They walked towards the mansion with Ace, Anna and the rest of the team trailing behind as Hope and Harley walked ahead with Jason and Kelvin.
The atmosphere was severely gloomy and no one wanted to say much as they all seemed to be going through their own problem.
Jason being the eldest found it a little hard to cope with the entire situation and still be the older one amongst them. Kelvin on the bother hand seemed a bit intrigued to understand why Harley and Hope seemed very off. But he couldn’t just ask questions as though he knew them. He hardly did.
“So,” Harley cleared his throat after a long walk of silence as they were making their way to the mansion. “ate any of you competing for the alpha’s spot?” he gave them a small smile as Jason glanced over his shoulder to him, as well as Kelvin.
“I am.” Kelvin sight out as he ran a hand through his hair with a deep frown.
“Why don’t you sound happy about it?” Hope asked with raised brows as she watched Kelvin frown and glance towards the ground.
“oh no. Just the competition is tough.” Kelvin forced a chuckle when Jason glanced down at him with a rather mute expression.
“Aren’t you competing too, Jason?” Harley asked as he shifted his gaze to the tall man on front of him.
“I wasn’t thinking about it.” He shrugged his shoulders.
“why not?” Hope asked and Jason sighed out as he glanced up to the clear darkening sky.
“it’s just my choice.” Jason smiled, though not to anyone but mostly himself, clearly faking out his smile.
“… anyway,” Kelvin cleared his throat as he held his hand up to the large mansion in front of them. “this is the mansion, like most packs have, it’s the mansion for the alpha and the beta with their families.”
“You know, I’m so confused, what position are you exactly?” Harley asked as he stared at Kelvin who frowned and furrowed his brows at him.
“You’ll understand after a while.” Kelvin said lowly before glancing back at the mansion where Emily suddenly stepped out of the doors of the mansion with a basket holding wrapped cookies.
Once her eyes instantly fell on Jason, her heart thud agaisnt her chest but was quickly brushed off when she shifted her gaze to Hope and Harley.
“welcome, I’m Emily, the retiring alohadt daughter.” She smiled as she reached her hand out and shook Hope’s hand first before Harley’s. “theses are just complimentary.” She chuckled as she handed the basket to Hope who then passed it to Harley. Harley’s eyes instantly widened at the size of the cookies. He instantly grabbed out and ripped the wrapping off with his teeth before taking a lunch on the cookie.
“I don’t really have a sweet tooth, but Harley here, does.” Hope smiled as she pointed at Harley who was already finishing a cookie.
“this is really good. The chocolate and vanilla split into two but on the same cookie is mind blowing. I love it.” Harley smiled as he grabbed another wrapped cookie and ripped off the plastic.
“are you sure?” Emily asked with a nervous smile. “I threw in a little too much icing sugar.” She said as she ran a hand through her hair.
“That’s just his favourite kind of cookies. With a little extra sweetness.” Hope chuckled as she glanced towards Harley who had just finished his fourth cookie and didn’t seem to want to stop.
“he likes that much sweetness?” Emily asked in wonder as she glanced at him. Surprised that he was still able to be in perfect shape with board wide shoulder, bulky arms and a flat stomach whilst still eating that much sweets.
“He does.” Hope took a cookie and took a bite, nodding to herself as she held the half bitten cookie up. “This might actually not be sweet enough for Harley.”
“she’s right, it’s not there yet, but it’s good enough.” Harley smiled sheepishly as he galnced down at the basket, only to suddenly see a hand reach over his shoulder and grab a cookie.
“Harley, this is almost too sweet.” Ace said behind as he held the cookie. “you’ve got to be lying saying that this is least sweet for you.”
“Harley is a sugar addict.” Hope smiled as she glanced up at Ace, suddenly, her mood cleared a bit the more she talked about Harley. “Best eat a sugar bar if it actually existed.”
“That’s true.” Harley nodded with a chuckle as he glanced at Hope.
“that’s really diabetic.” Ace frowned at Harley who simply shrugged his shoulders and grinned out.
Getting Jason, Kelvin and Emily to stare at them in bewilderment. Very surprised to see how they all casually spoke to each other, since all Jason, Kelvin and Emily did most of the time was fight over something.
“I bet after that long journey, you would want to have a quick meal before going to bed.” Emily smiled as she glanced towards Hope who rose he brows in response.
“Oh yeah, we are hungry and tired.” She nodded as she glanced up at Harley who was still munching onto the cookies.
“Oh sure.” He nodded quickly as he glanced from Hope to Emily. “I’m extreme exhausted.” He nodded as he stared down at the basket. “cars are not the best place to sleep when travelling.”
“I can relate to that.” Jason chuckled out as he nodded in agreement. “it’s a bit of a bother, no wonder you are mostly too exhausted.”
“exactly.” He chuckled out as he handed the basket over to Anna who had been standing silent behind them. He stared down at her for a moment and she glanced up to him and smiled slightly, getting him to smile back before he turned away and continued to talk to Emily, Jason and Kelvin.
Anna held the basket in her arms as she stared at Harley talking and chuckling with the new friends he was making. She was okay with him talking causally to people he’s never met, but the fact that one of them was a very pretty lady, Emily, made her feel insecure.