man?" is all she says and takes her phone back from me, leaving me confused.

By this time, Frances and Polly had already caught up with us.

"Let's go surfing!" Polly says excitedly.

I was excited to go for a swim, but all that disappeared because now all I thought about is how Archer reacted and what he wanted to say, but ultimately decide not to.

Did he just ignore me? He didn't even say anything! I mean yeah, Suzy sent it, but I'm his mate!

Is he not attracted to me? Am I not pretty? Am I just someone to be ignored?

Ugh! This is so frustrating! He's so frustrating!

My mood must have rolled off because Polly and Frances noticed it.

"Uhm... you can surf with us later, Hazel. It's still morning anyways, you have plenty of time." Frances said and looked at Suzy, somehow knowing that she was the culprit. The girl, in turn, only smiled innocently.

I nodded towards them.

"Yeah, I-- I think I will just go to my room for now." I said shortly and turned around to walk back to our hotel.

I was busy ranting in my head while I walked back and on my way, a few guys approached me asking for my number or to join them.

And although I rejected them, I couldn't help but think. These guys probably approached me because they liked me, but why can't Archer be the same?!

Ugh, stop thinking about it Hazel, I told myself and went back to my own room.

While Frances and Polly shared a room, it was only Suzy and I that had our own separate rooms which I didn't understand why. We clearly could have shared one too. What's more, I had a whole suite to myself, it was uselessly big and it was on a different floor, but they insisted that it was for me because I was the Luna and I was too tired to argue.

I probably stayed at the hotel lounge for a few hours, I ate breakfast again although I already ate one earlier. I also chose to read the stocked magazines they had there.

By lunch time, I joined the other girls for lunch at a poke bowl restaurant which was by far, one of the most amazing poke bowls I've had and also one of the most expensive ones.

I finally decided to go at the beach with them for a swim and they somehow convinced me to surf although I've never tried it before.

Balancing myself was hard and that was when I realized, balancing my whole life was hard.

But I tried. When a wave came, I tried my best to not fall off when I stood up and tried to glide against the water, but before I could do so, I realize that I've already been swept away.

"Need help with the board?" a guy asked when I was struggling to pull my board out of the water. He was human.

He was tall, but not taller than Archer although he did have the same shade of brown hair as my mate.

"Uh, I guess, it's pretty heavy." I answer and with that, he helped me carry the board to shore and back to the shop we rented it from.

I tried looking around and I couldn't find the other girls. They were pros at the board and enjoyed the sport so they were able to go further into the sea while I mostly stayed near the shore and practice. I didn't want them to stay there and not enjoy because of me.

"It's already paid." the shop owner confirmed and when we made eye contact, he nodded at me. He was a werewolf and I simply nodded back.

With that, the guy, who introduced himself as Vic, and I left the shop.

"How about a drink, Hazel?" he asked and smiled at me. I wasn't a fool to not understand that he was clearly making a move on me. I didn't like it, he was too... direct. He wasn't like Arch--

Wait, why am I even thinking of that jerk? He's the one can't appreciate me! A simple 'nice photo' or 'she looks good' would have made my day, but he chose not to.

Annoyed at the memory once more, I pushed my blonde hair behind my ear as if pushing the thought of Archer away.

"Sure." I curtly answer.

We walked towards one of those mini beachfront bars that only had enough seats for seven people so that most of the time, people just stood around.

Vic was talking about surfing but when we got to the place, he placed an order for both him and I. I chose a piña colada because why not. Luckily, a couple just left when we got there so we had two of the seven seats in the place.

We chatted as we waited for our order which wasn't too long but we had a hard time conversing because the stereo was right above us and it annoyed me because it was about to destroy my eardrums.

Vic also had trouble hearing due to the music so we ultimately decided to leave the place.

Vic was going on about something again and I although I tried my best to engage into the conversation, it was hard. I suddenly felt bad for agreeing and since I didn't want to waste both of our time, I started thinking of an excuse to get me out.

There was no good excuse so I decided that I'll just tell him straight up that well... I had to leave.

Just as I was about to do so, my eyes widened when a familiar scent came closer and I looked up, trying to find its owner. However, I didn't have to look further he found me instead.

"Hazel." Archer said, his voice low and... angry?

I turn to find a very pissed off Archer looking back to me.