Chapter 309 Worrying Is Another Word for Happy

Chapter 309: Chapter 309 Worrying Is Another Word for Happy

Fynn’s POV

I was sprawled across my couch, half-arguing with Willow about Hawaii, when Sebastian’s mind-link cut clean through my morning.

"Get to the pack house. Emilia’s got a grown man with the brains of a toddler, and I need him hauled home."

I sighed and dropped the link. Willow watched me from the kitchen doorway, arms folded.

"Baby," she said, "I don’t think I can swing the time off to go to Hawaii with you."

"Why not?" I sat up. "We haven’t had a real trip in months."

She crossed over and looped her arms around my neck.

"Work was slammed," she said. "And besides, you’re Sebastian’s Beta, on call around the clock. Not exactly the kind of guy who can just clear a week."

"And you reply to work stuff on vacation anyway," she added, like that settled it.

I didn’t understand how the whole thing became my fault. Maybe I’d answered a couple messages last trip. Maybe.

But she looked so set on it that I let it drop, grabbed my keys, and headed for the pack house.

By the time I got there, Emilia was already coaxing the man toward the front hall.

I gave a slight nod. "Luna Emilia. Alpha Sebastian sent me. Tell me what you need."

"Yes, please take Leighton home." She pointed at the man beside her.

"I don’t want to go home with him." Leighton shrank back and grabbed Emilia’s sleeve, glaring at me like I’d come to drag him to the gallows. "I want to stay with you."

He hid behind her like a spooked bird. Emilia’s face went soft, that patient look she got. She thought a few seconds, then shook her head.

"Forget it. Go back to work. I’ll drive him home myself."

"But Alpha Sebastian sent me," I said. "If I show up empty-handed, I’ve got no answer for him."

"Don’t worry about that. I’ll explain it to him."

She took Leighton’s hand and murmured something low, easing him toward the car. "Don’t be scared. I’m coming with you." She buckled him in, started the engine, and rolled out through the gate before I could get another word in.

I stood there and let out a breath. Opened my own door. And then, for no reason at all, I glanced up.

Tiffany was at the second-floor window, one hand on the curtain, watching me with that easy, unbothered look of hers.

It had been over a month since we’d fought. We hadn’t seen each other since, hadn’t traded a single word. And now here we were, staring across a driveway like two strangers who’d forgotten how to speak.

I gave her a small smile.

She dropped her gaze, let the curtain slip through her fingers, and was gone.

I got in the car and drove back to the office with something sitting heavy in my chest.

Back in Sebastian’s office.

He looked up, frowning. "Why are you back already?"

"Luna Emilia wouldn’t let me take him. She’s driving Leighton home herself."

He rubbed his forehead, pushed up out of his chair, and stalked to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Hands on his hips. "Does she give the orders now? Whose Beta are you?"

"Yours," I said, spreading my hands. "But I’ve got to answer to your Luna too."

"Then why didn’t you follow her? You let her go somewhere that far out on her own?"

"I tried. She wouldn’t have it. Said she knows the place inside out."

His jaw tightened. "Did she say when she’d be back?"

"Round trip’s about two days."

The words were barely out when his phone lit up. He glanced at the screen, and I watched the whole scowl reroute in half a second.

He answered. "Hey."

I could just make out Emilia’s voice. "Are you chewing Fynn out?"

"You’ve gotten mouthy," Sebastian said. "You don’t listen to me anymore, is that it?"

"Of course I do. I just wanted Leighton out of the house before he got underfoot."

"Then why does it have to be you hauling him back? Why can’t somebody else do it?"

"Leighton’s terrified of strangers. Everyone but me. If I don’t take him, he won’t budge. So, do I bring him home or not? You tell me."

Sebastian had no comeback for that.

"Fine. I’ll let it slide this once." His voice dropped a notch. "You pull this again, and we’ll have words."

"Got it, honey. Love you."

And just like that, the tension bled out of him.

When he spoke again it came out gentler than I’d heard from him in years. "Drive safe. Come home the second you’re done."

"Yes, sir," she said, and hung up.

I stood there and marveled. This was the same Alpha who used to run through Betas like tissue paper, who’d snap over a misplaced file. Now one phone call and a stray "love you" had him grinning at a windowpane.

He pocketed the phone and turned to me, that smug, half-scolding look sliding into place. "Fynn. Next time you pick a wife, get yourself one who listens. A woman who won’t do as she’s told has you fretting from dawn to dark."

"Oh, absolutely," I said. "Because you look positively miserable right now, Alpha Sebastian. Can barely keep the grin off your face. Real picture of suffering." I tipped my head. "Guess worrying’s just another word for happy, huh?"

"That’s enough. Back to work."

Back at my desk, my mind drifted to Willow. She kept coming home late, dodging me in that vague way. But mates were built on trust and loyalty. That was the whole point of the bond, wasn’t it? I didn’t have proof of anything. Just a bad feeling and an empty vacation slot.

I shook it off and pulled up my inbox.

Whatever it was, it could wait. There was work to do.